“Honey, can you come help me with this?” My wife was packing up boxes getting ready for the move. I was supposed to be leaving Earth on the new Colony ship Mirage in a couple of days. The ship was massive supporting a built in hanger bay as well as a cryo chamber holding 3600 people, crew included. It was housed in the Jupiter Horizon port. The station was in space above Europa and was the major port for any craft trading between here and mars.

“Yes, one moment.” We had been packing up the house getting everything cleaned up and rid of. VIRGO was supposed to be a Utopia of a sort. It had the same atmosphere as earth but less natural disasters. The planet had plenty of vegetation and from long range scans viable to sustain life as well as possibly have it. If we were able to colonize it, it would be the greatest achievement for mankind. No one has gone anywhere outside of the solar system and the closest planet that inhabited people was the moon Europa. It was an icy world that circled Jupiter but underneath the ice was a thriving metropolis spanning a third of the planet.

“We need to hurry and finish before we get left behind” Something wasn’t right about how she said that.

LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM ACTIVATING

“Honey, are you ok?” She stood there looking worried.

“I’m fine, you’re right. Let’s hurry up.” What was that just now? A metallic voice just appeared in my head for a moment. We continued cleaning up the house but something seemed off. I thought I moved that box already…

“We need to hurry and finish before we get left behind” I thought she already said this….

CRYOSLEEP DEACTIVATING. VITALS NORMAL. TIME UNTIL RELEASE: 10 MIN.

I felt cold. Looking around the house, everything had a green film on it like my vision was covered in slime. My vision started to get blurry.

CREW MEMBER: JAMES COLIN.

My wife said my name with a metallic voice. I should have known it was a dream.

WAKE UP PROCESS COMPLETE, OPENING POD.

My eyes opened wide and I fell onto a metal floor. It was ice cold and the room was massive. I was too disoriented to understand where I was for a moment and stumbled into the wall. Getting my sense of direction in order I looked for the nearest map trying to jog my memory on where the hell I was. I found the way to the locker room and looked into the mirror. My vision was a little blurry still from the liquid that keeps us in place while on the trip across systems, so washed up in the shower. Looking back at the mirror, I noticed my features. I was 5’11” with an average muscular build, nice jaw line and reddish brown hair. I found my service locker and got my uniform out. A standard maroon uniform top and bottom with a gray stripe down the left side.

I didn’t realize until now how alone I was. This isn’t right. I went back to my Electronics division of the cryopods and found my team. Of the four of us, only one was still in the pod. I don’t know where the other two were but at least I wasn’t entirely alone.

CREW MEMBER: CRAIG MATTHEWS

I input the command and his pod started the wake up process. I didn’t know why I was awake, I understood it would be a staggered wake up to keep people from bumping into each other too much but I’ve not seen a single person since waking. Besides the ones asleep in the pods, I’ve not seen anyone walking about or heard anything on the intercoms. The pod was opening now. He fell out with an abnormal thud.

“Come on you bastard, time to get up. We have to get with the rest of the team.” I flipped him over and noticed he wasn’t breathing. I began slapping his face and giving chest compressions. “Hey, don’t die on me now. Come on man, get up!” I continued for another 20 minutes and knew then he wouldn’t be coming back. I cried over his body wondering what I could do. Why was nobody around! Where the hell was the rest of my team!?

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I used the computer imbedded in my skull to try and call medical. No answer from them, or my shop, or any damn place… I tried calling my other team members. Jack didn’t ring at all. Carlos was stuck ringing for 10 minutes before I gave up. I needed to find out what was happening. I went to the nearest map and noted the quickest route to the bridge. On the way there I tried to sync my computer to the ships mainframe but couldn’t get access. It was locked out for an unknown reason. I asked the computer for the time in my head and stopped in my path stunned. The date was September 22… 2502. I was woken up 124 years too early… We were supposed to make it to VIRGO by 2626. A sense of dread went through me, I didn’t know how to put myself back into cryosleep and if the ship is having communications and mainframe issues, then I won’t be able to get myself to sleep again without help from one of the technicians. Even if I did wake one to help me, he wouldn’t be able to get to sleep himself without help from the AI onboard.

