Day: 2

Year of event: 22+ 10^(10.1395)

Notes: this chapter contains mentions of improper protocol and other improper behaviour. We ask that you do not repeat the behaviour of any of the actors of this report entry at home.

The Human and the other woman seemed to have forgotten all about Re’A. Not that the latter minded, on the contrary. The small Human rushed down the narrow corridor, which seemed to serve as a main artery on this pocket-sized ship.

Re’A could hear the rushed conversation between the two women, and she eventually decided to join them. She had been invited there after all, and now that her plan on hiding at least until take-off had fallen through, she had no choice but to go with the flow. Experience had shown her that her energy was best saved for situations that actually required it.

“Then get us out of here, stat. You said we were set to go. Come on! And record what you can, in case it’s not looped.” The small Human ordered, just as Re’A entered the command deck.

Or at least, Re’A assumed it was the command deck, since that was where the captain of the ship was sat, in one of those fancy chairs humans liked so much, and was giving orders to the rest of the crew. Except, there was no one in the small room apart from the Human, and Re’A was starting to question if there was anyone else on the ship at all. She knew that there must have been at least one other person; that American woman whose voice she kept hearing, but had yet to see.

“On it Miss Sanders.” The American spoke.

Re’A braced herself against the wall, expecting turbulence upon take-off.

“Don’t worry love, you won’t fall. I am the best pilot there is, this side of the Atlantic.” The American spoke again.

It was hard to determine who exactly she was talking to, or even where her voice was coming from. But, judging by the way the small Human was nervously tapping her hand over her armrest, and the fact that she had yet to respond, Re’A concluded that the American was talking to her.

“There is no Atlantic in space Cassie, how much further?” The short woman asked.

“Almost there hun, you’ll see it when-”

The screen-covered wall, which had so far been displaying static, lines of code, and other data Re’A wasn’t sure how to interpret, suddenly lit up with a video-image of an empty room. The room must have been some sort of communication or relay centre, if the huge panel detailing a list of region-codes which covered most of the right wall of the grey windowless room was anything to go by. However, the room completely empty otherwise.

The double row of desks in its centre seemed to have been shuffled over, or pushed aside to allow easier traffic within the room. The more Re’A looked at the image, which she knew was a video and not a photo only by the irregular blinking patterns of one of the ceiling lights, the stranger the scene became. She noticed that four, out of the six chairs in the room had been thrown aside at various angles. The remaining two had been neatly placed behind the same desk, but one of them had unmistakable traces of human blood on one of its corners. There were also no computers at any of the desks, indicating that someone must have taken them. Something didn’t seem right.

The short human must have had the same thought, since she glanced at Re’A with a questioning look.

“Cassie, what are we looking at?” She asked.

“A long-distance relay station.” The American answered, confirming Re’A’s theory.

“I gathered that much.” The short woman nodded. “Can you pinpoint or at least triangulate its location?”

“No can do. Best you’ll get out of me, is that they’re not where we are.”

“Null-space buffers?”

“You got it.”

“Is it live?”

“Yep.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Yes you do, I’m broadcasting it to you!” The American giggled.

“You said it was a priority 7, that’s people dying level of urgent.” The short woman brought her hand to her chin, in thought. “Had we been armed, we would have had to fly there stat. But they’re buffering their location…” She trailed of, seemingly thinking out loud.

“Perhaps those who sent the signal have died before they were able to transmit a message.” Re’A said, in an attempt to be helpful.

She could think of at least a dozen different ways that a group of Humans could die within a few seconds, and two dozen more if this transmission was coming from a planet. She was ready to happily list all of them if asked.

“No, it’s coming from regular space. But that’s a good guess.” The American replied.

“Cassie, raise our Z-vector into the double digits, and run a residual-”

“-Hyperspace matter displacement scan. An RMD. Already on it.”

“Oh, you are equipped with the co-piloting alt layout, right?” The short woman asked as she turned to look at Re’A.

“Sure am captain.” The American replied. “You might want to step aside love, and you, captain, might want to pick up your duvet.”

Re’A took a step back, as instructed, and watched as the short woman pulled a fleece blanket from under her chair onto her knees.

Re’A didn’t know what to expect, but she was beyond surprised when the metal floor unravelled itself into long rectangular strips, while rods, and long boxes of metal slid out of the opening and merged together before unfolding into a piloting chair all but identical to that the human woman was sitting on. The floor then slid a few millimetres down, as if to fill the empty space that had just formed below, and Re’A noticed that the other char had also moved to the left. This was state-of-the art technology unlike anything she had ever seen. Unnecessarily show-off, she thought to herself.

