"Autopsy Report: Intergalactic Date 71920.1. This is Doctor Henry McKidd Rodman speaking."
Dr. Rodman was speaking into a wireless microphone that not only connected to the ship's record but also input itself into a personal recording device.
"After thoroughly examining the body, the color of the uniform the body was wearing and cross referencing the records of the inhabitants of Omega Psi 5-5.2, I have determined that the body belongs to that of the leader of the colony, Captain Nelson Nada."
As Dr. Rodman recorded the autopsy, Louise was mopping up the rest of the blood and rancid fluids that had poured out of Captain Nada's corpse.
"As I speak, I have a rough idea as to how Captain Nada has died. He and some other being had gotten into some sort of combat as his sidearm was removed. While he may have fought valiantly, he had obviously failed. Traumatic Brain Injury, punctures into the stomach, lungs, heart and his right arm that appears to have been…bitten off."
Louise gulped as she finished cleaning up the mess "Doctor Rodman?"
The doctor paused the recording "You are dismissed Louise, I still have to finish this report."
Louise nodded and then left the Medbay to make her way to the Cafeteria.
"According to preliminary scans of Omega Psi 5-5.2, there was no evidence of any hostile lives or any native flora or fauna on the planet despite the planet having ideal conditions for sustaining human life. Despite this, I have taken samples of hair, skin, and nails and put them into the analyzer. Oddly enough, while the analyzer normally delivers readings within minutes, it has been more than an hour since I put the materials into the device and while it has determined that there is foreign material on them, the results have currently been inconclusive. I have also filled several syringes with blood and the other bodily liquids of the late captain and put them into the centrifuge. Again, the device has been able to detect foreign material of unknown origins. I have told the analyzer to look through the entire Intergalactic Alliance Compendium including its shortest entries."
As Dr. Rodman spoke, the doors behind him quietly opened. All he felt was a brush of the wind, the whisper of a breath, an inconsequential puff of naiveté, a low and unnatural hum.
"Currently, the analyzer has gone through the first 20 percent of the most common and well known creatures across the universe and is still searching for some answer. As I speak, Science Officer Maxwell Earl Meyerson has been manipulating the damaged hard drives we found on the planet and will deliver his report to me…"
"Right now."
A deep voice spoke within Dr. Rodman's ear, freezing the physician up. He felt warm breath tickle his neck and the barrel of what felt like the barrel of a blaster against his back.
"How does it feel to be so close to the truth…but to have it ripped away from you at the last minute?"
Dr. Rodman took slow breaths, daring to turn around to see what beast was standing behind him with the intent to murder…
…Only to find Max wearing a goofy smile as tried not to laugh as he pointed the neck of a Don Dew bottle at the doctor's back.
"Really Max?" Dr. Rodman spoke, unamused at his crewmate's joke "You decide now of all times to try to scare me?!"
Max chuckled as he threw away his empty bottle and leaned against the gurney directly across from the corpse that had now been sealed within a fresh bodybag.
"I'm sorry Henry, the set up was too perfect for me not to exploit!"
Henry rolled his eyes as he stopped his recordings and turned to Max.
"I find it to be most unprofessional for you to try to scare me when I'm in the middle of my work!"
"C'mon Henry! Lighten up a bit."
"I did lighten up a bit earlier!"
"Oh really? When?"
"When I emptied my stomach within the toilet."
It took Max a moment, but the science officer smirked upon getting the joke. Henry smirked too, and the two then began to share in lighthearted laughter.
"That was a good joke to be honest!" Max declared as he slapped a knee.
"Why thank you for the compliment! Say, were you able to salvage anything off of the hard drives?"
Max shook his head "Sorry Henry, nothing on the hard drives but I did happen to find something of note on this."
Max took out a two inch flash drive out of his pocket. It was dark green and had a strip of scotch tape with the words "Pax Houston" on the side of it. He tossed it to Henry, who then put it into the ship's computer. On the flash drive were several files with names such as "Weapon Schematics", "3D Printer Models", "Tax Returns", "Memes", and "Omega Psi 5-5.2 Photo Journal".
Henry tapped on the screen where the Photo Journal file was and photos were arranged by Intergalactic Date starting on 71394.3 and ending at 71493.1
Most of the photos were basic images of the crew and their camaraderie. Planting seeds, playing games, and customizing their chambers.
