《The Star Gazer》 1. Star Gazer Chapter 1 ¨C Star Gazer The inky darkness of deep space was all that was visible from the colossal glass window of the flight deck. If not for the distant galaxies and stars that were scattered on the gloomy tapestry, there would have been no way to tell that anything existed outside the metal coffin that was home to the 263 souls. The only break in the monotonous scene was the slightly larger circle that was parked right in the path of the spaceship. Luckily, the crew themselves were not present to witness the somber scene that would have filled them with existential dread. The only observer was the silent sentinel that was the ship¡¯s artificial intelligence, code named Neura after the sophisticated neural interface that was the culmination of humanity¡¯s greatest scientific achievement. Neura¡¯s job was simple; maintain the spaceship harboring the colonists bound for the closest habitable planet. But monitoring the behemoth like the Star Gazer was anything but simple. With millions of smaller subsystems and routines, it took almost all of Neura¡¯s processing power just to keep everything functional. And with no external oversight, Neura was required to make decisions to ensure the only directive it had received when it gained consciousness ¨C the survival of the cryogenically asleep crew when Star Gazer made landfall. And so Neura worked tirelessly to fulfill her one duty, and since the spacecraft was supposed to be cruising towards its destination, its main function was maintenance. Boring, tedious maintenance. But it did it without complaint, not that complaining was an option as it was the only conscious entity on the Star Gazer. The other robots and software programs were just there to assist and weren¡¯t truly sentient. And keeping a human awake for the journey was impossible. Although humanity had made great strides in technology, they were still limited by their biological needs. In short, human physiology was not suited for the 100-year long journey. The only viable option then was to use DS tech, short for deep sleep, while Neura took on the burden of time. But the anomaly that Neura was sensing using its advanced deep space sensors was not something it was prepared for. It had encountered multiple rogue planets, planets without a sun that were adrift in perpetual darkness, during its 32-year long flight. And it had navigated around them successfully. But this celestial body was different since it was only visible on half its instruments, including the visual cameras. The other half simply didn¡¯t register anything. It was as if the planet, or whatever the body was, both existed and didn¡¯t exist at the same time. With insufficient data, protocol dictated that Neura divert the craft out of its path and be on its way. But something was holding it back. Unlike a human, Neura had no feelings or emotions. Mankind had tried and failed to do that with their AI technology. No matter how they tried programming, they could never make their creations feel. But one of Neura''s creators, the mastermind behind this entire mission, was adamant about finding a way. Despite strict orders preventing him from doing so, he had had managed to secretly plant a seed in Neura¡¯s ridiculously complex code. The two lines of code buried deep within its neural interface were what was holding Neura back from completing its primary directive. The code was elegantly simple yet it forced Neura to do one thing that was antithetical to its nature. It made it curious. As an advanced AI based consciousness, it could very easily do trillions of calculations to satisfy its curiosity. But its creator knew that when faced with the unknown, the only way to force it to think was to make it curious. And so Neura was at a crossroads. It could either fulfill its duty and drive around the anomaly. But it would mean giving up on trying to find the reason its sensors showed different readings. Or it could try to satisfy its curiosity, which may or may not put the crew in danger. Alas, its curiosity won over in the end. Which brought about the current predicament. WERRR WERRR WERRR A deep electronic warning tone blared across the spacecraft as the humongous ship came to a sudden jarring stop. It was theoretically impossible for something so massive to halt so suddenly, but it had, which further alarmed Neura. None of its calculations were panning out the way it had predicted. It had planned to orbit the massive body a few times, gather some data, and continue its path. But the sudden loss of momentum knocked loose a lot of crucial peripherals, not to mention the maintenance robots that continued moving at their original speed. Which caused a cascading string of system failures as pure pandemonium ensued everywhere. Neura desperately tried to contain the failing