Mission 1: Past Echoes

Thompson scratches his beard in hesitancy. "Well... technically yes. I have heard of a case before of something similar. Only that it was the oven in a ship's kitchen that caused the explosion. Someone must have fiddled with the wiring to have caused half of the ship to be completely destroyed. The only survivor left of that catastrophe is someone that was already wearing their vacsuit while in the left wing. They sent an SOS from the cockpit and that's why we knew of it...

As for the Cryo-stasis Pods, they are a roughly recent invention. However, I trust the scientists and manufacturers to design it such that they are safe for use in all spacecraft. The worst that can happen is that the cryo-gas canisters could leak and freeze your limbs off. But it is only fools who don't check if all the connectors and cables are well secured before initiating a cryo-sleep."

Zakk took the explanation well. Perhaps he truly doesn't mind dying from an explosion in space. YOLO and all that.

Matsuki felt a slight chill as she considers the dangers of space flight. She doesn't show her fear, but cooly does extra checks on the pod herself.

Jerome gave a soft groan as he envisions such an accident taking place. With deep breaths, he steadies himself before entering his hopefully-not-coffin.With everyone dressed in their non-bulky clothes and enters their pods, the engineers and the pilot also do additional checks and set the programs for the cryo-sleep. Once ready, they also help to strap on a mouthpiece with a tube connected to the inside of the vessel. Gas will slowly fill the lungs, causing drowsiness. Then the occupants' bodies are tied down with a belt, to avoid excessive movements. While the insides of the pod are ergonomically cushioned, it doesn't help much if there are sudden changes of motion like crash landings.

A transparent fluid begins to fill the sealed chamber, and before it fully fills up, the sleeper is already knocked out. Then a chemical is released, causing the fluid and the occupant to freeze in a slow manner...

---

Then there is nothingness...
Not even dreams, for the brain is also frozen.

---

Slowly, thoughts begin to flow again. Something like dreams are being formed. Or nightmares...

That's when he wakes up, his nerves slowly returning their senses.

---

She finds herself waking up with shock while a clear fluid is drained away from her pod.

---

Zakk had visions of bright exploding colours and blaring metal music. As the smoke clears, he sees himself flying through a sea of stars before colliding into a fiery star.

That's when he wakes up to realising he is within the pod and the engineers are going around outside checking the pods.

"Alright, we are still on the right course, and are just 1 day away from arrival. How are you folks feeling?" Jake the pilot asks as everyone is removed from their stasis.

The remaining time before the ship touches down on the incoming planet allows for contemplation. Could the dreams mean anything for the future, or is it merely a jumble of memories and thoughts? For Zakk, his visions just made him more hyperactive than before, as he films candid shots of him jumping, floating and screaming about, much to the annoyance to others onboard.

---

In no time at all, the surface of the grey world of Mersk grows clearer. Shifting pale clouds shows that there is an atmosphere and weather. The Accelerator Engine is announced to be turned off, and manual landing is performed. Jets under the spacecraft wings slow its decent as it pass through the thin clouds, and clusters of huge glass and metal domes are seen on the ground below. It lands on a landing strip that leads into a bay structure that has its retractable door open to welcome the new arrival. As the door shuts close, people in vacsuits begin to approach the parked craft. As the shuttle crew opens the side door, the ground crew brings forth a step ladder for the passengers. After checking a device on hand, the ground crew remove their helmets, before coughing a little.

A woman from amongst the 4 ground crew speaks up. "Greetings! I believe you three are the new Spacers. My name is Samantha O'Reilly. I will be your guide and representative in our station. You can ask others for help, but I am mainly tasked to get you ready for your mission here. Though I admit me and the others are hoping for more help, I understand that HQ on Darst is only willing to provide a certain amount of resources for our minor issue. Minor to them, but not to us. But before we go into business, let's have you be familiarised with our base.

Here is the Ship Hanger. It is where our collection of spacecrafts are docked and maintained for later take off. Technically, the air of this planet is safe to breathe, but it can cause irritation and smells bad. We are slowly adapting our lungs to handle the air, so as to reduce our usage of oxygen canisters. That's why- cough! That's why we don't use airlocks here.

We will now be entering the main body of our Colony. There, you will find an assortment of hubs. There are some for warehousing equipment and tools. Some of the technicians like to leave their tools on the floor, so watch your step. There are also common areas where stores are open for selling cooked food and general items. We are paid for our logged work, so make sure you have your Credit Account with you here. And lastly, there are the sleeping quarters. We will provide you with rooms, though if you are staying here for longer than a month, then we shall charge your occupancy. So while we are a research base, we are also like a company town, so you can always find some work here. There are other buildings, like the Excavator Workshops, but they are mostly none of your concern.

One last thing, don't cause too much of a disturbance here. A few of our men are, how should I put this, becoming more easily irritated. While they are still hardworking, they have been sharing certain things about The Face, like how it is built there to watch us. It didn't help that one of the janitors have become a self-declared prophet of it. While we keep ourselves distracted with our work, morale has been dropping since the discovery of The Face."