Forgotten

[Wilder]

---

The sensation I encountered was cold steel on my cheek and the sound of alarms sounding in the distance.

"Warning, oxygen levels have dropped below recommended allowances. Seek restocks immediately. Warning..."

I cracked open my eyes, finding the weight on them profuse. What I could see beyond my blurry vision was what appeared to be a landing platform on a station somewhere. The details were blurry and I couldn't tell where I was.

"Warning, oxygen levels have dropped below recommended allowances..."

If opening my eyes had been a near impossibility, then sitting up was a herculean effort. I placed my right hand on the cold metal in front of me and wrestled with myself to sit up. My eyes finally coming into focus, I surveyed my surroundings. I was on a small space station somewhere and from the looks of things, it had been abandoned for some time. A ship of some kind sat nearby, it's engines and systems powered off. The black and silver accents of the ship omnious in the darkened light of the station.

"Warning, oxygen levels critical. Life support systems in shut down. Remaining oxygen levels sufficient for 30 minutes. Warning..."

The digital woman continued to warn of an impending demise if I didn't do something. Thirty minutes until I suffocated then. I looked to the ship docked on the pad again and made the concerted effort to stumble and shuffle to my feet, making my way towards the large ship. As I approached the ladder, I struggled up it and into the cockpit before sealing it closed. As I did so, the ship began to come to life around me, recognizing my biopatterns as it's owner...my ship then...

When that thought raced through my muddled and crippled mind, I came to a disconcerting realization that I didn't know where I was. But not only that, I didn't know who I was. Hopefully it was temporary and I'd remember in time. The name on the outside of the ships cockpit window read "Lorcan", we'd go with that for the time being.

I looked through the ships logs to find any reference to who I was that might help me unlock some memories but I found the ship completely wiped of telemetry data as well as any information concerning logs...if this ship had been mine, then surely there was data somewhere that identified who I was. I sighed in exasperation and leaned my head against the cockpit window as the oxygen recirculation systems on the small fighter powered up, rewarding me with blessed cool air blowing in my face. As it did so, I felt the oppressive weight return on my eyelids as I drifted off to sleep, dreams harassing my psyche with images that I didn't understand or remember.

[Wilder]

I don't know how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep in the cockpit. It felt like at least a couple of hours. I kept my head resting on the cockpit window as I stared straight ahead. I sent probes down into my own mind, attempting to remember anything that might have put me in my current situation. However, I was met with a big, fat, nothing-burger.

I powered on the ship to look through it's systems and sub-systems to see if there was any evidence there. However, much like my blank slate memory, the same amnesia was present within the memory of the onboard systems. Who ever had been so effective in wiping my own memory had done the same for the ship. Frustrated, I powered off the ship and sat in darkness for another few moments before rising to my feet and departing the Obsidian Fighter. On my way out, equipping a EVA suit and rebreather just in case the oxygen onboard the station had completely run out.

As my feet touched the platform, I came to appreciate how truly spooky the abandoned station was. It was eerily quiet, and not just because there was no longer oxygen onboard. The luminal space of the platform and the surrounding offices was enough to cause my mind to fill the empty spaces with all manner of shadows and possible monsters lurking around every corner. Swallowing hard, I began my exploration.

I surveyed every office in every hallway finding no people, no bodies, no furniture, or terminals. There was evidence that furniture and terminals had once existed here, but had long since been removed. I was about to give up when I found one room with an active terminal...but what I found only gave me more questions...

Database wipe completed.

It was apparent that someone had completely wiped everything that I would have contact with...anything that would give me answers. I looked surveyed the area I was in and came to a decision.

"Time to go outside and see where I am."

[Wilder]

I did a last check for any food on the abandoned station before climbing in and sealing the cockpit glass on the fighter. I followed the checklist on the ships systems to ensure it was prepared for flight. As I did so, I got a distinct sensation of Deja Vu; almost as if I had done this before. Shaking off the disconcerting feeling, I brought the ship fully online and left out the docking bay doors.

The ships navigational array pinpointed the planet in front of me as well as the nebula surrounding it immediately. The result was confirming the system as Sigma-59. I pointed the ship back at the base behind me. It read as "Yaese Research Station". A non-descript small station almost resembling a trashcan. The rest of the nebula and area was ominous in nature. How had I ended up here?

"No time to figure that out now." I said answering my own thoughts. "I need to get some where populated, see if I can look up any data and figure out what's going on."

I scanned the area. A jump anomaly popped up on sensors nearby. I pointed the ship in that direction and engaged the engines. During my flight I did another search through the cockpit looking for anything of note. As I did so, a picture floated down from the top of the canopy that I had missed in my previous searches. I strained down and picked up the photo off the floor of the ship.



It was a photo of a woman and a newborn child.

Something deep inside me recoiled from the image. Anger flared up in the pit of my stomach. However, without any memories to tie the anger to, confusion rose up in it's place. Who was this woman and child? Why was there such rage and wrath in the pit of my stomach as a response?

I shook off the sensation as I approached the anomaly. It read as "Okinawa Jump Hole" on the ships navigational data. I tucked the photo into my breast pocket and I pointed my ship at the event horizon. As it crossed over into the jump sequence, I got another strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that concerned me more than anything.

Dread.