Latest / Creepy Stories to Fall Asleep To / We Landed on a Planet with No Sun. Something Isn't Right Here.

Transcript

We Landed on a Planet with No Sun. Something Isn't Right Here. · Creepy Stories to Fall Asleep To

0:00
I've been running point on this mission for almost a year.
0:03
That's how long it took to get the crew together, study the
0:07
data we had on this place, and convince the brass that we could
0:10
actually pull this off. A sunless planet.
0:16
That was what they called it in the briefings.
0:18
Like calling the ocean wet water or something.
0:22
But I got it. This wasn't just some rock
0:26
floating in the dark between stars.
0:28
This thing had its own gravitational pull, its own
0:31
atmosphere, its own weird properties that made absolutely
0:35
no sense according to everything we knew about planetary
0:38
formation. The final approach felt
0:40
different than anything I'd done before. 22 years of deep space
0:45
missions, and I'd never seen anything like what was waiting
0:48
for us on the other side of our viewport.
0:52
Usually when you're coming in on a new world, you get some kind
0:55
of visual feedback. Reflected Starlight, atmospheric
1:00
glow, something. This was like flying into a hole
1:04
in space itself, Commander. External lighting systems are at
1:09
maximum output. Nathan called out from his
1:12
station. He'd been my go to astronaut for
1:16
the past three missions. Reliable guy, never panicked,
1:20
never questioned orders. The kind of crew member you want
1:24
when things get weird. Still getting zero visual
1:28
confirmation of surface features.
1:30
I'd hand picked every single person on this team.
1:33
Nathan for his steady nerves. Bonnie, because she could fix
1:37
anything with moving parts. Fern because if this place had
1:41
some kind of biological hazard, I wanted the best medical
1:44
officer I could find. Beverly, because she'd followed
1:48
me through worse situations than this and never once let me down.
1:52
Leroy, because communication was going to be everything on a
1:55
mission this far from home. Shane, because if we got lost on
2:00
this rock, we'd need someone who could find our way back.
2:04
And Jacqueline, because we had no idea what we'd find down
2:07
there. And a good geologist can tell
2:10
you things about a place that save your life.
2:13
That was the theory, anyway. Beginning atmospheric entry in
2:17
60 seconds, Shane announced from navigation.
2:21
His voice had that calm, professional tone he always used
2:24
when we were about to do something potentially stupid.
2:28
All systems green. I watched the external camera
2:32
feeds on my screen. We had 12 different angles, all
2:36
equipped with the most advanced low light technology the agency
2:39
could afford. Every single feed showed the
2:42
same thing. Nothing.
2:45
Just black, not the black you get in deep space where you can
2:49
still see stars in the distance. This was like looking into a
2:53
pool of ink. Fern, how are we looking on life
2:58
support? I asked.
3:01
All nominal commander. She replied.
3:04
Fern had this way of talking that made you feel like
3:07
everything was under control, even when it wasn't.
3:11
Clinical atmospheric readings from the probes indicate
3:16
breathable air composition, though I'm recommending we
3:19
maintain suit protocols until we can run extended environmental
3:22
tests. The ship shuddered slightly as
3:26
we hit the outer atmosphere. Nothing unusual about that.
3:32
But then something happened that I'd never experienced before.
3:36
Our external lights, all of them running at full power, just
3:41
seemed to disappear, like the darkness was eating them.
3:46
Bonnie, are the floods still operational?
3:49
I called over to Engineering. Running at full capacity.
3:53
She said, and I could hear the confusion in her voice.
3:57
All systems show green, but the light output.
4:03
She paused, probably checking her readings again.
4:07
It's like the photons just stop existing 10 feet from the hull.
4:12
That should have been impossible.
4:14
Light doesn't work that way. You shine a light in space, it
4:18
travels until it hits something or gets absorbed by dust
4:21
particles or whatever. It doesn't just vanish.
4:26
But the evidence was right there on our screens.
4:29
Our ships lighting systems were powerful enough to illuminate a
4:32
small city, and they weren't penetrating more than a few
4:36
meters into whatever was surrounding us.
4:39
Touchdown in 30 seconds. Shane called out.
4:42
Landing site coordinates confirmed, setting us down on
4:45
what the probes indicated was stable terrain.
