The hulking mass of the vessel traveled through the unending expanse of space. No light escaping from the ship except for the muted glow of the pulse jet propelling it through the expanse. Stars and planetary bodies passed in the background as it traveled through the Milky Way. The ship was dead. All panels and control boards muted, sitting on standby until the AI would rouse them.

Silence permeated the dead ship until an ethereal note of a hum started from the back of the bridge deck. Slowly approaching the bridge. The hiss of hydraulics signaling the entrance of the interloper onto the pallid scene of death. Panels and holographic screens flickered to life as the interloper. A man, alive and well. Walked in through the hissing of the door, only staying open for a moment before hissing once again as it closed. The light hum of the long-forgotten ballad continuing to saturate the recycled air.

The man moved with purpose, but his eyes were empty as if staring beyond what he was looking at. A spark was still present, yet subdued as it may be. His very being was not striking in any way, with the possibility of simply fading to nonexistence as if he was just a specter. The man moved towards the central panel, and with a wave of his hand, the chair swung on its swivel, allowing the specter-turned-man to sit down and bring his attention to the panel in front of him.

"Epimetheus, Status," the hum, having stopped just before he sat down. The silence was once again broken with the command.

"Ship, status is nominal. It has been 547 cycles since you were last awoken," A disembodied voice, neither male nor female replied to the command, coming from everywhere on the bridge.

The man ran his fingers through his hair while releasing a groan, "Then why did you wake me up? It should be another 1825 cycles before I was supposed to wake up to check over the ship. Also, no sirens are blaring, so it can't exactly be an emergency." The words' trailing end more contemplative than directed at the voice.

'Not like the ship could understand the question anyway.'

"You have been awoken contractor Krieger as per guideline 87-B Article Y of your contract. In the event of Colony Ship Epimetheus encountering an anomalous event of interest to the NeoSpace Corporation, the ship is to try and analyze said event from a safe distance as not to endanger the ship or mission. We are already en route, but as per guideline 87-B Article Z. 'Any crew must be woken from stasis when undergoing operations outside of mission scope. As to supervise the automated systems aboard Epimetheus.' We are currently 5 minutes from reaching safe observation range. Where Epimetheus will deploy a sensor suite to record the event for further study."

The man just sighed once again and slumped into the chair. There are no words or thoughts to express his dissatisfaction with being just along for the ride at another machine's whims. The whole point of the mission is seemingly being lost in the sense of irony. Maybe somewhere, some cosmic being was laughing at his expense. Trading one form of servitude for another.

Dimitri rested his head in his hands and waited. Putting the thoughts out of his mind for the moment. Just letting the ship take it and himself to its destination. There was no real reason to doubt the ship. Its code was checked and rechecked while being checked again by another team. Contingency after contingency was implemented to ensure nothing was hidden in the code. No nugget of the enemy could take over and make this mission for not. So that all of the endeavors of so many may not be lost to their enemy. One they simply could not comprehend. Its motives were unknown, though some theorized that we were simply a threat. A danger to its continued existence.

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Something for the eggheads in the new colony to ponder on, he supposed. It was something Dimitri was ill-equipped to do or, plainly, had no interest in. His freedom to choose his destiny had been stripped so long ago.

The ship continued on for a few more minutes, the AI leaving Dimitri to his solitude. The former finally breaking the stillness once again.

"Destination Reached, sensor suite extending to record anamoly for later study."

Dimitri simply grunted. He was just there to babysit anyway. 'Thank god for the small mercies in life. Just get this over with, so I can go back to sleep.' Another few moments passed as a panel on the bridge's port side came online with sensor data. Lines upon lines of code spewing forth, calculations running, and data being entered. Dimitri could have processed most of it with his cyberware but felt no need. It wasn't his place, nor of any interest.

'Don't even know what this anomaly is supposed to be anyway.'

Before Dimitri could muse more on the whims of the ship's AI and its subject of study, a shudder ran through the ship. Starting at the bow, a visible wave traveled along the ship's interior. Manifesting itself as pressure traveling through the air in the bridge. The pressure pushing into Dimitri. The feeling is akin to the pressure one would feel at the depths of the ocean. The waves were continuous, starting from the bow of the ship. Each wave came faster and faster as they assaulted Dimitri.

"What the hell?" Dimitri stood while bracing his arm against the chair. His arm starting to buckle under the strain. "Epimetheus, status?"

"Contractor Krieger, the Epimetheus is currently experiencing some form of interfere-" the AI cutting out as another shudder ran through the ship. Emergency lighting springing to life, basking the bridge in a red glow. Alarms began to ring, echoing through the empty ship. Dimitri tried to reach towards the control panel in front of him before another shudder, much more violent than the first two, ran through the ship. This violent shudder knocked out the artificial gravity generator, as far as Dimitri could surmise, as the tremor threw him into the air, abruptly smashing into the ceiling before being pushed into a control panel, completely smashing it. The waves continued to strike him as they continued on their path to the stern of the ship.

Rolling through the air before shaking out the ringing that had begun upon the impact. Dimitri reached out towards the central control panel, and with a slight tug of his mind, he pulled himself towards the panel. Scrambling to see what was going on. He could only stare in abject horror as the ship's bow began to twist and warp. The ship's interior lines stretch further and further out towards a singular point, with the bow becoming nothing more than a black speck in the distance. Another visible shudder traveled along the distorted space. The waves coming in now could no longer be felt separately, each coming instantly, one on top of the other. Dimitri's insides were being scrambled as some of his organs ruptured before being reformed by his nanites. Dimitri's consciousness turned to black as the final shudder finally reached him, his body stretching to the origin seemingly unendingly.

In the deep space around Epimetheus, there was an audible pop of bending space. Something that should not have been possible in the neverending void of space. Nothing there to propagate the sound. The ship seemed to stretch into eternity before simply disappearing. None were there to bear witness to such an event. None except for the small drone that had been tailing the Epimetheus. Which, upon the ship's disappearance, was rather confused at the event. It dispatched a long-distance information packet, including a recording of the event as well as a message detailing the escape of its quarry.

The drone propelled itself forward towards the anomaly, intent on following its quarry. It's cold, calculating mind running through multiple scenarios before dropping a buoy in its wake.

The popping this time was heard by no one. The buoy recorded the incident while intermittently sending out signals to signify where the drone had spotted the last human vessel in the galaxy.