Chapter Text
The craft whirred to life under the crew’s feet as a calm, trained voice sounded over the coms.
“This is mission control. We are sending you off, engage safety protocol 29-B/2, and you should arrive at your destination soon after waking from cryosleep.”
“Affirmative mission control.” the crew replied in unison as they began engaging the first stages of flight protocol and readying the sleep chambers.
This was the first mission beyond the Milky Way into another sector. Their mission was to drift and collect various types of data. All of them were calm on the surface, but the atmosphere in the ship was stifling, all apprehensive and nervous.
Patton Kardia, the ship’s cook and mental wellness practitioner, was currently prepping cryo-chambers with Virgil Sollicitus, the ship’s mechanic. Virgil always made sure everything was checked and double checked, which was probably why he was picked for this mission. Roman Claudius, the captain, was with Logan Cerebrum, the data examiner and physical doctor, they were discussing the mission objectives while locking down equipment and starting flight and cryo protocol on the system. So far everything was going according to plan with everything, no mishaps to be found
They all finished with their work and Roman commed in one last time to inform Base that they were beginning cryo process. They all migrated to the pods, although a bit hesitant, they all entered and engaged the safety and started the process of freezing themselves for deep space travel.
XxXxX
Virgil felt himself slowly rousing from his foggy sleep. He was cold. Very very cold. He opened his eyes as his frosted lashes stuck. He slowly reached up and disengaged the lock on his cryopod and sat up carefully. He took in a breath of the ship’s filtered air and looked over to see his crewmates rising as well, captain already standing and helping Patton stand as he yawned. Virgil wiped his eyes and got up as well, Logan sending a glance in his direction. Patton skipped over to Virgil excitedly with a huge smile.
“Good Mornin Pal! How’d ya sleep?” he asked cheerfully.
“I slept great, thanks Pat.” Virgil replied, giving a rare genuine smile, even if it was small. That just made Patton’s smile widen.
“Glad to hear! Well, there sure is a lot of work to be done! I gotta go prepare my ward and the kitchen, you should talk to the captain about assignments,” Pat said with a little wink.
“Yeah yeah, go do your magic, Catch ya later Pat.”
Patton hopped off with Logan following behind. Virgil sighed at the thought of having to approach the captain. He was normally really boisterous, and didn't have any qualms with poking fun at him. He did not want to deal with that when he just woke up. He sighed and stepped out of the cryo room into the quiet hallway. The corridor was covered in white paneling that gave an airy mood, and it was wide to add to the effect. Virgil knew every bit of what was behind those panels and how it worked. He stretched and examined his space issued clothing, a thin but tough skin suit that armor or other accessories could be attached. It was a tasteful black and purple for his rank as mechanic, whereas the captain’s was white and red, the cook had his light blue and grey suit, and the data collector and reader had his suit as dark blue and black. Their suits reflected their main jobs, so both Patton and Logan each had a patch on the left side of their chests to show they were also doctors.
Virgil ran a hand through his hair and sighed. This was going to be a boring five years of his life. He stepped forward through the corridor towards the main deck. His footsteps echoed in the silence. God he hated silence. He brought up his arm to his face. He pressed a few buttons on his C.M.U.D. (Compact Multi Utility Device) also known as a C-mud. The C-mud beeped and music started playing in the ear buds he always had in. with a sigh of relief he finally made it to the deck after turning down a series of corridors. When he stepped into the room he saw the captain conversing with Patton. Pat finished talking and the captain nodded. Then turned to Virgil and his smile fell slightly.
“Oh, Mechanic Sollicitus... You’re out of your chamber.” he said with the fakest smile.
“Is that a bad thing, captain?” Virgil replied with full on snark.
“No no no, I was just under the impression you would, hm, what's the word? Oh yes, hide away in your chambers.” He replied, his smile turning into a frown as they got at each other.
