Arda Fletch
When she first awoke from cryostasis she felt unbelievably optimistic. The warning messages flashing accross the screen inches from her face didn't stifle this in the slightest. She quickly read through and dismissed them without concern. There were a few she didn't understand so she decided she'd ask one of the engineers about it, then there were repairs she could start on to help with the errors she did know about. As the lid of her pod swung up the smile dropped from her face for the first time since she'd gotten on board the colony ship. She could see into the window of the cryostasis pod in front of her revealing a rotting corpse.
The situation must be worse than the warnings could get across from in the pod. Checking the cell she was in, all 15 other officers were dead. Most it seemed for a long time, but 2 of them it looked like could have been alive as recently as a couple days ago. Accessing a nearby terminal Arda found out almost every major system on the ship was failing. Shipwide life support systems had been online for about 6 hours. When the systems started shutting down, the autopilot tried to wake an officer. When that officer didn't report for check-in 24 hours later, it woke another. She had just gotten lucky. She could have just as easily opened her pod just to suffocate alone like all the others. Arda shook herself back to focus. She was alive, and might be the only officer left on the ship. She might even be the only crewmate left on the ship, and there were thousands of sleeping colonists she had to land on Silandris safely.
It was trivial for her to make her way to the cockpit of the ship. They were still almost a day away from the first stages of landing, and the deceleration seemed to be happening automatically without issue. Arda left the cockpit for a few hours which she first spent checking the other two officer cells. All filled with decaying corpses. How long had this been happening? Afterward she verified there was still crew in cryosleep; she found a couple hundred still alive. Maybe a third of what the ship started with. Finally, she verified as far as she could that the landing systems were still intact and they wouldn't all be killed in reentry. When she got back to the cockpit, Arda decided dying in reentry would probably be one of the fastest ways to go at this point, but she still hoped she'd make it to see the surface, even if this was her last chance to die painlessly, or peacefully.
After an expectedly bumbpy landing Arda let out a sigh of relief, and then began to cry. For the next 20 minutes she sobbed, before wiping her face, and beginning the procedure to wake the crew. She wouldn't be able to convert this ship into a colony by herself. The colonists would be able to stay in cryosleep for another 2 years in ideal conditions, but she hadn't been able to check if any of those systems had been compromised. With only a third of the crew, even the full 2 years could be pushing how long construction will take. Arda double and triple checked the readings from outside that the atmosphere was safe before opening a crew hatch and stairs deployed automatically. The outside air rushed in and blew across her face. She smiled as she breathed in the not quite familiar smells of the engineered pollens and artificially fertile soil. Taking her first steps down the stairs, she looked out across the new landscape. Mostly rocky, rolling hills covered in green-brown mosses and shrubbery, dotted with dense clusters of deciduous trees.
Her concentration is broken by footfalls on metal. She looks down to see a man running at her from the bottom of the staircase. He's wearing a standard issue colonizing uniform but covered in mud and moss. It also appears ripped, and like the man hasn't done much grooming in a while. Just a couple steps from her Arda notices the knife he's brandishing and her confusion turns to panic. She moves her hands to stop his as the knife moves toward her. The knife still manages to plunge into her side, but she stopped it from hitting anything vital. Not bothering to remove the blade, the attacker lets go and continues walking onto the ship. He taps a panel at a terminal a few times before cursing to himself and slamming his fists into the screen. Arda puts her hand to the wound and winces before pulling her hand away and staring at the blood in shock. She shakes herself back to focus before pulling an autoinjector out of her belt and jamming in into her side next to the wound. Arda quickly takes a deep breath then rips the knife out of herself and lets out an earpiercing scream. She keels over, gasping and moaning as the wound bubbles and seals itself. Arda begins crawling back up the ramp while trying to catch her breath. She enters the ship and grasps for anything that can bear her weight as she tries to stand. Frantically she looks around trying to find the man that entered before hearing a clattering. It doesnt take long to make her way into colonist cryosleep and find the attacker beating a drawer he'd ripped out against the control panel for one of the pods, with two already open and their occupants dead.
Arda Screams, "No! Stop! They're just people!"
The panel lets out an audible crack and without taking his eyes off the colonist in the now opening pod, the attacker calmly answers, "I know. And this is going to make my day. Hell, my year."
