William Maggin

Space, has always drawn man’s attention, has always made man curious, and has always been man’s great ambition. “This Delta shuttle 117, we have [ERROR]......onboard, requesting immediate [ERROR].....update on the planned trajectory, audio confirmation needed to continue journey“ “This is United Nation Space Command proceed through asteroid cluster, repeat proceed through asteroid cluster, safe travels D-117” “Thank you”. [TRANSMISSION ENDED]

I woke up to the sound of the alarm system, it was hard to hear at first and sounded strange. I wasn’t sure where I was but I knew one thing for certain, I wasn’t on the planet Sycorax anymore and I definitely was not in my cabin. I was on the floor of the infirmary with the cabinet on top of me. It was mainly on my legs and lower torso which is why I had horrendous pain that left me yelling for help. No one answered to my rescue and the alarm still rang. The only light within the room was the flashing alarm that had a bright red hue that could give anybody a headache if they endured its flash for too long. As I looked around with my limited range of sight, I was able to spot a piece of a pipe, which was once on the ceiling, and use it to rest the cabinet on while I tried to shimmy out under it. The piece of the pipe was rectangular, wide, and quite large which made it the ideal tool to use to rescue me from my helpless situation. As I shimmied out from under the cabinet I was only able to use my arms and average upper body strength to help myself. As I crawled on the floor toward the Medical bed, I found myself again in utter agony. As I got into the bed it turned on and activated the robotic arms to cut open my clothes and begin to heal my bruises and cuts from the glass on the cabinet. During the process, I was put under general anesthesia and wouldn’t wake up again for another hour. As I fell into a deep sleep I began to relive what had happened on Sycorax.

I was in the Research tent and called out to Commander Alton Bray, “So you have come to check our research commander, I thought you were too busy destroying the vegetation”, said Dr. Maya Sundaresh. “For your information Doctor, the vegetation that the crew is cutting down is because of the recent perimeter breaches that Mendicant Bias has been detecting”. “You would do well to know your place Doctor, after all my father is the whole reason we and especially you are on this trip; I wouldn’t want to report to him that you are questioning my command capabilities,” said Commander Bray. “Not at all, I was simply just pointing out the lack of time my team and I have had to properly study the vegetation. I was just hoping you could have some of your men bring us some samples.” said Dr. Sundarsh. “I will have them bring some to your team, good day Doctor”. “Good day Commander”. Oh! how that man vexes me so, he knows nothing and is as dull as a rustic knife!. The only reason he is on this journey is because of his incumbent father. I began to wake up from my deep slumber, which was the greatest relief since I was tired of reliving my memories.

Awakening to the sight of pitch-black is always comforting, especially when it is immediately interrupted by a bright red light that screams like a loud siren. The alarm to my surprise was still on. When I first woke up I thought it was a standard drill but an alarm should never last this long. As I got up from the bed I made my way to the closet where there was an extra uniform and got dressed. The uniform adjusted to my size because of the nanotechnology and had a standard belt. Although it wasn’t as comfortable as my lab uniform it would suffice for the time being. The door was closed, and for some reason locked on the inside, did I lock the door, if I did what was

the purpose. All doors were motion censored, so why was this one shut? The questions kept flooding into my head but I had to put them aside because I still needed to figure out what was going on. Once I unlocked the door with my biometrics I looked out a window to see if the ship was moving or still above Sycorax. It turns out we were moving but closer towards Earth than I had initially anticipated or expected because we were passing by Jupiter. How long was I out for, was I hiding from something, why was the ship in poor condition, was the ship in actual danger. The hallway outside the infirmary was ravaged. There were pipes hanging down, vents exposed that made hissing sounds, lights flashing on and off, and worst of all plasma shots from a railgun on the walls. The hallway was eerie and dark, the only light visible was from a broken light array that was blinking inconsistently. Now I definitely knew something horrible had happened. I called out into the hallway to see if anyone was there, “Dr. Johnson are you there, Dr. Elizabeth!, is anyone there! All I heard was the hissing sound from the pipe that wouldn’t stop but as I looked at where the alarm light should have been I noticed it was off. How had I not noticed this, was my head hit so hard from the impact of the cabinet that I was permanently damaged. I began to walk cautiously down the hall, making sure I knew where I was walking because I could barely see the hand in front of me. I managed to make a right turn in the darkness and see a dimly lit sign that said “Elevator B1”. I made my way towards the door and as it opened I was greeted by blood.

