《The Black》 Public Log Entry 1 Horus Makkan - Rank:Chief Petty Officer - Shop: Maintenance; Engine Public Log, Entry 1 I''ve decided to keep this log because, well, there''s nothing else to do out in the black. I apologize in advance for the shite story-telling. My late wife always told me I was terrible at recounting stories. Although, I do like the idea of being able to give a perspective of what happens out here to those who can''t or are too afraid to venture into the black. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to comment. I would be happy to answer them. Anyway, here goes nothing. Sol-Date: 2415-51-03 For any land dwellers, Sol-Date is the military''s way of keeping a standard date between star systems. The first set of numbers refers to the cycle of the galaxy. I think it''s a load of bull. If you ask me, the minds that developed it started with a number pulled out of a hat and they increase it every time the next two numbers reach 100. More than likely, whoever thought up the system started with the year we left the Earth, 2240. The second set of numbers represents what were called months on Earth that was. It is kind of a nod to our history and where we came from. It''s a shame that it has nothing to do with the antiquated system. The last numbers are measured by a work day or our sleep cycle. After a certain amount of time, the computers click it up. There''s no way for us to tell time out here, except with our computers. Most of you land dwellers use seconds, minutes, and hours. We mostly do, but because of a lack of a rotation around an axis, there is no sunrise or sunset for us and we must rely on what we''re told. If I remember correctly, it''s based on the half-life of a certain atom that now determines how long a "second" is. Sounds like a load of shit to me, but then again I am just a dumb mechanic. Moving on; I relish our time in hard-docks, when we get to shuttle down to planets with real gravity rather than thrust. I hate not being on dirt. And there is nothing compared to the warmth of the sun. Last night was interesting. I had to shimmy my way into a tight maintenance shaft to check a pump and nearly got stuck several times. By the time I got to the thing, I had gone through all of the swear words I knew three or four times. I had been there for two hours working on the pneumatic pump that had stopped working on our C-class Vega; it''s a cruiser class. Nothing like the loadout of a destroyer, but it''s still capable of defending itself well out in the black abyss of space. The pump that went out damn near caused the Hadron engine to fail catastrophically if my apprentice Garrett wouldn''t have caught the issue. The pump is one of the few that keeps the fusion engine cool so it doesn''t melt and dump radiation on us all. This helped me a bit in tech school when I learned how to fix these engines. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Particles/hadron.html If you''re curious. It''s an old 21st-century website, so it may not work on your modern tablets. If I understand correctly it uses the energy from the negative pion decaying into a muon and a muon antineutrino. Or maybe it decays into an electron and electron antineutrino. I dunno, I leave the physics to the experts. I don''t know what that means exactly, but it makes me feel smart when I can get a small understanding. Jeff, one of the fusion engineers, has been teaching me about our engines on the Mineya. He told me the other day, "Even though you don''t completely understand the science behind it yet, you can understand the process better than a lot of my superiors." That made me feel pretty good. Moving on. Whoever was in charge of designing where to put this son of a bitch pump box needs to be shot. Damn near one of the most important parts of the engine and it''s back in the corner of a tiny ass duct that only the smallest of mechanics can get at. I had barely enough room to bring my arms down to my work belt. The engine is a layer of tungsten and lead alloy with some other metals added to it. I won''t get into specifics. All you need to know is that it protects the ship from the radiation it produces while still retaining a high melting point. In between the engine and the hallways/general living quarters is a small duct-like cavern that surrounds the engine and has all sorts of components and wiring to keep the thing running. We called it The Cave in school. Yeah, the pump is inside that area. On the floor. Under a plate that held other components. The pump looked like it was leaking. There was a pool of viscous fluid underneath the casing where it was bolted to the bulkhead. I''ve never seen or smelt the fluids they use inside the pumps. I work mainly with the engines and leave the pneumatics to the pneumatic shop, so I wasn''t certain whether this fluid came from the box. I popped the casing off and took a look inside. Wouldn''t you know it, the fluid was everywhere inside the casing. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. I found what looked like a probable cause. Probable is an understatement. One of the couplers inside made from a titanium alloy for extra strength was completely shattered. I had never seen anything like it. I probably never will again. I asked the Maintenance Commander after and he said the alloy used on the part has a tensile strength of 175,000 PSI and 1210 MPa. For those that aren''t aware, tensile strength is the amount of force required to break or fracture an object. And the little 6" coupler was shattered into a couple dozen pieces. He wouldn''t have believed it if I hadn''t shown it to him and pieced it together. After I got the fluid cleaned up and coupler replaced, I started wriggling my way out. ¡°You need help?