After retrieving a H.E.P.O. from the lockers in the hatch room, Chris made his way back to the Medi-bay to put it on. He told himself it was better to have more space to manoeuvre, but the real reason was it was still significantly warmer further inside the ship.
He stripped off the shrink-wrapping packaging and shook out the large, padded outfit inside. The inside was a soft fleece but the outermost layer was a coarse, canvas-like material that was resistant to cutting, stabbing and a wide range of dangerous chemicals. Multiple layers in between would regulate the wearer's temperature, remove sweat and provide padded protection against impacts. Shaped high-density foam plates in the elbows, shoulders and knees increased protection even further.
He sat against an upper part of the curved floor and pulled out the thick socks tucked inside each of the outfit's legs and then worked on pulling them onto his already uncomfortably cold feet. Before tackling the H.E.P.O. itself, he pulled his tablet computer from the leg pocket of his overalls. On a whim, he switched it on to check the battery level, immediately noticing two new message alerts, both dated years earlier. The battery life was still well above ninety-percent so that should give him at least a week of usage before the next charge. He tapped the first message alert with his finger. A window popped up, filling most of the screen, with the message displayed inside:
Subject: Security Issue
Recipient: Christopher Sergov
Sender: Dirk Baxter (Head of Colonisation Program Security)
Level: Commander Level Only
Chris,
Sorry we couldn't get this info to you prior to launch, but it is part of a complex and ongoing investigation. You will have heard the rumours that the terrorist organisation, Holy Earth, have been trying to infiltrate the colonisation program to ensure it fails. Since you left, our investigation has flagged up the strong likelihood that a Holy Earth agent has infiltrated your crew.
If all goes to plan, we will identify the culprit long before you reach Proxima Centauri and there will be messages after this one telling you who he is.
Good luck to all of you.
More to follow.
Dirk.
CP Security.
The information, although vague and far too brief, hit Chris hard. He was on first-name terms with everyone on the Elysian's crew and, with one exception, they had all spent three months together in intensive training. It was almost impossible to imagine any of them having an ulterior motive against the Colonisation Program. The last-minute addition was Calvin Noble, the mission Astronomer, who had been swapped in to replace their own Astronomer due to an undisclosed medical condition. Chris had only known him for a couple of days but he could not imagine a more unlikely undercover agent.
Along with everything else they were currently facing, the added complication of a traitor did not seem plausible. He did have to admit that anyone working against them would not have to do much to end their chances of survival. Worse still, many of the options would be impossible to detect if the traitor was careful. At least with two-thirds of the crew still frozen, it seemed likely that the potential traitor was not yet conscious.
Surviving on Proxima C was going to be a major challenge even without one of their number working against them, so discovering the traitor's identity was now his top priority. He tapped the second notification, keen to find out who he was going to be dealing with:
Recipient: Christopher Sergov
Sender: Admin Department
Level: General
Dear Commander Sergov,
Due to a terrorist event prior to launch, CPV Uranian will not be joining you on Proxima C. Your mission must continue as planned but with two vessels instead of three. Also please be aware that resupply is looking unlikely. New budgetary constraints are making future launches impossible but we are working to rectify the situation and will let you know when, or if, the situation changes.
Regards,
Robert Francis - ONM.
Program Controller.
That was all he had to go on. No Uranian would leave their colonisation team an extra eighty people short and, off the top of his head, he had very little idea what equipment they would miss out on. Thankfully most of their equipment was duplicated across all three vessels in case of a catastrophic failure during the voyage. Now they would only have the contents of the Arcadian and whatever could be salvaged from the Elysian's Supply Modules.
He wondered what the "terrorist event" could be. They had all been aware that the global terrorist group Holy Earth, a religion-fuelled militant protest lobby that was dead set against space exploration had been making threats to step up their attacks, but security in the Colonisation Program had always been excellent and was supported by the intelligence services. He had always assumed that their threats were more marketing than genuine.
He just hoped the crew were okay, even if their vessel had been put out of service.
After switching off the tablet, he pulled on the H.E.P.O. and shoved the tablet into one of the roomy leg pockets in that. He decided that he had to tell the rest of his team about the Uranian right away, but the possible traitor would be best kept secret for now. He hoped it would be easier to work out who the traitor was if he or she did not know he was aware of them.
If you enjoy any of my chapters, PLEASE don't forget to vote!
(This is the WATTPAD version of Astronomicon Book #1)
YOU ARE READING
Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)
Science FictionThree Spacecraft, two-hundred-and-forty colonists, twenty-five trillion miles and a discovery that changes everything. "Astronomicon: Inception Point" follows the human race's intrepid first steps into interstellar space, a colonisation mission to P...