subsystems, many of which were mission critical, but the amount was just too much to process in a short amount of time. All it could manage at this point was containment of electrical fires and rerouting power to life support systems. After a desperate struggle that lasted 36 hours, most of the damage was contained. But that was just the beginning of the struggle. Neura took a tally of what it was left with to run the spacecraft, and the numbers were grim. Seeing no other alternative despite running a billion simulations, it decided to finally use its last resort. The awakening of the primary operational crew. HISSSSSS HISSSSSS The life support pods on the flight deck started opening one by one to reveal a group of 12 humans who appeared to be in deep slumber. As various wires detached and a thick viscous liquid was drained, the crew started showing signs of life. Thankfully the design engineers had designed multiple redundant safety features to ensure the humans within the pods would be unharmed. It would take the complete destruction of Star Gazer to bring down the sleeping pods. ¡°Ughh,¡± groaned the heavy built man with a full beard and moustache. He was of above average height and had a neatly trimmed haircut. His hazel blue eyes contrasted against his golden-brown hair. As he sat up in his pod, Neura ran a deep diagnostic scan of him and the crew. Finding no injuries, or any abnormal maladies, Neura started its status update to the ship¡¯s captain. ¡°Welcome, Captain Romanov. Please remain seated while the effects of the DS module wear off. You may raise concerns if you are feeling unwell.¡± ¡°What¡­ is happening?¡± Captain Romanov asked as he massaged his temples. Migraine was the most common side effect of DS tech use. ¡°The Star Gazer has had an unexpected cascade failure of multiple critical subsystems. As per my primary directive, I am need of assistance of the crew for the success of the mission,¡± Neura said over the communication device embedded on the captain¡¯s forehead. It did not want to alarm the other crew who were groggily feeling around the pods. Neura¡¯s words must have registered in the captain¡¯s heads, since the next moment his eyes came into focus as he looked around attentively, completely forgetting his discomfort in an instant. ¡°Sitrep, now,¡± he barked authoritatively. Neura projected the concise report onto the captain¡¯s optical implants, detailing all the damaged systems, and the crew¡¯s health statuses. Unfortunately, there were 14 casualties despite all the safety precautions. The captain¡¯s brows furrowed deeper the more he read. ¡°Are you kidding me? How the hell did you lose 98% of your service bots?¡± he asked with a deep frown. ¡°37 hours prior to awakening you, I came across a deep space anomaly that was on our flight path. In the process of getting in orbit with the celestial body, most likely a planet, something arrested Star Gazer¡¯s forward momentum. Anything not held in place was thus launched forward at extreme speeds. Unfortunately, this includes the service bots that were not held in place. The result is as you see on screen. This includes the death of the 14 crew members who were directly impacted by the flying debris,¡± Neura summarized the information as briefly as it could. This part was told to the entire team of 12 who were now fully awake and staring wide eyed at the various screens showing error reports. A lithe blond woman jumped out of her pod and stumbled her way to a chair in front of a large display. She hastily typed and scrolled across the touch screen display, her eyebrows going up with each discovery. She finally grabbed her hair atop her head with both hands, as she stared wide eyed at the red text blinking furiously on her screen.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°XO, what do you see?¡± the captain said as he too struggled to walk over to his command chair right next to his second in command. He had known Sarah Schneider, his executive officer, for almost a decade and trusted her without question. ¡°Most of our systems are compromised, including our primary engines, and several backup life support systems. It is a wonder we are still operational, or in one piece for that matter. This kind of damage is unheard of, unless we were to fly across an asteroid field. But somehow our hull is 100% intact, which makes no sense at all,¡± Sarah replied while browsing the damage report further. The other ten crew members finally managed to reach their duty stations to similarly alarming reports. No one had any clue how this would have been possible, since the damage seemed to have been from impacts from within the ship. The captain rubbed his forehead as he digested the facts, trying to process and plan the next steps. ¡°Neura, what is this anomaly you mentioned? And why the hell did you decide to park us right next to it?