¡± My underling, Garrett, said. He was damn near fresh out of basic and school but he catches on fast. ¡°No,¡± I called back. ¡°Just fucking annoying getting through here.¡± This may seem off-topic, but you never know the pants-shitting terror of something until you think you''re experiencing it. As I shimmied through The Cave, I felt a rumbling from the engine, not remembering my lock-out tag-out was still in place with Garrett''s and the captain''s. I thought the fucker forgot or just decided it was time to fire the engine up before it was fixed. Needless to say, I hauled ass out of there before anything bad could happen to me. As I reached the maintenance hatch I used to access the compartment, the rumbling slowly died as if fail-safes had been engaged. Christ. The engine itself does not allow radiation to escape the inner-most compartment, meaning I was completely safe, but damn that was scary in the moment. "Did you feel that?" I asked, sitting up from the floor. I was met with wide eyes and concern. He nodded. I nodded back and sighed. ¡°Alright, meet me back at the shop so we can disengage the lock-outs," I told Garrett. "First, I need to go change my pants.¡± Garrett chuckled and acknowledged my order. He left and I made my way to the bridge. The captain should be informed of the fix. And I thought about giving him lip about trying to start the damn engine. I reached the area of the ship where the bridge is located. It''s in different areas on different classes of ships. For class C it''s generally towards the rear. They''re different to keep the enemy guessing, I think. Or at least I had reasoned. I''d wager a week''s pay anybody wanting to kill us will know where it''s at on every class. Anyway, after we made ready the engine, we went to speak with the captain. He and a navigation officer, Paul I think his name was, were discussing something; on the Mineya we''re not terribly disciplined when it comes to calling others by their last name - the captain never understood the point. By now, last names were as common as first names. What they were discussing sounded like how far behind their projected timeline they were. I try not to eavesdrop when it''s not my place. I waited patiently for him to wave me over, and he did. Ships are considered no-salute areas, regardless of where you are at, but we still recognize other aspects of rank. ¡°Tell me you figured something out, Lieutenant.¡± His voice was annoyed and disappointed. Captain Daniel Saito was of Japanese descent, from Earth. Though the Japanese these days are nothing like those before we expanded to the stars. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± He was about the only one I called sir. He was one of the few on the ship that outranked me. As far as seniority and respect, though, I bet if I asked him to jump he''d ask ''how high?'' out of respect. I''ve been at this over 20 years, received my Ensign commission three years ago and have been working at commanding my own ship it ever since. I figure if I don''t know how to fix the ship, how should I know how to command one. At least it makes sense to me. I still have a lot to learn about tactics in vacuum. ¡°A coupling shattered inside of one of the coolant pumps. Fixed now and should be operational." He nodded and smiled. "Good work Horus." "Any time. Oh, and next time Captain, try to wait for me to give the all-clear before turning the engines on.¡± ¡°I haven''t touched the power sequence since she went through the emergency shutdown.¡± His face was quizzical. I''m sure I looked just as confused. ¡°You OK?¡± ¡°I think that remains to be seen, sir.¡± ¡°Have you thought about retiring?" he asked. That might have been a quip at my age. Not many spend more than 20 years in. Come to think of it not many survive that long in the service. ¡°Every day, sir. Let me know if I can help in any way.¡± ¡°I''ve told you, Horus, you can call me Dan.¡± ¡°Yes, sir, I''m aware. Old habits die hard, I suppose.¡± I turned to leave and I swear I heard a mumbled ¡°Old habits, my ass.¡± That made me grin. He called after me, "Make sure you go and see a shrink!" I waved it off, not turning back to face him. The elevator was quiet as I descended the decks. Left me to my thoughts. The engine shouldn¡¯t have begun to spin up without the captain activating the power sequence. So what was that rumble inside The Cave? The elevator doors opened to one of the lower decks. Probably just the Black getting to me in my old age. I still need to wash this fluid out of my hair. It turned it the color green instead of the usual silver and grey. Probably should have done that before writing - I''m pretty sure this shit is toxic. I didn''t trust that I wasn''t going to forget details later on, though. As I said above, if you have any questions don''t hesitate. It would be nice to hear from you grounders. Anyway. Horus, signing off. Public Log Entry 2 Sol-Date: 2215-51-13 That first log didn¡¯t get quite the responses that I thought it would. Hrm. Perhaps I¡¯ll need to wait a while before any activity appears. After all, nobody ever got famous overnight with a blog, which I suppose this is. Sort of. Some more