~~~~
“Twenty years ago today,” the
captain began, “the exploration vessel Lilu and its crew of seven, disappeared
while en route for the Magnus Sector. It would have been the first vessel to
thoroughly explore that section of space. In a twist of fate, the long thought
lost ship was detected in the Maxin Sector less than a week ago. It is our
mission to investigate the vessel and determine the fate of its mission and
crew. Any questions?”
“Just one,” the pilot raised his
hand, “what’s the Lilu doing in the Maxin Sector? That’s nowhere near Magnus,
it’s hard to imagine they could go so far off course. Are we sure it’s the Lilu
and not just some scavenger or pirate who jacked their distress beacon?”
“I understand your concern, but
that’s not the case,” the captain replied. “I had the same questions, but
command assured me it could only be the Lilu. A few unmanned drones were sent
ahead and confirmed it.”
“If you say so, Captain,” the pilot
nodded.
“Now then,” the navigator stepped
forward and pointed to a star map on the wall. “The Lilu’s last recorded
location was roughly half-way to the Magnus Sector. They missed their next
report to command, which was supposed to occur at the three-fourths marks,
roughly five cycles later. The report never came, and the vessel was declared
missing within two cycles.” The navigator drew a line along the map, from the
half-way mark to the Maxin sector, which formed a curve. “Command wants us to
determine the chain of events that lead to the vessel going off course. Some of
the upper brass is concerned there was a major malfunction, and they’re afraid
such an incident could be repeated.”
“Same old command,” the medic
remarked.
“It’s just to assuage their fears,”
the navigator responded. “Best to make them happy, it keeps them quiet and out
of our hair.”
“If that’s all you lot have to say,”
the captain spoke up, “prepare your equipment we’ll be arriving within a
centicycle.”
~--~
As the recovery team’s ship came
within sight of the Lilu, first impressions were not favorable. The Lilu showed
clear signs of decay and damage, as though it had been run through an asteroid
field. Cursory attempts to hail the vessel were met with silence. The captain,
medic, and a few other crew members were sent out as an away team to more
thoroughly investigate the derelict vessel.
“No life support,” the engineer
commented as they entered into the Lilu. “Barely enough power to open the
airlock.”
“Then let’s move quickly,” the
captain declared from inside his bulky spacesuit.
“Well, I know this might be obvious,
but no life signs aboard,” the medic revealed as he held a scanner out. The
Lilu was not a large ship, only a little bigger than an RV, yet it still felt
empty. There was no sign of the crew aside for a pair of bleach, white
skeletons, one in the pilot seat and the other curled up in a closet.
“How many crewmembers were there
supposed to be?” The engineer asked.
“Seven,” the captain replied, “but
I’m more worried about the decomposition.”
“Well, the life support on these
exploration vessels is built to last,” the medic chimed in. “You never know
when one of these long term missions could go horribly wrong. Although I will
admit, the complete decomposition is out of the ordinary.”
“Is that right?” A rookie crewmember
jittered in his space suit.
“Don’t worry rookie, you’ll be fine
as long as you don’t breath the air,” the medic joked.
“You sure? I mean wait a minute,”
the rookie stammered while the rest of the crew chuckled.
“Enough fooling around let’s-” the
captain started before a loud, metal creak freaked out the entire group.
“Everyone out, that’s the ship’s
hull cracking,” the engineer warned. The away team quickly fled the vessel,
they didn’t even wait for the airlock to fully open before they wiggled out of
it. As they floated off into space, the Lilu collapsed in on itself behind
them, right as their own ship came in to pick them up.
~--~
“How will we report this to
command?” The navigator asked.
“We tell them the truth,” the
captain replied. “The vessel collapsed almost immediately after we entered.
There was little we could derive from the experience except for the fact five
bodies were missing.”
“What about the decomposed bodies?”
The engineer brought up, “being locked inside a ship should have slowed it to a
crawl. Yet, those bones looked like they had been left to bake in a desert.”
“I’ll leave it as a footnote,” the
captain declared. “If I know command they’ll get hung up on the missing bodies
and won’t even consider the decomposition.”
“We still don’t know how they got so
far off course,” the medic commented. “Command will be breathing down
engineering’s neck for that.”
“Nah, I’ve got a theory that’ll shut
them up,” the engineer revealed.
“Let’s hear it,” the captain leaned
towards the engineer with interest.
“It’s real simple, the navigator,
the pilot, the captain or some rookie was left to enter the coordinates into
their auto-pilot,” the engineer theorized. “Then they entered one or two of the
numbers wrong and left it alone. Next thing they know they’ve been heading the
wrong direction for a few cycles and have no idea where they are. With no idea
how to get back on their route, they wander around lost until life support
fails.”
“That still doesn’t explain the lack
of bodies,” the medic pointed out.
“I said it would shut command up,”
the engineer retorted, “I didn’t say it would explain everything. I say we let
this get filed away and forgotten about. Leave it to the conspiracy nuts to
piece together what happened. Command will be off our backs, we’ll get paid and
go home.” The room went silent.
“I see your point,” the captain
nodded, the rest of the recovery team stared at their leader, “Any objections?”
~~~~
Sometimes an adequate explanation is preferable to the full truth. It also means less work, so win win right? Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
~~~~
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