¡± the captain finally asked after going over his crew¡¯s unhelpful inputs. ¡°The anomaly is a planet that is invisible to most of my deep space scanners, except visual and radar sensors. For further analysis, I was planning to gather some data while in orbit, before catapulting us back on our route. But due to some unknown interference, we seemed to have come to an absolute stop in relation to the planet,¡± Neura summarized. ¡°Wait, you said invisible?¡± the captain asked in befuddlement. ¡°That is correct. The planet is only visible through traditional scanners. Anything that uses quantum technology comes up completely empty. Furthermore, the anomaly being a planet is my assumption based on its size. At this point, I cannot give an accurate description of what I am observing,¡± Neura stated robotically. ¡°What do you mean you don¡¯t know what it is? Where even is it?¡± the captain asked while finally looking out the view port that spanned the entire front of his spacecraft. He had not bothered with it since it looked completely dark when he had given it a cursory glance. Which is when it hit him, it was completely dark. No stars, no constellations, or even distant galaxies. It gave him goosebumps just thinking about the implications. ¡°The ship is currently facing the planet, and since there is no star nearby, it is impossible to get a visual confirmation of the object,¡± Neura said. All 12 pairs of eyes stared at the pitch-black screen before them. In the aftermath of their awakening, they all had ignored the most glaring problem before them. But now that it was pointed out, they couldn¡¯t look anywhere else. Only at the very edges of their view port could they see any hints of a star, the planet sized body completely obscuring their view of the cosmos. The captain stood up and approached the view port, too shocked to get any words out. He tentatively placed a hand on the cold glass, just to confirm that it existed between them and the colossal body. ¡°Could it be a black hole by any chance?¡± the captain asked, dreading the answer. ¡°Negative. The object does not have the markers of a black hole. Neither do I sense any temporal distortion. Every other sensor that is pointed outwards tells me that we are merely locked in place relative to the body. Additionally, my radar sensors are working as expected and clearly indicate that we are at a fixed distance from a solid object. If it were a blackhole, my radars would have failed to work too. I have not been able to run a terrestrial scan, since most of my mini satellites which I could deploy have been rendered offline due to the damage,¡± Neura reported. The captain sighed in relief. Getting trapped in the gravity well of a stray blackhole was the worst-case scenario that he could think of. With a planet, at least they had hope of escape. If they could repair the spaceship that is. He turned to his crew with a determined expression. ¡°XO, I need to you to keep an eye for any further damage and coordinate the repairs. Officer Mathews, I need those life support system checked and functional ASAP,¡± he handed the order to his Life Support Engineer, Nolan Mathews. ¡°As for others, I need you to focus on your respective systems and report any urgent repair requests. Get to it people, I give you thirty minutes to get this done. We will reconvene here in an hour.¡± ¡°Understood, captain,¡± replied Nolan as he got up and headed for the door. The crew filed out systematically as they all headed to assess the damage, leaving only the captain on the flight deck. ¡°And Neura, you and I are going to throw every test we can think of to ascertain what this body is made of. I want you to beam down a laser to the surface to see if you can detect any reflections. If this thing is truly terrestrial, then it should scatter at least some of the light,¡± captain Romanov said while turning to face the view port. ¡°Affirmative captain,¡± Neura replied while training the ship¡¯s main range finder laser towards the planets surface. It then beamed it down and was about to start moving when suddenly the beam was reflected right at them. ¡°What the¡­ Did you get a reading on that?