The Screen Blinked Off

The screen crackled into life; it was a grainy picture with an audio that was reasonably easy to make out, which was quite impressive as the drive had a hole in it and the Records exposed to the cold vacuum of space for almost a week before being picked up by the ore freighter John Knox.

Captain Jace Stone sat at his desk, listening and watching the story unfold before him. On the screen was a young man, about 25 years old but already sporting a weather-beaten look that was common among long haulers. The man's name was Rafe Jenson, and he was the captain and only crew member of the Peregrine class medium hauler Venture.

As was the norm with solo haulers, his log was a detailed one, as these men passed the time by talking incessantly To their log, treating it like another person. Jace poured himself a drink, settled into his chair, and watched.

Day 1:- 'Hi Honey, I'm home,' Shouted Rafe as he slumped into the command chair. Scanning his display boards, he reached over and flicked several switches. The lights on the bridge dimmed and a low hum became audible.

'OK. Here's the deal. They loaded us with 40,000 tonnes of Calephite that the miners have just finished transferring to the hold. Tower has cleared our flight plan and we are all set to launch and be on our merry way to the refinery on Epsilon Prime.'

Rafe reached towards the screen. Off camera, switches were being turned on and off and then there was a tapping sound as Rafe's eyes narrowed and he focused on something out of the view of the camera.

'That's better.'

Turning back to the camera that was recording him, Rafe smiled and looked about him conspiratorially.

'The thing is, it takes 20 days to reach Epsilon Prime, and I spent rather too long in the bar if you know what I mean, so I've only got 18 days to get this load there or I will lose my bonus. Now, I met a guy in the bar who gave me this map'.

He waved a piece of paper in front of the camera.

'He says it is a set of co-ordinates that you can program into your Nav computer so that it navigates the Necron Expanse. This is great because I will make it to Epsilon in 8 days instead of 20, meet my deadline, get my bonus, and sell this Nav map for a small fortune. Result, is what I say. Anyway, got to launch now so I will chat to you later'.

The screen blinked out briefly, then came back on. Staring at the camera, with an inane grin on his face, was Rafe.

'Hi again. OK, Day 2, I have cleared the system with no problems. I have reported that my Nav Tracker Beacon has gone down, so the Flight Tower on Epsilon won't be able to track me. In 12 Hours I will be in the expanse. Talk to you soon, honey'.

Again the screen blinked out briefly, then came back on.

'You will not believe what I can see. I would show you, but it would mean wrenching your little camera out of the side panel, which I think would do more harm than good. Anyway, it's black. I don't mean like black of space with twinkling stars. I mean BLACK, totally and utterly devoid of any form of light. I put the forward spotlights on and took a reading. Those lights only penetrated 10 metres and they are at least 1,000,000 candle power. This is really odd.

Ok, best foot forward, so to speak. I have programmed the Nav points and all I have to do is hit the auto pilot, so here goes'.

Rafe leant forward and punched a panel out of view of the camera. He then settled back into his chair, grinned at the camera, and said.

'Here we go'. The screen blinked off.

A crackle of static brought the screen back to life. Sitting in the command chair, Rafe slowly sipped a drink. His good humour of the past couple of days appeared to have diminished.