"This looks like normal stuff so far Max"
"Yep, but look what happens a few days later."
The photos then began to focus on what at first seemed like a large pile of perfectly round boulders that had been poured into a pit of some kind. The rocks were all of varying size with the smallest being the size of a bowling ball and the largest being around six feet in diameter. Using IA Planet Rovers, the balls were removed only to discover a heavy lump of molten lead at the bottom. After breaking the lead away, a large metal plate that was ten square feet big and three inches thick was welded to an even larger metal containment.
After cutting a hole into the metal that was three foot in diameter, it led into the cave of what appeared to be an ancient civilization that once inhabited the planet. Half of the crew members were present upon the breaking of the seal but daylight was fading fast in the photo record.
"Max? Where was this pit of boulders located?"
"Scans of Omega Psi 5-5.2 show that the pit was about a kilometer away from the landing site."
The doctor scratched his chin as he continued to look through the photos. The rest of the photos appeared to be inconsequential until the two saw a photo of a dead body in a yellow suit lying on the floor surrounded by crew members. The next photo was like that of a crime scene investigation of a top view of the dead body. The photo after that showed the doctor taking the body into the morgue.
"The first victim?" Henry asked.
Max simply shrugged as there was only one more photo on the flash drive. It was a selfie taken within the men's showers of the colony as Pax Houston had just completed shaving. The only unusual thing with in the photo was a blurry pink cable that appeared to be hanging from the ceiling behind him.
"So what can you make from these photos Max?"
"The same things you could make out from them" Max answered as he unplugged the flash drive "That there was a race of beings that had been on Omega Psi 5-5.2 before the colonists arrived and that someone…or something…had tried to seal something away on the planet and that the colonists were insistent on discovering what it was."
"And do you think what they found in that cave was the cause of Captain Nada's death and the disappearance of the rest of the colonists?" Henry asked as he gestured to the bodybag.
"I can't say for certain without more data…" Max answered with a shrug.
Henry just groaned as he looked back at the analyzer, which had only gone through two percent more of the IA Compendium.
Max simply shrugged "Alright, I have to go talk to Alice anyway."
The scientist walked off, leaving Henry alone in the Medbay.
Max had to get to Communications, so he walked through the Cafeteria and passed through storage, where Tommy and Rachel were sitting on top of a few crates as they hooked up an SD card reader to a laptop.
"Who do you think owned the camera we found?" Rachel asked.
"Well probably one of the science officers," Tommy explained "There's light green marker drawn onto the tiny gap one could write something on."
The laptop began reading the data off of the SD card and displayed a multitude of photos that all were taken around Intergalactic Date 71495.8. The photos appeared to be a collection of cave drawings that were found on the planet.
The images were like that of the Lascaux Caves within France, rudimentary figures but those that clearly showed humanoid figures similar to that of the Roswell Greys.
The first image showed what appeared to be a timeline of the beings' evolution, like that of the Homo genus. The images also showed evidence of rudimentary sciences like farming, the wheel, and construction. Photos also showed a form of writing on the walls with an older and archaic text having been painted on while a translation in the native's language had been engraved onto metal plates and attached to the wall.
As the timeline progressed, the imagery grew in quality and detail. The form of the past inhabitants had become further defined and refined within the drawings. The progress of the extinct inhabitants had seemed to echo that of modern civilization leading up to the Intergalactic Era.
But the imagery took a dark turn after their modern era concluded.
The planet had started to become overpopulated, so in order try to produce greater outputs of food the inhabitants had started experimenting in genetics.
While domestication of what appeared to be Omega Psi's animal life seemed to be successful, the genetic experimentation seemed to consist of literally throwing science to the wall and seeing what sticks. From mashing up seeds to try to crossbreed plants, feeding blood of animals to other animals and even combining mashed up seeds with blood to feed them to the animals, the experimentation was not only chaotic but also clueless.
They eventually gained the understanding that breeding of animals with desirable traits with others of the same traits was the correct way to go, and an Eugenics movement formed among the beings.
Eventually, one of the planets natives took seeds from every known plant on the planet and blood from every form of life and began to give it to a small group of followers to ingest. The chemical solution was then spread throughout the farms to be fed to animals and used to water the plants.