The blood was everywhere, on the walls, and on the ceiling. It was dripping from the ceiling in such a manner that it looked like rain. As for the bodies, all that remained was the tissue and flesh, with the occasional sighting of an eye. Most of the remains were on the floor but they were everywhere; the color of the blood was a dark red which clearly meant it was drying and had been like this for a while. It was definitely not the worst thing I had seen and didn’t really take me by surprise. I had seen how pork was made and this was no different. I walked away from the elevator calmly and walked into the security room that was near it. As the door opened I saw that the monitors were still functioning and had power. I found this weird and concerning because the power had been out everywhere else I had been. Was it because someone or more likely something had accessed the room recently? It must have been because of that. The room itself was brightly lit with a door on one side of the room, and the monitors and desk on the opposite side. To the right of the door was an elevator that went straight to the observation deck. I sat in one of the many chairs that the desks had and began to look back at footage from earlier. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for or when I should notice it but I knew it would reveal how the ship changed from day to night. The footage was enlightening. Date and time are stamped on this video:

[DATE OCTOBER 31, 2254, TIME 14:23]

[BRIDGE RECORDING COMMENCING]

COMMANDER BRAY: “Mendicant Bias do not let that [ERROR] onto the ship” MENDICANT BIAS: “Sorry sir but the Fore[ERROR] are correct about humanity and you sir”

COMMANDER BRAY: “Correct about what! What are you saying!?”

MENDICANT BIAS: “I am sorry sir but this is the only way, I hope you will understand” COMMANDER BRAY: “Mendicant Bias you are deactivated under directive 89B” MENDICANT BIAS: “Directive 89B is no longer valid, preparing docking of object” COMMANDER BRAY: “I am contacting the UNSC, you have gone rogue Mendicant”

COMMANDER BRAY: “This Delta shuttle 117, we have [ERROR] onboard, requesting immediate [ERROR], UNSC Station do you copy?”

MENDICANT BIAS: “I cut the transmission, they cannot know about my master’s plans yet”

MENDICANT BIAS: “Commander Bray you are relieved of your command, sentinels terminate him”

COMMANDER BRAY: “No No you can’t do this!, stop, stop, I order you to stop machines!, aahhhhh!!!” (railguns shots)

[BRIDGE RECORDING ENDED]

I never did like the Commander anyways, but to be bested by a machine is a sorry way to die. I need to contact the UNSC about this. If people were still alive on this ship they must have already tried doing just that, and it seems if they did, they are already dead. I need to get to the observation deck. It is the only other place that has override controls for communication in and out of the ship; seeing as the bridge was taken. I made my way across the room and went down the elevator. I arrived on the observation deck and walked toward the console. The observation deck was just as its name suggested, it was used to observe planets and stars while in space. Oh how wonderful space looked through the observation deck. It was at the bottom of the Delta-117 and was a large glass bulge that stuck out of the ship. On the inside, there was this series of catwalks and rooms that allowed staff to conduct research. It was where Dr. Elizabeth, one of my dearest friends, conducted her research. As I interfaced with the console I noticed Earth directly in front of the Delta-117, but even closer was the UNSC Orbital Station. I became overwhelmed with joy that I was not only back home but that I was safe, or so I thought. The joy quickly faded into horror as I realized the Delta-117 was not so much as close but rather on a direct collision course toward the Station’s center. I knew that from my brief time at the UNSC Orbital Station that the fusion reactor was housed in the center area. An alarm came back on but this time it was accompanied by a voice saying “Danger speed is too high, adjust speed, Danger speed is too high, adjust speed”. The Delta-117 if anything didn’t slow down but instead got faster. The only thing I could think about was the fact that the last thing I would hear would be the damn alarm I had woken up to.

(BOOOOOMM)