Charting Dark Space (Short Story)
Here's one I decided to write after completing a worldbuilding prompt about it; it follows the story of a lost crew who have traveled into the Uncharted Zone to try and chart it, but they have been separated from the rest of their small fleet.
"I don't like this! We have to go back! Turn back now!" The officer complained. He was young and scared. From some backwater farm world. He knew the risks when signing up for this mission. Torin Herden thought to himself as he silently stared out the window of the capital ship.
It was large; large enough to house over ten-thousand troops comfortably. But, they were without the soldiers. Most of the quarters on the lower levels had been re-purposed to house the specialised equipment used to chart Dark Space. The region was a dead spot on every navigation chart in The Confederation Zone and Free Space alike. No matter what they tried, no matter what they used, nothing seemed to clear the dead spots and reveal the planets and star systems that lurked in the utter darkness of the region.
"We have to turn back! We're flying blind!" Torin didn't look around at the man, even though at this stage his panicked screams had brought silence to each and every person in the bridge. "Answer me! Will someone speak!? Brigadier? Say something!" He let out another flurry of shouts and Torin could hear the footsteps of the man pound the ground as he stamped his way to his chair. Torin felt a punch as he was grabbed by the breast of his coat. The lad was strong, stronger than he looked; strong enough to wrench him from his seat.
"Take your hands off the Brigadier, pup!" Torin stared into the eyes of the mad man, he was scared, that was clear. "Sometimes fear can eat away at a man's mind. Sometimes it can make him do things he doesn't mean to do." Torin spoke slowly, staring at him. He wasn't talking to the officer, he was speaking to Dracius Farer, the old lumbering tree of a man who wore his uniform two sizes too small for him. "I told you to unhand the Brigadier!" Dracius commanded once more, now almost reaching for the crazed officer. Torin lifted a hand to stop Dracius's approach. He yielded and stood still, gritting his teeth as he stared at the two men.
Torin looked back at the officer. His eyes shifted back and forth, he knew he was in trouble, but something in his stare said that he didn't care. Beads of sweat ran down from his forehead, he maintained his tight grip though. "What do you want me to say?" He asked the man. Who only shook his head in response as he let out a breath that made a quivering noise. "Anything. Anything at all. What is our plan?" The man asked quickly. "The plan is to evaluate our situation. Now, I would suggest you unhand me before Dracius loses his own mind." The officer turned to peak over his shoulder at him, and with that, he let go. "I'm sorry." He started to repeat while slumping to the ground.
Stepping over the heap on the floor, Torin started to stare out some of the other windows. There was nothing, just a cold dead vacuum of space, a place where nobody would be mad enough to travel; but here they were.
"I can't even see any stars." He whispered. "There doesn't seem to be anything out there. It's not normal." Torin continued while staring absentmindedly out the window.
"Brigadier, we could send out some more beacons. Perhaps jettisoning a few more will ensure one reaches someone." The Comms officer said as she leaned back in her chair. Torin just shook his head. "No, I don't want to waste the last of our reserves. It could be a long time before anyone comes across them. Besides, we don't even know who or what may find the last few we sent out."
She looked around for a moment and then shook her head. "Let's hope that the survey team finds something of use for us. I don't want to be stuck out here for too long." Torin nodded to that. It went without saying that she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
The hours were grueling, and soon the suggestions all came up dry, and nobody felt like wasting any more breath on the obvious. Turning around wasn't an option, the ship's navigation charts were scrambled, as they had been when they crossed into Dark Space. There was nothing they could do, turning around seemed easy until they realised that they had no idea how to tell which way they should go to re-enter The Confederation zone; they could travel for days, only to find themselves even deeper into Dark Space.
"Report! I'm picking up a short-range signal, seems like one of the survey ships has made it back!" The comms officer yelped with joy. Everyone on the bridge raced to her, all except Torin, who just continued to stare out the window of the ship. Something was out there, some force, something that was able to completely take over his mind and fix his attention on the sheer nothingness. It was all encumbering, it was like meditating, or like drowning.
Soon, the scouts were back aboard the ship, and the next thing Torin knew they were walking through the doors of the bridge, two of them. Each had deep bags under their eyes and they looked disheveled, one with his shirt untucked and the other with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Their hair was messy and the shadow of beards were coming through on each of them. "Brigadier, we found a planet, it isn't far from us, maybe thirty-thousand miles." Torin nodded at this news. "What's the plan?" Dracius asked, in a voice wrapped with concern. "We go to inspect this planet, we can dock in orbit and send a small vessel down to run some tests. Perhaps we can find someone to help us or even evidence of a way to navigate this region."
"Go down to it?! Have you lost your mind!? We should be finding a way to leave, not going in further." The officer started up again, he was mad before, but it was better when he fell silent.
"We have no idea where we're traveling, at least heading for this planet may reveal something, give us some insight on this place; it could help us get home," Torin replied, which shut the officer up.