System.”
“The Daedalus System,” I said and grinned. “Mgurn? Time to pack.”
Five
There was one major stumbling block with getting where we needed to go. There weren’t any wormhole portals in the Daedalus System. Without a wormhole portal, there was no way to travel using trans-space and arrive directly in the system. We had to find an alternate route.
We planned and plotted through the night. By the time we’d figured out our route, and how we’d approach the Daedalus System, I was exhausted to my bones. I barely was able to stumble into my room and collapse onto my bed before sleep took me. I slept in my uniform and didn’t give a crud.
I assumed Mgurn slept also, but there was no way to know for sure. Either way, he was chipper as all hell when I finally dragged my butt out of my room and into the kitchen.
“Hello, Joe,” Mgurn beamed at me. “I took the liberty of preparing you breakfast. I have made you an omelette.”
“No Leforian ingredients, I hope,” I said as I sat down at the table and picked up my fork. The omelette smelled incredible, but I eyed it warily. “If I find something wriggling in here then we are going to have a problem.”
“Shitake mushrooms and gump cheese,” Mgurn stated.
“Oh, cool, that sounds great,” I said. I took a bite, and it was delicious. “Oh, man, why haven’t you made breakfast for me before?”
I chewed and swallowed, took another bite, then stopped mid-mastication.
“Mgurn?” I asked.
“Yes, Joe?” he replied.
“Do you have bad news for me?” I asked. “Is this a bad news omelette?”
“I would not call it bad news, precisely,” Mgurn responded.
“What would you call it?” I asked and set my fork down. “Out with it.”
“After you went to bed, I did some research on the Daedalus System,” Mgurn said.
“We both did some research last night,” I said. “I thought we found all the info there was on that system.”
“Official information, yes,” Mgurn said. “But I had the AI search for anecdotal information. I wanted to know if perhaps there were any ships’ logs from others that had visited the system. That way we could get some first-hand information from beings that had been there.”
“I’m guessing the logs you found didn’t exactly paint it in a good light,” I said. “More than a couple bad reviews?”
“That’s just it, Joe, there are no reviews,” Mgurn said. “None at all.”
“Well, sometimes if you don’t have anything nice to say…” I trailed off. “That’s it, right?”
“No, that is not it,” Mgurn said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of ships’ logs going back millennia that mention intended trips into the Daedalus System. But there is not one log entry that describes coming back from it. All of the logs end with them entering the system. There are no further entries after that.”
I pushed the plate away. The smell of the omelette was turning my stomach. Pretty much everything was turning my stomach.
“Hundreds and hundreds of ships went to the system?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mgurn answered.
“But none of them came back?” I pressed.
“None of them came back,” Mgurn stated.
“That’s not good,” I said.
“That is not good at all, Joe,” Mgurn said. “It is quite alarming.”
“And you thought an omelette would help make it better?” I asked.
“I did not think anything would make it better,” Mgurn admitted. “But a delicious omelette could not hurt.”
He was right on that one. I looked at the plate with longing. It had been a good omelette, at least the first few bites had been before my gut sank down to the floor.
“Did the logs at least notate the routes the ships took to get to the Daedalus System?” I asked. “Are our calculations in line with theirs?”
“They are exactly in line,” Mgurn said. “Which is really the bad news. I believe if we follow the route we have planned, we will suffer the same fate as the other ships.”
“Then
“The Daedalus System,” I said and grinned. “Mgurn? Time to pack.”
Five
There was one major stumbling block with getting where we needed to go. There weren’t any wormhole portals in the Daedalus System. Without a wormhole portal, there was no way to travel using trans-space and arrive directly in the system. We had to find an alternate route.
We planned and plotted through the night. By the time we’d figured out our route, and how we’d approach the Daedalus System, I was exhausted to my bones. I barely was able to stumble into my room and collapse onto my bed before sleep took me. I slept in my uniform and didn’t give a crud.
I assumed Mgurn slept also, but there was no way to know for sure. Either way, he was chipper as all hell when I finally dragged my butt out of my room and into the kitchen.
“Hello, Joe,” Mgurn beamed at me. “I took the liberty of preparing you breakfast. I have made you an omelette.”
“No Leforian ingredients, I hope,” I said as I sat down at the table and picked up my fork. The omelette smelled incredible, but I eyed it warily. “If I find something wriggling in here then we are going to have a problem.”
“Shitake mushrooms and gump cheese,” Mgurn stated.
“Oh, cool, that sounds great,” I said. I took a bite, and it was delicious. “Oh, man, why haven’t you made breakfast for me before?”
I chewed and swallowed, took another bite, then stopped mid-mastication.
“Mgurn?” I asked.
“Yes, Joe?” he replied.
“Do you have bad news for me?” I asked. “Is this a bad news omelette?”
“I would not call it bad news, precisely,” Mgurn responded.
“What would you call it?” I asked and set my fork down. “Out with it.”
“After you went to bed, I did some research on the Daedalus System,” Mgurn said.
“We both did some research last night,” I said. “I thought we found all the info there was on that system.”
“Official information, yes,” Mgurn said. “But I had the AI search for anecdotal information. I wanted to know if perhaps there were any ships’ logs from others that had visited the system. That way we could get some first-hand information from beings that had been there.”
“I’m guessing the logs you found didn’t exactly paint it in a good light,” I said. “More than a couple bad reviews?”
“That’s just it, Joe, there are no reviews,” Mgurn said. “None at all.”
“Well, sometimes if you don’t have anything nice to say…” I trailed off. “That’s it, right?”
“No, that is not it,” Mgurn said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of ships’ logs going back millennia that mention intended trips into the Daedalus System. But there is not one log entry that describes coming back from it. All of the logs end with them entering the system. There are no further entries after that.”
I pushed the plate away. The smell of the omelette was turning my stomach. Pretty much everything was turning my stomach.
“Hundreds and hundreds of ships went to the system?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mgurn answered.
“But none of them came back?” I pressed.
“None of them came back,” Mgurn stated.
“That’s not good,” I said.
“That is not good at all, Joe,” Mgurn said. “It is quite alarming.”
“And you thought an omelette would help make it better?” I asked.
“I did not think anything would make it better,” Mgurn admitted. “But a delicious omelette could not hurt.”
He was right on that one. I looked at the plate with longing. It had been a good omelette, at least the first few bites had been before my gut sank down to the floor.
“Did the logs at least notate the routes the ships took to get to the Daedalus System?” I asked. “Are our calculations in line with theirs?”
“They are exactly in line,” Mgurn said. “Which is really the bad news. I believe if we follow the route we have planned, we will suffer the same fate as the other ships.”
“Then
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