In a quiet room filled with boxes overflowing with various parts from every corner of the sector, a mechanic's desk stood on the left side. It was covered with plans, blueprints, data-pads, and other essential tools for an engineer. The room's decor was an eclectic mix of new and old, designed to provide both comfort and productivity. It was a home—a second home for someone searching for their place in the galaxy once more.
Richard carefully packed his bag, ensuring that every item had a purpose and a place. "Are you going away again?" asked a female voice from the other end of the room. Richard looked up and smiled at the girl. "Yes, darling, I have to" he replied before continuing with his packing. The girl stood there, watching Richard's every move with her clear blue eyes. A worried expression on her face revealed that she felt as if she knew what would happen, yet she didn't try to stop him. "This mission of yours is dangerous" she said. Richard, without looking up, replied, "I know... But... I have to. You know I have to." His voice was filled with conviction, determination, and hope.
"You're still trying to find me, aren't you, hun?" the girl said in a monotone voice. Richard stopped for a moment, unsure if he had heard her correctly. Raising an eyebrow, he turned to the girl. "Sorry... What did you say?" Confusion filled his eyes as the girl looked back at him and repeated, "This mission of yours is dangerous." Richard slowly reached for his personal datapad on his belt, maintaining eye contact with her. "No, no, the one you said after..." He opened the datapad, scrolling through lines of code as if monitoring a film script.
"I'm sorry, the answers are pre-programmed. You have to say the right statement," the girl said with the same machine-like monotone voice. Richard looked up, more confused than ever, and started talking to himself, "Yes... yes, I know I... programmed you, but I don't remember adding that..."
Suddenly, Richard froze, his face turning pale. He looked up at the girl, realization dawning upon him. The datapad fell from his hand and landed on the floor, its screen cracking. Richard sank to his knees beside it, covering his face, trying to hide the emotions, the confusion, and the doubt that consumed him.
The room was empty, save for Richard's lone presence. On the broken screen of the datapad, a message appeared: "Holographic projectors offline. Activate? Y/N"
The private quarters of a research vessel were never known for their spaciousness. In fact, they could be best described as merely adequate. Since deep space explorations were always based on teamwork, it was believed that a team required more communal space than private ones. Subspace researcher Caty had just completed her long shift on the bridge and returned to her room to send a transmission home. Due to the vast distance, live connections were not possible, so every message had to be highly encrypted and timed.
Caty tossed her uniform onto her bed, sat down at her desk, and activated her computer terminal. A newly developed communication software opened up, displaying the addressee's nickname: "The Busy Circuit Board."
"My dear, I hope this transmission finds you well. I know I didn't send anything last week, but guess what! We discovered this nebula and... oh, I can't really talk about it, but it emits some kind of EM radiation, and I was on the bridge when all our sensors went offline, and I..." She paused for a second, her excitement overwhelming her. She knew she couldn't discuss the details and was more interested in her husband than a random nebula. "Sorry, babe, you know what I'm like... How are things back home? HOW'S MEGGIE?!" She yelled the question. "By now, she might have puppies. I want to be home again so badly. I miss you and our little Meggie so much." Her voice softened, and she looked down, fiddling with a pen before glancing back at the camera. "We might be late; our latest orders state that we need to investigate further and deeper. I'm sorry, hun." She stared into the camera, holding it for a moment. "But I promise you, I'll send the next message on time and... what's that?"
She turned around, only to be blinded by a bright purple light that filled her cabin through the window. She dropped the camera to the floor as the purple light engulfed the room.
A public terminal in a library displayed this message until its conclusion. The final image read: "End of message." A figure who had watched the message asked, "When was this message transmitted?" The technician replied, "It was received four years ago, sir." The figure leaned back in his chair and looked up at the technician, "Do we know where it's from?" The technician looked at the figure and said, "It's classified, sir. I'm sorry." The figure sighed, and the technician left him alone. His breaths grew quicker and angrier. Leaning closer to the terminal, he reached underneath it to detach his own data-pad and made an illegal copy of the message.
