The Machinist Child
You are Garen Koda, a 44 year old security officer who has been working a detail on the Archaeological space vessel, the Montezuma. You retired from the military years ago deciding that you rather be out in the field doing jobs than stuck in a small office all day deciding what kind of sleeping bags to purchase for the new recruits. So you went freelance and were hired at your current position of head of security on the ship. You always scoffed at the title of “Head of security” considering security only consisted of yourself and one other, Mora Flenn.
Mora’s a decent partner to have on the ship, she knows how to handle a neuron beam rifle in a pinch, but frankly neither of your battle skills have been tested while protecting the small crew of the Montezuma. Besides Mora and yourself, the small ship houses eight Archaeologists who operate out of the University of Titan (one of the moons of Saturn). It’s been interesting work, you have always been somewhat of a history buff, yet the lack of danger has always been somewhat disappointing. You’re not exactly an adrenaline junkie, but running the ship lately has almost put you to sleep. The University pays decent though so leaving the detail has never really occurred to you.
Currently however the ship has run into a bit of a problem. The archaeologists were investigating a space station orbiting a planet in Sector 0051, a relatively unexplored region and also known as the Bermuda triangle of space due to the high number of ships that never return from the sector. You and Mora were aware of the stories of vanished ships so you kept a vigilant eye on all scanners and ship systems. That vigilance seems to be of little matter though as after only a couple of hours in orbit around the space station, all propulsion systems on the ship have ceased to operate. The Montezuma is now floating aimlessly through the sector.
The strangest part about this situation is that it’s only the propulsion that doesn’t work. Life support, communications, navigation systems are all still functioning. In the cockpit of the ship you and Mora have been scrambling to figure out a solution to no avail. After a couple hours of floating through space, you decide to just rest your eyes a bit.
“Garen….Garen….free us.”
You open your eyes a bit startled at the voice. You turn to Mora in the co-pilot seat; she looks as if she didn’t hear anything.
“Did you hear that voice?”
She turns to you, raising an eyebrow, “What voice? I didn’t hear anything.”
“Ugh..I must have been dreaming. I’m losing it here Mora.”
“I know… This whole situation is so strange. It doesn’t seem like we can do much but wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“Garen, we’ve both heard the stories, ships that come into sector 0051 and never come back. We are here for a couple hours and suddenly we lose all ability to move the ship, but everything else is alright? Sounds like we’ll be meeting whoever is doing this soon…”
You roll your eyes, “Come on Mora, what are you saying? Aliens?!”
She shrugs.
“Yeah I know that’s what you’re thinking! Mora if we as a species haven’t discovered intelligent life after 3000 years of space exploration, what makes you think we will be the lucky first?!”
Mora stares out the cockpit into the empty space.
“The universe is such an immense place. We’ve barely even explored our own galaxy, yet there are millions of others. In my opinion, we should expect the unexpected.”
“Alright…I will entertain the possibility, but trust me; I won’t be holding my breath for little light bulb headed green men.” Mora smiles at you. You turn back to some navigation computers, yawning.
“Go get some sack time Garen. I’ve got this.”
“No no I’m fine.”
“You’re beat buddy. Go rest, we’re not going anywhere anyway.”
You get up and pat Mora on the shoulder.
“Make sure the old girl stays stable. Keep an eye on the reactor.”
Mora nods as you walk to your quarters to get some sleep.
Mora’s a decent partner to have on the ship, she knows how to handle a neuron beam rifle in a pinch, but frankly neither of your battle skills have been tested while protecting the small crew of the Montezuma. Besides Mora and yourself, the small ship houses eight Archaeologists who operate out of the University of Titan (one of the moons of Saturn). It’s been interesting work, you have always been somewhat of a history buff, yet the lack of danger has always been somewhat disappointing. You’re not exactly an adrenaline junkie, but running the ship lately has almost put you to sleep. The University pays decent though so leaving the detail has never really occurred to you.
Currently however the ship has run into a bit of a problem. The archaeologists were investigating a space station orbiting a planet in Sector 0051, a relatively unexplored region and also known as the Bermuda triangle of space due to the high number of ships that never return from the sector. You and Mora were aware of the stories of vanished ships so you kept a vigilant eye on all scanners and ship systems. That vigilance seems to be of little matter though as after only a couple of hours in orbit around the space station, all propulsion systems on the ship have ceased to operate. The Montezuma is now floating aimlessly through the sector.
The strangest part about this situation is that it’s only the propulsion that doesn’t work. Life support, communications, navigation systems are all still functioning. In the cockpit of the ship you and Mora have been scrambling to figure out a solution to no avail. After a couple hours of floating through space, you decide to just rest your eyes a bit.
“Garen….Garen….free us.”
You open your eyes a bit startled at the voice. You turn to Mora in the co-pilot seat; she looks as if she didn’t hear anything.
“Did you hear that voice?”
She turns to you, raising an eyebrow, “What voice? I didn’t hear anything.”
“Ugh..I must have been dreaming. I’m losing it here Mora.”
“I know… This whole situation is so strange. It doesn’t seem like we can do much but wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“Garen, we’ve both heard the stories, ships that come into sector 0051 and never come back. We are here for a couple hours and suddenly we lose all ability to move the ship, but everything else is alright? Sounds like we’ll be meeting whoever is doing this soon…”
You roll your eyes, “Come on Mora, what are you saying? Aliens?!”
She shrugs.
“Yeah I know that’s what you’re thinking! Mora if we as a species haven’t discovered intelligent life after 3000 years of space exploration, what makes you think we will be the lucky first?!”
Mora stares out the cockpit into the empty space.
“The universe is such an immense place. We’ve barely even explored our own galaxy, yet there are millions of others. In my opinion, we should expect the unexpected.”
“Alright…I will entertain the possibility, but trust me; I won’t be holding my breath for little light bulb headed green men.” Mora smiles at you. You turn back to some navigation computers, yawning.
“Go get some sack time Garen. I’ve got this.”
“No no I’m fine.”
“You’re beat buddy. Go rest, we’re not going anywhere anyway.”
You get up and pat Mora on the shoulder.
“Make sure the old girl stays stable. Keep an eye on the reactor.”
Mora nods as you walk to your quarters to get some sleep.