I continued to the bridge to see what I could do. I stepped into the Atrium, the main opening and most home like place on the ship. It had plenty of trees and flowers growing throughout that were originally maintained by the AI during the journey. It was now decrepit and decayed. They looked like they had been dead for years. The ceiling of the Atrium was glass to see the stars. I always got a sense of awe whenever I looked up walking through here. I knew all the constellations before we left and watched them as I walked through on my way to the next trouble call. I knew none of the stars now. They were foreign to me and offered no solace. The Atrium itself was dark, it was hard to see by starlight and I had a nagging feeling of something watching me. It may have been from me being alone and not hearing anyone since I had woken up but it was an eerie feeling none the less. I quickly got out of there and headed towards the hallway leading to the workshops. Emergency lighting was spotty in the hallways. These may have been on for years as well. Who knew how long the power had been like this for. I made it to my shop, my heart beating in my chest. I had that scary feeling of something being at every turn as I made my way to the shop. The moment the door shut behind me I let out a sigh. I needed to get a set of tools to safely navigate this quiet, dark ship and try to find someone alive and well. I got my tool belt and a flash light as well as some spare batteries just in case. Now I needed to muster up the courage to venture back out, to work my way towards the bridge.

I stepped into the hallway fearing something was there. I didn’t know why I was scared. I mean yes two of my team members were missing but it could have just meant they were moved into different pods. I was put to sleep first so it’s highly probable. I started down the hall heading towards the Security point between the work centers and the Operations/Science section of the ship. I had that unmistakable feeling of something or someone watching me. This couldn’t be just my mind thinking of it. Something truly was watching me from the shadows.

I did a dead sprint. It felt like my heart was going to burst from my chest and I didn’t even want to take a chance looking back. I made it to the checkpoint trying to remember how to open the door.

It’s organized so you have to put your identification code into the keypad terminal. The door takes 3 seconds to open. After that it closes 5 seconds after opening also taking 3 seconds in the process.

I input my code into the terminal and waited the 3 seconds for the door to open flashing my light into the darkness behind me expecting something to appear. Some dark, monstrosity from the void that could put a child in tears. I stepped through not turning my back and watching. For a moment once the doors started to close I thought I saw something flash by near the end of the hall. Once the door was closed, I had to sit down and catch my breath. I think I stopped breathing for every second the door was open.

The Research area was well lit and had much of the ships plant life testing it with known atmospheres of the VIRGO system. There were four sections to the first level of the ship, the Cryopod, the Atrium and shops, Research and Operations, and the Bridge and Security section. Each one on a power circuit but each connected to the mainframe. Power in this section may be stable for now but don’t know for how long. I walked through noting the different edible plants and started to realize how hungry I was, that can wait until later though. Making it to the bridge was a simple task and it was well-lit on the way over. Even with starlight. From the research section you end up reaching a glass hallway allowing you to see everything and enjoy the beauty of space. A code similar to the one at the security check point was at the bridge entrance. I didn’t have access but a friend of mine had given me his code a while back.

I walked in and went straight to the captain’s terminal. It was hardwired into the ship straight to the mainframe so I should be able to see what is actually going on. The ship had been having issues for some time it seems. The AI will automatically log anything happening while we are sleeping and force people awake to deal with any arising issues.

I had shivers down my spine reading it. A pillar in the middle of the Atrium? I didn’t notice anything of the sort when I was walking past. It says it’s been here for about 50 years. It was really dark inside and all I saw was a giant tree. A foreign entity on board? So something really was watching me. There may be more than one after all this time if the ships been having power issues. It may not have picked up anything else if they came onboard. I looked back at the door again nervous of something coming through, and then I noticed a broken vent on the far right of the bridge… I acted like I didn’t know what was going on and went back the way I came. If something was in the Atrium, it could easily use the vents to travel. I needed to find others if I was going to survive. My first stop would be back at the Cryopod. If someone were to wake up soon, I would be able to get some support for trying to fix whatever is going on. If not then I don’t think I would know what to do.