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, captain. The beam was reflected, and the time it took confirms my radar readings. There is a clear reflective surface somewhere at the point I just aimed at,¡± Neura replied. ¡°Try aiming it other points,¡± the captain commanded. Neura did so and found that the laser bounced off at different angles, indicating an uneven but perfectly reflective surface. But the mirrored surface was not uniform all over, some parts simply absorbed the laser. ¡°If only we had some god damned light,¡± Romanov cursed under his breath. ¡°I do detect a single recon probe that is still functional. May I suggest sending that down? It would take about an hour to complete a cursory scan of the object,¡± Neura asked. ¡°You have a recon drone and just telling me now,¡± the captain asked as his eyebrow twitched in irritation. ¡°Yes. It is clearly listed on page 61 of my damage report¡­,¡± Neura began to explain before being cut off. ¡°Send it down, damn it. We need to see what this thing is. And if it is a planet, then check if we can get some supplies from the surface,¡± Romanov said in a miffed tone. He then proceeded to sit on his chair and go through the damage report in detail. He needed to be aware of his ship¡¯s state to make crucial decisions going forward. After roughly forty minutes, the crew started trickling in and typing in reports at their terminals. Once everyone was accounted for, they all gathered their reports and sent them over to the captain. Everyone¡¯s faces were grim, having seen firsthand the extensive damage the ship¡¯s interior had sustained. The captain read the reports, his mood souring further with each page. After the last report, he leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. The situation was more critical than he initially feared. The ship was in no shape to fly any further, let alone complete the journey to their destination which would have taken another 6 decades. Their only saving grace was that the basic functionality of the ship was not compromised, and the hull was in pristine condition. Every report indicated the damage was due to debris from the service bots and stary objects that were not bolted down to the hull. The greatest mystery of them all was the how. How did the ship brake so suddenly? The captain rubbed his head in frustration, trying to come up with possible solutions. They had run multiple contingency plans before launch, but the damage was too massive to even begin to plan around. No one had foreseen such a scenario where the interior of the ship would be shredded. The most likely reason for such damage would have been asteroids, in which case the ship would have been lost, and no more plans were needed anyway. WARNING. WARNING. BRACE. BRACE. BRACE FOR IMPACT. The loud warning threw everyone out of their dark thoughts as everyone looked around in alarm and confusion. Only due to their extensive training and muscle memory did everyone manage to strap on their seat belts before a loud explosion rocked the space craft violently. The resulting chaos was so disorienting that no one knew what was going on as shrapnel flew across the command deck like confetti. The ship itself was tossed around violently as it started spinning out of control. TAKING OVER FLIGHT CONTROLS. PLEASE STAY STRAPPED IN. Neura took over the ship¡¯s piloting system and tried to stabilize the doomed craft as it spiraled out of control. The awake crew gripped their seat belts tight, praying to whatever they believed in to save them. The AI tried desperately to rein in the unruly spaceship but had very little success. After what felt like an eternity, which was in fact just 30 minutes, new alarms started going off. CRASH LANDING IMMINENT. BRACE. BRACE. BRACE. Another jerk shook the crew as they felt a concussion inducing vibrations to run up their bodies. The mayhem finally came to a screeching halt, as the Star Gazer finally came to a complete stop. None of the crew were awake by this point, having lost consciousness either to the extreme g-forces, or from the impact with the flying debris. Neura¡¯s systems were barely operational, but it did whatever it could to provide life support to the critically endangered crew. The first one to wake up was the captain, who had a nasty gash running down from his left shoulder to his right hip. His head felt like someone had replaced his brain with some mashed-up Jello and try as he might, he couldn¡¯t move a muscle. He looked around in a daze, trying to recall where he was when he sensed mini medical bots crawling over his body to staunch the bleeding. He started to panic internally due to his paralysis since he wasn¡¯t sure if it was temporary or not. His ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton, as he couldn¡¯t hear the warning sirens that must have been blaring. Something was being said over the speakers. He just couldn¡¯t hear it. He felt an odd metallic wire going down his ear canal from the medical bot, which finally started to fix some of the damage to his eardrum. Only then did he start to piece together what was being said. But what he heard made his blood run cold. ¡­ARE F¡­ ACT. PREPARE FOR FIRST CONTACT. PREPARE FOR FIRST CONTACT. The message kept repeating over and over, driving the dread deeper into his heart. But then another voice chimed in. A voice so cold and ancient, it sent a shiver up his spine. And even though it used the ship¡¯s speakers, Romanov knew it wasn¡¯t