Sol-Date: 2215-51-52

We arrived at Rin yesterday. There was a funeral procession, but it was not the soldier's body they were carrying. Only an empty wooden box. The family was told that the casket's sealing function had malfunctioned, and it was unable to be opened. It wasn't really a lie, but not the truth either.

The real caskets were burned. The medical officers on board as well as the captain saw no other alternative. They were thrown into the incinerator. The captain gave them what honor he could, though, and burned them alone. No trash or waste along with it. After, the ashes were jettisoned into space. That was honorable, I think. The fake funeral procession I don't think was. Take it as you will. There is something brewing and I think I may be in the middle of it.

I have managed not to get sick from what I had found in those caskets. Several others can't claim to be so lucky, even though they weren't anywhere near the caskets. The medical staff think they may have had contact with the second wave of infected or something that any of the infected had contact with themselves. Regardless, they are being quarantined. Anybody that is showing any kind of symptom related to what was happening is getting the same treatment. But wait, it gets better.

Remember how I said that some of the men that were sick were getting better? Their vitals stabilized in the days after we had left Kyou. We're getting reports now of more infected. Not only that, but those that were recovering have started acting 'strange' as the medical staff of Kyou reported. It started with the occasional unwanted and unjustified touch. A thank you from them to the medical staff with the slight touch of their hand to the arm of the attendee. Several of the medical staff had gotten the same sickness, as well as reports of what I had told the captain. Most of those that do not make it deteriorate into puddles of pink and green mounds and tendrils. They've begun to speculate that the transmission is by touch and possibly airborne.

The latest news from Kyou is that the situation is rapidly deteriorating. Those who had gotten better went from passive and thankful to outright aggression. I saw a holo-vid of a news reporter say that a 'mysterious sickness has taken over a major residential district on the planet' and that medical staff are 'taking precautions to contain the outbreak'. Journalist-speak for 'shit is going crazy, and there are riots which are being contained.' Those who showed they would be unwilling to back down or be 'oppressed' as they called it were shot. Martial Law was declared planet-wide not long after.

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This might be the start of something we have not yet experienced. My imagination is running wild with this. When I was younger I read stories about zombies and plagues that destroyed worlds but it was all just fiction. If some new infection was seriously out there it could mean the end of the space corps if it isn't contained. I know that the upper ranks of government have plans for things like this, regardless of how far-fetched they are, but surely nobody takes it seriously.

Who knows. Maybe it's all just a hoax and it'll be done in a couple of months. But then again, maybe what I found on the ship was just the beginning. Maybe it is some form of alien life that infiltrates the ranks of their enemy, only to kill them from the inside and morph their dead body's mass into something more suitable to their needs. Sounds like a video game to me. We won't know until more information comes to us.

The captain seems on edge. I gave him my weekly situation report yesterday and he was uneasy. I'd guess he was concerned about some information classified higher than my security clearance allows. It's nothing that I can help with, so there's no sense in me worrying about it.

My only concern is those who are sick on board. If it were me and my paranoid ass, I'd kill them, burn them, and shoot their ashes out of the airlock. They are good men, though. They deserve better than that. If we end up having to fight to survive, though...I haven't picked up a rifle in years. I remember what they taught us at basic though. Squeeze, don't pull, and the like. I wouldn't hesitate if it meant seeing my wife again. Christ am I glad she didn't come to Kyou. Maybe I'll take some leave when we reach the next planet. Go home and spend time with her.

If it is aliens, though, it's neat that I'm one of the first to have seen how they come about. Even if they are a race of bloodthirsty conquering marauders. I'm not sure exactly what to shoot at if it's not a human, but there is one thing that will kill any living creature though: woodchippers. Good luck finding one out in the middle of space, though.