The Protogen Generation

Disappearance

KYLE'S P.O.V

"Yep,"

That's the last full transmission received from the EX-5.

Conrad looks around the room to everybody,  "Alright guys, be prepared," he says,  "They are starting the jump."

On the monitor in front of me, all of the readings are where they should be. Temperatures, pressures, G-forces, stress, I'm in charge of looking over it.

There is a beep, informing everyone through jump has started. Everything goes fine for the first 30 seconds.

Then all hell seems to break loose.

At first, the amount of gravitational force, G-force, exerted on the spacecraft begins to decrease steadily. This is normal for this stage of the flight. However, it didn't slow down or stop.

The monitor begins to pop up warnings, trying to tell me this wasn't normal. Seeing this, I called Conrad to come take a look at it.

He walked over and took a look. "I've never seen this before," he tells me, analyzing the screen. “Can we still warn them about this?” He asked me.

Looking at the monitor, I begin to feel queasy. There is nothing we can do to help them.

regrettably I have to tell him, “We can't. It's too late to contact them.”

Once a spaceship enters its jump phase of space flight, it can't send or receive radio signals.

Another controller on the other side of the room looks towards Conrad, “Sir! They are trying to send a transmission!”

“What does it say!” Conrads asks desperately.

The controller's excitement quickly dies down, “It Doesn't say anything, sir.”

I try not to worry. Maybe the sensors are faulty. Maybe it's A glitch with my computer. Maybe-

“We've lost contact.” Conrad addresses the room in a solemn tone.

“No!” I yell, drawing the attention of others. “...that- it can't be!”

It can't be… It can't. Everything Was fine a couple seconds ago.

“Do you have them on radar?” Conrad asks another controller.

“No,” He says.

Conrad begins to lose his posture, “Is there any debris?

“None sir. They have disappeared completely.

“Shit” Conrad says under his breath, “until Further notice, I order all of you to not speak about this publicly.” He tells us, “You all should probably go eat lunch now. You likely won't have time later.”

“I'll be in my father's office.” Conrad says as he walks to the door, and then leaves the room.

Did I just watch my friends die through a computer screen? 2 of my best friends, one of which I loved dearly, are gone.

15 or 20 minutes later in the cafeteria, I sat trying to eat my sandwich with my coworkers. All I could do was take a couple bites and stare at it.

“Are you going to eat that?” The guy sitting across the table asks.

“No” I tell him without looking up.

“Kyle, it's going to be alright.” He says, trying to reassure me. “They will be found.”

After I left the control room it didn't take it very long for people to find out I had friends on EX-5. I doubt they knew anything about how Michael and I felt for each other, but that didn't change how people kept reassuring me every 2 minutes.