scary horror tales

apogee pertubation

In the late nineties, scientists conducted the Distant Snake Experiment. The experiment consisted of putting a one-man-capsule in a distant orbit around Earth. They would be suspended in solitary confinement for two months, logging their mental status and their physical status during that time. However, the experiment was shut down shortly after it was created due to strange complications. The experiment puts a man inside a vessel, then puts that vessel in a 400,000 kilometer orbit around earth. After failing to get any vessels far enough into space their first two attempts, on the third try they had managed to do it. Astronaut Duncan Vanguard was sent into a distant orbit around Earth. While reaching 400,000 kilometers he had full contact with Earth. However, once he had reached his orbit the station would no longer respond to any of his messages from space. No matter what Duncan said while up there, none of the scientists could legally respond. A full orbit would take about a two months, but the mission only lasted twenty-nine days.

Everything went wrong when Duncan Vanguard went behind the moon. The moon orbits Earth at about 385,000 kilometers. The scientists planned for the moon being there. Something the scientists didn't realize, though, is how fast the moon would come back around and block out communication between him and Earth. Because they were only a few thousand kilometers away in orbit, Duncan's transmission was blocked out for three days. Scientists couldn't communicate with him during that dead zone that occurred on day twenty-four and ended on day twenty-seven. He never made another transmission after coming out from behind the moon. Two days of silence passed until the government shut down the Distant Snake Experiment. Experienced pilots remotely piloted the spacecraft out of orbit and back down to Earth. Only to find that Duncan was no longer in the spacecraft. Duncan's blood was found smeared along the inside of the cockpit as well as multiple notes he presumably wrote to log his mental status while communications were lost. After reading Duncan Vanguard's notes, they concluded that his mental stability dropped rapidly during the time he was behind the moon.

Even though he was thousands of kilometers away from the moon, he could still see how massive it was. Duncan watched everyday as the moon crept closer and closer. He commented about it multiple times in his audio logs that automatically transmitted back down to mission control. On day twenty-four the moon completely covered up Duncan's visibility of Earth, blocking out all communications. He had officially lost the ability to transmit audio logs. Any time he turned the transmitter on he got static so he left it off. His shuttle was about the size of a bathroom. He had two porthole-type windows, one facing Earth and one facing the endless void of space, it had a small bed, a desk, and a light on the ceiling. On the desk there were multiple pieces of paper and some writing utensils in case of boredom. The moon was so close to the shuttle, it blocked out all light from the Sun. The only light he had was the one above his head. All he could hear was the sound of his beating heart, the humming of the light, and the ominous creaking of the vessel.

Duncan was alone with his thoughts for hours as he stared out at the stars. He wondered how far out space went, or if it ever stopped. Hours past with nothing happening, and Duncan figured that's how the next few days would probably be like. Suddenly, the transmitter turned on, creating an eerie static sound. Duncan walked over to the transmitter and flicked the switch on and off again. The static remained playing. White noise hung in the air like thick fog. He couldn't get the noise to stop. He realized that he would probably have to live with it. He also hoped he could still log transmissions and that the machine fixed itself once he came out from behind the moon. After a while, Duncan began to feel tired, he had no way of telling what time it was besides that when he felt tired, he slept. He shut off the lights and sat in bed for what seemed like forever. Finally, he fell asleep.

He was woken up by a horrible, distorted scream coming from the transmitter. He shot out of bed and turned on the transmitter to speak. The scream was deafening.
Apogee Perturbation 13,937 views
9 October 2016 NathanNation Long