“Have a seat,” The American offered. “We are - have just breached 0-0-10. Although that probably doesn’t mean much to you.”

“I don’t think they have discovered how to fly vertically yet.” The short woman said dismissively. “Are you picking up anything?”

“No.”

“Are there at least any other ships in range?”

“Neither.” The American sigh.

The short woman shuffled the blanket back under her chair, and sat back in it, deep in thought. The screen kept displaying the empty room, in which the blinking neon was getting dimmer and dimmer. Soon, another ceiling light started to fluctuate. Re’A finally decided to take a seat, as instructed, she couldn’t really fit on that chair, even if she tried, fault of her tails taking up too much space. So, she sat on the edge, legs folded under her, and three arms folded over her chest.

“0-0-25.” The American informed.

The short woman jerked up from her chair in a nervous spasm.

“That’s far enough.” She gestured towards the screen.

“Afraid of getting stuck, are we?” The American asked.

“Yes Cassie. And then we’ll be the ones to send out high-priority transmissions.” The Human explained with an exasperated expression. “Are you getting anything?”

“Nothing. They must have been in regular space this whole time.” The American explained.

“Right, anyone in range now?” The human asked.

“A zodiac and an ELON. The first in 16-alpha and the second in 18-epsilon. ELON has just woken up, and the zodiac won’t be going anywhere soon, knowing how stubborn they are.”

“I meant within their transmission range, not ours Cassie.” The Human sigh. “Are we still going up?”

“No, I’m losing momentum, don’t worry pumpkin. And those are the only ships within range. Well, within my scanner’s range that is. You know I can’t go more than 10 sectors in any direction. I’ve sent them the transmission, but this high up they must have already gotten it anyway.”

The Human nodded.

“What’s ELON saying?”

“Are we giving up on the zodiac?”

The human was about to answer, when a loud banging noise came from the transmission screen. The door to the communication office had slammed open, and a dark figure fell through it, landing flat on the floor.

“The zodiac told us to return to our route, and that this is a prank.” The American reported as if nothing had happened.

The human ignored her. She was sitting on the edge of her chair, with her eyes glued to the screen, as if hoping that some sort of legible message would come through. The figure had fallen below the angle of the camera, and was no longer visible.

“ELON is calling.” The American said.

“Accept, but audio only.” The human replied as she glanced over at Re’A with a weary expression.

The image on the screen seemed to have frozen once again. For a very long minute, no sound was coming through, but the ceiling lights in that transmission centre continued to dim, and go out one by one. Re’A turned towards the human to inform her that it was likely their central power was going out, but the Human hushed her before she had had the time to utter a single word. Re’A turned her head away, taking in the fact that this ship was no different from any vessel she’d had the misfortune to be on, and that, no matter how eccentric this Captain was, she wasn’t about to let a Faklar speak freely twice.

“Cassie, this is captain Samuel Johnson speaking. Are you receiving me?” A male voice suddenly filled the silent room.

He was slurring his words, despite his audible efforts not to, as if he’d just waken up after a night of drinking, as was doing his best to sound sobber.

“Dorothy Sanders, technician, in solo flight.” The Human replied. “I’m assuming you’ve had no luck triangulating this signal either?”

“No,” The male voice replied after a pause. “Even if we had, I’m not sure there’s much we can do. We are a research vessel, no weaponry, no trained personnel-”

“We have a shitload of scalpels though!” A younger female voice interrupted the captain of the other ship.

The short human, Dorothy, rubbed her temple. She glanced back at the screen, and then at the ceiling, as if hoping for a solution to fall from the sky, so to speak.

“But if you’re willing to follow thought, we will support you however we can.” Samuel Johnson continued.

Dorothy silently moved her lips, forming a 6-letter insult Re’A knew all too well.

“What kind of scanners do you have?” Dorothy then asked.

“Looks like you have a plan captain.” The American joyfully chipped in.

The only response that came from the other end of the line was the noise of people moving about and discreet, indistinguishable whispers.

Dorothy rubbed her temple again.

“Right. I have an idea as to how to triangulate the signal, but Cassie doesn’t have the hardware for it. I’ll need you to turn on your Null-space spectral transmitters to all frequencies, and then convert that into a dynamic 4D image. Then,” She paused. “Are you doing that?”

