Get to the Lifeboats!
Or what to do when you have to abandon your space station.
Writing this short story in the format of of mission logs was a lot of fun. Let me know what you think!
Mission Log
Earth Date - July 15th, 2131 15:45
The space station’s power plant went critical fourteen hours ago. It gave us time to retreat the the lifeboats. Murray and I are in Lifeboat 1. Cho and Sanchez and in Lifeboat 4. I don’t know about Lifeboats 2 and 3 and the remaining members of our crew of twelve. Each boat can handle four crew with a capacity for life support of ninety standard days. Longer if we go into stasis. I don’t think we have that much time though.
Murray spotted it on our sensors two and a half hours ago. It’s not an Earth ship. It’s definitely moving under power though. It’s not being influenced by the Jovian gravity well. Thankfully, neither are we. We’re on our way to Callisto Base and should make moonfall in the next eight to twelve hours. We will keep scanning the ship and hope and pray that our crew all make it to Callisto. Per our operating orders we are sending all logs to our relay station on Callisto base and with the potential sighting of an alien vessel we are attaching scans as well.
Mission Specialist Dr. Ivy M’benga
Mission Log
Earth Date - July 15th, 2131 22:33
We have spotted Lifeboat 4 on our sensors. We have also received word from Lifeboat 3 that Reynolda, Grayson, Takagawa, and Lee are on board and headed to Callisto as well. Based on current heading and speed, we will make it there first. Automated systems have begun powering up to bring Callisto base to full operational readiness for our arrival. We have no weapons. We are a peaceful people. I say this for the benefit of anyone listening. Please don’t hurt us. We are just scientists.
Mission Specialist Dr. Ivy M’benga
Mission Log
Earth Date - July 15th, 2131 22:40
I have relieved Dr. M’benga of duty temporarily and given her a sedative. We are under a lot of pressure. We’ll be landing at Callipso Base in about ninety minutes. I’ve checked the sensors and lifeboats 3 and 4 are on course, though there is some interference I don’t quite understand. It may be coming from the unknown vessel.
M’benga was correct. When we arrive, the station will be ready for us. The station shielding may offer us more protection and worse case we can go into the Well. It was designed to survive an indirect hit from a meteor. There is enough life support and infrastructure for us all to go into hibernation indefinitely.
The unknown ship is giving off some sort of radiation I don’t recognize when it maneuvers. The sensors on these boats aren’t great. I’m pushing them to do things they aren’t designed to, but then I’m the one who designed them.
Signing off for now.
Mission Specialist Thomas Murray
Mission Log
Earth Date - July 16th, 2131 00:45
We’ve made it to Callisto base. I’ve put Dr. M’benga in a medbay. We saw the alien vessel do… something to Lifeboat 4. There was a burst of radiation and then there was nothing left of the boat carrying Cho and Sanchez. My the gods of my ancestors have mercy on their souls.
I’m working on converting one of our transmitters into a sort of directed energy weapon. I don’t know if it will work, but I’ll be damned if I go down without taking a swing at whatever these things are.
I checked the logs from Lifeboat 3 and the crew are going to do what they can to increase speed and make it here. I wish I could communicate with them directly, but those boats weren’t designed with two way communication in mind. Hell, they hadn’t been used in a decade or more. Food for thought for anyone listening to this or reading the transcript. They should be here within ninety minutes.
Mission Specialist Thomas Murray
Mission Log
Earth Date - July 16th, 2131 02:15
Murray has had some success with the beam weapon and though Lifeboat 3 took some damage from the alien vessel, the crew is with us now. Reynolda, Grayson, and Lee are working in the Well to prepare it for our long sleep. Takagawa and Murray are working together on our offensive capability. I’ve been studying the ship.
The sensors on the base are much better than the ones on the Lifeboat. This base will eventually be added to and will provide a launchpad for extra-solar missions. The craft has angles and dimensions which are truly inhuman in design. They remind me of crystals that have been grown. It could be some kind of techno-organic race. I’m not getting life signs, but I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for.
They are definitely heading for us. I will leave the sensors on and broadcasting when we go into the Well. It extends beneath the ice and into the water below. Once we seal the series of hatches, they could completely obliterate the base and we’d survive. We draw oxygen from the water and there is a small fusion cell to power our bedchamber.
They are ready for me to go down now. The alien ship will be in range soon.
Say goodbye to our families for us if we never awaken.
Mission Specialist Dr. Ivy M’benga
This was awesome! I join the chorus in begging for more. More, More, More...please.
Very successful. I hooe there will be a novel or at least a sequel.