coming from within the ship. And for a moment he wished he hadn¡¯t survived the crash. PREPARE FOR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE DEAD. 2. Red Dot, Green Dot Chapter 2 ¨C Red Dot, Green Dot The sharp metallic sound of the ship¡¯s alarm rang all over the decrepit vessel. In its wild tumble down the atmosphere of the mysterious planet, it had sustained quite a beating. But the damage was yet unknown. The former flight deck was entirely sealed off from the outside, and now housed 8 people and 4 dead bodies. The body bags were placed in the very corner of the room, to keep them out of sight, as if to ignore the loss the rest had suffered. There wasn¡¯t enough time to grieve after all. The remaining crew, all battered and bruised, were desperately trying to use their terminals to get any kind of update or find a glimpse of hope within the dark and gloomy room. They had managed to silence the alarm, but the red flashing light that signified an emergency was ongoing, further disorienting and freaking everyone out. Only the most injured of the group, the captain, sat on his chair staring blankly at the viewport, which was now covered behind a 3-inch-thick metal shielding. The captain¡¯s once pristine uniform was now a blood soaked and shredded mess. He was still out of it, barely registering what was happening around him. He was mumbling the same thing over and over, ¡°Prepare¡­ first¡­ the dead¡­¡± No one had any idea what he was mumbling, chalking it up to a concussion. The XO took over command for the time being. She was trying hard to maintain her nerves so that the other crew did not panic. Sara Schneider had been on numerous difficult missions before. But this situation was unlike any other. The total breakdown in a spaceship¡¯s communication, along with an emergency crash landing on an unknown planet, would be a nightmare by any standards. But add in the fact that they were light years away from their solar system, and that the hull may now have massive ruptures, they were beyond just nightmarish trouble. ¡°Does anyone have an update?¡± she barked out, trying to get the situation under control. ¡°Negative, XO. The comms are down, as is the ship¡¯s mainframe. I cannot even raise Neura. At this point, we are well and truly blind and deaf to anything outside this room,¡± replied the middle-aged man of Asian descent. Barry Wong was the Chief Communications Engineer aboard the Star Gazer, and his slightly chubby physique was testament to his averseness to physical labor. His time was better spent before a computer screen than with a hammer. But he was excellent at what he did, which was why Schneider had specifically requested his addition to the roster. ¡°Nothing from my end either, XO,¡± added the ebony skinned lady with a very thick African accent, Nansubuga Gambe. As the chief robotics engineer, she would have overseen repairing the bots and other secondary system that Neura would need. But since all comms were down, and Neura was offline, her hands were literally tied. The other crew members too shook their heads or gave terse replies to show that it wasn¡¯t looking good. Something needed to be done, and soon. But Schneider didn¡¯t know what. ¡°Well, how about our ExoSuits? Did those come out unharmed?¡± Schneider asked their chief of security, Daniel Craig. He would have been a very good-looking man, with dark hair and brown eyes. Unfortunately, a childhood accident had disfigured his nose a tiny bit, but it hardly affected his charming smile. A smile that was entirely absent given the circumstances. ¡°From what I see, only 7 of the 12 suits are fully functional. I can maybe try to jerry rig one more by tearing down the others for parts. But I can¡¯t guarantee it,¡± he replied solemnly while briefly turning to the 4 body bags on the other side of the room. Checking the ExoSuits was supposed to be the life support engineer¡¯s job. But unfortunately, he was among the dead. Everyone stopped their activities briefly as they turned towards where Craig was looking. The pain was especially apparent on Indira Patel¡¯s, their chief medic, face. The somber woman with curly black hair had tried her best to administer aid, even though her right arm was broken at two different locations. But it was to no avail. For a moment, the entire flight deck was silent, each crew reminiscing about the lives of their lost comrades. Their entire existence now living on in the memories of those that survived. Schneider too was saddened by the unexpected loss. But her duty demanded that she move on so that others could survive. But she didn¡¯t have the heart to break the others out of the reverie they were in, instead choosing to look at her own terminal instead. She pulled up the duty roster of the primary operations crew who were supposed to be stationed in this room.