“Yep, Elon is telling me that that are.” The American said.

“Alight, Cassie make this small, and keep an eye on it.” The last part was directed at Re’A as Dorothy first gestured at her, then at the video of the dimming room.

“You should be receiving it just about now.” Samuel’s voice came through once again.

“Good. I’ll need you to progressively narrow the spectral scan to 300 meters, and move it down the frequencies, starting at 7888 Hertz.”

“That sounds very random.” An unfamiliar male voice said.

“Shut up Mike.” The captain of the other ship hissed. “Do you want us to get in trouble with the ETHC? Sorry about him, we’re on it.” He added.

Some more muted whispers could be heard from the other end of the line, before the female voice spoke again:

“We’re not doing anything illegal or nothing, don’t go thinking that. It’s just that you know, in Onshore territory things tend to go poorly real fast.”

“I can relate to the sentiment.” Dorothy nodded. “Are you done?”

“Yes, sending you the map now.” Samuel said.

“Good, Cassie, highlight me the differences between the two, and display it-”

“On the main screen, got it cap!”

A grid of slightly skewed irregular lines filled the main screen. The short human shrieked and covered her eyes with an arm.

“RGB Cassie! RGB.” She angrily yelled.

“Sorry pumpkin.” The American apologized.

The lines on the screen must have shifted or changed colour, since the Human quickly returned her gaze to it. But Re’A couldn’t tell much of a difference.

“Ours does that to.” The captain of the other ship commented with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Keep that up on the screen.” Dorothy said before heading to the back of the ship.

Re’A wondered if she should follow her, but decided against it. She sat in silence, as she listened to the sound of movement, and buttons being pressed coming from the back of the ship, while the speaker, the location of which she could not see, broadcasted bits of the whispered conversations the crew of the other ship was having. The lights in that transmission room had almost all gone out, and Re’A had no doubt in her mind about the fate of that figure that had collapsed on the floor, and the rest of the occupants of that relay station. Nevertheless, she stayed alert, not knowing what could happen next on this strange ship.

A deafening screeching noise echoed through the ship, as the lights turned off and back on for a brief second. Re’A felt her body lift off the chair, before falling back into it.

“Are you alright? Cassie, Dorothy, do you copy?” Samuel’s concerned voice came through the speaker.

“Yes, don’t worry, all my passengers are safe and sound.” The American, Cassie, replied.

“Overlay the image I just got over what we have.” Dorothy ordered as soon as she entered the command room.

The image on the screen shifted, a layer of colour being added atop it. Despite being projected over a flat vertical screen, it seemed to have dimension to it. There was one spot, somewhere near its top left corner, where the lines were interrupted by a white spot. Dorothy must have noticed it as well, as she exclaimed:

“Aha! Now give me a star map.”

As soon as a third, purple, layer, was added atop the messy projection, Dorothy’s face went from displaying joy, to confusion, to concern.

“Dorothy, what are you seeing? Can you send us the image, map, or whatever it is?” Samuel asked.

The short woman bit down her lower lip, a gesture Re’A had never seen done in a tense situation.

“The zodiac was right.” She slowly said. “It’s one of them stupid buoys”

“The kind that enhance radar transmissions? Can’t be! Not this deep into Onshore. Unless it’s on our side?” The female from the other ship spoke.

“Yeah, well, what did you expect from them? Transparency and safe practices?” Dorothy said, and opened a smaller screen on the side of the main one, before typing something in.

The main image slowly shifted once more, and the white spot migrated towards its centre, where the underlying lines were denser.

“Cassie, send this to them.” Dorothy gestured towards the new map. “And if you don’t mind, Samuel, I’ll be going back to sleep.”

Another tense silence filled the room, as Dorothy clenched and unclenched her right hand, likely in an attempt to calm her nerves.

“Yeah, us too.” The other captain finally replied. “Have a safe sleep, ei? And let’s hope we don’t get woken up again by the bloody military.”

“Yeah, let’s.” Dorothy said without much conviction.

“Gods, I woke up my entire crew for that. A buoy? Come on. They could have told us. And priority 7 as well? Fucking assholes.” Samuel swore.

“Well that wasn’t a very polite goodbye.” Cassie replied.

“They’re gone?” Dorothy asked.

“Gone and forgotten!”