weird things have been happening lately. I told the Captain about it and he seemed concerned that I seemed concerned. Usually I don''t voice these things, and play it off as ship-noise. Kind of like a building popping when it settles. The captain agreed that we should dock to a station as soon as we can to get some stuff diagnosed. We just don¡¯t have the equipment sensitive enough to run a full diagnostic. Captain says we should be there for a few days, maybe a week at most. Hopefully we will be able to figure out what caused that humming noise. Or was that more of a growling noise? Suppose it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m still not dead, which is more than a lot of space-fairing sailors that have seen combat. I guess anybody reading this will probably want to know what some of those weird things were, instead of my ramblings. The bad thing about this damn voice to text app is that I can''t figure out how the hell to delete what I''ve already said. It''s been hell, having to rerecord this thing. Anyway. Two days after the incident with the engine - the S-date would have been the fifth - I was walking towards the mess hall. While walking down a corridor on deck thirty-four, I heard a tinkling noise. Not like one you would hear from a drippy faucet into an empty steel sink, but more like a dog''s nails clacking while walking on concrete, just not so quick. Does that make sense? Probably not. Most of you probably don¡¯t even know what dogs are, unless you¡¯re as old as I am. Most of you kids are into those weird, small things. What do they call them? Chilentidas? Chirenlesomething? Those things that look like rodents but fluffier. Not important. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Of course, nobody was with me so I probably sounded crazy when talking about it to Garrett. If that doesn¡¯t make me sound crazy, this sure will. Once is an oddity, twice is a coincidence, but three times makes a pattern. I heard a scream. Something like a mixture between an elephant¡¯s trumpet, panther¡¯s scream, and a lion¡¯s roar ending in that same growling rumble I heard the day of the engine incident. That¡¯s the best I can describe it. This happened a few days ago. Would have been the tenth. It chilled me to the bones, it did. Still makes me shiver when I think about it. Guh. The crazy thing is that when I ran to nearby room with others inside, where I thought I heard it come from, they had no clue what I was talking about. I know it wasn¡¯t in my head. The only person that seems to believe me is the captain, but even he might just be doing me a favor considering our history. Maybe I am crazy. Getting the space-jeebies. Either way I can¡¯t wait to be on a planet. Solid earth does wonders for the mind that a steel deck just can¡¯t do. The only good thing about working in a ship is the hazard pay. It''s enough to save a lot, and also afford the wife to come visit when we dock. The wife told me she would be waiting for me over at Kyou, one of the capital planets of the Japanese Confederacy. I''ve got a funny story about the Japanese, but that''s for another time. Maybe I''ll get another one while in Kyou. Public Log Entry 3 Sol-Date: 2215-51-23 I tried uploading this a few days ago, but after I got through my thoughts and clicked the submit button, it told me there was an issue with the website and I lost everything. Shows how smart I am for not keeping this in some sort of document offline. Ah well. When we made it to Kyou, it took us three days to run the diagnostics available to us in a large space-dock. Nothing was wrong. There wasn''t even a mention of the broken pump in the maintenance logs. I have no idea what''s going on with the ship, and it worries me. The captain ordered that we stay in dock for some more time to rerun diagnostics and check the ship up and down to be sure. What''s more, there was a host of crewmembers that fell into sickness. None of the doctors know what it is, they can only give those sick sedatives and pain meds. A virus of some sort, they said it was. Those that were in contact with them have been taken to quarantine, just in case it can spread easily. I told the wife not to come. I didn''t want her getting sick. I told her she could come if I get sick, but I ended up being fine. Some of the others weren''t so lucky. Four days after the second round started showing symptoms, five individuals died. I had never met them, but I went to pay my respects in the hospital all the same. Mardell F. Bengle, Mindi M. Dick, Myesha C. Monkus, Lida C. Quattrocchi, Katelyn W. Roner. All enlisted. I''ll never forget the look of pain and agony that was upon their faces as they lay motionless. It makes me shudder when I think of it. Their skin was stretched, almost like it had shrunk, with boils and sores here and there, bleeding and spewing puss. Their eyelids couldn''t be closed, so they had to put blindfolds over them. