Crashed

By Brad Bass

Crashed is a sci-fi adventure based in the future, about five space travelers on a mission to mine and retrieve fuels from distant locations. Their hibernation is interrupted when their ship malfunctions and they crash on a nearby planet. On the planet they explore the ancient dilapidated civilization, struggling to survive. What lurks in the darkness watching them? And what secrets did they bring with them?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scimitar Edge
• Release date: Sep 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781915692801

Book preview

1 – FR5131

Silence I am alone

Out in space

Far from home

Where do I go

I cannot see

Darkness steals

The sight from me

Need has turned energy into a precious commodity with certain fuels becoming more valuable than most precious metals. The ship was owned by Orion, a large energy company, and shot through space faster than the speed of light. It was a long way from its home world and was categorized as Field Research Vessel 5131; its current commission: research speculative fuel source locations for fuel extraction. Its current mission status: long duration. Its current passenger occupancy: five. Inside the ship it was silent. Flashing across a small viewing screen were the words: program initiated, emergency protocol, t-minus 5-4-3…

***

Perspam opened his eyes and then slowly, one leg at a time, climbed out of his sleep bed. Having almost no hair on his head, it didn’t take long before he was good to go. He fiddled with the top button of his shirt which was blue, collared, and had long, baggy sleeves. He loved the shirt, even though it was much too large for his tall, thin frame. He always wore clothes that were too big, trying to hide his thinness, but in actuality the baggy clothes only accentuated it.

He looked down at the burn on his thumb, index, and middle finger of his right hand. The blister on his thumb had torn open. He fingered a small flap of skin then slowly tore it off, watching as it bled a little. He reached over, opened a drawer, and shuffled through it for a second. He produced several small white strips and wrapped them around the burns. Perspam looked at his reflection in the mirror. Taking a deep breath he turned and headed out the door, with a whoosh, it closed behind him.

He headed off toward Engineering. His feet moved quickly, just short of a run. His internal clock told him it was too early to be awake before he’d even glanced at his cycle tracker. Something was wrong. The lighting flickered along the corridor causing him to increase his pace. Finally, he reached the transfer room, and once inside he tapped the console for engineering. The movement was subtle. While he waited, he pulled a small device from his pocket and fingered the touch screen.

Elsewhere on the ship, Hosh tucked his shirt into his pants, suddenly feeling nervous. Just knowing she would be arriving at any moment, his heart pounded in his chest. He watched the scrolling data in complete disbelief and hoped he had done the right thing. He was the ships Technical Administrator; some would say it was the most important job on the ship, others would argue the point. Either way the Technical Administrator was the backup, the fail-safe, the one who made sure all the equipment was working correctly while the crew was in hibernation; sleeping, helpless, and at the mercy of the technology. The one employee who was not allowed to go into hibernation between scheduled stops.

Hosh liked the job, it was easy but the hardest part about it for him was the isolation. It was the loneliness he didn’t like. Every cycle it was the same routine; he conducted the scheduled equipment checks, exercised, ate, and slept.

Another constant struggle for him was sleep. When he did finally drift away, it was never for very long. To him, sleep was priceless, invaluable breaks away from the cold white lighting that constantly filled the ship. He closed his eyes and the memory of swimming on a hot day came to mind; the cold water, the sun’s warmth. It was a wonderful memory which made him smile.

The Technical Administrator’s job was a lonely one; a timeless job, the cycles passed slowly and the boredom came quickly. Sometimes, between equipment checks, when he was really bored, he would search for ways to amuse himself. Once he varied the ship’s temperature, turning it up so high that, within moments, he’d become drenched in sweat, then with a touch of a button, it became so cold he could see his breath. His sweat-soaked clothes began to freeze. He laughed aloud at his cleverness. Music was often playing over the ships intercom system, but occasionally he would decide that all he needed to hear was silence, so he would turn off every system he could that made noise. Then, after it was quiet, he would find a comfy place, lay down and close his eyes. Laying there he would think how wonderful it was… the silence, nothing but his own breathing, until he finally fell asleep.

More than once he thought about going into the sleep beds. If I’m careful, I know I can figure it out. How would anyone know?

The viewing screen glared a light green up into his face. He bit his lip and wiped the corner of his mouth. Behind him he could hear the whoosh of a door, his stomach grumbled as he turned to see who it was.

It was Ren. To Hosh, her entrance was almost in slow motion, the way her hair moved, the way she smiled when she saw him. His heart skipped a beat. It required effort, but he didn’t stare. Instead he took a deep breath and turned away, doing his best to act nonchalant.

Ren, have you checked out the coolant level and engine temp?

No. Is that why you woke me up?

There’s a problem.

