"THE EVENT"
Entry 020110093
Warmth flooded into the bio scanning chamber as the security door slid open in front of Dez and Alex, allowing them to step through into the rear access chamber of the small government issue mining rig. The 2 men, about 6 foot in height each, almost completely filled the space in the room with their gear as they tiredly unloaded it onto the shelves and into several storage containers.
“Next time I warn you about a pressure pocket, maybe you could smash into it with your pick a little harder…” Alex said sarcastically. “I think there still may be a few rocks that didn’t smash into the outer hull.”
Dez rolled his eyes and continued organizing his equipment into it’s proper assigned locations. “I probably could have given it a little more oomph if you gave me more notice than mid back-swing…”
Alex grunted, finished clumsily stashing his gear in one of the containers, and proceeded into the main corridor of the ship.
It was the last day of the 2 week deep space mining operation, and the duo had more than enough Aezonic to satisfy their quota. In fact, Dez was anticipating reaching the 25% surplus mark, which would grant both he and Alex a bonus week’s pay along with an extra week paid time off for the year. They had spend almost the full 14 days prospecting and sampling asteroids with almost no success before rerouting just a couple hours away to a neighboring moon fragment where they found their entire haul in a short amount of time. Aside from the pocket of pressure that Dez accidentally ruptured, sending rock, chemicals, gas, and hazards debris hurling into the side of their ship and requiring a couple hours of repair work, the trip had been relatively uneventful. It was the first unsupervised assignment for either of the recently graduated and enlisted young men, and the time away from home was taking its toll.
After finishing the hull work and loading the last of the Aezonic crystal into the zero-energy tanks, they washed up, then set a course back to the base, Solar Prime.
“When we get back, remind me to contact Katrii.” Alex asked. “She said if I even leave the docking bay after returning from base without letting her know we’re safe, she would kill me herself. …and that it wouldn’t be as pleasant as a tragic mining accident.”
“She really cares about you, doesn’t she.” Dez laughed. This wouldn’t be the first time Alex seemed to completely forget about all responsibilities and obligations back home when setting out on a mission, however in the past they had always been supervised.
Dez always looked up to Alex, and admired how he seemed unaffected by worry and fear, but certainly didn’t envy his… absent minded tendencies.
“Okay, I set the coordinates. I’m going to go fire up the main engine and hit the hay. You’ve got the first shift piloting. See you in a few hours.” Alex heaved himself out of the co-pilot’s chair and left for the engine room.
“Thanks Alex. Have a good nap.”
– – –
Dez opened his eyes, and heard a faint beeping sound while coming to. As his vision slowly cleared, he realized there was a red warning alert flashing across the dash. Nothing vital, in fact it wasn’t a warning he recalled seeing before.
“Higher than normal energy levels detected in storage bay.” The message read.
“Damn it, Alex.” Dez swore out loud, but to himself. “You forgot to seal a tank didn’t you.“
He walked back, placed his hand on the security pad, and the door to the storage bay hissed open. It was obvious which unit hadn’t been closed all the way; pink light radiated out into the room, casting slightly flickering shadows on the walls. Dez could feel the raw energy in the room penetrate his body, but knew that in limited exposures of unrefined Aezonic crystals like this, there was no real risk of danger. As he closed the lid and latched the bolts, something else cause his eye. Something that wasn’t noticeable with the warm flickering light from the open tank. He looked over at one of the other tanks across the room by the door, and saw a barely glowing red liquid that looked like it had spilled out of over the edge before it was closed.
Carefully, he approached the strange, thick substance, and with a steel rod he grabbed from along a nearby wall, touched the liquid to see what would happen.
Nothing.
He took a sample and deposited it in a small biohazard case, then after exiting and sealing the storage bay behind him, headed back to the cockpit to do a scan of the contents. On his way back was when he realized that he had fallen asleep while on duty, and a sudden rush of uneasiness settled over Dez.
How long was I asleep? What time is it now?
He quickened his pace, and upon seeing the ship’s clock, was able to relax a little bit. Only an hour over my shift. I’ll just tell Alex I let him sleep a little extra.
Dez loaded the biohazard container into the scanner to see if he could figure out what the strange substance was. He flipped a few switches, adjusted the potency settings, and began a full diagnostic assessment. Within just a few seconds, the scan stopped abruptly, the screen turned black, and a single message appeared on the display; “Confidential, Clearance level A. System disabled indefinitely, report code #0034 to overseeing officer, and enter clearance code to reactivate when reported. Standing by…” The system clicked, and they dropped out of light-speed then came to a dead stop in the middle of deep space. Then all main lights and power in the ship went into standby.
Code #0034 wasn’t unknown to Dez, unfortunately. His father once told him a story about a fleet admiral who was kidnapped, and upon learning of his disappearance, the crew sent a flurry of emergency code #0034 messages back to the station.
He knew that this code was meant to immediately alert Lord Veyrin himself.
Another hour passed as Dez sat in shock, unsure of what to do. At this point, he figured he may as well call Alex up and fill him in.