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. One thing you have to realize, is that on a spaceship the size of ours, you could go an entire four-year contract without meeting everybody on the ship. A standard C-Class Vega requires a standard crew of about six thousand men. At any one time, there are around one thousand on duty with six shifts in a standard cycle, unless we''re doing specialized work such as what we''ve been doing in the space dock. Those numbers go higher as you get into the B-Class and the A-Class, and the other ships are different animals altogether. I could go on for hours about the crew sizes, but that''s not what matters. After we get done with the diagnostics, we''re supposed to head to the home planets of those dead. Momoru, is first, followed by the snow-laden planet Rin, and finally Akemi. When we finish the ceremonies for the fallen soldiers, those that get better will rendevous at Takaru, a guard planet for several planets that provide the military with food. We got back on the ship after the triple-checking was finished, and there wasn''t any indication something was wrong, and the sounds I had been hearing were gone. Back to the normal silence of space and crewmates. It makes me worry more than for the soldiers sick. Whatever was going on, it wasn''t happening anymore. I feel like I''m going insane with anxiety. Worried about this, worried about that, and now that the fucking noises are silent I''m worried about that too. I know I had more that I wanted to write out, but the website going down kind of shat on me. Got all the thoughts out of my head and now I''m trying to remember them, but can''t. Guess I''ll have to be more careful in the future. I''ve also been thinking about a way to close these posts, but everything seems too cheesy. I''ve thought about "Until next time" as well as something from my Basic Training, "Goodnight wolfpack" but I need some people to interact with before I can call it a pack. Anyway. Time to get some sleep for my shift. Hopefully I don''t lose anymore material. Public Log Entry 4 Sol-Date: 2215-51-43 Sorry, I didn''t post last week. I''ve been busy with work and a few other things around this ship, and then we jumped systems, which takes down any unnecessary communication for as long as it takes to get to the next system. We were down for four days. So to give an update about the events which I can only describe as supernatural. Everything has been normal. We haven''t had any maintenance issues at all, and the ship has been working flawlessly. Or if there were issues, they were fixed without needing a report. All I was concerned about was that whatever it was, whether it was a creature inhabiting the ship or just my head, it was gone. Yesterday, we had our procession for PFC Bengle, and Sgt. Dick. on Momoru. The captain had the entire crew lined up on either side of the funeral procession as the pallbearers carried their caskets to the families. Even though I didn''t know them, it still made me tear up. And then they played Taps. Taps is enough to make any grown man with a heart cry. Two days after, I heard some of the maintenance workers gossiping, saying that the caskets were abnormally light. Almost like they were empty. I asked one of them about it and all they said was, "Not sure. It was almost like the body wasn''t in the casket. But that''s crazy, right?" The first one chucked a bit, shrugged, and walked off, leaving me to my thoughts. I asked a second and she said the same thing. My grandpa always said, one is an event, two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern. It wasn''t until the next day that the third came to me in my office. "I heard you were asking around about the weight of the caskets," a man said without announcing himself. I looked up from some paperwork and saw he was a corporal. Higgins was the name stitched on his uniform. "I might have been. What''s up?" I asked. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Well," he paused and sighed, looking down at the floor. I reached a hand in an offered chair, which he took. "It''s going to sound crazy." "Son," I said, "I''ve been dealing with crazy for almost half a month. You can tell me what''s going on, and I''ll probably believe it." "Alright," another pause, "I''ve been noticing things for a couple of weeks now that I thought I was just imagining. Sounds, like knocking. Nothing loud, but kind of like background noises that weren''t there before. You know how it is, you get in these ships for the first time and can''t sleep for weeks because of all the noise, but after a while, you just tune it out. Now it''s almost as if something is missing. A pattern that was there but now it isn''t." "First time on deployment to a ship?" I asked. He was young and scared. "I think I know what you''re talking about," I said. I dropped the stylus I was using next to my tablet and set my elbows on my desk, leaning towards him. "Best to chalk it up to anxiety, son. I know it''s not what you want to hear, but it''s the best I''ve got for you. We have therapists on duty at all hours if you need a professional to talk to. I''m sure as hell not the best at giving advice." He looked a bit disappointed at that. But then I thought back to all the bullshit I''ve already told you readers about. "What does this have to do with the caskets?" "Well, I was one of the pallbearers. I knew Bengle. We were good friends. I''ve seen funerals before. Anytime the bearers have to carry caskets any distance longer than 10 yards or so, you can tell they''re putting in work to keep it off the ground. It''s heavy and awkward. And at 8/10ths of a G, it shouldn''t be light. We carried them almost a quarter of a mile, and none of us were even sweating. Almost like there wasn''t a body in the casket." He went on for a bit about it being a closed-casket funeral, whether the military would keep Bengle''s body, and many other things about his friend that I''m sure he would prefer me not to