The Human woman let out a loud sigh, and fell back into her chair. She covered her eyes with her palms, and stayed that way for a few seconds. Re’A started to think that she might have been crying, but when she finally pulled her hands away, there were no traces of tears.

“Cassie, you didn’t send them the first image, did you?” She asked.

“No sir. But I have a question.”

The Human scoffed.

“You and me both. And I’m sure our newest passenger as well.”

“That was your Gaia. Gaia 17-kappa-08, on that map.” Cassie said.

Dorothy slowly nodded.

“The same Gaia you said was missing.” Dorothy confirmed, with a tone heavy with accusation.

“Well I don’t know, captain! It wasn’t there, it still ain’t.” The American replied.

The Human sigh again, probably to demonstrate her exasperation.

“Right, we’ll record that transmission,” She gestured towards the image of the almost fully dark room, “and get back on course. Where is the nearest sun?”

“Let me see…” Cassie replied.

“Stella 1894 is two days away if you travel at sub-light speed.” Re’A suggested, in her ultimate attempt to sound helpful. She was hoping that now that there were no prying ears, the Human would return to her previous behaviour.

“Yep, that one is just about three hours from us if we go at 0 knots, but if you want to refuel, I suggest taking a small detour to object gamma-3080. It’s a tad bigger and has less satellites than gamma-1050.”

“Great, well go there at 2 knots. Refuel and stay in orbit. We’ll think things through from there.” Dorothy said, before taking a few steps out of the command deck.

She then turned towards Re’A and said :

“There’s food in that cupboard, we have more than enough so help yourself. Cassie will tell you how to rehydrate it. I’ll go take a nap. My sleeping pod is the middle one, feel free to take either of the free ones. What else? Oh right, be a darling and don’t set the ship on fire while I’m sleeping alright?”

The last sentence was said with an attempt at a smile, so Re’A assumed it was meant to be funny. She didn’t think it was, but then again, in her experience Humans did not have a sense of humour. She watched as the Human headed towards the med-bay, grabbed something from one of the cupboards, and then climbed into a small rectangular chamber embedded in the wall between the airlock and the med-bay.

“It’s just you and me now!” The American cheerfully said. “Wanna be besties?”

Notes:

I’d like to note that despite the Faklar constantly referring to Sanders as “small” or “short”, Sanders is actually the same height as me, that being 176 cm. This height, for a woman, is actually a few centimetres too much in my humble opinion.

Although I do not wish to diminish or reaffirm any of Mr. King’s points, I do have something to say about how alien perceive Humans. Much like ourselves, they do bring many things back to familiar concepts, and consider themselves to be the norm, and us the deviation from it. So by our standards, Re’A is tall, while by her standards Dottie is small.

What Dorothy attempted here is actually quite smart. Of course, we’re not supposed to do that, because it can be dangerous, and life support could have never come back on (I’m sure Mr.King will have more to say about that), but it is ingenious. A Null-space spectral transmitter is what’s most commonly used as a communications method between close-range (under 100 light-years) ships. As its name suggests, it sends waves through Null-space, which are then partially refracted back to the sender when they reach a certain apogee [The following 280 words were redacted and classified as ‘technical prose’. If you wish to learn more about Null-space physics and how they facilitate information relay, feel free to contact Miss Zvolikevych in your own time]. What Dorothy did was those results with a true spectral scan. Since the latter takes into account gravitational anomalies, but excludes dark matter clusters, while the former does not, overlaying them allows to map discrepancies between what exists and what is purposefully hidden through technology (such anomalies do not and cannot occur naturally). But, due to the dimensional discrepancy between Null and regular space, Dorothy had to equalise them, by creating several controlled scan pulses through power redirection.

Think of it as taking a picture of a moving object in a dark room, where your only source of light is a dual-battery flashlight. You could put the two batteries in parallel, to obtain a stable and continuous source of light. But it would be dim, and might not suffice to take the picture you want. If, however, you put the two batteries in series, you can get a brighter light, but the voltage going to the flashlight might be too high, and damage some of the wires. Another layer of difficulty is added when the subject which you wish to photograph is moving, since the bright light needs to face it when it is still so that your camera can capture a still-frame image.

[The following 247 words were redacted because I believe you do not need to understand how the protagonist of this report got the information she did, to understand the following, or previous entries in this report.]

Yeah, Vera is right. They could have all died.

Current year: 22+e^(23.347)

Redactor signature: E.E. Shwartz