– – –
Alex sat in the copilot seat, visibly upset by when Dez had just told him. Dez got the idea that Alex also had experience with code #0034 and possibly knew of it’s severity, so he asked him flatly: “Do you know what that means?”
Alex didn’t answer.
They both sat in silence for another couple minutes; the weight of the pending decision was more enormous than they could possibly imagine.
“That’s it. there is only one option.” Alex finally said, piercing the silence, and startling Dez. “We have to report this to Eren. This is a government-owned vehicle, with trackers, logs, and not to mention a list of at least 100 people who have scheduled interactions with it over the coming months, from servicing to repairs. So whether we report it now or not, it will come out that a #0034 code was triggered while we were in command of this ship. We have to report it.”
He was right, and they both knew it.
The pair were so deep in space, the only method of communication with a range far enough to reach Solar Prime was an Aezonic core–boosted E signal that was typically used for emergencies only. But at this point, Dez knew the ships power was on lockdown without that security code from Eren, leaving them without an alternative option.
Dez clicked open the panel that covered the com station housing, and keyed in the code to access the long range signal. After entering the code and assigning Eren as the recipient, he sent it off.
Within seconds a security code was received in reply. “It’s from Eren, that’s his signing pin.” Alex remarked upon seeing the code. “Go ahead and put it in, Dez. I’m going to head back and make sure everything fires up once you unlock this thing.”
Dez felt like throwing up, although he didn’t fully know why. The air in the ship felt muggy and stale. As he walked into the cockpit and entered the clearance code into the system, he thought back over the entire event, trying to see if he was missing any details.
Alex went to sleep for a few hours, and I was going to stay up and take the first shift piloting… I must have fallen asleep almost right away, and then didn’t wake up until an hour after I was supposed to trade shifts with Alex. Did the alert for the higher than normal energy levels detected in the storage bay wake me? Why would that suddenly change, though? We certainly would’ve seen if there was an open tank before finishing loading the crystals. It didn’t magically change state… something must have interacted with it…
The nausea worsened right as his mind recounted. Suddenly, the main power came online, and he heard the engine firing up. The computer flashed to life, and displays updated to resume their course back to base.
“I wish I felt as good as the engine looks.” Alex reported, entering the cockpit and retaking his seat in the copilot chair.
“So what do you think Eren is going to say about that code? And that substance? Do you think he knows what it is? He sure replied to that signal quickly… Almost like he was waiting for it…”
“Now let’s calm down.” Dez cut him off. “I think you’re letting this get to you. Maybe you’ve been sleeping a little too much.”
“I don’t know…” Alex turned with a blank stare to face the front of the ship as the rig launched into light speed. “I know we’re heading back home, and everything seems fine, I just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong.”
Dez rolled his eyes “Again… let’s calm down. We will be back to base in no time, then let’s grab a couple drinks and relax.”
Dez felt his heart pounding.
Something wasn’t right.
– – –
Harsh white lights flickered in splintered rays against the cold, dark metal of the adjacent section of the base that Dez could see through the side blast windows of Solar Prime. From his vantage, he could make out the entire main docking bay where he and Alex had just landed.
Upon arrival, Alex had insisted on being the one to tell Eren directly about the code, and the substance. Although Dez was the better pilot, Alex always seemed to take the lead and most of the time he was fine with that. With other circumstances, Dez never would have let him do something like this alone, especially if there were any expected discipline or foreseeable consequences. In this case, although the situation was unsettling and strange, Dez was content to let Alex debrief Eren on the journey while he cleared his mind in the lobby.
Dez sat on a hard chair in a line of about 20 others along a wall facing the large side windows. He observed the crew working from a distance as his tired mind wandered. The first 13 days of the past few weeks had been so uneventful, then finally on the final day of the mission, such a seemingly small and quickly resolved blip had caused him so much anxiety, and drained both he and Alex of energy.
He wondered how Alex was doing in the office behind him. Dez became aware the almost an hour had passed since he went in, and started questioning how well the meeting was going.
Suddenly, a bright orange and white flash disrupted the monotony of his slightly blurred view of the docking bay. A silent explosion that caused the entire base to shake, however subtly. His mind seemed to move in slow motion as the next few minutes played out.
After the flash, he could tell there was a small fire in one of the bay stations. Within seconds, emergency lights were dancing against the walls through the blast windows. Then it hit him.
“Wait… that’s…” He started out loud.
Where we docked…
Instantly to his feet, Dez moved across the room toward the door to Eren’s office. He placed a hand on door above the security panel, and with his breath held, cupped his other hand around his ear and pressed it against the cold door and listened for any sound coming from inside.
Silence...
He touched the panel to open the door, and it hissed open without delay.
The air in his lungs vanished as he scanned the room, then all sensation of feeling abandoned him as his gaze settled on a pile of 2 motionless bodies folded up on each other.
There before him, in a puddle of blood, lay the lifeless bodies of Alex and Eren.
End of entry.