4:49
I felt the familiar sensation of a controlled descent, the ship's
4:55
engines firing in short bursts to slow our approach, the
4:59
artificial gravity adjusting to account for the planets pull.
5:04
All normal stuff, but the view outside remained that same
5:08
impenetrable black. When we touched down, I expected
5:13
some kind of impact vibration, maybe the sound of landing
5:17
thrusters echoing off the surface.
5:19
Instead, we settled with this muffled thud, like we'd landed
5:23
on something soft, something that absorbed sound the same way
5:27
it absorbed light. We're down, Shane reported.
5:32
All systems stable. External pressure is within
5:35
normal parameters for human activity.
5:39
I stood up and looked around the cabin at my crew, seven faces
5:43
looking back at me, waiting for orders.
5:46
These were good people, experienced professionals who'd
5:49
volunteered for this mission, knowing it was probably the most
5:52
dangerous thing any of us had ever attempted.
5:56
The least I could do was keep them alive.
6:00
All right, people, I said. This is what we trained for.
6:05
The darkness outside isn't behaving the way we expected,
6:08
but that doesn't change our primary objectives.
6:12
We establish a secure base camp, we conduct our surveys, and we
6:16
get everyone home safely. But the moment I looked back at
6:20
the external cameras, I felt something I hadn't experienced
6:24
since my first deep space mission 15 years ago.
6:29
That cold sensation in your gut when you realize you're
6:32
completely out of your element. The darkness outside wasn't just
6:36
an absence of light, it had weight to it, Substance.
6:42
Like it was pressing against our hull, trying to get inside.
6:47
Nathan, Bonnie, I said, pushing down the unease.
6:51
I want our portable lighting systems deployed immediately.
6:55
Full perimeter illumination. Whatever this stuff is, I want
6:59
to carve out a space we can actually see in.
7:03
Nathan nodded and started pulling equipment from the
7:05
storage lockers. Bonnie was already running
7:08
diagnostics on the portable floodlights.
7:12
These weren't your standard camping lanterns.
7:15
We'd brought military grade lighting systems designed for
7:18
hostile environment operations. If anything could punch through
7:22
this darkness, it would be these Fern.
7:27
I want continuous monitoring of everyone's vitals.
7:29
I continued. If this environment is affecting
7:33
us in ways we don't understand, I want to know about it
7:37
immediately. Understood, Commander, she said,
7:41
activating her medical monitoring station.
7:45
Initial readings show slightly elevated stress indicators
7:48
across the crew, but that's to be expected given the
7:52
circumstances. I turned to Beverly.
7:56
She'd been my second in command on four different missions, and
8:00
I trusted her judgement more than anyone else in the agency.
8:05
Bev, help me get our instruments set up.
8:08
We need to map our immediate surroundings and establish safe
8:11
zones. Copy that, she said, already
8:15
moving toward the navigation equipment.
8:18
Nathan and Bonnie work together to get the first floodlight
8:21
system operational. I watched through the internal
8:25
cameras as they suited up and prepared to venture outside.
8:29
The airlock cycled and then they were gone into that oppressive
8:33
darkness. External team report status.
8:37
I said. Into my calm Where?
8:41
This is weird, Commander. Nathan's voice came back,
8:44
distorted by interference. The floodlights are working, but
8:48
it's like the light only travels about 15 feet before it just
8:52
stops. We can see each other in the
8:54
immediate area around the ship, but beyond that it's like a
8:59
wall. Bonnie's voice added.
9:01
A wall made of darkness. While they worked on
9:05
establishing our lighting perimeter, Fern monitored
9:08
everyone's biological responses from her station.
9:12
Her readings were all over the place, but nothing that
9:15
suggested immediate danger. Heart rates were elevated,
9:19
stress hormones were up, but that was normal for first day
9:24
operations on an unknown world. Beverly and I tried to get our
9:29
mapping instruments online, but they weren't cooperating.
9:34
Our ground penetrating radar couldn't establish A baseline
9:37
reading. Our atmospheric sensors gave
9:40
inconsistent data. Even our basic compass was
9:44
spinning randomly, like the planets magnetic field was
9:47
constantly shifting. This doesn't make sense, Beverly
9:51
muttered, adjusting the radar controls for the third time.
9:55
These instruments worked perfectly during our approach.
9:58
Now they're acting like they're being jammed.
