A Colony Frozen in Time

A ringing telephone icon appears on a video panel.  “Incoming Call.  Incoming Call from Liz,” a computerized voice states.

“Answer call,” a female voice replies.

“Claire?  Claire, are you there?”  Liz asks, her voice coming from the video panel.

“Yeah, sis, I’m here,” Claire’s voice echoes from a distance.  She walks into the room with the video panel, which has replaced the telephone icon with streaming video of Liz, wrapping a towel around her wet body.  Claire steps into view of the video panel while pressing her damp red hair with a towel.

“Did I catch you at a bad time” Liz questioned.

“Not at all, I was just getting out of the shower.”

“Oh, I see.  Well then, we have a situation with one of our colonies.”

“What kind of situation,” Claire asks as she sits down at the desk.

“That’s just it, we don’t know.  The colony went dark two days ago and we haven’t been able to reestablish communication.  The Federation needs you to investigate and provide aid as needed.”

Within a week, Claire’s ship is in orbit around the colonial planet.  Assembling an Investigation Unit comprised of five security personnel, four scientists, and two medics, Claire takes them down to the colony.

Landing the shuttle on a docking platform, the IU is baffled when they see the condition of the colony.  The air is completely still, all the buildings are intact, but the colonists seem to be running away from something; except, they aren’t moving.

“Captain, isn’t past noon?” one of the security personnel asks.

“Yeah, why?”  Claire responds.

“Look at the clock above the entrance.  It’s showing 9:40; do ya think it’s broken or does it have something to do with the state of the colony?”

“Not sure, but either way, we need to figure out what happened here,” Claire said.  “Team 2 check out the Security Bunker, try to find some record that might explain what happened.  Team 1, you’re with me, we’re heading to Ops.”

The sight of all the colonists moving but not moving disturbs the members of Team 2 as they make their way over to the Bunker.  “Claire, this is Troy from Team 2” he spoke clearly into the comm unit.  “We’ve made entrance into the Security Bunker.  All the instrumentation seems to be in working order; Colonial Sensors aren’t picking up any anomalies that would explain how this happened.”

“Understood, keep looking.”

“Security Log - Entry 2.3.3.7.  The scientists have discovered something in the next valley over and have requested additional men to escort it back” the tired voice coming from a holo-record.

“What was that?”  Troy asked, taking notice of the projection.  Walking over to it, he taps a few buttons on the glass panel next to it trying to get more information.  The projection ceases, and the panel becomes unresponsive.

“Claire, Troy again.  A holo-record just activated in the Bunker, it said the scientists made some discovery and were bringing it back to the colony.  I’m taking Team 2 over to the Science Lab and see if there’s anything more to find.”

“Understood, Team 1 and I will meet you there.”

The Science Lab lays in disarray, a stark contrast to the rest of the colony.  Accessing the main console, Claire manages to pull up a series of holo-records.

“Science Log – Entry 2.4.117.  We found something in the next valley over yesterday, and decided to bring it back for further study.  A strange rock of indiscernible origins, none of our tests thus far have been able to penetrate its surface.  There’s another trip scheduled for the valley tomorrow in hopes we can discover something about this rock.  For now, we are placing it in a cyro-containment pod.”

“Science Log – Entry 2.6.23.  Ever since we brought that damnable rock back to the colony, strange things have been happening.  We placed it in a cyro-pod thinking we could run more tests on it later, but it seems to be reacting to the cold.  We’re not sure, but it seems to be drawing power from the sub-zero temperature, it’s now registering an energy signature unlike anything we’ve seen before.  Whatever it is, it is definitely not just some rock.”

“Science Log – Entry 2.10.07.  We had to place the Science Lab under quarantine today.  Whatever is going on with that rock, we had hoped the quarantine’s energy field would contain it.  But, I fear we acted too late.  The amount of energy it’s emitting is massive; its signature surpasses our own fusion core in output.  We tried to remove it from the cyro-pod and failed.  Anyone who got close to it just vanished.”  The holo-record stops playing.

Suddenly the room goes dark and the temperature drops.  “Weapons at the ready!”  Claire called out.  One after one the sounds of energy pistols and rifles charging up and being leveled echo through the otherwise silent space.  The lights on the IU’s weapons partially illuminate the darkness.

A small orb of bluish-purple light flitters across the room, settling in the middle after a few moments.
The orb begins to pulsate and grow in size.  The IU take defensive positions, not sure what has appeared before them.

A shockwave emanating from the orb knocks Claire and the IU back, and they stagger to get back on their feet.  “EVAC NOW!  Back to the ship,” Claire commanded.  One by one, they withdraw from the Science Lab, with the security personnel taking up the rear. 

“Aileen, get us out of here, we’re under hostile fire!”  Claire’s order brings the shuttle to life.

“Yes Claire, enroute now,” the female voice of the AI replies as it boosts the shuttle towards them.

Moments later, the side hatch of the shuttle opens up and a small ramp slides forward, hitting the ground in front of Claire and the IU.  Most of them manage to make it onboard before the pulsating energy waves reach them.  They all collapse in the shuttle, letting Aileen navigate back to their ship.

As Aileen takes the ship into orbit, the members of the IU that were left behind stand motionless along with the rest of the colonists and the hands of the clock face above the town are still showing 9:40.

“Incoming call.  Incoming call from Claire.”  The computerized voice announces.  Liz presses the button on her mobile panel to answer the video call as she walks into her room, the door closing quickly behind her.