The man stood up, hid the data-pad in his coat, and left the building. He arrived at his home, sat down at his own terminal, and opened a new transmission. The addressee was nicknamed "The Wandering Angel." A face filled with revenge and hatred, and teary eyes, stared into the camera.
"My love, many years of silence, but it feels like you just left yesterday. Now I know... Now I know it all, and... I will find you. If you get this message, I want you to know that I will find you. No matter the distance, no matter the risk. I will find you, and I will bring you home." The message was sent to the last approximate coordinates based on the data from the archived message. The figure stared blankly in front of him, watching the transmission upload to the transfer nodes. "I will bring you home."
The sound of alarms echoed through the bridge, creating an atmosphere of panic and urgency. Control panels lay in ruins, barely working, with sparking electric wires hanging from the ceiling, lighting up the smoke-filled room. A cruiser in desperate condition drifted through an uncharted region of space. Once a mighty ship capable of holding over two hundred people, it now seemed eerily abandoned.
A smaller explosion shook the hull of the ship, sending shockwaves through the rooms. Only one soul remained on board: Richard. He struggled to crawl back to his seat at the science station on the bridge. Wiping debris off the console, he started interacting with it. His face was focused, his actions precise. The console he worked on flickered in and out of power, but he persevered nevertheless.
The sound of smaller explosions mixed with a larger crackling noise filled the air. Richard stopped for a moment and looked up. A beeping alarm from another console labeled "Engineering" startled him. Frustrated, he picked up a small piece of debris and tossed it onto the console, shouting, "Shut it! I've got no time for you!" The alarm stopped.
"Don't you think it's time to go?" asked a gentle female voice. Richard didn't bother answering at first, still working intently on the terminal. "Hun, please don't hurt yourself," the female voice urged again. "I'm fine... I will be fine..." Richard replied in an annoyed tone. He looked up at the screen, which displayed a map of the region with a trail across it. "Finally... this signature matches..." he muttered under his breath. The alarm from the other console resumed its beeping, and another console joined in, agitating Richard even more. He stood up and walked over to the consoles. "What is it, hun?" asked the female voice. "Not good... I'm losing core stability..." Richard answered as he glanced back at the science panel, where a small loading bar showed 56%. He hurried to the other console to investigate the cause of the alarms. "Crap... millions of credits, cutting-edge technology, and they can't even build a functioning Argo field distributor..." Richard dismissed the alarms by deactivating the problematic component. Suddenly, a larger rumble shook the ship, followed by an overcharged cable exploding near Richard, knocking him to the floor.
With blurred vision and ringing ears, Richard slowly tried to stand up and crawl back to the console. "Hun, it's time to leave," the female voice pleaded again. "N-no, not when I'm this close..." Richard looked up at the screen, now displaying 75%. He stood up unsteadily and pulled out his datapad. The ship's violent shaking made it difficult to maintain his balance, and he stumbled onto the captain's chair. He glanced down at the small monitor next to it, noticing the latest communications that the late captain had received. Richard quickly connected his datapad to download the messages. The ship continued to shake violently, lights flickered, alarms blared from every console, and the smoke and burning hull began to damage the life support systems around him. Time was running out.
"Hun, please... leave now," the female voice implored once more. Richard ignored her and stumbled back to the science console, which now showed 85% completion. "No, no, no, just a little bit more, come on!" As Richard stared at the screen, he caught his reflection. In that reflection, behind him, a female figure appeared – his wife, whom he had been searching for. Richard looked at her, tears forming in his eyes. She placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "My busy circuit board... leave this madness behind, come home."
Richard fought to keep his tears at bay as the screen displayed 94% completion. An automated computer voice echoed throughout the bridge, announcing, "Core integrity failed, evacuate immediately." Richard closed his eyes and heard the gentle female voice again in his head, "Come home."
A once mighty ship drifted into an unknown sector of the system—broken, flaming, and lifeless. An explosion in the distance created a bright flash that lasted for mere seconds before disappearing into the darkness of space. Farther away, in a small escape pod, an injured Richard sat in the pilot seat. The pod was on autopilot, and his datapad, with its broken screen, lay on the dashboard, displaying a map of the system and a trail, along with coordinates and charts.