Colony 2

The spaceship was unnaturally quiet.

Sal really, really didn't like the silence. There was no hum, no cranking, not even the sound of air moving through ducts. She was huddled with the rest of colony 14 in the mess hall, everyone was quiet and still. Barely touching the rations in front of them.

"We're going to end up like colony 2 aren't we?" Sten whispered he was a man in his thirties chosen for the colonization of planet D-30 because of his knowledge of agriculture. Sal had studied the passenger log religiously before boarding the ship. She was going to be living with these people for the rest of her life, after all, best to have some knowledge of them.

"Don't say that!" Rey snapped. Her hands clenching the metal silverware in front of her. "That's just a story!" Rey was chosen because of her tenacity and, her E.C.H.O implant. Protection was her specialty.

"What's colony 2?" Sal asked hesitantly.

The group closest to her turned to stare, and Sal shrank in her seat.

"Colony 2?" a voice chuckled behind her, and Sal turned around to look.

It was the oldest member of the colony. At sixty-five, Ferris was chosen for his knowledge of colonization itself. He had been on two other expeditions in his lifetime and was also briefly employed as a scout for the nebulous core. An impressive track record.

"Colony 2 was a real thing." He grinned, stretching the scars on his face. Sal shuffled uncomfortably.

Rey scoffed, "How would you know old man? No one knows what really happened."

Ferris shrugged, putting his boots up on the table in front of him. "True, but I know it was a real colony. Because I was one of the scouts who found their ship."

There was shocked silence before the room exploded in dizzying sound. Everyone trying to ask the same question. What happened to colony 2?

"Settle down!" Ferris hollered. The room grew unnaturally silent again.

"I only know what the survivor told me, and he wasn't exactly in his right mind." Ferris huffed.

"There was a survivor?" Sal asked tentatively. "What exactly is colony 2?"

Ferris looked at her in vague surprise, before a smirk stretched across his lips.

"I guess we're having a story time aren't we?"

Sal pulled her chair around to face him, as did most of the other around her, all staring with rapt attention.

"Colony 2 was a colony set to settle down on planet X-230, then radio back once it was ready for farming and transport. Only they never arrived." Ferris stopped and looked around. Everyone was silent, waiting for more.

"Does anyone know why?" He grinned, "I want to hear what the rumors said."

Rey shuffled uncomfortably. "I heard that they all got sick with a mysterious illness, and it wiped them all out."

Ferris seemed amused, "It was something like that." He looked around at all those gathered and nodded to himself.

"They never arrived, and there was radio silence for ten cycles before my team was contacted to scout the region on the planet, then to travel back the way they came to see if we could find them." He paused and took time to gather his thoughts before sighing.

"It took us ten more cycles before we found the ship floating in deep space." He murmured. "When we did the ship was completely shut down, no lights, no raising them on the radio, no sign of life."