10:01
Commander Leroy's voice cut through the ambient noise of the
10:05
cabin. He'd been working on maintaining
10:08
contact with our support vessel in orbit.
10:11
I'm getting heavy interference on all communication bands.
10:15
The signal degradation is increasing.
10:18
That was a problem. Our orbital support was our
10:22
lifeline home. If we lost contact with them,
10:25
we'd be completely isolated on this rock, with no way to call
10:28
for help if things went sideways.
10:32
How bad is it? I asked.
10:35
Right now, I can still maintain basic communication, Leroy said,
10:39
making adjustments to his equipment.
10:42
But the interference seems to be getting worse.
10:45
And there's something else. The interference patterns are
10:50
They're not random. There's a rhythm to them, like a
10:54
pulse. Before I could respond to that,
10:58
Shane called over from his station commander.
11:01
I'm working with Jacqueline to establish safe routes between
11:04
our landing site and the survey points we identified during
11:07
approach, But without reliable instrument readings, we're
11:12
basically working blind. Jacqueline looked up from her
11:15
geological analysis station. The surface composition readings
11:20
I'm getting don't match anything in our databases, she said.
11:24
Whatever this planet is made of, it's not following standard
11:28
geological principles. I watched Nathan and Bonnie
11:32
through the external cameras as they continued setting up our
11:36
lighting systems. They'd managed to establish a
11:39
rough circle of illumination around our ship, maybe 50 feet
11:43
in diameter. Beyond that perimeter, the
11:46
darkness pressed in like a living thing waiting.
11:51
I should have known something was wrong when the portable
11:53
flood started flickering that first night.
11:56
Not the usual kind of flicker you get when batteries run low
11:59
or connections get loose. This was different, deliberate,
12:04
almost. Nathan was checking the
12:07
perimeter lights around 2200 hours.
12:11
Standard procedure. We'd established a routine where
12:14
someone walked the circle every two hours, made sure our safe
12:18
zone stayed safe. I was reviewing supply logs when
12:23
Nathan's voice crackled over the calm commander.
12:27
I'm seeing some irregularities with the lighting array.
12:31
What kind of irregularities the darkness is.
12:35
It's not staying back like it should.
12:38
That got my attention. I set down the supply manifest
12:42
and grabbed my headlamp. Explain that, Nathan.
12:46
Well, Sir, when I shine my light directly at the perimeter, the
12:51
beam just stops. Like it's hitting a wall.
12:55
But there's nothing there. I figured he was seeing things.
13:00
First day on an alien world. Weird atmospheric conditions.
13:04
Mind playing tricks? That's what I told myself.
13:08
Stay put. I'm coming to your position.
13:12
But when I stepped outside our makeshift command tent, I could
13:16
see what he meant. Our floodlights were throwing
13:20
their usual bright circles, but the edges looked wrong, fuzzy,
13:26
like the light was being absorbed instead of just fading
13:29
naturally. I walked over to where Nathan
13:32
was standing at the eastern edge of our perimeter.
13:35
He was pointing his headlamp straight ahead, and sure enough,
13:39
the beam just ended about 10 feet out.
13:42
Not dimmed, Ended. That's not normal.
13:46
I said. Pretty obvious statement, but
13:49
sometimes you've got to say the obvious things out loud.
13:53
Nathan nodded. Should I radio it into base?
13:58
Not yet. Let's figure out what we're
14:00
dealing with first. That was my first mistake.
14:05
I should have reported the anomaly immediately, but I was
14:09
thinking like a soldier, not a scientist.
14:12
You don't call for backup until you've assessed the threat.
14:16
We spent the next hour testing different angles, different
14:19
light sources. Same result every time.
14:24
The darkness had edges now, boundaries that our lights
14:27
couldn't cross. Around midnight, Nathan's
14:31
headlamp died. Just went out.
14:34
No warning, no dimming. One second he was illuminated,
14:38
the next second he wasn't. Nathan.
14:42
I called out. He'd been standing right next to
14:45
me, maybe 3 feet away. No response.
14:49
I swung my own light toward where he'd been.
14:53
Nothing. Empty space.
14:55
That's when I started yelling. Nathan sound off.
15:00
Silence. I activated my emergency beacon
15:03
and started calling for the rest of the crew.
15:06
Beverly was first to respond, then Leroy, then Shane.