“Now kids-” Patton tried interjecting,
“Oh is that so captain, if I didn't know any better, I’d say that was more of a wish then assumption.” Virgil spat back,
“What if it was, Mechanic?”
“Don’t test the man who makes sure your ship is running sir.”
“Was that a threat?”
“What if it was, Captain?”
“If I may interject,” Logan interrupted, walking up to the helpless Patton and the feuding men, “we are going to be floating aimlessly through space for five Terra years, constantly interacting and being in close quarters with each other, and you are threatening to destroy the ship,” he pointed to Virgil, “and you are threatening to lock up one of our most vital and only crew members, just because you don’t like him” he pointed to Roman. “Now if you two will stop acting like bickering, blubbering, infants, I would like to check over the system and get our location.”
All three stared at Logan in surprise. Both Virgil and Roman knew he was right, so they gave each other one last dirty look and parted ways. Patton commended Logan on his de-escalation but asked if he would be a bit kinder next time.
Virgil stalked down the hallway, silently fuming as he got back to his room. What a dick. The captain didn't like him from the beginning, and Virgil knew it as soon as when he tried to call the captain by his first name, and he responded with “captain will do fine”. Honestly he hated his guts. What kind of captain threatens his crew mates on the first day of the mission?! He was going to have to spend five whole years listening to the captain’s loud voice and singing as he is constantly insulted.
He typed in the code to his room on the small pad on the wall, then scanned his middle finger print, he remembered the time Roman asked how he wanted to identify himself on the ship’s systems and he flipped him off. The door slid up into the ceiling with a hiss and Virgil stepped in, his little robot creation S.K.Y. (Synthetic Kind Youth) greeted him with a beep. This little android helped him with repairs and was just general company, and none of the others knew it existed. His room was dimly lit as he set it, and the walls were a pleasant black and amethyst. The door slid closed behind him and he sighed and fell onto his comfortable and impossibly clean bed. Around his room lay various projects and inventions he kept secret from the others because he knew if he ever did try to put them to use they would probably fail. He made things like patrol droids that could roam the hallways, chips that would instantly attach to leaks and multiply to stop them, food servers, and other little bots. Some of these inventions would be vital, but he didn't have a chance to test them on a massive scale.
As Virgil felt himself drifting off in his disappointments he heard a loud noise. An alarm. Just then the serious voice of Roman came over the comm.
“Virgil, we need you on the deck. NOW.” he commanded sternly.
The alarm blared as Virgil pulled himself up from the bed quickly and grabbed his tool box. The little android beeped worriedly and joined him at the door. Virgil nodded that Sky could follow, and they both hurried down the winding corridors, flashing lights blinding and alarms deafening.
They both made it on to the main deck and Sky rolled around to Virgil’s side on his single wheel that stood for legs. Virgil jogged over to where the other three were standing and staring at a screen on the control console. The little robot followed behind and beeped in questioning.
“What the hell is happening?” Virgil asked over the alarm.
“T-there is another celestial body…” Logan said in disbelief. That was a scary tone coming from the know it all.
“Captain, should we investigate? We do have the supplies for a mission, that is what we are doing out here,” Pat asked hesitantly.
“That’s not a Planet sir.” Virgil spoke up.
“What do you mean Mechanic?” the bold captain asked, voice demanding
“That’s a ship.”
“What? That’s impossible!” Logan said, turning to Virgil with a panicked expression.
“It is!” Virgil replied sternly, “don't you see the thrusters? The whole thing is made of panels! You can basically feel the hum of mechanics from here!”
“Virgil is right…” Patton spoke up, all looked over “It’s not rotating or moving, I think it’s being forced to be still.” the seriousness was out of character for the bouncy cook. Just then, Sky beeped at Virgil to get his attention. Since Virgil made the little bot, he thought it would be useful to give them their own dialect comprised of beeps, and only he could understand, as he made up the “language”.
“Sollicitus… What the hell is that?!” Roman asked, looking down at Sky.