And then the chemical was added to the water supply of the planet.
Scenes of violence then followed. Plants that shared pots were now trying to be the dominant creature. Animals in pens had attacked each other, even if they were herbivores. Murder of peasant and noble was witnessed throughout communities.
The world became divided, each trying to save their own skin and fearing the other. Madness proceeded with plants trying to kill animals, animals trying to kill inhabitants, inhabitants trying to kill plants with no one trusting anyone.
And then monsters came. Beasts with spikes coming out of their mouths to stab the inhabitants, torsos splitting in half like a giant maw, tentacles growing to crush their prey. Exterminations of these beasts included neck snapping, stabbings, and shootings.
But the monsters looked just liked the exterminators, and everyone grew paranoid.
As a last resort, a group of inhabitants decided to hunker down in a bunker to try to weather the storm, bringing all the plants, animals, and equipment they could take.
But the following photos showed how futile the plan was. Not only were there stains of alien blood found throughout the cave system, the sludge of decay had taken over. What appeared to be vents for atmosphere to flow through had been gunked up plants had rotted and withered away, water was tainted, animals had died, and evidence of murder of various kinds was strewn through the abandoned facility.
There were all sorts of rooms. Indoor farms, bunks for the inhabitants, a hospital, management systems, but the biggest of all was a science lab. Although it contained the sludge that the rest of the facility had, there were tools reminiscent of modern science equipment. Syringes, scalpels, tear drop vials, centrifuges, refrigerators. White boards were scrawled in the inhabitant's text but also were covered in sludge and alien blood.
"It seems like they were doing everything they could to stop this scourge." Tommy rationalized.
The pair continued to look at the photos. There were images of vials of dried blood and DNA being salvaged from the site along with capsules of the sludge to be taken to the lab.
But the very next photo showed that the blood, sludge, and DNA had all been broken out of their containments and had gone missing, followed by a photo of the body a first victim.
It was the nurse, having been impaled on a spare antenna for the colony base.
"That's the last photo…" Tommy explained.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to take this to Scottie."
"Ok, Security should know about this. What about me? What should I do?"
"Don't tell ANYONE that we saw this."
"Not even Dr. Max or Dr. Rodman?"
"No! This has to be kept among those who we trust… alright?"
Rachel sighed "Alright. Where do you want me to go?"
"Have you checked the Lower Engine escape pod?"
"Sure have!" Rachel said with a salute.
"Alright, you can go to the Crew Quarters to relax until dinner is ready. I gotta check the upper one and make sure that engine doesn't explode or something."
Rachel chuckled a bit before she went dashing past Admin and the Kitchen, the latter of which had Sal show the captain on how to use the fire extinguisher before walking through the cafeteria to the Crew Quarters.
"C'MON YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
The angry voice came from the Medbay, where Dr. Rodman was angrily staring at the analyzer and centrifuge. Rachel paused, watching Dr. Rodman look at them like a bag of popcorn that refused to pop.
"Dr. Rodman? Are you ok?"
Henry let out a sigh and sat on a chair "I'm fine…it's just that the analyzer isn't able to identify the foreign materials on the corpse parts."
Rachel stepped forward "Maybe we found something new?"
"That's what scares me. Since we don't know anything about it, it could be dangerous."
"Well maybe whatever was dangerous on the planet…died off?"
Henry turned to Rachel "Died off? What makes you say that?"
Rachel let out a sigh as she began to explain the photos she found to Henry.
"A group hunkering in a bunker to try to weather the storm" Henry echoed "That would seem to ma-wait a second!"
"What?"
"If these people were trying to live in a 'fallout shelter' why did the people on the outside try to prevent them from getting out?!"
"What are you saying?"
"I mean…if the people in the shelter were looking for a cure, why wouldn't the people on the outside want to share?"
"Well maybe they thought that it was a ploy to infect the others with some nastier ailment or what was perceived to be nastier? Anti-vaxers still exist despite the mandatory vaccination legislation."
"I know, but considering both the people inside the shelter and outside the shelter all died, it obviously didn't work for either party…"
"And it's still alive, whatever it is."
"Still alive? All we found was corpses and evidence of death."
"But what else could have killed the colonists?"
A eerie silence echoed within the Medbay until the chime of the dinner bell rung.
