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Description

A story set in the Retrograde setting, as imagined by Khal941 and corrupted by Daemoria .

Space is a cold and lonely place, with the endless gulfs between stars clicking with the background glow of radiation. Humanity, in its fragile nascent stage of growth sought the stars. Hidden in the unimaginable distances of space, is the key to man's desires.

Many sought riches, some searched for a sense of self purpose. Others sought to continue the endless petty rivalries that started back on Earth, mankind's progenitor.

The twin planetary system of Beta Pavonis 7 was unremarkable. Located 135 light years from earth, as the FTL transport flies, the ancient sun, a white Giant, of Beta Pavonis shined down on alien skies.

Gavrila Myshkina looked down at her notes,and back up through the view-ports. The smaller of the two planets glittered faintly in space. The unremarkable system, which had only been a footnote on a Soviet planetary survey log, had become quite remarkable indeed.

The notes in front of her stated that an initial survey had been preformed by a state-run company two years prior. The location of the planetary system, combined with spectrographic imaging indicated that the smaller of the two planets was a favorable terraforming candidate. A cross-referenced note, attached by GRU intelligence, stated that the terraforming request was still being processed. The request was expected to clear the halls of bureaucracy and red tape within a decade.

This was the heart of the problem, and why the unremarkable planet now had a blacked out CCCP warship in orbit. The unimpressive, but profitable rock should have been a frozen lifeless satellite. Instead, the thick haze of a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere filled the view-port of the warship. Signs of a successful terraforming operation. One that had taken 50 years to complete.

And then there was the signal. The entangled quantum bits responsible for the Soviet faster than light communication network were among the most advanced of technologies known to man. The resonating pair of bits, when separated, could be used to allow instantaneous communication across light years of space, albeit with a limited bandwidth. These communications were vital to command and control across known space, and only utilized by the military.

The signal interpreted from a set of bits, still being judged for suitability, was civilian in nature. The stream of data issuing from the entangled pair was conventionally impossible. Some garbage noise is present in all pairs, and during the tuning phase is filtered out, to ensure accurate signals. The laboratory equipment, instead of finding the standard background hiss, was being fed a torrent of reports. Automatic mining, quarterly construction quotas, weather reports, astrographic navigation, and sports results.

The signal, now silent, had drawn the focus of a highly secretive, and very specialized branch of the Soviet military. It was why Gav had just taken a five month voyage to this unremarkable system.

All around her, the sound of soldiers moving personal gear and heavy equipment could be heard.

It was time to depart.

---

Autonomous Oblast T97. Administrative center.

It was warm. Hot even, and the humidity didn't help. The shade, cast from the buildings towering over the cracked asphalt, did not do anything to alleviate the heat. The empty frames of thousands of windows stretched above the small squad. The broken glass glittered in the sunlight, giving the surreal scene a slightly macabre feeling.

The skulls of an abandoned city laughed at Shalha.

"I don't feel good. It's like there are people watching me... but I can't see anyone." Shalha keyed her throat microphone. The street, strewn with wreckage of partially collapsed building facades afforded her a degree of concealment. Further down the cracked highway, she could see the main fire-team advancing on a large administrative building.

The bones in her ear vibrated with the annoyed tone of Gav's response.

"Well, that's why you're there, do your job Shalha. Keep any people from shooting us in our back, while we do our job."
"The sooner we find out what is going on here, the sooner we can all leave."

---

"What do you see?"

"Mold. Dust. Rot, it reminds me of home." Val laughed, her voice echoing down the dark halls. "I love what they've done with the place... who ever they were."

"No, look closer. We're missing something." Gav sighed in slight exasperation. "There is no one here. No remains. No signs of combat."

"Hey, you're right. This place just looks old, but..."

Gav nodded. "Yes."
"These electronics are nor like anything I've seen before." Valentina Danilova moved forward down the corridor, cracking open a chemlight and tossing it to the floor behind her. The green stick cast a small pool of light into the air. The glow of the light was quickly choked by the dust kicked up by their boots. Val shuddered as a feeling of dread crept down her spine. The only other light in the rotting building was coming from strange monitors, much too thin to hold cathode ray tubes. Glowing pixels were projected, hovering slightly above a matte metal surface. Unlike the rest of the building, they seemed devoid of rot or any signs of damage.

The darkness itself seemed to be thicker, more cloying, as they moved deeper into the building. The air buzzed slightly, the split elements of the fire-team reporting their lack of progress in finding anything useful. "We found a library, or an archive...but it's empty. It looks like it's been that way for a while, Captain."

Gav grumbled to herself, cursing their luck. This planet's mystery sure wasn't going to be simple to solve. Why couldn't they get an easy task for once, she mused.

"Hey, it's brighter up there, by that intersection!" Val move forward, shotgun sweeping in a low arc ahead of her. And the air hissed.

"We found a library, or an archive...but it's emp̩̙t͓̼̰̥y."

"Shit!" The flash of steel and charged energy rung out as blades were drawn.

"...It looks like it's been that way for a while, Captain."

"Manifestation! It's a..."

Space is a cold and lonely place, with the endless gulfs between stars clicking with the background glow of radiation.

"Loop."

Hidden in the unimaginable distances of space, is the key to man's de͓̪͈̼sires.

Also in the Retrograde universe:

Edit: minor tweaks. Added subtle motion/tearing of image.

