"This spacecraft is state of the art," spoke the administrator of the Star Nation Observational Space Agency (SNOSA), "this is the fastest and best spacecraft we have ever built," he was telling the crew of the future mission, KM-9, to SG-232-Z1Z2. That star supposedly held the answer to the haunting question asked by all space-faring races: Are we alone?
KM-56 (Epidach) was scorching the surface of Korr on the hot day of the launch.
"T minus 2 minutes. Pad 34A" Kieil and Afjus , the two crew members, fastened into their safety harnesses. They were about to undergo the force of around 10 gravities.
"Future parameter check... Delta-v settings are go. No system malfunctions... Self-check is good. I think we're ready to launch." Afjus noted.
"In 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. We have liftoff of the KM-9 probe to SG-232-Z1Z2. In just under 5 days, we should know the answer to that haunting question... Are we alone? Are we the only sentient species in the galaxy?" said the administrator.
It wasn't but 30 seconds after launch, Mission Control radioed KM-9, "This is Mission Control to KM-9, We have a problem. You're drifting off course."
"Confirmation. Yes we're having minor difficulties here. We'll get it under control." Kieil replied. He didn't believe what he said, he had a hunch that this could be a serious problem.
"Auto System Calculator seems to be malfunctioning." Afjus told Kieil.
"No wonder this thing won't work right."
The two nervous members of the crew sat in the control room of KM-9 lifting away from the surface of their home planet, Korr, at over 34,500 miles per hour. Outside was much different than inside. KM-9 was piercing the frigid high-level atmospheric air like a bullet. The dark room inside was shaking around vigorously. The simulations had been very realistic indeed. The room was lit only by the weak glow of the various control buttons and switches on the electronic dashboard. A virtual screen Kieil was using to control the craft diffusely illuminated the room, creating a weak ambience not very unlike that of an overcast rainy day. One could easily image it as a room lit by the midday glow of a cloudy day outside.
Three minutes into the flight, Kieil announced, "We've lost radio contact," as various controls turned from the normal green glow to an agressive red synchronously. Static was the predominant noise in the crew's headphones. Various beeps could be heard indicating errors of the KM-9 mainframe system.
"Great, just great," Afjus's normally enthusiastic tone overrun with sarcasm, "We're now stuck in space, for the rest of our lives." Afjus turned down the volume on his headset. The beeping was quite irritating.
Kieil switched the controls from semi-automatic to manual in hopes that he could get the system back to optimal performance. He fumbled with the controls.
"Power generator failed," Afjus noted and continued, "Just means we won't last very long either."
Suddenly, all of the controls began flashing red. Both Kieil and Afjus's control screens turned red, filling with errors. Alarms sounded in the background.
Back on Korr, the SNOSA administration board was contacting various officials. Already, Mission Control had members examining the pre-launch log files to locate any error. Others were examining flight logs.
Kyrgvyr contacted the SNOSA admin, "There is no possible explanation, there had been no system malfunction until we lost contact. System checks also didn't turn up with malfunctions." She was baffled.
"Something had to have gone wrong!" he replied, "We just lost two of our best space travelers and the answer I get is just 'Nothing happened'? Something happened obviously!" The SNOSA admin was clearly angered by the faulty system checks.
KM-9 traveled the interstellar medium for days. At T plus 2.1 Solar Dates after the launch, it entered an unknown planetary system.
"Simple gravitational calculations suggest that we're on collision course with planet KM9-3. This is it. T minus... about 1 hour." Kieil said.
"Surely we can use this time to do something of importance?" Afjus suggested, "Try the generator? Get the transmitter aimed in the general area? We could use the 1ARC wide range option."
In the following hour, KM-9 continued to near the planet. The planet, with a peculiar magenta atmosphere, looked much like Sol's planet Jupiter. Spectra revealed a rocky surface below it's thick, suffocating atmoshpere. This discovery made it all the more peculiar. Even more peculiar, was the planet's star. There had never been a recording of a green star. It was not even thought to be possible. Spectral analysis from KM-9's few apparatuses that worked, showed it had high levels of Barium salts.
"This is the most crazy finding ever!" Kieil exclaimed. "If only we cou-"
"I've established contact, and transmitted a small document file with our findings. I also let them know we're alive. Bad news though, I only had contact for just over a minute." Afjus told him.
"We're now entering the amosphere... I estimate we've got 3 minutes left to do anything." Kieil was very nervous about death. He had no idea he'd lose his life 5 billion miles from home, even with the uncertainties of space travel.
The spacecraft hurtled down through the atmosphere. As seen on the surface, a fireball begins streaking across the sky. The glow from the fireball illuminates the landscape in the night a fiery red, and this lasts but 10 seconds before the fireball crosses below the horizon, and a bright flash is seen. Instantly, the treacherous dark and quiet is resumed, the still air lacking even the slightest breeze. KM-9 was downed.
I don't like the last paragraph... it sounds more like a direction for a play to me, than a paragraph in a novel.
Edit: Fixed a few typos and redid the last paragraph.
Topic: Story for Storymakers (Read 3101 times)
