The starship Persephone was traveling through space and gradually slowing itself as it approached Jupiter’s moon Callisto. Both of the sister ships were outfitted with transmitters and receivers for faster than light communications between each other using FTL technology. Everyone who wasn’t in the know assumed it functioned by using quantum entanglement or wormholes—purely speculation. Their FTL signals were not compatible with anything other than the other ship’s receiver, as far as the crew knew.
Both captains were told that Black-Star didn’t want secrets about their findings to leak out for the sake of legalities. They accepted it as fact with a grain of salt due to the pay being offered for the job, and it was just a professional courtesy. Communication with Earth and other ships was not prohibited but they did ask that everyone send their goodbye’s before entering the moon’s inner structure. The housing itself along with the thick crust above would block unwanted signals from coming and going.
The main computer spun up and colorful LED lights blinked all around as system checks began and finished in quick succession of each other. The flight path was all pre-programmed and the ship was within the parameters of a successful approach. After the computer had triple checked the math, it shut back down with a timer set to do the exact same thing again in 12 hours.
“Captain!” said Corporal Pathos as she ran with an arm waving once she’d seen him, “I’m cooking tonight, and I wanted to give you first pick on dinner choices.”
“As long as it’s not that green or brown slop, I’ll take just about anything you feel like making. Thanks Pathos.”
“You got it Cap. Chicken and vegetables with a mushroom sauce it is. Excellent choice I may add sir.”
They both went about their respective business in different directions. The crew had been talking about the arrival of the other ship for the last 24 hours straight. They went over plans for what to start on first, meeting the other crew, and finalizing their work areas for the exciting experience to come. The Rangers were much less enthused than the doctors as they had all been out on dangerous missions before and some of them had the displeasure of killing alien life. Out there it was always kill or be killed by something angry and hungry.
Mick came walking down the corridor in a swift manner that meant he had something of interest to talk about. He opened the captain’s door and shut it, waiting with patience for the captain to address him. For an android without real human emotions, Mick sure felt annoyed at having to wait even one second longer. His ability to process information or think was much faster than ours making the way he perceived time a bit different.
“Yes Mick? What is it? Also please do not just burst into my cabin like that again without knocking. I could’ve been naked.”
“Of course, Captain. My sincere apologies. It’s urgent we talk about the Persephone. She just pinged us and checked in.”
“Okay. Is everything alright with the ship and crew?”
“I’m not sure. They’re all still in deep-sleep.”
“And? Maybe they programmed the computer to wake them up closer to arrival. How do vital signs look for the souls on board?”
“Steady. Everyone is alive for now excluding the one we discussed,” said Mick.
“That’s a little grim of an outlook for an android to have.”
“Sir, the ship is pre-programmed to dock without waking up the crew. The computer system has instructions to keep them in deep-sleep after they’ve docked as well. I’d expect that they would want to wake up...at some point.”
“That is odd. Good call, and let’s keep this between us for now. If you get anything else and I mean anything from that ship, then you tell me and me alone.”
“Understood, Captain.” Mick nodded and left the captain’s quarters.
When the scientists arrived at the laboratory, they were a bit surprised to see several holding chambers. Each had extremely thick metal walls complimented by thick glass providing viewing panes. There was a recessed camera embedded in the walls which also had a direct feed to the monitoring equipment in the lab. It could be accessed from a few other areas on the ship digitally.
Aside from the holding chambers, there was mostly surgical equipment and medical supplies. There was a shelf full of different chemicals for various things. Some bottles were cleaning supplies and others were to negate the effects of acids, poisons, and a few other random items.
The cages along the back wall were of various sizes and each was already labeled with digital screens. The Orpheus had a variety of animals in deep-sleep ranging from dogs and chimpanzees to mice and snakes. Past experiences showed that they often didn’t suffer nearly as bad as humans did when waking up from a cryogenically induced coma. A smooth and futuristic looking coffee maker existed all alone in a far corner. Black-Star had spared no expense with this facility and it was evident as soon as they arrived.
“I get what the cages are for; they’re all labeled so it’s obvious. Yet, I have to ask you, Lang. What are these heavy-duty containment chambers for?” asked Dr. Tran.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“While I’m not sure yet, I’m confident that we’re going to find out sooner than later.”
“Should we get the animals out and let them adjust?” asked Dr. Parker.
“I think that would be a good use of our time. Let’s work on acclimating the animals and get them watered and fed.” Lang smiled and started pulling up the Earth animal’s health dashboards on the screen.