“Their name is Sky,” he replied, hostile tone in his voice,
Sky beeped in rude implication towards Roman, and their little arm made a thumbs down towards the arrogant captain.
“What were you saying Sky?” Virgil stooped down to the droid.
Sky repeated what they said earlier, “no life signs detected, all deceased”
“Are you sure?” Virgil didn't know what was scarier, that there was life, or that whatever it was, all died.
“You can understand them?” Logan asked, sounding curious.
“What did they say?” Patton asked, stooping down next to Virgil.
“They said they found no life signs, but there are dead things on the ship, they think whatever or whoever was piloting the ship has died.” Virgil informed, the words coming out of his mouth felt unreal. This was something that happened in science fiction movies, not in real life.
“Did the android say if it was human?” Logan asked, he was looking paler than usual.
Sky beeped again and Virgil felt the air leave his lungs and the color leave his face.
“No. they aren't human,” Sky rolled up to Virgil and pat his arm as soothingly as a robot could.
“As captain I say we explore and record what we find on this ship. Logan, set up records, visual and audio transmission to base, and your material reader, along with log. We may be the first to contact another race beside human, dead or not. Patton, you will assist Logan, the mechanic and I will be the ones to venture on the ship. We go prepare and meet back in half an hour. Sollicitus, pack your tools and whatever you need, get on your travel suit, and prepare the Explorer for launch. I will address HQ and help map our course.” they were all dismissed and headed their separate ways.
XxXxX
Roman dismissed the crew to their assigned tasks and prepared to explain the circumstance to Base, surely they would be excited and stunned. First day and they had to be going in a foren space object with dead aliens. This is not what he signed up for, but imagine the glory of being the first to find aliens! This excited him, but scared the hell out of him all the same.
“Base is patching in Captain Roman.” Logan called.
Roman stepped up to the big screen and microphone as the video feed showed head director and his assistant, Thomas and Joan.
“Sir, Mx, we have exciting news. On our way to destination 23_16F, we have stumbled across a ship, not of earth origin.”
“That is very impressive, have you prepared to board? Are there signs of life?” director Thomas asked,
“Our systems indicate dead life forms. Mechanic Sollicitus and I are boarding, while the other two stay on board and monitor us and our location,” Roman informed, glancing back at the other two, “we will be doing a direct feed of video evidence to your screens, as well as audio.”
“Great captain Roman. And good luck.” Thomas finished, and the feed stopped.
“Captain, Virgil patched in, he says the ship is ready and waiting. The necessary equipment is set and we are go for mission by HQ.” Logan said, looking over all the screens.
“Well I’ll go get my travel suit. You two got our backs, good luck on your end. We have the comm set so you can talk to us yes?” Roman asked,
“Yup Captain! Ready to go!” Patton chirped from beside Logan. Roman gave them one last nod before heading off into the winding corridor that lead to the docking bay where all the suits were stored.
Roman grabbed a travel suit outfitted for exploration and slipped it over his casual suit. He took a big breath and boarded the ship. to be honest he was very frightened, but what kind of captain would he be if he didn't show bravery and courage in the face of the unknown? A bad captain, that's what he would be. Or at least that's what he told himself over and over. The airlock sealed behind him, and Virgil sat in the co-pilot’s chair, flipping switches and turning dials as the ship slowly powered up and the lights dimmed for no glare in the dark abyss that was space. The captain moved over to the pilot’s seat and caught Virgil jump slightly, but chose not to say anything. At another time he would have made fun of the mechanic, but since Logan set them straight and made a point about the bad treatment, Roman didn't feel right enough to do that.
The two began to lower the mother ship hatch after sealing off the room from the rest of the ship, and Roman carefully drove the ship into open space. Logan established an audio connection and directed their flight according to an echo-locator map of the behemoth of a ship. The other crew mate was strikingly silent and Roman couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“Hey Virgil, about what I said earlier…”
“Oh now you use my name, captain?” he spat back,
“Okay I deserved that,” Roman admitted Guiltily,
“Yeah, ya did.” Virgil said, turning to monitor some other things. Well if he was going to be rude there’s no point in apologizing is there? God Roman couldn’t wait to get off the ships’ and back to his quarters where he didn't have to interact with the mean crew member.