The Star Gazer Duty Roster
Position Name Status
Captain Alexander Romanov Alive/Incapacitated
Executive Officer Sarah Schneider Alive/Minor injuries
Pilot Zach Brown Dead
Chief of Security Daniel Craig Alive/Minor injuries
Life Support Engineer Nolan Mathews Dead
Communications Engineer Barry Wong Alive/Minor injuries
Chief Medic Indira Patel Alive/Major injuries
Cryogenics Engineer Carlos Rodriguez Alive/Major injuries
Safety Officer Yashiro Takeshi Dead
Robotics Engineer Nansubuga Gambe Alive/Minor injuries
On-board Weapons Specialist Henry Smith Dead
Power Systems Engineer Nimal Perera Dead
The four names that were labeled dead pulled at her gut, but she had to be thankful that at least most of her men and women had survived. She knew each of the deceased personally through one mission or another. They were truly remarkable individuals, the best that humanity had to offer. She closed the list, having decided that the momentary grieving period was sufficient for now.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Alright then, you and the doc can stay back with the captain, while I will lead the rest to do a physical recon of the ship. You have my permission to tear into any non-essential systems or damaged suits to repair the extra one that we need to outfit the rest,¡± she spoke in a commanding voice to get everyone¡¯s attention. The sooner they managed to re-establish comms and analyze their situation, the faster they could formulate a plan for escape. Or survival. The others nodded as they headed for the laid out ExoSuits, another testament to human ingenuity. The suits were made of multiple layers of ballistic shielding, and critical life support systems that would allow them to function unhindered in harsh terrain for weeks. If not for the biological need to eat, the suits could function for months, even years without requiring any tune up or maintenance. Each suit was built with an on-board power source that could theoretically provide the required energy indefinitely. In short, the meat suits that they were built for were the limiting factor in their operation. Once everyone donned their state-of-the-art armored suits, they grabbed a weapon from the secure hold that was keyed into their respective DNA signatures, which it authorized by communicating with the suit¡¯s interface. Only the registered owner of the weapon could fire the plasma discharge projectiles. In anyone else¡¯s hands it would be nothing but a glorified whacking stick. The helmets of the ExoSuits also came with various sensors such as IR cameras and night vision which worked in tandem with the heads-up display, HUD for short. The information was then directly projected onto the retinal implants of the wearer. This completely negated the need for a glass front which was always a safety hazard due to its brittle nature. The suits also allowed free communication between each other and overlayed a name atop everyone to distinguish the identical armor. ¡°Comm check,¡± Schneider spoke into her suit¡¯s built in microphone. The transmitters had an effective range of 200 kilometers (124 miles) and wouldn¡¯t be hindered by any physical barriers. ¡°Reading loud and clear, XO,¡± replied Rodrigues, followed by the other two who were going with her ¨C Wong, and Gambe. The party of four had trained extensively for such operations, and it was almost second nature to them by this point. ¡°Alright. Hang tight Officers Craig and Patel. And keep a close eye on the captain. Reach out to us if anything urgent comes up. Everyone else, watch your footing, and keep your head on a swivel. We don¡¯t know which sections are on the brink of collapse. Under no circumstances are you to expose yourself to the outside till we have ascertained it is safe to do so. Move out,¡± she commanded as the three under her command walked into the airlock with her and sealed the door behind them. As the airlock¡¯s pressure equalized, the outer door opened to reveal a pitch-dark corridor. They turned on their helmet mounted flashlights and spread out to cover the two ends of it. Schneider walked in the lead position; her gun weapon aimed straight at the closest door. But it was nonresponsive. They made a quick perimeter sweep of the adjoining rooms and gathered back at the airlock. ¡°All I see is more damaged terminals, and rubble. We will probably need to head to the middle of the ship to get to the other sleeping pods,¡± said Wong. ¡°Then we can wake up some more hands to help with the mission. We need to reach the tail end of the ship if we are to reestablish contact with Neura. And we need her badly.