15:11
We formed up in the command area and I gave them the situation.
15:16
Nathan's missing last known position was eastern perimeter.
15:21
His light failed and he disappeared.
15:24
Beverly looks skeptical. Disappeared how?
15:27
I don't know how one second he was there, next second he
15:31
wasn't. We organized a search party,
15:35
four of us with high-powered spotlights staying within arm's
15:39
reach of each other. Systematic grid pattern calling
15:43
Nathan's name every 30 seconds. Found his helmet about 20 feet
15:47
beyond where our perimeter lights should have been
15:49
effective. It was cracked down the middle,
15:53
clean, split like someone had taken a chisel to it.
15:56
No blood, no fabric, no sign of Nathan himself.
16:01
Just an empty helmet sitting in the dirt.
16:05
Bonnie picked it up, turned it over in her hands.
16:09
This doesn't make sense. The structural integrity ratings
16:13
on these helmets. You'd need industrial equipment
16:17
to crack 1 like this. Maybe he fell?
16:21
Shane suggested. Hit a rock.
16:25
What rock? I asked.
16:27
The ground around us was flat as a parking lot.
16:30
No obstacles, no elevation changes, nothing harder than
16:34
packed soil. We searched until dawn.
16:38
That's not saying much on a sunless planet, but our
16:42
chronometers said six hours had passed.
16:45
Found nothing else. No footprints leading away, no
16:48
drag marks, no equipment scattered around.
16:52
Just that helmet. When we got back to base camp, I
16:55
called everyone together. Seven of us left.
16:58
Now I could see the fear starting to creep into their
17:02
faces, the way people look when they realize the mission
17:05
parameters have changed and nobody told them we're dealing
17:10
with an unknown hazard. I said.
17:13
Until further notice, nobody goes beyond the lighted
17:16
perimeter. Nobody works alone.
17:19
We maintain visual contact at all times.
17:23
Bonnie raised her hand. Commander, what do we tell
17:28
Mission Control? Good question.
17:32
How do you explain that one of your crew members vanished into
17:34
thin air? That the darkness on this planet
17:38
doesn't behave like darkness? Should we report a crew member
17:42
missing due to equipment failure?
17:46
We request immediate extraction protocols.
17:49
That seemed to calm them down a little.
17:52
Having a plan helps, even when the plan is just get the hell
17:57
out of here. But the extraction window wasn't
18:00
for another 72 hours. We had to survive three more
18:04
days. Bonnie started obsessing over
18:08
the equipment that first day. I'd catch her running
18:12
diagnostics on the floodlights every hour, checking
18:15
connections, swapping out battery packs that were reading
18:18
full charge. She test the same circuit five
18:22
times in a row, get the same results, then test it again.
18:27
Bonnie, I said during one of her marathon equipment checks.
18:31
The lights are working fine. No, they're not.
18:34
She was crouched next to the main Power Distribution panel,
18:37
multimeter in hand. The voltage readings are
18:40
inconsistent. Look at this.
18:43
She showed me. The display numbers look normal
18:46
to me, but I'm not an engineer. What am I looking for?
18:51
The fluctuations, they're getting worse, and they're not
18:55
random. She pulled up a data log on her
18:58
tablet. See this pattern?
19:01
It's almost like something's testing our systems, probing for
19:05
weaknesses. That part bugged me a little,
19:10
the idea that something might be actively working against our
19:13
equipment. But I'd seen enough weird stuff
19:16
in my career to know that strange doesn't always mean
19:20
dangerous. Keep monitoring it, I told her.
19:24
Let me know if anything changes significantly.
19:28
But she couldn't let it go. Every few hours she'd come find
19:32
me with new readings, new theories about what might be
19:35
causing the problems. Her anxiety was starting to
19:39
affect the rest of the crew. People were jumpy enough without
19:43
their chief engineer telling them the lights might fail at
19:46
any moment. On the second day, I woke up to
19:50
find Bonnie's bunk empty. I checked the duty roster.
19:55
She wasn't scheduled for any outside work.
19:58
Nobody had seen her leave. Her personal gear was still in
20:01
her quarters, but her tool kit was gone.
20:05
I found her about 30 feet beyond our perimeter.
