Hopeless.
A through E, a simple file naming that used the systems most basic function to order the files alphabetical. Whomever made these had intentionally assured that the next person knew the order of their creation, that was Anthony's assumption anyway. And his assumption would not be disappointed.
“ Here speaks Jonathan Cole, I am aboard the INC Hope. There seems to have been an Incident on the ship, most of the crew are gone, and I can not reach the rest. If someone is out there, please help. “ The voice of a young man could be heard over the small earplug that Anthony put into his left ear, listening to the recording of the first file. The message obviously meant to be send via the Comm system, meaning this, Jonathan, he had no idea which system he was meddling with ?
It made Anthony wonder, why was a young man alone on the bridge ?, And the crew, gone ? Well, that was in line with the crew report at least, they where supposedly not within their capsules. But none of them should include someone sounding this, young. Was it one of the colonists ?
“ Jonathan Cole again, sorry about the last one. “ The young man spoke once again when Anthony selected the next file, and this time, there was a video feed to the file, showing what looked like a boy of no more then 15 years.
“ It has been about, I don’t know, a few weeks ? It is hard to tell time, none of the computer systems are capable of doing so anymore. And timekeeping device’s seem to have burned out, that seems to have damaged part of the system too, I guess. “ The young man reported, causing Anthony to furrow his eyebrows, the boy spoke, about his time alone, and the matter about timekeeping devices, it seems odd.
“ I have not found anyone else from the crew, and I can’t get into most of the other rooms. I was lucky the bridge was opened when I woke. I don’t get it though. I was with the rest of the Colonists, why was I, left in the capsule, on my own ? Did I do, something wrong ? “ The boy went on, and then just breaking into tears before he turned off the recording.
Anthony could understand the boy. If he truly was left alone for weeks on the ship, and the other colonist capsules are empty. Well, he would feel like shit too if they released everyone around his capsule, and leave just him behind.
Surely though, he could not have been entirely alone, right ? He should only have access to his, either the left, or the right colonist pod. No, what mattered right now was, why the heck was everyone gone, why was the hallway shot up, and even if they abandoned ship, what the heck drove them to leave behind a child ?
Something was not right here, there were procedures to be followed, unless there was, something preventing them from opening the boys capsule, no, even then, they could have moved the capsule on a backup system to the sub-vessels.
Anthony leaned back and, for a moment, take a seat on the chair behind the console, and thought of the Three Transport vessels, NH 01 through NH 03, if the crew left, then at full compliment, at least two vessels should be gone. Realistically, one could load the whole crew onto one of the vessels, but the power supply on the NH class vessels would not permit the whole crew in sleep capsules, and the cargo, while enough for a while, could not store enough to feed them for a prolonged journey either. So, realistically, if the whole crew left and took, essentially all colonists with, then they should have taken two of the vessels with them. Three, if he was really unlucky.
“ Now don’t draw the devil on the wall. “ Anthony mused to himself, there was no point in causing himself panic. Even if the crew was really gone, that was not the end of it for him. The INC Hope, it was equipped with a lot of tools he could use. And who knew, this might just be one very bad Aprils fool joke of sorts. Although., looking down over the floor, there was dust, something he noticed only now, and save for his own footsteps, there has not been any disturbance on the floor for a while.
“ Crap. “ He muttered under his breath, leaning over to the navigations console to see if he could trigger on the main-screen, with only limited success. The main-screen remained off-line, but he could transfer the view onto the navigations console itself, seeing the space in front of the ship. And, by what he could judge, the ship was at least not in motion, but then again, it was hard to tell, there where few stars for him to use as orientation, and they did seem to remain in place.
He shook his head, and finally leaned back to select the third file, hearing as the young man begun to speak once more, while showing up on the screen, looking a little older then he was just a moment ago.
“ So, no idea how much time passed. But Andrew said that it’s been about a year since his reactivation, so, yeah. “ Jonathan reported, leaving Anthony to wonder only for a moment as the boy directed the camera over to a white Android model that indicated it to be one of the medical androids.
“ Say hello Andrew. “ Jonathan told the Android, which promptly responded with his robotic voice. “ Hello Andrew. “, it spoke before the camera was turned back towards the young man.
“ Got to fix that still. Anyway. New developments for me. Firstly, managed to gain access to Transport one, or, NH 01 as its marked. NH 02 is gone, so guess the crew took it, NH 03 is still docked, but can’t get in there, bulkheads are closed in the back of the ship.
On the transport, I was able to get a look below the Hope, and found a massive planet, and I mean, MASSIVE, never seen something like it before. By my limited knowledge, nothing should survive entry into its atmosphere, and in fact, the Hope is so low in orbit, it should have been crushed, which didn’t happen. So, reactivated the two Haunt units on the NH 01 and send them down there with help from Maggie on the transport. First crashed, thruster issue, second made a soft landing.
Went down there twice myself now, and, well, call me insane, but this is creepy stuff. Planet-side, its all just a giant jungle, and you can see a blue star in the distance. Planet seems to have a slow day and night cycle. But, when you leave it, there is no Sun or, star close enough.