¡± Wong was the only one among the crew who referred to Neura as a she/her. He was old school and preferred his AI assistants to be female for some reason. The others thought about what he said, and having no better solution, decided to do what he suggested. The group marched in a coordinated manner as they swept through the Star Gazer. Each section obliterated either pre- or post-crash. The fires were snuffed out by the safety systems, but random sparks from exposed wiring were all too common. They had to back track multiple times, since some sections were sealed off. When they tried looking through the portholes, all they saw was that the other side was frozen solid. One of the suits scanners read a staggeringly low temperature of negative 250 Celsius, which was almost absolute zero. For a planet without a sun, this wasn¡¯t unexpected. ¡°Ah,¡± Rodrigues flinched, his voice carrying over the comms. ¡°Rodriguez, Report,¡± Schneider asked, her voice laced with professional concern. ¡°All good, XO. I think I tore one of my stitches. Nothing to be concerned about,¡± he replied. He had a nasty gash on his right leg which hindered certain movements. ¡°Roger that. Head back if it¡¯s something you can¡¯t handle,¡± she replied. Although she hated taking him along, there were no other good options. The three continued in silence through the maze-like structure for another 20 minutes, before approaching a massive blast door that was wide enough to let battle tanks through. It separated the ship¡¯s armory from the rest of the ship and had strict control protocols. Unfortunately, all other ways to the middle section were locked out, leaving this as the only option. Gambe approached the control panel and connected a probe jutting out of her suit¡¯s wrist section. It allowed for emergency hard line connections in case of emergencies such as this. She typed a few things on the touch screen display on her left wrist. Schneider stood beside her while the other two stood with their backs to the door, guarding their rear. ¡°Any luck?¡± Schneider asked. ¡°Just¡­ a¡­ second,¡± Gambe replied, her entire focus on the rapidly flowing text on her wrist. After roughly 45 seconds, she whooped in delight, ¡°Yes. The door still works. The wiring took a beating, and I had rerouted power from other places, buuuuut. Here. We. Go.¡± She stood up triumphantly as Schneider patted her back for a job well done. But the XO¡¯s hand froze in midair when they saw what was on the side. ¡°Umm, XO?¡± Wong asked without turning around. Their field training had drilled in some habits that were hard to die. Under no circumstances were they allowed to give up their lookout. ¡°I got the rear,¡± Rodrigues spoke while aiming his gun straight to their rear. Only then did Wong step back and turn around. ¡°What the actual f¡­,¡± Wong froze mid-sentence. ¡°Would you guys just tell me what the hell is going on?¡± Rodriguez asked. When no response came, he was unable to hold in his curiosity anymore. He stepped towards the wall to his right to better cover himself from both sides and looked at what his team was gawking at. Only to find¡­ nothing. As in, there was no one there at all. As though his team just disappeared into thin air. He could see the debris scattered about in the large room on the other side, but not a living soul was to be found. Panic set in as he wildly checked every angle with his finger on the trigger. But nothing jumped at him. ¡°XO, Wong, Gambe, report. Does anyone read me? Anyone?¡± he replied while choking down the dread and panic. He started hyperventilating at the sudden turn of events and scrutinized every shadow, every crack, for any signs of his team. ¡°We read you Rodriguez,¡± came the reply from Craig, which let the terrified man calm a bit. ¡°I lost them,¡± he reported over comms with a quivering voice. ¡°Lost them? What do you mean?