There better be, Hosh. I hope you didn’t mess up again, you know what the Captain will say.

She smiled with her eyes closed and turned her back on him as she walked over to an exterior viewing area. She looked out the porthole at all of the foreign stars that twinkled there. She had just been prematurely awakened from a scheduled two hundred cycles of sleep time. Hosh watched her every move. She looked so beautiful, so soft. He remembered the first time he had laid eyes on her.

He had been sitting in the galley eating a wonderful instant meal from a box and thinking that the cuisine on this assignment was anything but desirable. Still he was hungry and devoured the meal.

With him at the table sat Captain Xander and Perspam, the Engineer. Captain Xander sipped at something hot while reading a small image display device; occasionally, he would poke his finger at its screen.

Perspam was playing cards. He shuffled them over and over again and then quickly, one at a time, he would lay them all down onto the table into piles, counting to himself. One pile next to the other as he flipped the last card face up. Then he dealt six more cards face down, setting the rest of the deck aside, he picked up one of the piles. He looked at the cards intently, slowly rearranging them in his hand. It appeared as if he was done eating, even though his box of food still looked pretty full.

You done eating already? asked Hosh as he eyed Perspam’s uneaten food.

Yeah, I’m not that hungry.

You look hungry, take a couple more bites. Believe me; it’s not going to hurt you.

"Thanks, Mom, but like I said, I’m fine." Perspam replied as he continued playing with the cards, shuffling again and again, and then dealing them out onto the table. Quickly, without missing a beat, Perspam pushed the uneaten meal toward Hosh, who grabbed at the box and ate like he hadn’t eaten in cycles. He held the box up and shoveled the food into his mouth, gasping and swallowing noisily, which caught Xander’s attention.

What? Commented Hosh as he noticed the Captain’s look.

Xander went back to whatever he was doing as Hosh stuffed the last spoonful of food into his already full mouth. With a whoosh of the door, Ren walked into the room, flashing a big smile at everyone. Most considered her smile to be a pretty smile. To Hosh, however, her smile was a brilliant flash, an explosion of light, a super nova.

Hi, I’m Ren, she said as she looked toward the Captain. The Captain has been kind enough to hire me to be your System Analyst. This is my first assignment off world and I just want to say that I am so excited to be here! I know this is going to be a lot of fun! And of course if there is anything I can do for you please don’t hesitate to ask.

The Captain tore his eyes away from his reading just long enough to smile and nod; he loved her refreshing enthusiasm. She smiled back and first turned to Hosh, reaching out for a handshake. He stood quickly, simultaneously knocking over his chair and choking on the food he had just shoveled into his mouth. As he tried to get out a ‘nice to meet you’, or a ‘hello I’m Hosh’, he ended up coughing and choking at the same time. With each cough he spit out bits of food. Ren took a step back as Hosh wiped his mouth and watering eyes with his sleeve. With a forced smile, he reached out for her hand.

Hi I’m Hosh, I’m the Technical Administrator. He smiled sheepishly.

She quickly shook his hand.

Nice to meet you.

Sorry about that. His face was flushed with embarrassment.

It’s okay. She said, not meaning to cut him off. Hosh picked up his chair and began wiping up the mess.

Her smile never wavered as she turned to Perspam, who was laughing silently.

Hello.

Perspam, Engineer. He stated in a monotone as he momentarily raised his eyes from the cards.

Xander spoke from behind his small image display device.

Ms. Donito’s not here right now, she’s our Resource Controller, and since she’s not here, Perspam’s the one that’s going to show you around the ship.

Ren lit up and hovered energetically.

I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see my station, and the Engine Room, and my quarters and everything! There is so much I want to see. She looked around. So this is the Galley. It’s great! Her face was a runaway smile.

"I’m so glad you like it." Perspam half whispered with sarcasm.

Captain Xander looked up again.

Go on, Perspam! Can’t you help without being asked?

Perspam rolled his eyes as he shoved a toothpick he produced from who knows where into his mouth. Then he grabbed his cards off the table, shoving the deck into his back pocket as he stood.

Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour.

Hosh watched as the two left the room, envious of how Perspam had her complete attention. Ren talked quickly, excitedly. It didn’t sound like Perspam was having much of a chance to reply. The doors opened and closed with a whoosh, and they were gone. Hosh felt his heart beating quickly. Her smell was in the air. Captain Xander glanced over at Hosh and then dropped his eyes back to his reading as he took a sip of his hot drink.

Hosh snapped back to reality. Ren stood with her arms crossed looking at him intently with a wrinkled brow. She did not look happy.

I’m not supposed to be up yet. So tell me what’s going on?

Ok… Let me show you. His eyes glanced down at the small viewing screen on the console. He gestured with his head and eyes. Check it out!

