Deep Space Nothing

Act I

"Commander, situation report." she yells over a migraine inducing alarm. Pushing her feet into her military issue boots causes her to grunt heavily while she forces herself out of her first decent sleep in months.
With an exasperated sigh, she tightens her laces and loosens her jaw, "Commander, report." she barks through the intercom but still getting no reply. "What in the hell is going on?" she asks without anyone here but herself and even she can barely hear the words leave her mouth under the incessant blaring of the warning buzzer.

Placing her thumb upon the blue screen to the right of her door, it scans her print then unlocks with a long grinding which she has become accustomed to over the course of this endless mission. As soon as the door slides upwards she throws herself into the corridor to find her ship in disarray.

Personal belongings strewn from their rooms, tools and toolboxes are scattered over the floor. Every few feet, steam is blasting out of several different vents and the hull of the ship is creaking and popping like a submarine that has ventured too deep and can't take the pressure.

Carefully, she begins to make her way from her cabin through the several levels of her ship, checking in at any comms point she can but never managing to get hold of her crew. The metal walls cause her shouts to echo all around as she slams her thick tread, rubber soles from corridor to corridor finding nothing but an eery emptiness.

The first hatch to the next level is accessed by a sturdy steel ladder which she wraps her hands around tightly, aiming for the rung at eye height but just as quickly she removes them then expels a breath from the depths of her lungs which forms an unusual mist in the air before her. Giving her hands a rub on her thighs for a moment, she again plants them on the bar and begins to ascend as fast as her tired legs allow.

Climbing to her feet, she hits the intercom at the top as she slumps against the doorframe with her heart beating hard. Air expels through her circled lips while she tries in vain to reach any of her still non responsive crew. Her jaw trembles a little but she bites down hard, trying her hardest to suppress her emotions.

"Get the facts first." she grunts as she pushes herself down the corridor with her jelly like legs stomping her boots uncontrollably upon the steel grates. When she reaches a sealed door she presses her face against the glass but the room sits in darkness minus the blinking of an unset clock.

Turning back she looks down at the cross section she just passed through and her eyes can't comprehend what she is seeing. Everything around begins fading to black at an alarming rate. The walls start closing in. Her heart rate is going so fast she can hear it increasing by the second, her breathing is so short she might as well be floating in the vast emptiness of space and her head is spinning so hard it is making her feel as if she could throw up at any given moment.

No matter how much she tries to convince herself that there is going to be a logical explanation to all of this, her brain takes her to the worst scenario possible. She feels so alone and right now she is, lightyears from rescue on the furthest reaches of the galaxy, it would be close to a year before a rescue would ever be attempted.

"I need to know." she whispers with her bottom lip beginning to tremble again. Charging into the dark with all that she has, her breath showing in puffs of smoke like a runaway steam train. Her vision blurs with tear filled eyes but she pushes through.

Swinging herself left so sharply she almost collides with the next set of ladders but it doesn't slow her down as she continues her flow and throws her body against it with a violent rattle then scales up it with ease like a squirrel up a tree.

Her body wants to give up but her mind needs answers before it will cease its rattling. The fear of what may come is a stronger force than anything she has ever encountered but the fear of not knowing overshadows it by far and it is this that pushes her through.

Finally reaching the upper deck she turns the last corner leading to the bridge. The door slides open with ease and she grinds along the floor, coming to a stop before colliding with the centre control console. Her brain tries to assess what she has entered into as her eyes dart from person to person but none react to her presence.

Giving a little cough to direct their attention but still they remain frozen in place, "Captain on deck." she states but achieving no results. With a deep breath she takes a step closer but as she does she is instantly knocked from her feet by a blast of blinding light coming from directly in front of the ship that penetrates through the window with an unfathomable ferocity.

Like a fish on a hook she cannot escape, like a moth to a flame she cannot look away and like a dog with a bone it won't let her go. The anomaly fills the entire cockpit and there is nothing but white, like a clean bed sheet has been thrown over her head, completely obscuring her vision. Her mind is encapsulated in the mystery of whatever is happening but she is trapped, much like her crew she cannot move. A deafening roar fills her ears, a screeching whistle penetrates her soul and a cacophony of unrelenting chaos takes over everything she is. Unable to fight off the feeling as she rises upwards and floats helpless, suspended in mid air. With a violent flashing and snapping like a thousand cameras popping off in her synapses, she is blinded. She is reduced to nothing and everyone stuck within this trance like state is simultaneously slammed to the deck with an almighty thud.