Before he takes the drawer and begins beating it against the head of the colonist in the pod. Arde screams as she hurls herself at the attacker, clutching the knife she'd pulled out of herself not a minute earlier. Arda doesn't even comprehend what's happened yet when she collapses to the ground and once again begins sobbing as the attacker stubles backwards, coughing up blood and trying to cover with wound in his chest with his hands.
The situation must be worse than the warnings could get across from in the pod. Checking the cell she was in, all 15 other officers were dead. Most it seemed for a long time, but 2 of them it looked like could have been alive as recently as a couple days ago. Accessing a nearby terminal Arda found out almost every major system on the ship was failing. Shipwide life support systems had been online for about 6 hours. When the systems started shutting down, the autopilot tried to wake an officer. When that officer didn't report for check-in 24 hours later, it woke another. She had just gotten lucky. She could have just as easily opened her pod just to suffocate alone like all the others. Arda shook herself back to focus. She was alive, and might be the only officer left on the ship. She might even be the only crewmate left on the ship, and there were thousands of sleeping colonists she had to land on Silandris safely.
It was trivial for her to make her way to the cockpit of the ship. They were still almost a day away from the first stages of landing, and the deceleration seemed to be happening automatically without issue. Arda left the cockpit for a few hours which she first spent checking the other two officer cells. All filled with decaying corpses. How long had this been happening? Afterward she verified there was still crew in cryosleep; she found a couple hundred still alive. Maybe a third of what the ship started with. Finally, she verified as far as she could that the landing systems were still intact and they wouldn't all be killed in reentry. When she got back to the cockpit, Arda decided dying in reentry would probably be one of the fastest ways to go at this point, but she still hoped she'd make it to see the surface, even if this was her last chance to die painlessly, or peacefully.
After an expectedly bumbpy landing Arda let out a sigh of relief, and then began to cry. For the next 20 minutes she sobbed, before wiping her face, and beginning the procedure to wake the crew. She wouldn't be able to convert this ship into a colony by herself. The colonists would be able to stay in cryosleep for another 2 years in ideal conditions, but she hadn't been able to check if any of those systems had been compromised. With only a third of the crew, even the full 2 years could be pushing how long construction will take. Arda double and triple checked the readings from outside that the atmosphere was safe before opening a crew hatch and stairs deployed automatically. The outside air rushed in and blew across her face. She smiled as she breathed in the not quite familiar smells of the engineered pollens and artificially fertile soil. Taking her first steps down the stairs, she looked out across the new landscape. Mostly rocky, rolling hills covered in green-brown mosses and shrubbery, dotted with dense clusters of deciduous trees.
Her concentration is broken by footfalls on metal. She looks down to see a man running at her from the bottom of the staircase. He's wearing a standard issue colonizing uniform but covered in mud and moss. It also appears ripped, and like the man hasn't done much grooming in a while. Just a couple steps from her Arda notices the knife he's brandishing and her confusion turns to panic. She moves her hands to stop his as the knife moves toward her. The knife still manages to plunge into her side, but she stopped it from hitting anything vital. Not bothering to remove the blade, the attacker lets go and continues walking onto the ship. He taps a panel at a terminal a few times before cursing to himself and slamming his fists into the screen. Arda puts her hand to the wound and winces before pulling her hand away and staring at the blood in shock. She shakes herself back to focus before pulling an autoinjector out of her belt and jamming in into her side next to the wound. Arda quickly takes a deep breath then rips the knife out of herself and lets out an earpiercing scream. She keels over, gasping and moaning as the wound bubbles and seals itself. Arda begins crawling back up the ramp while trying to catch her breath. She enters the ship and grasps for anything that can bear her weight as she tries to stand. Frantically she looks around trying to find the man that entered before hearing a clattering. It doesnt take long to make her way into colonist cryosleep and find the attacker beating a drawer he'd ripped out against the control panel for one of the pods, with two already open and their occupants dead.
Arda Screams, "No! Stop! They're just people!"
The panel lets out an audible crack and without taking his eyes off the colonist in the now opening pod, the attacker calmly answers, "I know. And this is going to make my day. Hell, my year."
Before he takes the drawer and begins beating it against the head of the colonist in the pod. Arde screams as she hurls herself at the attacker, clutching the knife she'd pulled out of herself not a minute earlier. Arda doesn't even comprehend what's happened yet when she collapses to the ground and once again begins sobbing as the attacker stubles backwards, coughing up blood and trying to cover with wound in his chest with his hands.
Children
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