Anyway, this is a short story I thought up during a very boring two hours at work with nothing to do. The idea occured to me when I was thinking about the discussions we were having here about different types of life forms, and it sort of developed from there. I suppose it's more of a mystery story than anything else I've written so far, and I have the whole plot planned out. All I need to do now is type it all up.
After I get this story out and done with, I'll be returning my attention to my other stories, whose plots have recovered from the computer crash that put them on hold for several months and killed off all my notes.
Anyway, this is just the prologue/intro to the story, and sets up the background and the stuff about the planet, the facility and the universe itself.
Unlike the other universe I created, this one is a "hard sci-fi" universe, which means I'm sticking (mostly) to the laws of physics, hence the lack of FTL, laser guns, and other stereotypical sci-fi stuff.
The story is set several centuries into the future. Humanity has spread out across the nearby region of space, and established numerous colonies. Earth remains in control of the colonies due to it's massive military might. Technology is kind of similar to modern day stuff, but more advanced, as you may see as the story goes on.
Anyway, enjoy, and let me know what you think.
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The Madness of Glacies Prima
It was a small world, covered in a frozen wasteland of ice. It orbited its sun, Glacies Alpha, at a distance just slightly farther than Earth did its sun. More than a century ago the nearby colony of New Michigan had turned its deep space sensors on the bleak system, and had detected something that had stunned the far-flung human race: life. Alien life, something never before discovered. Within less than a decade, even the farthest colonies had heard the news. Earth acted quickly; within thirty years of receiving the news they had assembled and launched a massive colony ship. Crewed by fifty of Earth's best scientists kept in cryo-stasis for the entirety of the 42 year trip from the Sol system to Glacies Prima, and filled to the brim with prefabricated buildings, labs, equipment and vehicles, the Santa Maria embarked on what every human in the galaxy agreed would be the most amazing mission in history.
45 years after the ship had launched, Earth received its first communication from Glacies Base. The results had been less than impressive. Although the planet did contain life, it was but a single species of non-sapient beetle like creatures. While scientists across the vast expanse of Earth's domain jumped for joy at the news and petitioned the planetary governments to send more ships out to investigate, the vast majority of the populace felt as if they had been cheated. They had been expecting fully sapient races with their own starships and colonies. For them, the Glacies Beetles weren't "alien enough". Without any public support for increased spending on the project, and with the colony of Beta Hydri's declaration of independence from Earth, the government shut down the project, leaving the fifty scientists they had sent there half a century ago to remain there in ignominy and to fend for themselves in the small, self-sufficient base they had erected. As if to add further insult to injury, Glacies Base was officially renamed to Glacies Scientific Research Outpost. No ship was dispatched to pick the scientists up, nor was any ship dispatched to bring them further supplies or assistance. Aside from the message the facility sent every six months, Glacies Prima was dead to the galaxy. They were to remain there for the rest of their lives, with only the Glacies Beetles to keep them occupied.
In all likelihood, the chaos that followed the Beta Hydri Rebellion would have ensured that Glacies Outpost would have been forgotten by the government within only a few years. However, the small remote system was brought back to Earth's attention 52 years after the first colony ship had launched. The scientists had been manning the facility for just seven years, when an automatic monitoring drone on the outskirts of the New Michigan system picked up a random, confused and self-contradictory message that had supposedly originated from the Glacies system. Even ignoring the fact that the outpost was not scheduled to transmit another message for another four months, the content of the message quickly gained the attention of all who heard it. All subsequent attempts to establish contact with the colony failed, and Earth's government acted quickly. Within three years, they had approved of the launch of a rapid response ship to investigate Glacies Prima. However, due to the system's insignificance in the grand scheme of things, the only people going to investigate the system would be ten soldiers from the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, one government official, one representative of the company that had built the prefabricated facility and three civilian scientists.
The team would spend the next forty two years in cryo-stasis, and would descend onto the surface of the bleak world to solve the mystery of Glacies Outpost's last transmission. They would have no support, no idea of what they were going into, and the only information they had was the insane transmission from the outpost.
"COLD. SO COLD. ALL WARMTH IS GONE. ALL WARMTH IS DEAD. THEY ARE DEAD. WE ARE DEAD. I AM DEAD. ALL DEAD. THE WORLD IS DEAD. THE WORLD IS FROZEN DEAD WITH LIFE. HE KILLED US ALL. HE SAVED THEM. HE KILLED ALL TO SAVE ALL. THEY LIVE. THEY THINK BUT DONT KNOW IT. DID WE KILL THEM ALL? THEY HAVE KILLED US ALL. THEY LIVE. THEY STILL LIVE THOUGH WE ALL DIE. ITS HERE. MADNESS IS HERE. THEY ARE HERE. THEY RULE HERE. WE DIDNT KNOW. HE KNEW. HE TOLD US AND HE DID IT. HE DID IT. SO COLD. NO WARMTH. ALL GONE. ALL DEAD. DEAD LIKE GLACIES. WE DIDNT KNOW. WE SHOULD HAVE KILLED THEM. KILLED THEM ALL. WE KILLED ALL OF THEM AND WE GOT KILLED BY ALL OF THEM. WE ARE AS GOOD AS DEAD NOW. RUN. FLEE. KILL THEM ALL. KILL US ALL. NOTHING HERE NOW BUT DEATH WITH LIFE. NOTHING ON GLACIES PRIMA BUT MADNESS."
- Last known transmission from Glacies Scientific Research Outpost, transmitted by Facility Director Eric Barnes.
