August 29th, 2017 10:14 GMT

With a deep moan, Robert re-entered the world of consciousness. His whole body hurt like hell but seemed functional, at least for now.

He staggered over to Miller, who hung lifelessly in his seat beneath him a small puddle of blood, dripping from his face.

He used his sleep-overall to swipe the controls clean of the red liquid. The glass was cracked, but the screens still worked, displaying the automated damage report.

Although he wanted to check up on Frank, such antics needed to wait as analysing the ships state had priority.

„Negative fourteen G on impact, fuck me!“ he mumbled, then, a small smile appeared on his face.

„Hull integrity 98.2%. Shield peak-power 938 MW. Shield collapsed after 0.02 seconds to avoid reactor damage. M-AMF 2 restarted, status yellow. Please check disintegration chamber. Output capped at 300MW until manual confirmation of status green.“

Well, the reactor powering the plasma-coating peaked at nearly double its designed output, no wonder it shut down.

At least, the craft seemed to be intact, mostly. No hull breaches were reported, the shield was back up, albeit at diminished capacity.

His face went dark. Another impact like that right now would end them for sure, the reactor needed to get back green at all cost.

Time to check on the crew’s overall state quick.

Katarina needs to get down to the reactor bay ASAP. Frank needs medical attention. He turned around to Frank Miller and loosened his belt, checking his pulse. It was faint but stable, everything else was now up to the BGO(Bio Genetics Officer) who was also the ships doctor.

Now that the alarm had quieted down, an eerie silence laid upon the ships hallways.

„Trutheim, reset reactor 2 status to green. Tscherenkow, report to bridge. Miller is in a coma. Everyone else, gather in the medical area for check-ups, BGO and me will arrive there shortly.“ Robert spoke, struggling to sound calm and reassuring.

Ten minutes later the crew gathered in the medical bay, except Trutheim who was in progress of checking A-AMF 2.

Luckily, Miller was the only one who really got hurt. All others magically made due with a few bruises, although everyone passed out for minutes after impact.

„What in the holy heavens was that?“ Blackwood shook his head warily.

„A fucking micro-meteorite shower“ Robert explained. „We are lucky the ship is still fully functional. Doc, how is it looking for Miller?“

„He is stable, for now. Has a heavy concussion but no internal bleeding as far is i can tell. I sedated him for now and treated his face. We can attempt to wake him in twenty-four hours.“ Alina responded, seemingly unfaded by current events.

„What is the point of that impossibly expensive LRCD array they praised so high when its only use is saying ‚You are fucked in 3.. 2.. 1..‘? Was it not designed to steer the ship clear of dangers ahead?“ Taku said, even more pale than usual. Near-death experiences were not his favorite pass-time.

„Well, that three second warning gave us enough time to survive. Also, on bigger objects that can be identified a little more than two-hundred kilometers ahead, collision avoidance should work flawlessly. We were unlucky the objects were so small as to only be noticed when closer than the save-radius.“ Robert Reel explained.

„This is Trutheim. Reactor 2 is green. I found no permanent damage caused by overclocking output.“ Katarina reported over inter-com.

„Roger that.“ Robert radioed back, relieved.

„For now, i will send GC(Ground Control) an accident report. Change shifts, Baguette, Blackwood, Tscherenkow, go to sleep. Taku, Trutheim we will man the bridge.“ he broadcasted for everyone to hear.

„Hey Renault, as i was about to say earlier, you are suitable for this mission. Look at you, all healthy after being attacked by evil space rocks.“ Blackwood laughed while heading to his tiny room.

GC was shocked at first, then relieved after hearing the report. They ordered PSC-1 to speed up to travelling velocity again as the impact had slowed the ship a bit.

Robert took a deep breath.

„A routine mission.. eat shit you fuckers!“ he cursed his superiors. At the same time he was grateful. Whatever was out there, he would likely be part of future history. Never forgotten. If he could succeed, that is. Not even a month on voyage and already a close brush with death.

Robert pictured himself on razor’s edge between everlasting fame and being shamefully forgotten.

Well, no use in arguing now, he thought. All he could do was to see the task through with all his ability. They had to struggle forward on their path, never giving up.

One thing became very clear. This was real, not a weird dream of SciFi and men. It was a real quest further away from earth than any human had ever been, filled with real dangers. It felt surreal for the past few months but reality had finally forced back its grip onto the souls of his crew.

That realisation hit him as he fully understood the implications for the first time.

A grand design in people’s freaking DNA, even in his own.

Who hid it there?

How long had it been there?

Because if it was billions of years old that was so majorly fucked up he didn’t dare fathom. Even if it was younger, it still was proof of an intelligent species older than mankind. And way more advanced, as the human race just recently found out how to manipulate DNA; on a level of a toddler compared to what those.. beings.. had achieved.

A storm made from hope, fear, excitement and unbending will raged in his heart. We need to get there. We NEED to find out what this means. That were his thoughts as he fired up the engines to get back to default velocity.