talk about. You get the idea, though. I''m not the only one who was hearing or seeing things. I''m not crazy. I helped him as best as I could have and sent him on his way. I might go look at the caskets tomorrow. We only commission caskets made of Solid Mahogany, with Brass railings and trim. This helps to accent the Crimson and Bronze of the Space Corps flag. They are usually pretty heavy. If they were made of light wood, it might account for the missing weight. Who knows. Until next time. Public Log Entry 5 Sol-Date: 2215-51-45 I went to see the caskets of the fallen men and women we still have aboard. The men standing vigil at the entrance let me through without a second thought. Who would want to desecrate a body on a ship? There''s cameras and rumors get started easily to where whoever did it would be court-martialed and disciplined before the next docking. What I found out was little. I couldn''t open the caskets without somebody noticing. They were in the center of the room on simple iron bar pedestals that looked almost like sawhorses. The low lighting gave the room an eerie feeling, but make no mistake - the cameras would still be able to see very clearly if anybody made the guards inside incentivized to look the other way. There did not seem to be any tampering with the caskets. They are magnetically sealed with a small console that you attach to a copper plate on the side of the casket itself. This allows you to unlock and lock the doors with the touch of a button and keep it secure from anybody who shouldn''t have access to the body. They do this for a number of reasons, mainly to prevent desecration of the body and to vacuum seal the inside. If anybody had tried to get in, there would be scratches from the attempt or marks near the copper plate from the console that attaches - the console digs small claws into the wood that is repaired after the casket is sealed. I wasn''t sure what was going on, and my curiosity was getting the better of me. I paid a guy 200 credits and a bottle of top-shelf whiskey to put in a maintenance request for the cameras from that wing of the deck. Being a maintenance officer with as many years of experience as I have has its perks. I told the others I''d handle it and they accepted without question. To do maintenance on them, you have to disable them. Before I did that, though, I went to the undertaker for some more questions as a ruse to palm one of the consoles I would need. They''re only the size of a playing card, so it was easy. I went about my ''maintenance'' and made my way to the room where they kept the bodies, the guards inside and out were exhausted. You may or may not realize, but standing at attention for any longer than an hour or two is enough to wear anybody out. I told em I''d watch over the caskets until the next shift of guards arrived. Nobody in or out. It would give me about 15 minutes to inspect the inside of the caskets. What I saw inside you probably won''t believe. If I didn''t recorded it, the captain wouldn''t have believed me either. You know how when you leave food in a cupboard for too long, it starts to get moldy and grows fur? It was similar to that. Only it wasn''t mold. It was some other sort of fungus. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I put on a respirator and unsealed the first casket. When the pressure equalized, what looked like dust blew out from the cracks. Thinking back to it, I believe that it was a spore of some sort. It made me jump back. Luckily I didn''t get any on me. Who knows what it could be, after all. There was a sweet smell that followed shortly after, presumably coming from the dead body. But it wasn''t the smell of decay. I gingerly opened the casket. The body was nearly gone. The fungus was sickly pink and green, blanketed over the entire interior of the casket, and it was consuming the corpse. There were small mounds on the largest portions where the thighs and chest used to be, and in the valleys between were around twenty or so tendrils that rose and writhed around like a vine grasping for a Tressel. It made me gag. I closed the casket and resealed it. Not that it would do any good. The case for the other two was the same. Before leaving, I found some bleach and soaked the areas around the casket. The guards coming in for their shift looked at me funny. I shrugged at them and said, ''Smell was here when I came in. Not sure what it is. Smells like bleach mixed with candy. They did not question me. For that I am glad. Whatever killed those men and women caused something to grow on their dead bodies. I had to tell the captain, so I requested to meet with him in his office in private. I entered his office and must have had a horrified look on my face. "What is it?" he asked quickly. "You look like you''ve seen a ghost." "Well," I said, with a chuckle. "Can I shut the door?" "Absolutely," he said. "You know conversations in my office are never monitored. I shut down the mics and cameras before you even got here." "I just wanted to be sure." I sat down. I told him what I had done. He was furious before I explained what came after, and showed him the footage. "We have to warn Kyou and Momoru," he said. "Yes," I said. "Momoru I''m not too worried about. The caskets are sealed, so there''s no chance of whatever that is getting out." "Unless those things can eat through wood." "Good point." "You didn''t touch it, did you?" "No," I said. "I was careful, and I basically showered