It Makes My Skin Crawl
19 Feb 2020Scubadog
Shortly after getting to the Bubble I spent some time assisting a young commander in the finer points of ship configuration and another in gathering Guardian blueprints and materials for his ships. In the midst of all that, I also decided it was time, while I'm here, to step up my Thargoid game. I have a Vulture specifically loaded for dealing with Scouts, but it's something pitiful if I have to go up against anything larger. I've found that many commanders take a shine to the Krait Mk II when it comes to medium ships going after larger Thargoids, especially in a wing. You might recall that I'm not a fan of the Mk II but I do like Phantom. Anyway, I set myself to configuring my new acquisition, The Ceti AX, for that purpose. Back to the engineering circuit for me.
When I got the call to wing up with a commander to work the Guardian structures I knew I needed to switch to something smaller in order to land close to the site. My Imperial Courier was pretty much ideal for that. It didn't take long to get all the blueprints scanned and materials we needed. We said our farewells and went our separate ways...which, for me, meant visiting an abandoned site or two in order to scrounge for stray materials. This took me to where I am now. Klatt Enterprises on Alnath A2A_A.
Arriving at what was left of the site during the night phase was haunting enough. You know how, descending from orbit, you can see a typical installation all lit up...alive...inviting? I swear that as I was dropping through the glide phase I saw Klatt Enterprises lit up! I'm not kidding. I legitimately was caught off guard by this. There was nothing on the sensors, no ships around, but the base was lit up.
As the ship transitioned from free fall to powered flight the lights disappeared...except for one very, very faint one. Again, no sensor blips. I was completely alone out here. I edged the Courier ever closer, using reaction control thrusters to swing around the site, my ship's exterior flood lamp bathing a narrow area as I moved. No hint of life, of any kind. And then I saw...something...I couldn't quite define. I quickly finished my sweep and set down close to the entrance. Against everything inside me screaming at me to stay in the ship, I unbuckled myself from the command seat and stepped back through the cockpit door, past my stateroom and to the SRV bay, climbing down into its seat. A couple of minutes of prep and I dropped down onto the dark, cold, haunting surface. Because of how I had landed, the SRV deployed facing exactly opposite the base...but that did nothing to calm my already raging nerves. Slowly, I pulled out from beneath the Courier and to the base.
I just...sat there. The chronometer said it was only a couple of minutes, but it seemed like an hour before I shook myself into motion and began the slow, methodical survey of the dead site, looking for any abandoned materials I could salvage. I was moderately lucky in that respect. But I've been to dead sites before. This one felt...dead-not-dead. I pulled up onto a large ramp where I could just make out some heavy cranes just frozen in time. And at the top of the ramp I found it. The thing my ship lights hit during my sweep.
The pit.
The cranes weren't the only thing frozen in time. Strewn about this pit were parts. Thargoid parts. They were practically petrified, but were unmistakably remnants of Thargoids. As I continued my search, I came across a number of data recordings, each providing more insight to the mystery here. They experimented on captured Thargoids. These are the experiments that led to Commander Jameson's ill-fated--and sabotaged--mission to deliver a payload to deal with the previous Thargoid threat.
Don't get me wrong, I have no love for the bugs. But I can't help but wonder...how far is too far? I was very uncomfortable with what I learned here.
I finished picking up what materials I could find and headed back to the ship. As I came around the opposite side and got nearer to where my ship was parked I saw the barely functioning data point. That must have been the lights that played tricks on me. The base of it was heavily damaged--as if someone, or something, had tried to destroy it. The interface tower wouldn't even raise when scanned, but spun slowly on the damaged base. I was able to coax some data from it to be turned in later.
I returned to the ship and couldn't get aboard fast enough. After the SRV was fully secured I had Eden run a full system scan to make sure nothing...strange...had gotten onboard. Good, no issues. No....wait! Seriously? How did I not catch that earlier? Was I so tired when I dropped into the Alnath system that I neglected to scoop fuel? Idiot! What the hell was I thinking? I'm sitting hear, exhausted, with very little fuel reserves, on a haunted site. Near Thargoid-inhabited space.
I need sleep. I can't make any sane decisions right now. Is the ship temperature dropping? It feels like it. I can't get this shiver out of me. Damn it. Ok, I'm powering down all non-essential systems to conserve power. But I'm turning up the heat inside the ship. As much as I dare to, at least, because of the power cost. The shields I have on this Courier aren't much to speak of, so if Thargoids--or anyone else, for that matter--decides drop in and attack me there's nothing I can do about that. I powered down the shields. It doesn't take long for the canopy to start to ice up outside, with no shields to keep the skin a little warm. I made my way through the doorway to my stateroom and I pulled down an extra blanket. As I finish this recording with only the glow of the terminal on my desk, all I can hear is the low, almost imperceptible hum of life support.......and what seems like the ghostly reverberation of a Thargoid dying. Why the hell did I choose to come here?
I've got to get some sleep. I really don't want to turn off the terminal. But I have to. I'm signing off. I hope I'll still be here in the morning. Shit. Stop it. Go to sleep.