20:08
She was kneeling in the dirt with her multimeter, taking
20:11
readings on nothing, just pointing the probes at empty air
20:15
and watching the display. Bonnie.
20:19
I called out. Get back inside the perimeter.
20:23
She looked up at me, but her expression was blank, confused,
20:27
like she didn't recognize my voice.
20:30
The readings are stronger out here, she said.
20:32
There's definitely some kind of electromagnetic field.
20:36
It's interfering with our equipment.
20:39
I don't care what the readings say.
20:41
Get back inside the safe zone now.
20:45
She stood up slowly, but instead of walking toward me, she took
20:49
another step away from the lights.
20:52
That's when she started screaming.
20:55
It wasn't a scream of pain or fear fear.
20:57
It was pure terror. The kind of sound you make when
21:01
you see something that your brain can't process.
21:04
High pitched, desperate, like an animal caught in a trap.
21:09
The screaming went on for maybe 10 seconds, then it cut off like
21:14
someone had thrown a switch. Bonnie was gone.
21:19
I ran to where she'd been standing, but there was nothing.
21:23
No tool kit, no multimeter, no sign she'd ever been there.
21:28
The ground wasn't even disturbed.
21:31
By the time I got back to base camp, Fern Palmer had locked
21:34
herself in the medical Bay. I could hear her talking through
21:37
the door. Not to me, not to anyone on the
21:40
crew. Just talking.
21:43
Constant stream of words, most of them too quiet to make out.
21:48
Fern, I called. Open up.
21:51
We need to talk. Can't use the lights, she said.
21:55
They're watching through the lights.
21:58
Who's watching the darkness? It's not empty.
22:03
There's something in there. And every time we turn on a
22:05
light, we're telling it where we are.
22:08
I tried reasoning with her, told her we needed her medical
22:12
expertise, that the crew was depending on her, but she'd
22:16
made-up her mind about the lights.
22:19
She believed they were attracting whatever had taken
22:21
Nathan and Bonnie. For two days she stayed in
22:25
there. I could hear her moving around,
22:28
talking to herself, sometimes laughing.
22:31
Not the good kind of laughing, the kind that makes your skin
22:35
crawl. On the third day, the medical
22:38
Bay went dark. Not a power failure, not a blown
22:43
fuse. The lights just went out,
22:46
section by section, like something was turning them off 1
22:50
by 1. When we finally got the door
22:53
open, Fern was gone, just like the others.
22:57
No trace, no sign of struggle, no equipment left behind.
23:03
The medical Bay was empty, clean, like nobody had ever been
23:07
in there at all. Leroy and Shane figured they
23:11
could fix it. That's what they kept saying,
23:14
anyway. The communications array had
23:17
been giving a static for three days straight, and they thought
23:20
maybe if they bypassed the primary receiver and rerouted
23:24
through the backup systems, we'd get a clear signal out.
23:28
I should have told them to stop. They've been working on it since
23:32
dawn, if you could call it Dawn, on a planet that never saw
23:35
sunlight. Their portable work lights cast
23:39
these weird shadows across the hall while they stripped wires
23:43
and tested connections. Leroy kept adjusting his glasses
23:47
every 30 seconds. That nervous habit of his Shane
23:52
just kept muttering about interference patterns and signal
23:56
degradation. We're getting something, Leroy
24:00
said. Around 1400 hours.
24:03
He had the headset pressed tight against his ear, eyes closed in
24:06
concentration. It's faint, but there's
24:10
definitely a carrier wave getting through.
24:13
I walked over to check their progress.
24:15
They'd torn apart half the comp panel and rewired it with spare
24:19
parts from the emergency kit. Looked like a bomb had gone off
24:23
in there, but I didn't say anything.
24:25
These guys knew their jobs. Can you boost the signal?
24:29
I asked. Shane nodded toward a jury
24:32
rigged amplifier they'd cobbled together.
24:36
Already tried that. Something's jamming us from the
24:39
outside like the planet itself is eating our transmissions.
24:45
That should have been my first real warning, the way he said
24:49
it. Not like a technical problem,
24:53
but like something alive was stopping us.
24:56
They worked until past 2200 hours.
25:00
I brought them coffee from our dwindling supplies and watch
25:03
them test frequency after frequency.
25:06
Nothing but static and dead air. Leroy's hands were shaking by
25:11
then, whether from caffeine or frustration I couldn't tell.
