Generation Ship - Thetis
25 Oct 2017Robert Phillips
I arrived in LHS 2206 and found a listening post in orbit around LHS 2206 2. I scanned it and received the following data packet:ANOMALOUS SIGNAL DATA
…Transponder Signal THE-288-A Detected…
Matching Signal Detected. Nefertem. Time Stamp Predates Parameters.
I’ve done it…signal…identify…confusing…originates… Who sent it…idea…good news…message…translator….again and again… It says…
…Signal Lost…
There were similarities here to previous Listening Posts pointing to generation ships in the region. There was one anomalous word here which stood out as a clue: Nefertem, a star system.
I travelled to the Nefertem system, and upon arrival scanned the system. Nothing came up initially, so I decided to perform a detailed scan of each of the system's bodies in turn to see if any other clues turned up.
Within 1,000 LS of Nefertem 6, I saw a signal around Nefertem 6 A: Generation Ship Thetis:
I dropped out of SuperCruise to perform a closer inspection.
The ship was derelict, adrift in orbit of the ice moon.
I found 5 Ship Log Uplink points located along the hull. I scanned them all in turn and downloaded the following logs:
MADNESS AND GHOSTS 1/5
Comms Log 905.2.34
Still all quiet out here in the black. Just had our very first ninth-gen child born on ship. That takes the current population to 17,401. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from reports from some residents at the northern end of C-Deck. They’ve heard some kind of strange whispering sound coming from their apartment comms unit. I’m sure it’s nothing, but I’ve dispatched a member of tech to investigate.
MADNESS AND GHOSTS 2/5
Comms Log 907.6.34
We have an emergency situation on board. Some kind of epidemic, it’s driving people insane. I’ve managed to source it to a digital signal that keeps broadcasting within the comms array. It started on C-Deck, but now the entire population of decks C to F have been massacred. They just went crazy and started killing each other. I’ve isolated the signal, so it’s stopped for now. Just trying to identify the source. It should be easy enough to delete the beacon if I can find the right frequency. I wanna know what the message says, but I’m… I’m just too scared to listen.
MADNESS AND GHOSTS 3/5
Comms Log 908.7.34
I’ve done it. I’ve managed to decrypt the signal and identify the source. But it’s even more confusing than I thought. The signal originates from an uninhabited planet we passed 15 light years ago. Who sent it and how it managed to infect the comms array I have no idea.
That’s the good news. The bad news is, I heard the message. I was trying to run it through the translator and I forgot the speaker was on. It’s the same message relayed again and again and again – it’s more a whisper than anything else; it says, ‘kill them all’…
MADNESS AND GHOSTS 4/5
Comms Log 900.0.04
Blood. Blood everywhere. It’s spread on the walls – people have started writing words in it but it’s a script I can’t identify. I’m alone now on the comms deck. Pearson was the last one with me but I had to stab him in the throat to stop him… stop him… I can’t remember what I had to stop him doing but… he’s dead now.
I can hear people out there. Some of them are still walking around. Some of them are barely breathing. I have to find them. I have to silence them. I have to…
MADNESS AND GHOSTS 5/5
C_mm_ Lo_ 000.0.00 ….k.l……h.m……..l……………….
I had hoped that the final log would offer more than just a garbled message, so I performed a spectrographic analysis of the audio:
Sadly, the analysis failed to reveal anything worthy of further investigation.
I'd had enough of ghost ships for now, so decided to take my leave and pursue other ventures...