"I don't know about you, but I could use some food" Rachel spoke as she began to exit, but she noticed that Henry lagged behind a bit. "Henry? What's wrong? Aren't you hungry?"
"Hungry? No. I'm starving! Ever since the vomiting incident I've needed food desperately. I'm just worried about the analyzer and centrifuge."
Rachel smiled "Henry, you're just worried! Now come on and let's have a nice hot meal."
Henry forced a smile as he entered the cafeteria. Louise, Sam, Dr. Max and Charlie all sat at one table while Eleanor, Scotty and Tommy sat at another. Alice, ever the charmer, sat by herself and was resting her head on her elbow. Sal was absent, putting on the final touches for everyone's meal. Gary also sat by himself, but had a cheerier disposition than his first mate and sat in the center table to equally be close to everyone.
"Hey Henry, how about we share a…"
Henry had quietly walked off to one of the empty tables, giving it a quick spray of sanitizer before sitting down.
"Hey Rachel," Tommy spoke "How about you sit with us?"
Rachel smiled and as soon as she sat down, Sal burst into the cafeteria with everyone's appetizers.
"Alright everyone! Soup's on! We've got Gazpacho soup and side salad with each of your particular favorite dressings! After this is the steak to your rarities with smashed potatoes. For dessert we have the Mini Pavlovas!"
A few of the crew cheered as their salads and soups were swiftly served by Sal. He went in chromatic order and their food was on color matching plates.
When he got to Henry, he frowned.
"What's up doc?" He asked as he presented the doctor his food.
"I'm not feeling to hot, ya know? I'm gonna probably check the analyzer again before dessert just to see if it found anything it could identify."
"I understand! I'd better give the captain his food! It looks like he could eat with his belly if he wanted to!"
Henry smirked a bit as he poured his ranch dressing onto his salad to start munching.
As Sal served everyone, Rachel turned to Tommy.
"Tommy? Why does Doctor Rodman eat by himself?"
"You don't know?" The mechanic asked.
"Of course she doesn't know!" Scottie exclaimed "She's a cadet! This is her first mission."
"Then why don't you tell me?" Rachel asked.
Scottie finished her salad and put the bowl to the side "He's always been a bit of a loner. He'd rather mess with his test tubes and experiments than actually socialize. To be honest, with all the automatic medical equipment we have on board he isn't really needed. He's just kept on just incase the machines break down."
"And with me around, they won't stay broken for long!" Tommy declared.
"Exactly! So Rachel, just let Henry be. There's been something brewing in him for a long time and you don't want to get in the middle of it" She then chuckled "I do like to mess with him though. I watch him through the security cameras and then relay every move he makes. I just worry when he's gonna give me my comeuppance."
"How would he do that?"
"I don't know, maybe let a phaser overload in the security room, I don't know."
As soup and salad finished, Sal collected everyone's plates and brought them to the kitchen before serving everyone their steaks.
While just about everyone was pleased to accept their plate, Charlie fiddled around with his mashed potatoes.
"Charlie?" Dr. Max asked "What's wrong?"
Charlie sighed "I don't know…I've just been feeling uneasy after we left Omega Psi 5-5.2."
Max groaned "You feel uneasy after we go to every planet."
"The baby act has to stop Charlie." Sam added "You've been a navigator for five years now!"
"But I mean it! W-w-whatever was on that planet c-could be after us! It might be in the ship now! It might be in me!"
"Aww…" Scottie mocked "Does the baby want his bottle?!"
Within a flash of action, Charlie grabbed his mug and chucked it at Scottie's head. The security officer bounced out of her seat and began hitting the navigator.
"YOU! LITTLE! BRAT!" Scottie shouted, punching with every word.
Charlie fought back, grabbing her fist and gnawing at it.
"AHH! YOU BASTARD!"
Gary and Eleanor pulled Scottie off of Charlie while Dr. Max and Alice helped the bruised navigator up.
"You're bleeding…" Dr. Rodman spoke, approaching Scottie "Did he cut you?"
"No doctor, I think he bit me…"
Henry groaned as he pulled out a sterilizing spray and put on a bandage.
"Charlie, you're 27 now!" The captain exclaimed "Scottie is right in saying you should grow up a bit!"
"Well Charlie had a point too Gary!" The first mate retorted "We have no idea what could have been on that planet!"
