The Beginning of the End

John Kupowitz was pissed. The lights never worked. Even the damn closet lights in the janitorial sector worked, but never the mining bunks. He had just finished his usual graveyard shift digging, by hand, a shaft for minor ore extraction while Ryan was off working on the planet crack crew on the other side of the planet. Not fair. John finished his shower and dressed in his usual windbreakers and a tee shirt and stalked depressingly down to the cafeteria.

"Hey, John, what's up?" Veronica, his mining partner, came bouncing from the salad bar, a large smile plastered on her face.

"Lights in the bunk sector went out again." John grumbled, releasing an exasperated sigh.

"I was talking to Nigel again yesterday," she said, "He says the new generator should be arriving next week, unless P-Sec accidentally destroys that one too."

"About time. What are you so happy about, anyway?"

She motioned for him to take a seat at a nearby table, and seemed to be buzzing with excitement. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again and proudly exclaimed "I finished my PhD!"

"What!? So you're an expert in security systems now, eh?" John was honestly surprised, and not a little taken aback by her sudden announcement. He had known Veronica his whole mining career, and now she was moving up the food chain. He really felt like shit today.

"Yeah, and since I graduated top of my class, I just might get a job on the Ishimura!"

"Wow, that's…great."

"John, is something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm fine." He stood, said goodbye, and grabbed a slice of pizza on the way out. Planet crack was scheduled for tomorrow at 6 AM sharp. He had received an invitation to the USG Stars from Ryan, but was not sure if he was up to going. He was not feeling too generous at the moment, so he might send an RSVP later. He walked into his room and noticed the lights were back on. His first break all day, thank God. He lay down and checked the time. About 9 AM, enough time for him to catch a good ten hours of sleep until next shift. He switched off the lights and climbed into his bed, and into a world of dreams so terrifying he thought only the sleeping mind could conceive them.

At about 5 pm that same day, among the hustle and bustle of the Stars, a lone printer went active. The single sheet of paper went unnoticed among the reams of other reports, and was knocked to the floor. It was a small report, reading:

Planetary Organic Scan (POS) completed. Results are as follows:

Probability of organic life forms existing on Sigma 2: 90%. Most likely found dormant.

Bacterial/Viral Organisms: 50% likelihood of existence, most likely in conjunction with some form of dormant organism.

Status of predicted Organism(s): Based on rock density, flora abundance, and food and water availability among other forms of nourishment: 5% chance docile, 5% chance normal animal behavior, 90% chance hostile.

Mission Status: Recommend immediate abortion of planet crack procedure and cordoning and sealing of sector.

Around 7 pm an artifact was discovered, one which the Unitologists started to whisper of; an object they called a Marker.

Around 10 pm, people closest to the vicinity of the Marker during discovery reported similar headaches, and some form of insomnia when they tried to sleep.

At 6 am, as John was just finishing extracting ore with Veronica in a small shaft on Sigma 2, the USG Stars initiated the planet crack as around two thousand people on the large ship and the colonies looked on, ever unaware of the small report which had slipped into a vent on the Stars.