Thread: An Eclipse of Corruption (Vuxayl x Cricket)

The panels on the starship tried to define and display the various properties and statistics of the anomalous object, but they returned contradicting information, excluding the fact that it definitely wasn't natural. It was of organic origin, of electronic origin, weathered and round like a pebble, sharp and hard like a machine. It absorbed light, but then it reflected light, or decided to let photons pass through and scatter. It appeared black through the windows of the control room, with little specks of light shining from it like starlight reflected on a rough surface. It's as if it couldn't settle on any sort of form or nature... was it trying to? Xayun leaned over the analytics as they flashed different images and diagrams at a dizzying speed. It must be some sort of deep space probe interfering with our sensors he thought out loud, looking back at the object through the main window. No sooner had Xayun uttered these words when the objected started moving, apparently of its own will, towards a cluster of large asteroids. Hidden behind these, the sillouette of a dusty planet slowly peeked out. The strange floating object shimmered under the distant stars, slowly gliding towards the of center of that planet like an inanimate rock being pulled in by gravity. When Xayun looked at the unimpressive planet, one like many other billions of planets throughout space, his ears captured such a high-pitched screech that he lost his balance and fell, kneeling on the floor. Yelling in pain, Xayun tried to cover his ears just behind his crest in a futile attempt at making the noise stop. It seemed to drill right through his skull and into his brain, his breath strained and shallow, clenching his lateral jaws in acute suffering. Only a few seconds after its onset, the high-pitched noise went down in volume, leaving him dizzy and watery-eyed on all fours in the deck, before it simply vanished. Most of the crew didn't seem to be aware of anything out of the ordinary, with the exception of the anomalous object now well into the distance one of the operators reached out for Xayun, giving him an arm to help him get up. Hey buddy, what's wrong? he said. Fuck off, don't touch me! he grunted in an aggressive tone, trying to push him away. He didn't like the fact that somehow, something made him vulnerable in that very moment. He quickly apologized, catching his breath from the experience and grabbing the operator's shoulder to stand up. Sorry, it's okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.... Xayun nervously looked back at the planet in the distance, worrying that another assault would come but the planet was as silent as ever, and only that strange buzzing sensation remained. He looked around in the room some were looking at him like he had just gone mad there and then. Sorry, I don't know what happened. I'm fine now... he said in his gravelly tone, the reflected light of the dusty, light-brown planet softly shining through the windows. I think I snagged a muscle under my suit, it hurt like hell. he quickly added, trying to steer the crew away from starting up rumors, and then went down to the lower decks to proceed with the mission. The rest of the mission proceeded without any further noteworthy incidents, as was in protocol. Once the cargo had been located, a couple of miles away from the site where the unknown object was found, the crew proceeded to inspect the nearby asteroids in a radius of exactly 50km, using visual identification and scanning equipment to examine each and everyone of them. The towing ship seemed to have vanished without a trace, something that was exceedingly rare in controlled space. If the ship was nowhere near, they would eventually have to continue with the mission and bring the cargo home, without its original crew. Down in the engine room, Xayun was thinking about what had happened. The mysterious object, the blinding agony he felt during a few heartbeats as he looked at the solitary planet... the way the floating cargo was isolated, in the middle of nowhere, the tow hitch pointed at that planet... He rose suddenly like an crucial realization suddenly formed in head he wasted no time before inputting some data in a nearby computer, reading up the results and running up to the upper decks, where the control room was. Lieut- Commander! Commander, I know where the towing ship is. That thing we observed, whatever that was it went down to that planet, and I'm willing to believe it wanted us to follow. He continued. The cargo, unhooked, pointing also at that planet. The crew and their ship just didn't disappear, they unhooked and went there. There's something wrong about it. About the planet. he said with conviction, pointing in its general direction. I did a background check. Orbital deviations from the nearby asteroids suggest that a large object flied past them. It's fours hours away, about 7000km at medium thrust, no detectable orbital debris. Isolated, and no surface information. Xayun stared intently into Karilel's eyes. Something made them go there, commander. Something that made them undock their cargo so that they could actually arrive there. And they're not broadcasting their position. We can do a quick high-orbit fly-by, that should clear any doubts as to whether or not there's any sign of life or artificial objects on the surface. This can be their only chance.