Don’t know how to explain it, but it’s creepy. There doesn’t seem to be any life down there other then plants, the silence is, unsettling. “ Jonathan reported, once again confusing Anthony with what he had to tell.
Anthony, while he listened to the report, would get up and lean over the navigations console, trying to find a setting that would tell him about local gravity field, but there was nothing, and he could not access any of the exterior cameras below the ship either to take a look.
“ Did get a lot of bio-matter though, loaded up what I could with Andrews help, and fed it to the hydroponics, should keep running for a while.
On another note, there is something else on the ship, rat or something. I trapped it in the Lab, but the darn thing is so quick, I can’t get a good look at it. But did set the feeding dispenser in lab to throw out some of the dry food stuff it holds. The animal does come out to eat, but only if no one is around. Probably going to try and set up a mechanical timer on the dispenser so it wont starve, and, well, thats it for now. “ Jonathan, then leaning in to turn the recording off again.
So, there was an animal on board ?, or, used to be anyway. Who knows how old that recording is, Jonathan has not been here in a while, and who knows if he still was, given that he managed to take control and even use one of the transport vessels. But it suggested that the Growing vat hat been used, considering how unlikely it was for a stowaway animal to be brought on board, and depending on how much time has passed, most would have died off with no openly available food supply.
“ Well, lets get these done first. “ Anthony suggested to himself, considering that, before anything else, he could finish these last two files, gather what information he could from them, and then go about making a battle-plan for himself.
“ Still not sure what that thing in Labs is, but did get the mechanical timer going. Can’t say how exact it is, but the dispenser should throw out a few pellets a day. But, given up on trying to catch it, it seems scared of me and Andrew, and honestly, its not hurting me so, just going to let it be.
As for that planet, its gone. Was there just until a few days ago. And suddenly it was gone, just noticed a massive shock-wave that shook us good during breakfast, and noticed only a day later that it was gone. Don’t know what to make of it. And honestly, I don’t care anymore.
On more fun news. Maggie picked up a broadcast of sorts. Can’t say for sure if its from the crew but, it’s supposedly using the proper frequency. So, the AI is pressuring me to load up the ship to follow it, and I have to say, I agree. Going to take a few days so. Wish me luck. “ Jonathan explained, and he actually seemed happy this time around.
It was good to hear that the downgraded version of Maggie on the Transports seemed to be reasonable, enough at least for her to try and take Jonathan away from what may seem like a dead end. And honestly, if this was all true, Anthony too still had a chance, he just had to make his way to NH 03, there should be an operational Maggie unit as well. And perhaps, he could even hook it up to the INC Hope.
“ Ok, last entry, probably. Been a little more then a few days. I installed a partial Hydroponics bay within the NH 01, Maggie directed me to. And She made some good arguments so, yeah. Finally done now, Maggie tested the system integration, and it’s all working.
Maggie says she is going to power all but one Sleeping Capsule down, so I am going under again, while she tries to preserve as much power as she can. Say’s that, while we are going straight for the beacon, there may be a chance that we have to track a trail of breadcrumbs, so, it be a good idea to conserve as much power and materials as possible for the highest rate of success.
If anyone actually gets to see this recording, if your from the crew, sorry if I left you behind. Even with Maggie’s help, I still can’t get into most rooms on the INC Hope, and it’s been years now. I asked Maggie to place new beacons at every stop, so, if your there, and if you can get to the last transport, come see us. I wish you the best of luck, so, wish me luck as well. Heck, maybe I even get to see my dad again, Don’t know if I am going to chew him out first, or, well, whatever. Again, to whomever may see this, best of luck out there. “ Jonathan, offering somewhat of a smile.
Anthony leaned back into the chair after this last message, allowing the words to sink in, those that where of context for his own survival anyway. Apparently, he was the last, or one of the last persons on the ship, and everyone else was off to, wherever. If the crews Vita system was accurate, then the whole ship crew was gone, and taking Jonathan’s case in mind, then at least one of the colonist wings was now empty, leaving just the second one for any prospective survivors that he could use. The more hands he had to help him, the better.
Anthony released a long and loud sigh, this was going to be troublesome. But if the young man from the recordings did anything for him, it’s to let him know that, despite the situation, there was a way out. Not that Anthony was at the point of panic, but, just waking up, and then realizing he was left behind was, painful, but at least Jonathan could set him straight before he could properly stumble.
But what bothered him, why where there signs of battle in the hallway, Jonathan had not made any mention of it. Was it something that happened afterwards ? Or did he fail to take proper note of it ? It did seem clear to him that someone discharged a firearm, and someone else resisted, or, something else. Maybe he would have to check the robotic unit storage later, the androids would be strong enough to cause the warping in the wall.
“ Well, work to be done. “ Anthony grunted, trying to force himself back onto his feet. He wasn’t sure yet where he should start, but given his specialization, he could probably check on the AI and the VI network first, and then go down the line of whatever he could do. If the Network can not be salvaged, he can still see about the next important steps, surviving colonists, and the NH 03 vessel.