in bleach after." The captain looked at me funny. "Not literally. Just decontamination. Told the med bay I was exposed to some toxic materials. Being maintenance, that doesn''t sound too abnormal." The captain nodded. "I will send out messages to the planets," the captain said. "I hope it is not too late. We will continue to Rin until I have thought about this further and questioned the admiral on the issue. I hope you don''t mind me repeating what you''ve told me, and showing him the footage." He continued, not waiting for a response, but I trusted him completely. "I will keep your name out of it. The guards inside the rooms will be dismissed, and no one will be allowed to enter. Nobody on-board is related to the fallen, so it shouldn''t be an issue." I can only guess that whatever it was on the ship before we docked was a precursor to the illness that befell the dead and whatever it is that is inside those caskets. I won''t be able to sleep much tonight. The images of the bodies will forever haunt my dreams. Public Log Entry 6 Sol-Date: 2215-51-52 We arrived at Rin yesterday. There was a funeral procession, but it was not the soldier''s body they were carrying. Only an empty wooden box. The family was told that the casket''s sealing function had malfunctioned, and it was unable to be opened. It wasn''t really a lie, but not the truth either. The real caskets were burned. The medical officers on board as well as the captain saw no other alternative. They were thrown into the incinerator. The captain gave them what honor he could, though, and burned them alone. No trash or waste along with it. After, the ashes were jettisoned into space. That was honorable, I think. The fake funeral procession I don''t think was. Take it as you will. There is something brewing and I think I may be in the middle of it. I have managed not to get sick from what I had found in those caskets. Several others can''t claim to be so lucky, even though they weren''t anywhere near the caskets. The medical staff think they may have had contact with the second wave of infected or something that any of the infected had contact with themselves. Regardless, they are being quarantined. Anybody that is showing any kind of symptom related to what was happening is getting the same treatment. But wait, it gets better. Remember how I said that some of the men that were sick were getting better? Their vitals stabilized in the days after we had left Kyou. We''re getting reports now of more infected. Not only that, but those that were recovering have started acting ''strange'' as the medical staff of Kyou reported. It started with the occasional unwanted and unjustified touch. A thank you from them to the medical staff with the slight touch of their hand to the arm of the attendee. Several of the medical staff had gotten the same sickness, as well as reports of what I had told the captain. Most of those that do not make it deteriorate into puddles of pink and green mounds and tendrils. They''ve begun to speculate that the transmission is by touch and possibly airborne. The latest news from Kyou is that the situation is rapidly deteriorating. Those who had gotten better went from passive and thankful to outright aggression. I saw a holo-vid of a news reporter say that a ''mysterious sickness has taken over a major residential district on the planet'' and that medical staff are ''taking precautions to contain the outbreak''. Journalist-speak for ''shit is going crazy, and there are riots which are being contained.'' Those who showed they would be unwilling to back down or be ''oppressed'' as they called it were shot. Martial Law was declared planet-wide not long after. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. This might be the start of something we have not yet experienced. My imagination is running wild with this. When I was younger I read stories about zombies and plagues that destroyed worlds but it was all just fiction. If some new infection was seriously out there it could mean the end of the space corps if it isn''t contained. I know that the upper ranks of government have plans for things like this, regardless of how far-fetched they are, but surely nobody takes it seriously. Who knows. Maybe it''s all just a hoax and it''ll be done in a couple of months. But then again, maybe what I found on the ship was just the beginning. Maybe it is some form of alien life that infiltrates the ranks of their enemy, only to kill them from the inside and morph their dead body''s mass into something more suitable to their needs. Sounds like a video game to me. We won''t know until more information comes to us. The captain seems on edge. I gave him my weekly situation report yesterday and he was uneasy. I''d guess he was concerned about some information classified higher than my security clearance allows. It''s nothing that I can help with, so there''s no sense in me worrying about it. My only concern is those who are sick on board. If it were me and my paranoid ass, I''d kill them, burn them, and shoot their ashes out of the airlock. They are good men, though. They deserve better than that. If we end up having to fight to survive, though...I haven''t picked up a rifle in years. I remember what they taught us at basic though. Squeeze, don''t pull, and the like. I wouldn''t hesitate if it meant seeing my wife again. Christ am I glad she didn''t come to Kyou. Maybe I''ll take some leave when we reach the next planet. Go