"That's enough." Henry sternly spoke as he made his way stand between the two "We're meant to be a family here. A family controlling a tightly run ship. If we spend time fighting amongst ourselves, we jeopardize everyone's safety. We have to work together."
"Say's the guy who spends his time in the Medbay all day." Dr. Max remarked.
"And you're not spending time in the Oxygen Control most of the time? I have my work space, you have yours."
"Guys please!" Rachel spoke, wedging herself in. "There's no point in having a dick measuring contest here. Everyone's role is important. That's why we have back ups. Back up doctor in case the medical devices break. Back up mechanic in case Tommy breaks. Back up captain if he breaks. So just… calm down and… and…?"
"And lets get eating while I get out the Mini Pavlovas! I just have to go add the finishing touches."
Sal dashed to the kitchen to prepare the final course and everyone else stopped going for each other's necks.
"I'll be right back" Sam spoke "I gotta use the restroom in the Crew Cabin."
"Me too," Henry added "I'm gonna check if the analyzer has found anything."
"Me three," Louise also interjected. "I need to scan my card in Admin, I forgot to do it before we took off earlier."
"How could you forget Louise?" the captain complained "It's procedure!"
"Well to tell you the truth captain, with all the excitement of landing on Omega Psi 5-5.2 I kinda lost track of things."
Captain Gary rolled his eyes "Fine, make it quick."
"It's gonna be a bit long considering how finicky the card reader is" Alice remarked.
Louise then skipped down the hall past the kitchen to make her way to Admin with Henry strolling to Medbay and Sam marching to the Cabin while everyone else sat back in their seats.
Gary finished up his steak ravenously while Alice joined where Louise did.
"Hypocritical jerk…" Dr. Max remarked as he finished his steak.
"I don't think so…" Charlie replied "I mean, we've become creatures of habit while in space. We all have our little comfort zones."
"Exactly," Alice spoke "Like how I'm the most comfortable when I'm not with the captain."
Henry soon returned to his seat, just as frustrated as he was before and finished his steak. Louise soon returned and frowned a bit upon seeing the first mate in her seat.
"Here Louise," Dr. Max spoke as he got out of his seat "Take mine, I'm done."
Louise smiled as Sam soon returned to finish her meal.
Everyone's plates were soon cleaned up and then taken to the tray return, with some grabbing glasses of water, Don Dew, or other drinks.
"What's taking Sal so long with the dessert?!" Captain Gary complined as he rubbed his stomach.
"I'm really looking forward to the Pavolas" Dr. Max groaned "…whatever they are."
"It's Pavlovas" Rachel spoke, correcting the doctor.
"Maybe one of us should go check on him?" Tommy wondered.
"How about we all do so" the captain suggested "We're all hungry."
"Some of us more than others" Alice quipped as everyone got out of their seats and down the hall to the Kitchen.
The door to the kitchen was shut, but a pool of crimson liquid poured out from under the door.
"What happened here?" Dr. Max asked "Did Sal spill out the marrycasino herry juice?"
"It's maraschino" Scottie corrected.
"W-what if it's blood?" Charlie asked as he shook nervously.
"It's probably a leak of hydraulic fluid…" Tommy suggested "No big deal!"
Louise crept down to the floor with a medical scanner "This wasn't here when I went to Admin…"
With a wave of her scanner, the device was able to instantly detect what the liquid was.
Blood. Human blood.
The captain pressed the button to open the door, unable to see Sal but was able to see 24 Mini Pavlovas arranged on 12 tiny plates.
Sal was nowhere to be found, but a large stream of blood was flowing from the corner of the kitchen. Stuffed into the oven was the front half of Sal's body, his limp legs lying on the oven door.
Louise and Henry carefully stepped around the blood and carefully pulled Sal's body out of the appliance.
Sal's throat had been slit and blood was spilling out of his mouth.
But there was an even grizzlier injury.
In the middle of the dead chef's forehead was a hole big enough to fit a pinky into that was also pouring out blood. Sal's eyes were frozen in permanent shock as he truly knew who was the one who took his life.
It was a formality, but both Louise and Henry placed their fingers on Sal's throat to check for any sign of a pulse.
Defeatedly, Henry let his hands drop.
"Sal is dead."