Let’s see what’s so important. She walked over and looked at the display. You know if you screwed up, again, the Captain is going to be really mad!

You tell me whether I screwed up or not.

She bent over and stared at the screen. She tapped at the icons, images flashed in front of her, her attention was on evaluating historical engine performance information. It was the second time in eighteen cycles where the engine core temperature had risen to a dangerous level. The display showed a forty percent increase to the internal core temperature and a sixty percent drop in engine power output. On top of that, the engine power output was still dropping.

Breathing deeply, she tapped the screen. What about our reserve power? She thought.

Our reserve power supply is almost completely gone! How could this have happened? She turned and stared wide eyed at Hosh.

Don’t look at me! I didn’t do anything!

Hosh, you’d better be telling the truth! You know we’ll find out everything when we check the history logs! Ren reached and tapped the next screen over; it lit up, data flashed in front of her as she tapped at the screen. For some reason both the Internal Atmospheric Monitoring System and Communications are operating on reserve power. I’ve switched them back to primary, not that it’ll matter now, but still this contributed to the drained cells… I don’t think you’re telling me everything.

He looked at her for a moment before he spoke. I better be honest, he thought.

Well the Internal Atmospheric Monitoring System might have been switched over when I was messing around with the ships internal temperature, and I guess I could have switched Communications when I broadcasted my music through the ships intercom system, but I don’t know for sure… If I did anything wrong you know that I didn’t mean to. If I did anything, it was an accident. Hosh looked down.

She looked angry, but in actuality she was more perplexed than anything else. Ren listened to Hosh while she looked at the data that flashed across the small screen. Thoughts ran through her head. First of all, changing the ships internal climate controls and intercom system over to the reserve cells would never have depleted the reserve… The reserve cells would power those two systems until we returned home… She looked at Hosh and took a deep breath… No something else is going on.

This is strange, no reserve power, forty percent temperature increase, sixty percent power decrease. This is unbelievable! You should have woken me up sooner! Why aren’t the ships computers compensating? Why aren’t there emergency alarms going off? Why isn’t diagnostics pinpointing the problem? And why didn’t the computer wake everyone automatically? There are no problem indicators going off at all, no alarms. I can’t believe it. She wrinkled her brows and swung her arms in a chopping motion as she spoke. Why did you wait until now to do something? Ren shot him a look as she bent over the console. She tapped the screen and started looking at the statistical information it displayed. She tapped at the screen again. I wasn’t sure there was a problem. There were no alarms and you know how cranky everyone gets if I wake you up when it’s not needed.

I don’t get cranky.

Oh, yes you do!

A flash of memory shot through both of their minds. It happened during the first thirty cycles of scheduled sleep, right at the beginning of their journey. Of course it was an accident. Knowing it was going to be a long trip, Hosh had brought along some alcohol. At the time of the accident, he was having a good time and was very light headed. He had been utilizing an image display device which was programmed to project an assortment of female, semi-nude interactive holographs. When a beeping started to sound from one of the nearby consoles, he had simply reached over, his intention was to turn off the Regulatory Evaluation Timer, but he had hit the wrong button.

The wrong button happened to be an Emergency Situation Alert Button, which sounded the alarms and initiated protocols within each sleep bed to wake its occupant. When he realized what he had done, he panicked and prepared for the confrontation. Luckily, everyone was up just long enough to get mad and then, much quicker then he would have expected, everyone went back to their chambers and that was that. He was surprised, amazed in fact, at how fast he was able to sober up.

It was an accident, I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful. He remembered how at first the Captain had been so mad, his face scrunched up.

This will be documented in your file, was the Captain’s cranky reply.

Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir.

The Captain stood there glaring at Hosh, looking quite mad. Then suddenly, his glare softened. Captain Xander looked down at the young man, who was looking pale and quite nervous. Xander noticed how young he looked, a wave of forgiveness passed over him. He had been given many chances in his own youth.

I’ll tell you what, if we go the rest of the trip without a hitch, I won’t document this delay, Ok? He looked over at Hosh; a small smile crossed his lips. Hosh smiled back.

Yes, Sir, thank you, Sir. I won’t let you down! I promise!

Ok, I’ve had enough, I’m going back to sleep until we get to the next scheduled stop.

That was it. Everyone gave Hosh the evil eye, and then returned to their sleep beds. The memory faded and Hosh was back, staring at Ren.

I didn’t want to wake you unless it was an emergency. So now you’re here and I’m reporting an emergency!

He sat there looking at her, hoping to see a smile, but she wasn’t smiling. There really was a problem and she wasn’t happy.

As she glanced at the ship’s statistical information scrolling across the screen, she thought about how she would have preferred another stupid mistake. Unfortunately, there was a real problem this time, these numbers didn’t make sense.

