Dear Investigator,
I am sure by now you have heard of the rather alarming reports of disappearances of personnel at Exchange Station 7. Just this morning, half of the Debris Control unit, two thirds of the Cargo Processing operators, a quarter of the Pleasure Division, and nearly all of the Damage Control units were reported absent from their stations. Just like the inspection team, entire family groups are just gone without a trace.
The Frontier Dynamics Security team is on full alert, and has started escorting shifts of workers and officials to and from their housing. We still have no idea what could possibly be causing these disappearances, but we are putting every effort into elucidating the culprit.
To make matters worse, there was a worker’s riot at the fusion torpedo assembly plant. Thankfully they were quickly pacified, but it will take some time to source enough skilled personnel to replace them. Unfortunate. There’s nothing more expensive, especially to the war effort, than replacing skilled personnel.
In light of recent events, I have been called back to the home office on Earth. This may slow communications on the investigation. However, rest assured we are putting every effort into completing what ever data recovery is possible.
Respectfully,
Margaret Aurelius
Director of Deep Space Mining Initiatives and Exploration
Frontier Dynamics Corporation, Interstellar
Mission Day 51
Team Geologist and Head Excavation Chief, Dr. Leslie Greene
Oh, I know Meredith is going to lose her fucking mind over this, but Cap just gave me permission to make our landing tomorrow morning. Good thing I’ll be off the ship when she finds out. I can only imagine that screeching, nagging chatterbox going off about doing the right thing and all.
Who the fuck cares? So the man is dead. That just means better shares for everyone, and we don’t have to hear him whine and complain about how the ship is going to explode, or some such nonsense. We are here to do one thing, dig and get home with all the minerals we can carry. Everything else is just details.
A so-called murder investigation doesn’t make money. Hell, I bet the stupid sod did it himself. You can only doom and gloom for so long before it gets to your head.
Mission Day 52
Security Personnel Meredith Andrews
I can’t fucking believe it. Cap overruled my freeze on the landing last night in secret, and the excavation team took off early this morning before I even woke up. That includes, by the way, Fisk, who actually tried to kill someone. Un-fucking-believable.
I went to confront Cap, asking how in his right mind he could possibly even consider a chance of letting the murderer go, along with one who attempted to do the same. He just shrugged and said “Frontier Law.” When I pressed him on it, he decided to say “Why don’t you just fuck me to change my mind like the last thing you had a problem with?”
He said it on the bridge, in front of the whole bridge shift. I… I just can’t. I’ve never felt so humiliated and used in my life, even with that deal I had to make with the Syndicate to stay out of the debt labor camps. No one has been able to look me in the eye since.
God damn it all. I don’t know what to do anymore…
Mission Day 52
Flight Officer Dean Castillo
Meredith and Cap, huh? Gotta say, I didn’t see that one coming. I would have thought it would have been Scarlett, if anyone, with how she fawns over Cap. I get these runs are long, and having someone else in your bunk can make this work less shitty, but sleeping around is such a bad idea on these boats. I’d have thought with how long she’s been at this, Meredith would know better. Not that I blame her, though.
Leave it to Cap to be petty, hurtful, and gross. I don’t think he understands he just hurt his own reputation as much as he thinks he hurt Meredith’s. God, people are just so stupid.
Meanwhile, I’m spending our time in orbit collecting as much data as possible. I thought it strange that the probe mission that initially scouted the system logged Gamma as a Jovial planet, yet by appearances, and initial readings, it looks more like a massive Neptunian Ice Giant. This is probably the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen, but it looks like something is changing in Gamma to turn it into an Ice Giant. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of something like this even being possible in theory.
I had the computer see if such a thing could be modeled based on the data from the original probe mission and the current data. Sure enough, it actually could be possible, though the cause is unfathomable. What’s perhaps the most strange thing about it all is just how fast the change is happening. In less than a century, the chemical composition, wind patterns, and so on have shifted dramatically. Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think we were experiencing anomalies at high aspect. This is just crazy.
I swear, if I don’t get an Archer Discovery Award for this, I’m going to lose my mind. This system might just be my ticket out of the exo-mining game.
Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the dark future of The Bones of Night. What do you think happened to The Prospector? Let me know in the comments, or on social media! Don’t forget to spread the word, and share the site with your friends!
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