Nov 09 3307
Leading Light while on routine survey received the following signal while in the system LHS 2206:
“
…Transponder Signal THE-288-A Detected…
Matching Signal Detected. Nefertem. Time Stamp Predates Parameters.
I’ve done it…signal…identify…confusing…originates… Who sent it…idea…good news…message…translator….again and again… It says…
…Signal Lost…
“
Democracys’ science department determines the signal to have originated from the Nefertem system. Leading light was given the clear to investigate. To the surprise of all within the Science Department the signal was found to have been sent from the generation ship Thetis orbiting Nefertem 6 a.
Thetis was found to be functionally impaired: power reserves operating at at 13%, artificial gravity disabled, and life support depleted. As per pilot federation guidelines, three attempts were made to hail Thetis crew. No response was made.
Leading Light was given the clear to salvage Thetis black box logs. What the crew of leading light found is troubling. The following comms logs were received:
(Warning: The following logs are quite disturbing, you have been warned.)
“Comms Log 905.2.34
Still all quiet out here in the black. Just had our very first ninth-gen child born on ship. That takes the current population to 17,401. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from reports from some residents at the northern end of C-Deck. They’ve heard some kind of strange whispering sound coming from their apartment comms unit. I’m sure it’s nothing, but I’ve dispatched a member of tech to investigate.”
“Comms Log 907.6.34
We have an emergency situation on board. Some kind of epidemic, it’s driving people insane. I’ve managed to source it to a digital signal that keeps broadcasting within the comms array. It started on C-Deck, but now the entire population of decks C to F have been massacred. They just went crazy and started killing each other. I’ve isolated the signal, so it’s stopped for now. Just trying to identify the source. It should be easy enough to delete the beacon if I can find the right frequency. I wanna know what the message says, but I’m… I’m just too scared to listen.”
“Comms Log 908.7.34
I’ve done it. I’ve managed to decrypt the signal and identify the source. But it’s even more confusing than I thought. The signal originates from an uninhabited planet we passed 15 light years ago. Who sent it and how it managed to infect the comms array I have no idea.
That’s the good news. The bad news is, I heard the message. I was trying to run it through the translator and I forgot the speaker was on. It’s the same message relayed again and again and again – it’s more a whisper than anything else; it says, ‘kill them all’…”
“Comms Log 900.0.04
Blood. Blood everywhere. It’s spread on the walls – people have started writing words in it but it’s a script I can’t identify. I’m alone now on the comms deck. Pearson was the last one with me but I had to stab him in the throat to stop him… stop him… I can’t remember what I had to stop him doing but… he’s dead now.
I can hear people out there. Some of them are still walking around. Some of them are barely breathing. I have to find them. I have to silence them. I have to…”
The last logs of Thetis recovered by Leading Light appear to be corrupted or quite possibly the remnants of the signal Thetis received. Democracys’ Chief Science Officer, Rampageous One, has prohibited the listening of the final logs. Thetis logs have been stored to an encrypted and discrete data bank on board Democracy. Further analysis of the com logs is to be prohibited to members of the science department. We’re not going to risk anyone listening to these audio logs until we know what we are dealing with here.
Whatever caused the death of the Thetis’ crew, is something never observed before. The Science Department has been given the clear to further study the Thetis. Leading light has been sent to search for the origins of the signal Thetis received and the ships logs have been sent to our experts in decryption and audio analysis for further research.
The Science Department will inform the crew of democracy here with any new information pertaining to Thetis and it’s logs.
To note: Democracys’ Chief Science Officer asks that anyone experiencing degrees of irritability or paranoia please report to your Chief Medical Officer immediately for evaluation. Thank you.