Journal Entry #1
Location: Aboard The Orion Express
“We are about to embark on a journey, that will take us from the infinitesimal to the infinite, from the beginning of time to the distant future. This exploration will not be one for the faint-hearted but for the strong souls that desire to answer the call of adventure”.
I recall the very words spoken by the Captain of The Orion Express, a revolutionary space transport vessel that allows its passengers to travel across planets and galaxies, opening up a world of possibilities for the human race.
For years, this vessel has been used for commercial space travel, a luxury only enjoyed by the wealthy. But today, its purpose has been renewed. I, along with 55 other individuals have been selected to be part of an exploration team to seek out new worlds and systems, in hopes of furthering our understanding of the cosmos.
I accepted the invitation with little haste, having grown weary of life on Earth, the pollution and ever-erratic fluctuating temperatures have resulted in great anomalies. We no longer experience 4 seasons, the gravitational pull on the planet has weakened and our resources are dwindling.
Due to the limited space aboard, we are each given only an identical duffel bag to fit our valuables and personal items for the journey ahead. Taking one more look at my ticket, I stow it away in my duffel as the Captain makes an announcement.
“All crew to your position, we are approaching a new planet and will make arrangements for landing shortly.”
As we suited up and began prep for landing, I took a gander out the window and stared in disbelief as I behold the wonder and beauty of the cosmos in all of its glory. This is it, my journey begins.
All of a sudden, the ship began to agitate in erratic, shaky movements. Stalling in between intervals, adrenaline shot across my entire body as panic spread across the cabin. A loud “BOOM” could be heard at the end of the cabin.
“All passengers, attention, we have lost engine 1, due to unforeseen circumstances, please evacuate with the escape pods, this is not an drill, repeat, this is not a drill, please proceed to the shuttle bay immediately” I took another glance at the planet beneath me, it seems like our meeting will have to wait.
I proceeded to the shuttle bay and got into the escape pod hastily, was this the end of the magnificent Orion Express that everyone held such high regards for? It seems like it .
In a span of a few minutes, all the fifty-five-chosen people, one captain and one vice-captain boarded the classroom-sized escape pod. Necessary arrangements are then made to detach from the main ship and safety was assured.
“Attention to all passengers, we are heading back to earth due to security reasons. Please tighten your seat belts. We will investigate the cause of the damaged engine while we prepare to continue our journey when we are back on Earth.” The Captain announced, without the speaker system.
I was disappointed as we spent eleven hours on the ship with anticipation and enthusiasm for the upcoming adventure and all these seemed to be going down the drain and back to square one.
Suddenly without warning, the escape pod begins to shake violently again but this time, leaning towards the left direction of the machine. The captains panicked as the controls were not responding. Even with the seatbelts on, I couldn’t get myself to sit straight and felt that the cabin was accelerating.
“Nothing is working! We are not moving on our own!”
I held on for my dear life. The shaking from the escape pod made me nauseous. The last thing I remembered was seeing a bright ray of light before I accidentally hit my head hard against the seat and knocked out.
–
I came to my senses and tried opening my eyes. The bright lights made my eyes squint. Everything seemed blurry. Blue neon lights lit up the room. I tried to sit up but something restrained me.
“What’s this? Why are my arms tied down?”
I yanked my hands hard, trying to break free. While doing so, I glanced down. My feet were tied down and I was in a blue medical gown. Tubes can be seen coming out from me and into a peculiar-looking machine. One tube was transferring something yellow and the other, something that looked similar to an egg white.
“What… what are they extracting from me?”
Before I could make out what the liquids were, the door that led to my room slid open. I hastily laid back down and pretended I was still unconscious.
“Yes, the price of the blood plasma and Synovial fluid can still be discussed. We have an amount worth up to fifty-five people here and they’re all derived from some pesky peasants. Don’t worry, they won’t be needing it anymore.”
Journal Entry #2
Location: Unknown
This is bad.
The past 24 hours passed in a blur. I was supposed to explore a new planet onboard the Orion Express with a team of explorers as commissioned but this all got disrupted by a sudden engine failure and while escaping, we got beamed up by a group of organ trafficking space pirates. With who I was able to escape from and regroup with 3 other members of the Orion Explorer Team – Argus a botanist, Konz an author and Rui a Linguistic Specialist.
We are still onboard the pirate ship (or at least that’s where I think we’re at) but we are lost. There are so many questions unanswered. Where are we? who are our captors? Why do they speak with an accent I have never heard before? Are they from Earth?
Our only clues are the tags on our hands that contain a particular symbol that can be found throughout the ship. Rui suggests that this could probably just be the symbol of their colony or clan but I think that there’s more to this place that meets the eye. Something about the symbol looks familiar.
The only good news is that the pirates have yet to realise that 4 of us are missing (yet). As I am writing this, we are hiding out in what appears to be a storage space. The plan we’ve agreed upon is to find out where the escape pods are held at and save as many people (if we see them along the way) as we can (that is if the other crew members have yet to be harvested).
I sincerely do hope this plan goes well. My skills as a Mechanic doesn’t seem to be very helpful in this high stakes survival situation.
Page from my Journal Entry
We have act fast before we were found missing.
As we glanced through the storage space, it was filled with polished silver-tinted cabinets that reached up to the approximately three-meter high ceiling on both sides. The four of us spread out to open the cabinets to look for clues and figure out the location of this place. I came upon tons of surgical equipment such as syringes, knives, forceps, glass tubes and flasks in various sizes. All neatly arranged and sparkly clean as new.
“Guys! Come and take a look at this!” Konz exclaimed.
Among the cabinets nearer to the door, a bunch of arm-length files with translucent-like ‘paper’ were found. Unknown symbols, drawings and writings loaded the 1-inch folders.
Rui took a glance and hurriedly took out one of the files. He flipped through the papers but stopped half-way.
“Guys…” He trembled.
We stared at him with our eyes wide. What did he see?
He took a few seconds before showing it to us.
An badly-taken image of a dissected body, with the organs placed on its side. Also, an image of the same fluids I saw being extracted from me. Bags of them.
Argus was already vomiting by the side while Rui and Konz looked faint and pale.
Suddenly, sirens started wailing and we knew we couldn’t stay for long. We must get out from here fast.