Louise must have passed out, she woke with a jolt. She had been dreaming or was it memories? She'd been on the Numinous checking the vital stats of some of the crew members in Stasis, one of the chambers had contained Edward. She remembered he was sick, he wasn't to be woken for night shift duty. Edward was to stay in Stasis until they had reached Alpha Centauri, hopefully by then the infection would be clear. They needed him in good health; he was one of the senior scientists on the ship. Other memories were vague, strange atmospheres aboard the ship, cold spots and people going missing. She remembered that part quite well, one of the Stasis chambers had started its waking procedure; seemingly on its own but the crew member within had vanished. There was no sign of him anywhere, they had the whole night shift out looking for him; calling for his return on the ships tannoy system but there was no sign of him. They even checked the airlocks and escape pods in case he had actually left the ship, but there was nothing. She remembered the whole incident had created a weird atmosphere, people were becoming paranoid; especially with talk of this so called anomaly.
Did this actually happen?
Louise lay motionless on the floor, too scared to move; although she knew she would have to sooner or later. She needed to meet up with James.
But Markus said he wasn't about.
She dismissed her thoughts, Louise didn't care for much Markus had said, he had been in the grip of madness at the end.
He wanted to kill me.
Gingerly she moved her legs, she was going to try and sit up against the wall. The pain was phenomenal, her chest especially; her ribcage had almost been caved in due to Markus' kick. She remembered the pain, the fear. She thought she was dead.
Maybe I am?
Slowly she sat herself up and looked towards the stairs.
I need to get up them somehow.
The ship started to get darker again, all around her the shadows started to creep in. The power was starting to fail, soon the lights will be off; shortly followed by life support.
A few feet away from her the personal log lay on the floor, in the struggle it had been kicked about all over the floor. She remembered how it had been playing in the background when Markus set upon her, it would seem Sally Worthing had known Markus before all this happened. She wondered what he was like back then.
A scientist? He had remembered nothing about his role on this ship.
She reached out to grab the log with her right hand, her left was now swollen and useless; most of her fingers had been snapped. The thought of it made her want to be sick.
How could everything have gone so bad?
She felt tears running down her face, she didn't want to cry; she couldn't take the pain the effort of crying would bring. She grasped the log and checked it over, it all seemed in one piece. Her eyes were drawn to the stairs again, she had to make it up there.
Very slowly she got to her feet, the pain was intense, and leant against the wall. She tried to call out.
“James, are you up there?” But her voice was weak, if he was upstairs he'd never hear her.
Louise staggered across the floor until she reached the hand rail, she placed the log under her left arm and proceeded to drag herself up the stairs.
It had taken her nearly twenty minutes to reach the top, by which point she was exhausted. The door to the bridge was open and from where she was stood she could see the captains chair.
There, I need to get there.
She walked the twenty metre distance, each step felt like it could be her last, every painful breath her final exhalation. She collapsed in the chair, almost unable to breath; her body physically exhausted. Her nose had started to bleed again and her head had a strange stabbing sensation running through it; quite unlike the previous headaches she had suffered. She closed her eyes. Memories began to form again; more people had started to go missing aboard the Numinous. There had been Forty of them when they began the night shift, they ended it was just Twenty Two. She remembered the panicked faces, people were scared; something had gone very wrong. People don't just disappear like that. It had been decided by those that were left that a full waking procedure should be put into action. Everyone aboard the ship had to be made aware of what was happening.
The view from the captains seat was beautiful, they were orbiting Alpha Centauri Bb; slowly approaching the dark side of the planet. The sunlight from Alpha Centauri B still prevailed and lit up the bridge, although it was slowly losing the fight. For now, it was the most beautiful thing Louise had ever seen.
Earth needs to be told what is happening out here.
She looked around the screens surrounding the Captains chair, until she found what she was looking for; the communications network. According to the stats on the screen it was still functioning and able to send and receive transmissions. She was about to send a message out when she noticed the crew roster was open on another screen.
James must of found his Authorisation code.
She stared at the screen in front of her for what seemed like an age, occasionally selecting different options and updating the information on-screen. Her heart was beating quickly, she couldn't quite comprehend what she was seeing.
Display all crew members...
Current crew:
1: Louise Sims (Stasis Engineer)
End report...
how can I be all that's left?
A memory from the personal log jumped to the front of her mind.
It's like they were never there...
She looked at the personal log; starting the last entry recorded.
“Me again. Everyone has been taken out of Stasis, well nearly everyone; some are sick so are staying in their chambers. Lots of people have gone missing on the ship, it's strange; people are just vanishing. The weirdest part though, and if I’m honest, it really scares me; from what I’ve heard even their crew reports are gone from the computers. It's like they were never on this ship with us. It's been decided we'll return to Earth, we can't send them a message about what's going on though as we are still at speed of light travel; messes up the signal or something, but we are only a few days from Alpha Centauri now. Some people are freaking out about the anomaly though, especially mixed up with the time and date changing. The current year according to the Numinous is before this mission even started; I'm not sure if the ship had even been built then? That woman from Stasis, what's her name? Louise somebody or other? She says it's around the same time we first got the signal. Weird huh? I don't know what is going on around this place, I'll just be glad to get home; but my guess would be we've somehow gone back in time! I've heard it said, travelling this fast can slow down time, so why not? Hahaha! Though thinking about it, that doesn't explain the disappearances! Anyway, we are all due to go back into Stasis soon for the journey home, with any luck my next recording will be sent from the Earths orbit!”
Louise pressed the 'send' button on the Communications network and started broadcasting, it was already configured to be sent to Earth so she didn't have to worry about messing about with anything.
“This is Louise Sims, Stasis Engineer aboard the Numinous. We are currently orbiting Alpha Centauri Bb in the Alpha Centauri B system. Something has gone seriously wrong with the ship and her crew. I seem to be the only remaining crew member left. Don't send any form of rescue attempts out here, I'll not last much past broadcasting this message. Something isn't right with this place, things outside our solar system are different to what we know. We are not ready for this kind of exploration. Do not coming looking for me. I repeat, DO NOT COME LOOKING FOR ME! This is Louise Sims, signing off.”
She sat in the Captains chair looking out to space, most of the pain in her body had started to vanish, she felt calm; almost comfortable.
Markus must have been right about James, he's gone too.
Was this the end? If it was at least she wouldn't go out in a dark corridor, she was sat in the Captains seat on-board The Numinous watching the sun set on an alien world. She couldn't of asked for much more.