The Merrin, Intermission
Story by Sovereign Kyle on SoFurry
Just a little something to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about these two.
There has been a lot of time passed, and something of a surprise shows up.
An icy wind blows across the frozen surface. Peeking above the thick layer of snow and ice, a single, small wind generator spins, it’s squeaks go unheard. Next to it, another lays on its side, useless. Below them, under the ice and snow, an empty escape pod still transmits a single message.
A cry for help.
A plea for rescue.
A counter shows the number of times the message has been repeated. There’s no one to read it. There’s another counter, this one measures the amount of charge before the system can transmit again. Currently, it shows 75% charge, not enough power.
Several kilometers away, deep in a cave, thousands of creatures sleep in hibernation. That and the planet’s cold keeps them in a natural state of cryo.
Inside the cave, there’s a shelter, and in that, a larger, semi-humanoid/crustacean creature sleeps. She has secreted a hard shell to protect herself. She is the last known of her kind, a merrin. Right now, she is also in hibernation, but she’s not alone in hers. Inside her tail sleeps her mate; a human male.
With the help of his two AIs, he’s in a state of cryo. They work together to keep the human's mate from absorbing him. They are beginning to run low on resources, already having recycled most of their peripherals.
Their only hope now lies in being rescued, and the sooner it comes, the better their chances.
* * *
The cryo-sled drifts into the system. The mobile com-array attached to the front of it has taken some damage, protecting the people in cryo. Slowly, it finds an orbit, similar to what the planet it was destined for should have.
Now in the presence of a sun, batteries that have long been powerless, begin to charge. Systems power up and resume their last programmed functions.
The escape pod’s charge counter reaches 100%. The transmission equipment powers up and begins its broadcast. After a few moments, the transmission concludes and then it begins a scan for incoming signals.
For the first time, it finds one.
The recording gear comes on and logs the incoming transmission as it plays.
“Mayday. Mayday. This is This is retired Brigadier General Araman Keylan, of the research vessel Galathea. We have suffered critical hull damage and have lost most of the crew. Our destination is Merrin 272-095. We should be there within a couple days if we can maintain light speed. If not, it’ll be several years before we arrive. Data packet with current coordinates, course and speed is included. Please send rescue.”
The message begins to repeat, and the recording gear keeps recording until it runs out of power.
On the roof, the last wind generator continues to spin and squeak.