Hosh walked across the room. He grabbed a chair and dragged it over to a wall of storage compartments. He stood on it and began digging in one of the upper bins. She watched him from the corner of her eye. He pulled out a small container, opened it, and pulled something from inside. He popped the whatever, into his mouth and started chewing. She turned and gave him a glance as he put the small container back.

You should have gotten me up sooner!

You already said that.

He still wasn’t looking in her direction, avoiding her look of judgment.

She watched the images flicker on the screen.

The coolant level is low, it’s going somewhere, and why we have no power, I have no idea. I’ll track it down. For some reason the computer doesn’t see a problem. Hosh, if you weren’t here, we wouldn’t have even known there was an issue. Where’s Perspam? I need to talk to him. It looks like everyone is up.

Everyone is up?

Everyone. She touched the panel activating the ships intercom.

Perspam. You out there?

A small voice came from the hidden speaker.

Perspam here. Hey, Ren?

What’s going on with the engine?

This is the strangest thing I have ever seen. It’s almost as if someone has sabotaged… Perspam cut off. Ren, I’ll get back to you, I’ve got a small problem here. There was some kind of loud noise, and then he was gone.

Ren tapped at the screen.

I’ve started a complete internal diagnostic. There was no reply. Ren turned to Hosh. It’ll take a while, but eventually we’ll figure out what’s going on.

I feel better already. Thank you in advance for saving us. He said with a smile.

He was looking at her intently and flashed a toothy grin.

Don’t be thanking me yet.

She shook her head and turned back to the statistical information that flashed across the small screen. Engine power output was still dropping at an alarming rate. What in the world? She thought. None of this made any sense.

Hosh smiled and made a popping noise with his mouth. She is so pretty, he thought. He watched her butt sway back and forth as she bent over the console. Her pants were just tight enough… He walked up next to her, breathing in her scent. His eyes caressed her. He looked at her hair, her cheeks, her lips; slowly he exhaled. He liked being around her, but for now nature was calling. When you have to go you have to go, he thought.

I have got to go and use the facilities.

Stay available. Just in case we need your help.

Okay.

You know the Captain will want a word.

I know. He let out a sigh.

He smiled a forced smile, looked at his cycle tracker and turned, still needing to take care of his business. At the same time a voice came over the ships intercom, it was the Captain.

Ren, you’re needed in the Command Room.

I’ll be right there, Sir.

She tapped at the console, still staring at the information it displayed. It was taking too long to pinpoint the problem. Engine output was now down to eighteen percent and still dropping. The lights flickered. Both Hosh and Ren glanced briefly at the flickering lights as the voice came over the intercom again.

Ren, report to the Command Room immediately!

Ren looked over at Hosh. As he walked away, he commented, He doesn’t sound happy.

No he doesn’t, and for good reason. She wasn’t smiling.

I was hoping not to bother him, especially after last time. I’m going to go and find some place to hide. Call me if I’m needed.

She pulled her shirt sleeve down and wiped some lint from her pocket. I have got to get a bite to eat. I’m starving. She thought to herself.

He momentarily stopped in his tracks as he watched her pull and brush at her shirt. Painfully, he pulled his eyes away.

Hosh headed out the door with urgency to his step. Ren could hear popping noises as he walked away. Sometimes he acted like an imbecile; still there was something about him that she kind of liked.

The booming voice of the Captain came over the intercom again.

Ren, you’re needed in the Command Room!

Ren stopped looking at the screen, reached over and tapped at the console.

Yes, Sir, I’m on my way.

She started jogging toward the door. As she approached the circular door, the door split in two, each half disappearing into the wall with a whooshing sound, then whooshed back together after she passed. She studied her handheld data transmitter as she jogged. Ren was five foot four, with shoulder length brown colored hair. She was slender, but curvy and almost always had a cheerful remark to make. She was a glass is half full type.

Ren was the ship’s System Analyst. Her job was to make sure everything interfaced with everything else, and if it didn’t, figure out why and how it would. Essentially, the Engineer’s right hand. She wasn’t an expert on the equipment. Her expertise was in hardware networking; in laymen’s terms, how the equipment communicated with each other. The actual equipment operation was Perspam’s specialty. Ren hurried down a white circular corridor that had a chrome arch every fifteen feet. On the walls were long glow lights that ran the entire length of each section. She came to another door; whoosh, it opened.

The transfer room was large enough to contain the whole crew. Thin white panels of light ran up the walls in strips up to the ceiling where they crossed in an X pattern. The transfer room had both vertical and horizontal capabilities so was equipped with four sets of doors. Between one section of doors was a recessed control panel. Once inside, she tapped the panel, watching the information displayed