Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26901754-20150819155057

Fifty years had passed.



Waking up from cryosleep was harder than it had ever was, a buzzing in his ears made him sick, his body numb and his mind fogged. It took half an hour just to sit on the bed, but glancing at the date set on the monitor almost made him fall back down again.



"12/3/2185"



The Captain finally made it out of the bed, went to the control panel alongside the monitor and stood in front of it so the automated body check program would start, but it didn´t, so he proceeded to activate the program manually, which triggered a green ray that emanated from the top of the monitor and went up and down multiple times through his body, until a beeping noise drove his attention to the monitor, which let him know that he was as healthy as he had been when he went to sleep. He looked at the date again.



- So long?



He started running the numbers. The ship should have reached Andromeda, the closest known galaxy. The calculations had pointed to 23 years on regular speed, 30 years if the energy saving mode was activated, and no more. The fact that the computer had woken him up after this long  meant something was wrong.



- It cannot be.



The Captain left the room, went down the corridor and walked past the secured door that served as the exit from the bridge of the ship, which looked as secure and firm as it had been 50 years ago when he had locked it. "A necessary measure" he remembered saying to himself, but how was it that he had locked it?. Reaching the cockpit door, he had to open the door manually since the door did not react to his approach. Nothing seemed to be automated anymore, probably because of the energy saving program. He sat on the pilot chair and he gazed into the deep darkness that was out there. As the ship traversed silently through space, he could see the countless stars in the distance that colored up that, and other galaxies.



<p class="MsoNormal">- I think we´re still in the Milky Way.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The navigation program was not working.He reached for the computer panel in front of him and started the communications program, signaling back to Earth. No response. He restarted the program, this time trying to catch any signal being sent through space. No response. That made him feel uneasy. Last time, he had been able to contact Pilgrim on the outskirts of the milky way, right before his large spell on cryosleep. He tried contacting pilgrim with the direct signal but to no avail. He decided to check the live footage that showed the view from the rear of the ship. He could see a small hole in the hull of the ship, like the one a small asteroid would leave, but it didn´t look too grave. He could also see blackness where stars should have been, an unnatural darkness, like staring into nothing, and that made him paler than he already was after that much time without sun.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- Are we passing through an anomaly?

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The mission had started on 2134, right after after Coriollis Station had gone dark. Comunications with the station were futile, and the space drones sent to investigate did not return. The initial thought was that an electromagnetic storm had hit the station and kept it isolated and had jammed the drones, so the Mission ships were equipped with new technology that would disable such effects.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The Captain had volunteered as soon as the Mission was conceived. They were to reach Coriollis Station in Andromeda and report back their findings. Orders were strict as to the importance of the mission, so there was no turning back until they had news of the station. Pilgrim, the other ship assigned to the Mission had the same orders.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">It was after loosing contact with Earth that things went south. They had been travelling for a year when it happened. The crew became restless, and short after fights broke out. Half of the crew wanted to turn back, but he knew that was not going to happen, they had to push forward. That was the way fear showed in men, through violence. Not being able to control the crew, the Captain locked himself in the bridge, just as the mutiny was enforced. His senior officers were all executed, and the part of the crew that mutined tried to get into the bridge, but that was the most secured part of the ship, capable of resisting even high impact explosions, he was safe there. All of this he could see through the live footage provided by the multiple cameras on the ship.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">He had contacted Pilgrim to report on the situation, to which they responded with the idea to go into cryosleep for the remainder of the journey, to let them fight it out. They logged off by telling him of a situation concerning "irregularaties on the outer hull of their ship". That was the last time he had been able to contact them.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- That buzzing sound is really getting on my nerves now.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">He noticed then the reason why the computer on the ship had woken him up. A message on the internal comunications program. He proceeded to open.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">-"still alive, captain?"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The message was being played on a loop, which probably caused the computer to view it as an emergency broadcast, waking him up. he didn´t have time to respond when the next message was already played.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "yes you are"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The voice was as neutral as that of a military man, not a surprise considering half the crew were trained navy men. Still, how did the man know he was alive? He proceeded with caution, remebering the mutiny that had killed his officers, 50 years back.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The Captain turned the live footage program on. A red dot appeared on the corner of the monitor. Must of the images were black, the cameras probably destroyed in the fighting, only the crew´s quarters camera seemed to be working, and it showed about a dozen crew members laying on their cryosleep beds.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "State your name and rank on this ship, please."

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "captain i´m here with the rest of the crew, just letting you know that the situation has been dealt with"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "You mean the mutiny? how is that resolved?"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "yes captain, it has been over for a while now, the rebel crew members where placed on cryosleep, but we have been unable to reach you thus far, due to the codes on the secured door, i left the message on your terminal before going into cryosleep myself"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The codes! that is how he had locked the door to the bridge. He proceeded to look for them in the main cockpit terminal where he had put them 50 years ago. With the help of the remaining crew members they would be able to send navigational probes to state their position and know how far they were from their objective. "It has taken us too long, is the Mission still on?" he thought. He glanced at the live footage program where the crew members could be seen on their beds, but the image was completely black now, it seemed that the monitor had been turned off automatically.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "The code is 047-233435-456. Make sure to send in what´s left of the crew that worked on the navigational programs, we need to reach Coriollis. And send people to assess the small damage on the hull, a rogue asteroid might hace hit us"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">- "yes, captain"

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The Captain stared at outer space through the window on the bridge, infinite stars and infinite galaxies, they could be anywhere, what if their course had been off for those 50 years? The thought made him nervous. As he was looking at the flickering lights that the stars seemed to produce, he noticed a flickering light out of the corner of his eye. The monitor that showed the live footage of the ship was still black, but the red dot was still on, indicating the image was live.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">He noticed the darkness of the image on the monitor, like staring into heart of nothingness. He knew then he had made a mistake.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">The last thing the Captain heard before the the buzz became unbearable was the sound of the secured door opening behind him, and as he turned with his hands covering his ears,he saw only darkness. <ac_metadata title="Could anyone review my story as to avoid deletion? Deep Space"> </ac_metadata>