Shadows in the Rift Part VI
26 Apr 2017Jellicoe
We made five very rapid jumps before Mira, satisfied we had shaken off any pursuit, dropped us back into normal space in the ice rings of a planet in distant orbit of a planet incomprehensibly distant from home. We then spent a full six hours with either myself or Mira at the helm on full alert to run or fight at a moments notice before I relaxed enough to gather everyone in the briefing room. I looked around the table at the haggard, weary faces of my most trusted friends, every one of them looked on the edge and exhausted beyond measure."Who the hell comes all this way to pick a fight?" Mira asked looking ready to kill.
"It hardly takes a genius to work it out." Harry snapped back and I saw Mira's eyes flash dangerously.
"Let's worry about that later." I put in hurriedly. "Claude, did you get anything from the last set of logs?"
"Yes a good bit, I've uploaded it all to your own profiles again but a summary is this - it was from a different ship to the other ones we found."
"How do you know?" Harry asked irritably.
"Because two of the entries are dates tamped after the destruction of the first ship." Claude replied in his most condescending tone. Harry's face coloured and his jaw bulged but he made no further comment. "As I was saying." Claude said unnecessarily before continuing his briefing. "The main points are these, long voyage but again, much faster than it should have been back then, only five months this time, most of the crew completely in the dark about what was going on beyond placing beacons in space. On a more sinister note they also report strange lights in hyperspace and widespread system malfunctions. The ones I'd particularly draw your attention to though are logs four and six." I looked down at my holo-display, scan reading at first, then as I took the words in my heart almost stopped in my chest.
Expedition Log 01/10/3270
We picked up some kind of bizarre signal yesterday. Whatever it was wasn't human. At least that's the scuttlebutt going round the decks. Everyone is looking out of the canopies right now. We're seeing some strange lights during hyperspace transits. Terror? Yeah, we got some of that.
I read it, then read it again, then a third time before moving on to the next one..
Expedition Log 29/11/3270
We're done and heading home. We picked up some heat signature in the last system. Definitely something out there and it wasn't any profile I had seen before. Something was watching us. There's something evil out there, and it doesn't like company.
"Still think it's space madness?" Harry's voice oozed an unpleasant sarcasm and I glanced up to see him looking at Claude with a face of withering contempt.
"In light of this new evidence it certainly seems unlikely that two ships would be affected in that way, I pres..."
"Fucking told you so."
"Harry!" I snapped, my voice sounding unintentionally vehement. "Please remember where you are and keep a civil tongue in your head. If you cannot act like a gentleman I suggest you confine yourself to your quarters."
"I was only saying..."
"No you were not." I thundered. "You were acting like a hot headed child not a trusted member of this crew, now either do what I pay you for or get out." Without a word Harry Soames stood, turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. I opened a coms channel to Doctor Firman. "Doctor could you go and see Harry please? He's not himself at all, you might want to take a couple of big lads with you."
"On my way." Doctor Firman replied. "I'd like to see the rest of you as well, Claude first. Today." He finished in a tone that brooked no argument.
I looked back to the shocked faces around the briefing table, only Vik remained as inscrutable as ever. "Anything else?" I asked quietly.
"Just one." Claude said his voice audibly shaking. "I did a deep scan of the last beacon and when I went through the data it had the code word 'Exodus' in its BIOS, mean anything?
I have no doubt that my face would have given me away even if I had been minded to keep it secret. "Yes." I said. "'Exodus' and 'Dynasty' are the two words Craddock told me to watch for, he was sure they meant something, looks like we've just found out why."
Exodus; a mass migration of an entire people, from the Biblical Book of Exodus chronicling the flight of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, if you believe such things, was that what this was about? Some self styled prophet taking his flock to a promised land across the galaxy? No. None of them could afford anything on this scale, possibly Antal could now but not thirty years ago. Sirius? A better bet, they certainly had the resources, the Li family fitted with the dynasty part and if anyone had the drive tech to pull this off back then it would have been Sirius, but Sirius was a business not a cult, their purpose was to make money, lots of it. Exploration, exploitation and expansion would fit with Sirius not an exodus.
I leaned back in my armchair and lit a cigar, my brain was turning to clay and my irritation rising as I pondered this opaque riddle. I considered brandy, then rejected the idea, took a long drag on my cigar and turned my tired mind back to the question at hand. The Empire perhaps? The Duval dynasty creating a refuge in case of catastrophic defeat? No, old Emperor Hengist certainly had his eccentricities but he wasn't insane and there was no way the cost of something on this scale could have been hidden from the Senate who would have gone mad. I looked back to the bottle of brandy which was becoming more tempting by the minute and was on the verge of pouring myself a large measure when there were two sharp knocks at the door.
"Come." I said exhaling in irritation and knowing exactly who it was, for over a thousand years we had had electronic door buzzers but Doctor Firman insisted on knocking with his fist.
"I thought I asked you to come and see me Stannis," The doctor said in a tone of mild rebuke.
"Sorry Doc, I got caught up with something and forgot." I replied not entirely untruthfully.
"Very well, tomorrow morning at 0900. Don't forget again. I smiled resignedly expecting Dr Firman to do the same but his face remained serious. "I need to speak to you anyway though, I'm very concerned about the state of the crew's mental health."
"Yes." I sighed. "I should have noticed, I've been asking too much of them for too long. I shouldn't have brought them out here."
"Stannis I keep a close eye on the crew because it's my job to, and trust me, if I'd had any concerns about any of them coming out here I'd have made quite sure you knew about it."
"But?"
"But there were none. One or two who could have done with a break but nobody I'd have thought twice about passing fit for duty. Less than a fortnight later we've had one suicide, half the crew are on the edge of complete breakdowns and most of the rest have strong symptoms of extreme stress, you included."
"Space madness?" I asked. "None of us have ever been this far out before."
"No but you're all experienced space travellers used to spending long periods aboard ship. I'd have been surprised to have more than one or two cases let alone what we've got."
"So what is it?"
"I don't know." Doctor Firman took off his spectacles and began to clean them as he collected his thoughts. "I've never seen anything like this before and there's precious little similar in any records I can find."
"Should we head for home? In your medical opinion."
"No. I should be able to treat the symptoms well enough to complete the mission, but as soon as we get home everybody will need a full course of proper treatment, including you." He placed considerable emphasis on the last two words.
"Understood, anything else?"
"Yes, the medication will take around twenty four hours to take effect and it helps if you can relax as much as possible during that time, we passed an earth like a couple of days ago, I suggest finding a beach and laying up for a day or so."
"Alright we've got the time. Brandy?" I asked.
"No I need to get to work preparing the meds." The doctor stood and headed for the door, put his hand out to open it then stopped and half turned, opened his mouth, paused, then spoke. "Stannis both the logs we've recovered speak of madness and terror very similar to what we're seeing now. I know correlation doesn't always mean causation but maybe it's something about this place."
"Ghost stories Doctor?" I asked surprised.
the Doctor half smiled. "Men once thought that the Moon was a ghost that chased the Sun through the sky and kept her captive during the night, the point is this, ghosts are only ghosts until we find the explanation, and whatever we tell ourselves there's still a hell of a lot about this universe we still can't explain.