home and spend time with her. If it is aliens, though, it''s neat that I''m one of the first to have seen how they come about. Even if they are a race of bloodthirsty conquering marauders. I''m not sure exactly what to shoot at if it''s not a human, but there is one thing that will kill any living creature though: woodchippers. Good luck finding one out in the middle of space, though. Public Log Entry 7 Sol-Date: 2215-51-62 We''ve had some deaths on board. The captain ordered an emergency docking at one of our most advanced medical space docks orbiting the star Foma''i; a red dwarf, with a few uninhabitable planets nearby that are rich in resources. If you haven''t seen Religence, it is a sight to see if you''re looking for somewhere to visit. If I were at this station under any other pretense I would be happy. The medical staff aboard the Mineya found an early detection method of what they''re now saying is a virus. They still have no way of slowing it down or killing it. The captain ordered a full decontamination and screening of crew members as we unboarded. He does not want the virus spreading into the dock. We had to strip down naked and step into a small room, almost like a closet. A robotic arm extended and pricked you in the bicep to take a blood sample. After, we were blasted by several rounds of decontamination including both air and liquids. If I had to guess it would be to kill any of the virus that was on our skin. It took three days to get through everybody on board. After we exited the room, they told us to turn either left or right. They didn''t tell the men which was which, only which direction to go. I ended up being clean. I turned right. Others weren''t so lucky. As I was checking the news, I saw a news video of the senate declaring martial law on Kyou and deploying several military units to contain the outbreak. Kyou was a madhouse. The capital city we visited had all but fallen. The planetary defense was doing all it could to contain what was left of the city, but the things people became were smart. Smart enough to take a fallen soldier''s rifle and fire back. The video also said something about the government considering fire-bombing the city. Fucking tragic. There''s a lot of art and history in that city. I put in a request for military leave, but it was denied. Shortly after, the captain requested that I meet him at the Space Corps'' embassy on-station. I had no choice but to oblige. I entered and he didn''t even wait for me to sit after I had closed the door. "I have a job for you to do," he said, gesturing to a chair. I did not sit, and neither did I stand at attention. He walked over to a decanter and poured some brown liquor into two glasses and offered one to me. I took it. "You''re going to the Senate." "Captain," I said. He held up a hand to stop me. "I know," he said. "Nobody likes that kind of politics except those that pursue the career." He sipped his drink. "You''re goddamned right. Nothing but lies and corruption. What do you want me to do there?" "Just a simple explanation of what you had found. Your experiences before and after Kyou. The more I think about it the more I''m convinced something was in our ship before we docked." He finished the drink. I followed suit, and he poured us another glass. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "That can be done with a holo-vid." I said. "What''s the real reason you want me to go to the senate?" He sighed. "Part of why I want you to go is to be away from this situation. So that you can be with your wife before the shit hits the fan." I was about to offer a retort but stopped myself. I thought for a long moment. "With all due respect, sir, go fuck yourself." The captain seemed surprised. I rarely spoke out of turn like this to his face. His surprise turned to confusion, but not anger. "You would allow me to spend time with my wife," I explained. "What about the thousands of other wives waiting for their husbands, some of which may never come home because of this virus?" His confusion turned to what seemed like shame. "I will not be offered a respite simply because I had requested some military leave - which was more just a formality anyway since there is nothing to maintain while we are in decon - and my relationship with you. So I say again, with the utmost respect, go fuck yourself. Please don''t disrespect me like that again." I finished my drink and set the glass down on an end table. It may have been more like a slam. I crossed my arms. The captain smiled and bowed his head in the traditional Japanese fashion. "Thank you," he said. This surprised me. "What?" I asked. He looked up at me. "Thank you for voicing your opinion about the matter." "Was this a test?" I hated being screwed with, and he knew it. "Of a sort. I knew that a holovid would suffice for the senate. And you are right, there is nothing to maintain while the ship is being decontaminated." He took a small drink from his glass and set his glass on the desk. He walked to refill mine. "How long have you served as Lieutenant Commander?" He asked. He walked around to a drawer of his desk and opened it. "This is my sixth year, sir." I was confused by the question. The captain was throwing me for loops I had not thought I''d encounter with this meeting. I thought it best to stay at least a little formal after telling him to fuck off. "Six years. That''s a bit long to serve as a Lieutenant Commander. Especially in maintenance