They located an opening in the bigger station that was large enough for their little cruiser craft to fit through. Roman swallowed a bump forming in his throat as he carefully threaded the needle into the station. He could see Virgil checking and double checking his tool kit and speaking softly to his little android companion. He landed the ship in the opening that appeared to be a flight deck. Both he and Virgil got up and adjusted their helmets and biohazard gear in case of hazardous chemicals and other substances. They strapped on trav boots to help with the lack of gravity, thrusters on the bottom helped for maneuvering and staying upright. The both shared a glance and a nod.
“Logan, is the audio and video log active?” Roman asked, typing on the key pad beside the exit hatch.
“Affirmative. Log active.”
“Okay,” Roman took a shaky breath. “Log one of mission Outside. On our way to our first destination we have happened upon a dwarf planet sized spacecraft. We have determined it is not of Earth origin. We are boarding through what appears to be a ship docking section, we have assumed it to be a space station or…” He took another shaky breath, “A mother ship.” he finished.
Both explorers floated out of the ship slowly into the larger hull. Virgil asked his robot to scan ahead and both stuck together and surveyed the area.
Inside the ship it was dark, and the walls were made/painted with a maroon substance, and the jumpy captain couldn't help but be reminded of blood. The ceiling was tall, and the walls were very bare with little bits of exposed panels. In the panels were mechanics that Roman had never even fathomed before, orbs of many different substances were mashed together, some apart, some clear and others looked to be filled with strange liquids, gelatinous tubes connected them with wires mixed in the whole complicated mess of mechanisms. The two floated further and saw abandoned space crafts in the “hanger”, they stood tall with strange sails and fins that jutted in all directions, the “windshields” where bubbled out in strange ways. Roman gave a shudder at the absolute silence. On the far end there seemed to be a door, but there was an odd pedestal. Virgil floated curiously to the exposed mechanics and snapped a few pictures with his video feed, then went back to Roman’s side.
The crew mates hovered over to the pedestal.
“Logan, what do you make of this?” the captain asked, pointing his cam on his helmet to the weird door and pedestal. On top of the pedestal was a pattern board with strange symbols on it.
“Since there are nine symbols on the pedestal, that's about one billion combinations sir, not accounting for if the code is less or more than nine long. It would take our systems approximately one earth year to figure out the code, as well as we have no idea if there is a consequence for inputting the wrong password.” Logan replied through the ear pieces.
“Sky, implicate item memory software and code solve protocol please.” Virgil addressed his bot.
they beeped and rolled up to the pedestal. then then extended an arm from their chest and stuck it to the base of the code holder. their eyes flashed a bright blue and they let go. they beeped again, then tapped out a six digit code on the pedestal.
The door disintegrated and sank into the floor before their eyes.
“Wow! That was pretty nifty Virgil!” Patton called over the speakers in their ears.
“W- how on earth did, whaaat….” Logan sounded bewildered.
“Lets press on. We will be able to converse more freely when back on our craft.” Roman interrupted, despite his own curiosity, “Logan, scan ahead of us.” both drifted past the door with Sky, there was a few moments of silence before Logan’s voice spilled over the comm.
“Ahead there seems to be… Deceased figures. Around five,” he said with a slight break in his voice.
“Around?” Virgil asked, his voice wavering as well.
“They don't all seem to be in one piece.” he said quieter. To punctuate his sentence’s terrifying implications further, the door materialized behind them. Roman jumped back and let out a small squeal while Virgil veered to the side while grabbing his robo-companion. He saw there was an identical pedestal on this side of the entrance as well and this eased his nerves the tiniest bit. He looked over to Virgil to make sure he was fine.
