Tisis

Educated guess (N)

The day after we return from our trip, I go through the things we found again.

Sirus had asked, what I packed the tablet for, but if I'm right, this might be the best find of all.

I try to power up the device and thank my lucky stars, that it survived the flight without taking any apparent damage.

After the boot sequence is done, I am welcomed by a screen I never thought to see again...but this is not the time to be nostalgic.

I pull up the copy of the data I had transferred to the device while we were in the ship and take a good hard look at it.

It contains a number of different things, like the computer logs also including some testimonials of a few tech-savvy people, who saw their demise coming...their final farewells.

After checking the time stamp, I come to realize that most didn't even make it to planetfall...according to the logs, most of them died from starvation and thirst shortly after the fragment separated from the others...those who did manage to procure sufficient food and water to get by drifted through space the entire time, eventually getting caught up in Tisis' orbit.

I play back the final recording and, after a bit of static, a purple face appears on screen, proclaiming, "This is Tromadonon Rethomir...elected chief of the fragment of block 'M'...and these are my final words. It's all over...despite our best efforts and our constant broadcasts for help, nobody ever came. We are alone out here, damned to die."

He makes a small pause, raising a glass filled with a murky liquid and says with obvious bitterness in his voice, "We have been caught up in the gravity well of a seemingly uninhabited world...but our thrusters are mostly gone. We cannot stay in orbit indefinitely, due to friction with the apparent atmosphere of the world. Before we become too slow to keep our orbit, we, the surviving people of the grand calamity, have decided to once again take fate into our hands...there is no doubt that we are going to die out here. But it will be on our terms, not on the terms of the cruel universe."

He takes a sip and grimaces...I can only imagine that the liquid must taste terrifying.

"As I am speaking, Remy, a bright and good-hearted human, is launching from the shuttle bay...his task is to crash into the fragment and tip us closer to the planet this way. According to the telemetry, we will come down over a desert area...without a doubt, the damage to the planet will be substantial but at least this landing place should minimize the casualties among the native wildlife...while making sure, that we will not survive."

Just then, a crashing sound and alarm noises echo throughout the fragment and the picture distorts.

"Thus it begins...if, by whatever chance, a sentient being should ever come across this message, please know that we set out to do the right thing. We may have strayed from our path, but in these trying times, the bond between the Asmodei and our brothers of Tisis has, at long last, matured...and now we shall join them in Garkla's eternal embrace."

At that point the recording stops and I close my eyes.

Poor bastards...if only they had known that there were already people down here...maybe the would have chosen a different path then.

"...that's just sad..." a voice suddenly says behind me, almost giving me a heart attack.

I hurl around and stare at Julia, who had somehow managed to sneak up on me...I must be losing my touch, honestly.

"Sorry, did I startle you?"
"...it's my fault for allowing myself to be startled," I mumble, more angry at myself than at Julia.

I put the tablet down and ask, "We...heard you scream yesterday. Are you okay? Did Sirus go to check up on you?"