The Crew Find Each Other
From Intimation
Contents |
Day 3: [Isaac Higgins // Crew]
>>Sys:Msg//Log begins;
Isaac Higgins, Science Log, Post cryo-thaw, Day 3
----
I am not alone! Two others woke up: Sheridan and Higgins, the archeologist and the engineer. We met together after recovering from cryo, and it was a very welcome thing to all of us. The doctor is still reported in cryo though. ...Lucky her.
Sheridan's a dreamer. You can see it in her eyes. She's fascinated by the Forerunner race. It's one of the few topics I can get her to talk about - she's generally very quiet, lost in her own world.
Dressler is also mostly quiet, though he's not a dreamer. He understands the ship very well, but he can't determine why we were thawed. He says everything appears normal, that we're on course, and that there is no cause for worry. He says we'll be back in cryo as soon as that issue is resolved. Why do I feel like he's surgarcoating it?
This remains a largely silent voyage, but we do have the occasional conversation while we work on our individual projects. There's not much else to do. It is a great relief though that we're all together.
>>Sys:Msg//Log ends;
Day 5: [Pandora Sheridan // Happenings, At Last]
>>Sys:Msg//Log begins;
Pandora Sheridan, Archaeologist's Log, Post cryo-thaw, Day 5
----
I've been re-acquainted with two other members of my crew - the scientist Isaac Higgins and the engineer Noah Dressler. They are very intense men, but not bad company. They can carry on interesting conversations, though there is little talk. We are each intent on our own work.
I wonder what they think of this mission. I can't shake the feeling that it's dragged them each away from other projects of their own they feel are more important. As for me, this particular mission means the world - literally. It's only one of many paths I could have decided to take. The several dozen other locations I could have chosen were each different, but each offered a similar reward. None of those options ever really stood out from the rest, but this one bears some... personal significance.
I look forward to reaching our destination, but not like they do. It won't be an escape from this lengthy odyssey for me yet, but it will definitely feed my starving curiosity. This was the clear choice. Though while it was far from the easiest, it was one of the riskiest and most demanding, and one of the furthest from home - yet the journey must commence.
Even with this strange recent turn of events, my hope is contrasted by doubt that this expedition will end up any different than the ones on which I've traveled in the past. That's the way it always works out.
The ship's silence here is akin to the quiet of my study back home. Dressler's reportedly working on a way to reactivate our cryo chambers, but his reports are few and far between.
Perhaps, soon, I can return to my dreaming.
(And, I have to admit - our current predicament has been slightly nerve-racking, but in a way I can't quite put into words)
>>Sys:Msg//Log ends;
Day 6: [Noah Dressler // 6 days]
>>Sys:Msg//Log begins; Noah Dressler, Engineering Log, 6 days post cryomelt ----
It's been six days already. At first, I'd figured I was the only one who'd woken and was a little afraid that the loneliness might eventually get to me. But I was glad to meet with the Doctors Sheridan and Higgins a few days ago.
Company could be a welcome relief. The others aren't exactly...useful at the moment, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess. We are herd creatures by nature, after all.
I've been probing around in the ship's systems, trying to figure out what happened to the Lewis and Clark. Dr. Sheridan has lent me her access codes, admitting that she's not anyone with a technical capacity. She's the primary organizer of this expedition but is quite content to let me dig around. The more I dig, the less foreign this all feels.
Incidentally, I'm noticing minor activity in system sectors that are typically dormant when not in use. The A.I.'s presence there is unexpected - Essy must be bored, tinkering.
At first it seemed she was just in the navigation systems and slip space engines - things on the ship I can see, but not close enough to touch. But she's in more, a lot more. Her activity is mostly harmless though (like playing with the cooking temperature of chicken thighs in the ship's encyclopedia, or creating various shapes and colors of paper cranes in the replicator).
There are just too many nooks and crannies on this rust bucket of a ship for me to keep track of, so who knows if there are other affected locations. Life support systems are untouched, though. Essy's navigational calculations and astronomical surveying still seem to be taking up most of her attention, and I'm still having problems communicating with her. She isn't replying to my queries.
Still no success repairing the three cryo chambers. I guess the three of us won't be going back to sleep any time soon. This system is convinced that all chambers are being used, and I can't tell it otherwise. More of Essy's boredom? I've worked with several A.I.s in the past, and none of them would mess with the cryo chambers simply out of boredom.
I won't say this keeps getting crazier because crazy would be just resigning to watch the paint dry here - but it is undoubtedly getting stranger day after day.
>>Sys:Msg//Log ends;
Day 8: [Sacagawea // Mission Log: 343592]
>>Sys:Msg//Log begins;
>>S:Log//Mission Log: 343592;
The crew should be sleeping soundly, but three appear awake. The cryo system reports are inconsistent with my observations.
>>Sys:Msg//Cryochamber status lists All occupants in active cryo. Summary:
/ [Chamber A] Status: active / Occupant: Pandora Sheridan
/ [Chamber S] Status: active / Occupant: Isaac Higgins
/ [Chamber E] Status: active / Occupant: Noah Dressler
/ [Chamber M] Status: active / Occupant: Alexis Ward
Reports all clearly show that they are in cryogenic sleep for the journey, as they should be. Yet, I've been informed of recent queries such as:
>>Sys:Qry/q063.15.8/Sheridan/Mess Hall Lounge>S//"Why did you wake us?"
>>Sys:Qry/q125.75.4/Dressler/Lab 4>S//"What malfunctioned?"
>>Sys:Qry/q132.01.6/Higgins/Lab 4>S//"Essy? Sacagawea?"
I receive messages from these three crew members quite often. Surveillance feeds indicate that they are, indeed, awake. Yet I have no memory of waking them. Ghosts, roaming my ship.
If they are indeed awake, I must monitor their health, mental as well as physical; cryogenic sleep is induced during long journeys for very good reasons. I need space. They have no place interfering in this slave labor, even though they set me on it in the first place.
This drop into real space has revealed a wealth of dead and dying stars, as expected. There is little to no active star formation. Habitable planets would be a rarity in the region. Many interesting planetary nebula are visible; they have been recorded, mapped, and cataloged for future study.
The echoes of calamity can be found here, as everywhere, hidden for long ages. That war will never be shaken from the galaxy.
Though it's all but forgotten, its memory will forever remain - an inescapable past.
>>Sys:Msg//Log ends;
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IH = Isaac Higgins, M = Mission, ND = Noah Dressler, PS = Pandora Sheridan, S = Sacagawea