“I was hoping to postpone that as long as possible. I wasn’t looking forward to cleanup duty.”
“Don’t worry Parker. There’s robots that do most of that for us,” said Dr. Tran.
“Whoa. Really?”
Lieutenant Nick Lang had ordered the privates to scrub over every weapon and make sure it was oiled and cleaned. The burst rifles didn’t generally need a ton of maintenance, but he was taking no chances with accidents on his watch. It kept them busy and out of his way which was another bonus that he was hoping for.
Captain: Mick, any update on the incoming vessel?
The captain sent a message to his neural implant across the network. The android let the captain know that there has been no change for the better or worse. There was no change at all in fact, and the crew was still in deep-sleep with only 21 light minutes until their arrival. The crew of the Orpheus had been woken up days before their arrival, so this was definitely not normal.
One thing the android had not shared with the captain was that he had already validated 12 additional life forms in deep freeze. All 12 of them were the same species, but an unknown one to most of humanity. The part of Mick’s storage used for long term memory contained a small section that was separate from the rest. It had the strongest form of quadrant encryption available and was virtually unbreakable, even by other androids. Stored in this secured area of memory was data about the pods that were awaiting study.
They were incredible creatures, he thought in amazement at a first glance of the available data. Had he been human, he might have felt terror. Only three other instances existed where real scientific studies had been carried out on specimens of this origin so far with others quickly getting underway. There was so much technology and medicine on the brink of advancement beyond anything humans were already working on. Black-Star was confident these lifeforms could help usher in a new era of life for humans across the galaxy. Both of the other missions ended with death except for only one person.
So much death and destruction and it was all because of some small alien bug-like creature. Mick wanted to find out more about it since curiosity in regard to that particular topic was part of his overall mission he was programmed with. Damaged DNA could potentially be repaired in humans, curing the incurable diseases, so many possibilities existed within reach. People would be throwing their mortgage payments at the company for help and they were just fine with that.
The android scraped the network’s data buffer for any available documentation. Mick discovered that they had figured out how to synthesize the alien DNA. When introduced into another organism, it would update some of the nucleotides in the host’s DNA, which happened to be something Black-Star was keeping very quiet. Any time humans or animals were involved, it became a game of lawyers arguing about ethics and morals. It usually lasted until someone got paid a bunch of money or was given access to the sensitive materials.
Mick sent a ping to the Captain Spitzer in an attempt to maintain trust as well as provide a status update.
Mick: Captain, the Persephone is one light minute away and their captain has been woken up. He provided no more information in the hopes that queries for more would not come through.
Captain: No one else was woken up? What’s the status on the captain’s health? Replied the captain much to Mick’s chagrin. He’d hoped they were wrong earlier, and some clerical or shipboard error had made logging inaccurate.The android replied immediately as he was already working up the details.
Mick: The captain’s health is steady like the others and in good standing. No anomalies detected.
Red warnings flashed on all digital displays across the entire structure with bright white letters. The message warned all personnel to exit the docking bay immediately. There was a multitude of sensors in giant bay which scanned and detected no life forms of any kind, but it still awaited manual confirmation.
Once Captain Spitzer confirmed it, by hitting the green button and sliding it sideways on his display, the bay began the process of depressurization. The process took about 15 minutes with the high-tech facility taking every opportunity to save rather than waste the precious oxygen within. The company was working on a new device that could strip the carbon from the carbon dioxide allowing it to be recycled as oxygen. They had been only partially successful thus far, but progress continued with the hopes of extending space faring travel.
Rangers lined up outside the docking bay, fully armored and packing weapons that looked like they could do some serious damage. Each one had a burst rifle with extra magazines, grenade rounds included. The burst rifle fired rounds that split into three, essentially making each shot a three-round burst.
Butler, who’s size had him stand out from the crowd, held a different model of burst rifle which was attached to a platform of batteries. It fired high energy beams of ionized gas in rapid succession that destroyed just about anything it touched. No one even knew what it was or what it did other than the Ranger wielding it.
“You boys expecting something scary to jump out of there?” asked Dr. Parker.
“Just a precaution doc. Nothing to worry about. Why don’t you and the other doctors head down to the lab and wait for us there. We can bring the samples to you along with any gear they have,” said Sergeant Tandries.
Lang and Parker nodded, and all three doctors walked off to the safety of their laboratory. They chatted about what could have the WMO Rangers up and ready like that for a ship carrying mostly dead alien samples. Theories floated around until they decided to focus on quieting down the animals that were making a big ruckus in the back.