Description

A story set in the Retrograde setting, as imagined by Khal941 and corrupted by Daemoria .

Space is a cold and lonely place, with the endless gulfs between stars clicking with the background glow of radiation. Humanity, in its fragile nascent stage of growth sought the stars. Hidden in the unimaginable distances of space, is the key to man's desires.

Many sought riches, some searched for a sense of self purpose. Others sought to continue the endless petty rivalries that started back on Earth, mankind's progenitor.

The twin planetary system of Beta Pavonis 7 was unremarkable. Located 135 light years from earth, as the FTL transport flies, the ancient sun, a white Giant, of Beta Pavonis shined down on alien skies.

Gavrila Myshkina looked down at her notes,and back up through the view-ports. The smaller of the two planets glittered faintly in space. The unremarkable system, which had only been a footnote on a Soviet planetary survey log, had become quite remarkable indeed.

The notes in front of her stated that an initial survey had been preformed by a state-run company two years prior. The location of the planetary system, combined with spectrographic imaging indicated that the smaller of the two planets was a favorable terraforming candidate. A cross-referenced note, attached by GRU intelligence, stated that the terraforming request was still being processed. The request was expected to clear the halls of bureaucracy and red tape within a decade.

This was the heart of the problem, and why the unremarkable planet now had a blacked out CCCP warship in orbit. The unimpressive, but profitable rock should have been a frozen lifeless satellite. Instead, the thick haze of a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere filled the view-port of the warship. Signs of a successful terraforming operation. One that had taken 50 years to complete.

And then there was the signal. The entangled quantum bits responsible for the Soviet faster than light communication network were among the most advanced of technologies known to man. The resonating pair of bits, when separated, could be used to allow instantaneous communication across light years of space, albeit with a limited bandwidth. These communications were vital to command and control across known space, and only utilized by the military.

The signal interpreted from a set of bits, still being judged for suitability, was civilian in nature. The stream of data issuing from the entangled pair was conventionally impossible. Some garbage noise is present in all pairs, and during the tuning phase is filtered out, to ensure accurate signals. The laboratory equipment, instead of finding the standard background hiss, was being fed a torrent of reports. Automatic mining, quarterly construction quotas, weather reports, astrographic navigation, and sports results.

The signal, now silent, had drawn the focus of a highly secretive, and very specialized branch of the Soviet military. It was why Gav had just taken a five month voyage to this unremarkable system.

All around her, the sound of soldiers moving personal gear and heavy equipment could be heard.

It was time to depart.

---

Autonomous Oblast T97. Administrative center.

It was warm. Hot even, and the humidity didn't help. The shade, cast from the buildings towering over the cracked asphalt, did not do anything to alleviate the heat. The empty frames of thousands of windows stretched above the small squad. The broken glass glittered in the sunlight, giving the surreal scene a slightly macabre feeling.

The skulls of an abandoned city laughed at Shalha.

"I don't feel good. It's like there are people watching me... but I can't see anyone." Shalha keyed her throat microphone. The street, strewn with wreckage of partially collapsed building facades afforded her a degree of concealment. Further down the cracked highway, she could see the main fire-team advancing on a large administrative building.

The bones in her ear vibrated with the annoyed tone of Gav's response.

"Well, that's why you're there, do your job Shalha. Keep any people from shooting us in our back, while we do our job."
"The sooner we find out what is going on here, the sooner we can all leave."

---

"What do you see?"

"Mold. Dust. Rot, it reminds me of home." Val laughed, her voice echoing down the dark halls. "I love what they've done with the place... who ever they were."

"No, look closer. We're missing something." Gav sighed in slight exasperation. "There is no one here. No remains. No signs of combat."

"Hey, you're right. This place just looks old, but..."

Gav nodded. "Yes."
"These electronics are nor like anything I've seen before." Valentina Danilova moved forward down the corridor, cracking open a chemlight and tossing it to the floor behind her. The green stick cast a small pool of light into the air. The glow of the light was quickly choked by the dust kicked up by their boots. Val shuddered as a feeling of dread crept down her spine. The only other light in the rotting building was coming from strange monitors, much too thin to hold cathode ray tubes. Glowing pixels were projected, hovering slightly above a matte metal surface. Unlike the rest of the building, they seemed devoid of rot or any signs of damage.

The darkness itself seemed to be thicker, more cloying, as they moved deeper into the building. The air buzzed slightly, the split elements of the fire-team reporting their lack of progress in finding anything useful. "We found a library, or an archive...but it's empty. It looks like it's been that way for a while, Captain."

Gav grumbled to herself, cursing their luck. This planet's mystery sure wasn't going to be simple to solve. Why couldn't they get an easy task for once, she mused.

"Hey, it's brighter up there, by that intersection!" Val move forward, shotgun sweeping in a low arc ahead of her. And the air hissed.

"We found a library, or an archive...but it's emp̩̙t͓̼̰̥y."

"Shit!" The flash of steel and charged energy rung out as blades were drawn.

"...It looks like it's been that way for a while, Captain."

"Manifestation! It's a..."

Space is a cold and lonely place, with the endless gulfs between stars clicking with the background glow of radiation.

"Loop."

Hidden in the unimaginable distances of space, is the key to man's de͓̪͈̼sires.

Also in the Retrograde universe:

Edit: minor tweaks. Added subtle motion/tearing of image.