where, if you ask me, you''re wasted." "What are you getting at?" In a rather stern but quiet tone he called me to attention. I obliged. He was my senior officer after all. He opened a small jewelry-like box and produced a silver pin shaped like a leaf, the symbol of a Commander. "Horus Makan, after Six years of dutiful service I hereby promote you to the rank of Commander. You will be restationed under my direct command, and assist me in any and all matters of this ship. Do you understand?" "Yes, sir," I said. "Thank you, sir." There was nothing I could do. I have refused promotion in the past and I knew he wouldn''t have it in this situation. I saluted my new Admiral, and he returned it. "You will be my personal advisor. The voicing of opinion you just showed me confirmed what I needed to know. But know the limitations of such opinions when we are in front of the crew. I do not wish to be undermined. Understood?" "Understood." "At ease." He handed my glass back to me. "To what is to come, whether it be for good or for ill." We raised our glasses in toast and downed the liquid. "If you have no other questions, you are dismissed. Report to your new office after the weekend. I look forward to working with you, Commander." "And I, you, Captain." I left and shut the door behind me. I almost fell down. I''m shocked. Public Log Entry 8 Sol-Date: 2215-51-72 It''s been ten days since my promotion and the paperwork has yet to end. So many things I''ve had to sign just to get the promotion official. I haven''t started my duties just yet, which I''m still unsure of what they could even be. The captain had told me that I''d be his personal advisor, but still has given me no other information. When I told the wife, she was estatic. When I told her about the pay increase, she asked why I hadn''t accepted the promotion sooner. I left out the part about it being voluntold. I think she''s already looking into a new house. That woman will be the death of me. Yesterday the captain came to me with some more information, mostly from news sources. The fighting on Kyou has yet to die down. Some of the pilots were taken over and fighter drones were stolen. The infected fuckers can fly now, which means any attempt at containing the virus is relegated to the orbital defense systems and any military ships in orbit. I just hope they don''t get their hands on any of those systems. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. As a Commander, I have gained accessed to some more...harder to get recordings. They aren''t strictly classified so much as the high ranking officers do not want it to become public knowledge. I think the people have the right to know but I can''t get into deep shit so soon after my promotion. Maybe I can leak the vids to a news agency under a false name and encryption. Anyway. The videos show some...interesting occurrences. The individuals that have been infected have grown very pale, and their skin seems to have hardened into a shell of some sort. When they are shot, the entry wounds are cracked around the outside, some even cracking across an entire portion of skin. From these cracks is an odd, pinkish color. My wife wants to come to see me on Religence. I told her it was dangerous but she seemed adamant. "Damned what the rest of them say," I think came out of her mouth. She''ll be here in a week''s time. I''m kind of excited if I''m being honest. Been a while since I''ve seen her. I''m getting off track again. Seems to happen when I do this voice to text thing. But I think I''m out of stuff to talk about for this post anyway. It''s a bit short, but most of the time since my last post has been all paperwork, and some brief updates from the Captain. Until next time. Stay safe. Who knows what''s going to happen in the weeks to come. Public Log Entry 9 Sol-Date 2215-52-01 I need to keep this short. The news hasn''t reported it yet. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Kyou has fallen. If you can, join the fight. If you can''t, stay safe out there. Public Log Entry 10 Sol-Date 2215-52-02 Sorry about the short post last. The public needed to know. We are still on Religence, but I''ve finally got some time to record some of what I''ve been told. The creatures broke through the planetary defense of Kyou. Those fuckers are smart. It seems they slowly worked their way into the government, infecting higher and higher ranking officials until they found those with the knowledge to pilot and run spacecraft. This includes the ship I am stationed on as well as orbital bombardment installations. The Space Corps thinks they might be a kind of hive-mind but it''s hard to be sure. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Remember when I talked about the pants-shitting kind of terror you never know of until you experience it? This is similar. Except it''s not pants-shitting terror and more of an existential dread that creeps into the back of your mind and sends shivers down your spine. My wife is with me, at least. Whatever God or gods exist, if they do, they have granted me this one boon. The captain thinks we''ll be at Religence for a while if not semi-permanently. The military has gone almost full lockdown until we know how wide-spread the virus has gotten. There still hasn''t been a name released for the creatures yet. We need something to call them, though. We can''t just keep referring to them as fuckers. There are more than one type of fucker in The Black.