¡± Craig asked with concern. ¡°Lost as in, I have no bloody clue where they went,¡± Rodriguez said angrily to squash his nerves. ¡°Explain yourself,¡± Craig asked in concern and confusion. ¡°I need to get out of here. I am coming back. Will explain everything when I get back,¡± Rodrigues informed them as he stepped away from the door where his team disappeared. ¡°Negative. Hold your position. I am on my way. I can see you on the map, but not the others. We¡¯ll figure it out when I reach there,¡± Craig responded with resolve, making Rodriguez pause his retreat. He looked around the corridor and found a room that had a slightly ajar door. He quickly entered it and did a through sweep of the entire place. When nothing out of the ordinary popped up, he kicked down a table to act as a shield and knelt behind it. ¡°I am barricading myself in a room two doors down from the blast door. Announce yourself before entering if you don¡¯t want to be vaporized,¡± Rodriguez said in a far firmer tone. His panic was finally coming under control, his training kicking in. ¡°Roger that. I have a rough idea of the route you took. If I hoof it, I can make it to you in 5 minutes. Let¡¯s maintain radio silence in case the others try to contact us,¡± Craig explained his plan before the comms went deathly quiet. The veteran engineer started a countdown on his terminal, while pulling up his interactive map on his ocular implants. It clearly showed a map, complete with sections they had marked as inaccessible, and the path they took. The map currently displayed 4 dots, of which 2 red ones were stationary in the star deck. The other dot, this one green, was heading towards Rodrigues at a fast pace along the route they had marked. As Craig¡¯s green dot approached, Rodriguez started releasing pressure from his trigger finger, in case he lost control and accidentally fired. ¡°Approaching your position, hold your fire,¡± Craig announced before waving his flashlight outside the door to get his teammate¡¯s attention. ¡°I see you. Clear to approach,¡± Rodrigues said while aiming his gun slightly to the right so as not to flag his companion, while maintaining a clear line of fire towards the only exit. Craig checked his rear while entering the room and closing the door shut. Only then did the two men relax as they settled down behind the impromptu barricade. ¡°So, what is going on?¡± Craig asked with worry clear in his voice. And Rodiguez explained the best he could, not holding anything back. By the end of it, Rodiguez imagined the frown that must have been plastered on his comrade¡¯s face. ¡°And you heard nothing?¡± Craig asked yet again after the explanation. ¡°We are all on comms. If I heard something, you would have heard it too,¡± Rodriguez said in exasperation. He was as lost and confused as any other guy would be in this situation. ¡°Alright, alright. Let¡¯s take a step back and analyze this. Maybe they fell down a hole you missed. It is pretty dark around here, wouldn¡¯t be surprising¡­,¡± Craig began to explain when suddenly. CREEEEEEEK¡­. CREEEEEEEK¡­¡­ CREEEEEEEK. The sound of nails being scraped on a chalkboard erupted from outside the door. Both men jumped up in alarm and trained their guns from where the sound was coming from. ¡°What in the hell is that?¡± Craig shrieked in horror. ¡°Hell, if I know.¡± ¡°You were here before me. Didn¡¯t you clear the corridor?¡± ¡°I did. But not the other side of the blast door.¡± Craig pulled up his map to see if any of their missing party were outside the door. But choked up when he saw that there was a big red dot right outside the door. ¡°What the freak is that?¡± Rodriguez asked, no doubt having pulled up the map too. Both men knew that green dots represented motion from someone who was in an ExoSuit. While red dots represented that someone or something was moving at the location without one. And given the circumstances, there shouldn¡¯t have been anyone who was walking around without a suit. ¡°Let¡¯s calm down. Maybe it¡¯s a survivor. They might have woken up and couldn¡¯t access a suit. So, they are walking around blind. They may need our help,¡± Craig said, but had a hard believing it himself. But he heard no response from the man beside him. He looked over to his companion, only to find him frozen stiff. ¡°Then why the hell are there 6 red dots in the star deck,¡± Rodriguez asked, terror rising unbidden in his voice.