“C-captain, come towards me..” Virgil said slowly. He sounded terrified. Roman saw he was looking directly behind him and began to turn to see what he was looking at,
“No! No don't look behind you. J-just float towards me.” he said in a deadly serious voice. Roman nodded, his stomach flipped in fear as he slowly made his way back to the mechanic. The whole time he was moving Virgil was staring straight behind him. As soon as he got back to his other crewmate he spun around. He heard a gasp from over the comms as the other two watching his video feed saw what he saw.
Slumped in front of them was a lanky figure. Its long arm-like appendages rested on the floor, with many smaller “tentacles” at the end. It looked like its bottom half was ripped off, and its face had many, what looked like eyes, peppered around it. Three large appendages hung from its face, two lower than the other, and Roman thought they resembled antenna. The skin like material wasn’t too rotted, given that in space you don't have air or elements to cause that reaction to flesh, but this made it even more terrifying that it looked freshly killed.
Roman felt his stomach turn again and he fought bile back down his throat as he drifted closer to Virgil.
“F-first contact.” he took a gulp of air.
“Taking snapshots now captain.” Logan spoke over the earpiece once again, his voice sounded distant, as if he was in shock.
“Is Patton okay?” Virgil directed the question to Logan.
“He has momentarily abandoned his post to go vomit. He will be back shortly.” Logan replied, “Ahead there are more, but the hallway after that seems to be fine. On the other side of that hall seems to be a few branching paths.”
“Thank you Logan.” the captain replied.
Roman swallowed another urge to throw up as he tore his eyes away from the creature and began moving forward. After a few seconds he felt a hand on his arm, and jumped a bit before realizing it was Virgil. He shot a weary smile the mechanic’s way and they both continued on, finding more mangled corpses of other worldly beings. The captain pointed and took snapshots of the bodies reluctantly, and held tight onto Virgil so he wouldn’t pass out.
The two made it to the end on the hall and this time when they made it there the door automatically fell to dust. They both flew in a bit faster this time, relieved to be in a room where there were no… bodies. At the end of the hall there was an intersection where you could go left or right, or through the door at the end of the hall. Virgil let go of Roman and floated away quite a bit.
“In mazes you always go left,” Roman spoke up shakily. “What do you think Lo?”
“Objectively you could go either way, but there are more deceased on the right.”
“Left it is then. You still running material scans?” the captain asked,
“Yes, most of these materials are made of theoretical elements and compounds, not anything we have back on Earth. I was going to ask if you could grab samples, but we are all substantially shaken up, and I have no idea the consequence of bringing those materials into our atmosphere.”
“Keep scanning. Me and Sollicitus are heading left.”
“Understood captain. Fracture a femur.” Logan replied.
Mechanic and captain both headed around the corner to another hall way and went down that one.
XxXxX
After turning in corridor after corridor after corridor in silence for what felt like hours, they finally came to a door that didn't look like all the others. Roman actually felt a little glad something new came up. This one looked heavy duty, and didn't crumple when approached.
Then suddenly, Sky beeped urgently.
“What do you mean?” Virgil asked, his tone concerned. Sky beeped again, “But you said there wasn’t.” he insisted.
“What are they saying?” Roman asked, fear growing.
“They said-” but both were interrupted by a noise from behind the door. All three froze as the noise stopped. There was another keypad by the door.
“Should we-?” then the noise sounded again, a shift or shuffle. Something alive.
“Yes, can your- I mean, can Sky unlock the door like last time?” he asked, floating closer to the sealed entrance into the unknown. Virgil nodded to the android and they nodded back, then they approached the door. They pressed their arm to the wall and then typed in the code. The door disintegrated. Behind the door was a very dark room, where Roman could just make out shapes inside, he caught movement in the corner.
“Turn your visor light onto a lower setting,” Roman whispered as they both stalked into the room. They both approached the figure in the corner.
Inch by inch.
It twitches occasionally.
Then they were right in front of it, and it looked…
Human?