25:17
One more adjustment, he kept saying.
25:19
Just need to fine tune the carrier frequency.
25:24
That's when the power surge hit. I was in the main cabin checking
25:28
our remaining battery reserves when every light in the ship
25:31
flickered and went bright for maybe 2 seconds, bright enough
25:35
to hurt your eyes. Then half of them went dead
25:39
completely. The silence that followed was
25:43
wrong, too complete. I couldn't hear the hum of the
25:48
calm array anymore, couldn't hear Leroy and Shane talking
25:52
outside. I grabbed my portable flood and
25:56
headed for the airlock, Found their work lights scattered
25:59
around the hull, still glowing but dim.
26:02
Tools spread across the metal plating like they just dropped
26:06
everything and walked away. No sign of either man.
26:11
I called their names until my throat was raw.
26:14
Searched every inch of the ship inside and out.
26:17
Their personal gear was still in their bunks.
26:20
Leroy's glasses were sitting on his pillow, folded neat like
26:24
he'd planned to come back for them.
26:26
That was it, just gone. Jacqueline lasted one more day
26:31
after that. She'd been working with Shane on
26:33
mapping potential escape routes before everything went sideways,
26:38
and I think losing him hit her harder than the rest of us.
26:42
She got quiet, real quiet, wouldn't eat much, just sat in
26:49
the lab staring at her geological samples.
26:52
I should have stayed closer to her, should have made her stick
26:56
to the buddy system we'd established, but she seems
27:00
stable enough, and Beverly and I were trying to figure out how to
27:04
stretch our remaining power cells.
27:07
Found Jacqueline's light unit the next evening, sitting on her
27:11
lab table next to an unfinished report about soil composition.
27:15
The light was still on, battery indicator showing 3/4 charge.
27:22
She was just gone, like the others.
27:25
That left me and Beverly. Beverly Rogers had been my most
27:29
trusted officer since day one of this mission. 31 years old,
27:35
sharp as they come, never lost her composure, even when things
27:39
went completely to hell. If anyone was going to help me
27:43
figure a way out of this mess, it was her.
27:47
We set up in the main cabin with all our remaining portable
27:50
lights arranged in a circle around us, created our own
27:54
little island of illumination while we went through our
27:57
options. How long can we stretch the
28:00
power? Beverly asked.
28:03
She had our supply manifest spread across the table, making
28:06
calculations with a pencil stub. Maybe 3 more days if we're
28:10
careful. I said 4 if we shut down
28:13
everything except life support and one light unit.
28:17
She nodded, made another note. Always thoughtful, always
28:22
thinking ahead. That's why I trusted her.
28:26
What about the emergency beacon? Already tried it.
28:30
Same interference that killed the calm array.
28:33
The shuttle checked it twice. Something drained the fuel cells
28:38
completely. They're reading zero across the
28:41
board. We went through every
28:44
possibility we could think of. Hiking to higher ground with a
28:48
portable beacon, trying to Jerry rig a signal amplifier from
28:52
spare parts. Even discussed whether we could
28:55
survive long enough for a rescue team to track our last known
28:59
position. Nothing looked good.
29:03
There's something else, Beverly said.
29:06
She was staring at her hands, not meeting my eyes.
29:10
I've been feeling it too, that presence you mentioned, like
29:15
something's watching us. I've been hoping I was imagining
29:19
it. The weight of invisible eyes,
29:23
the sense that the darkness beyond our lights wasn't empty
29:26
at all. How long?
29:28
I asked. Since the second night, it's
29:32
getting stronger. We rationed our remaining food
29:35
and worked out a sleep rotation that would keep someone awake
29:38
with the lights on at all times. Beverly took first watch while I
29:42
tried to get some rest, but sleep didn't come easy.
29:46
Every sound outside the hall made me think about Fern and
29:50
Nathan and the others. I must have dozed off sometime
29:53
around 0300 because I woke up to Beverly calling my name.
29:57
Larry. Her voice was steady, but I
30:01
could hear the tension underneath.
30:03
You need to see this. I sat up and immediately knew
30:08
something was wrong. The circle of lights around us
30:11
seemed dimmer, not failing this effective against the darkness
30:15
pressing in from all sides. What is it?
30:19
Beverly was holding her portable light unit, staring at the power
30:23
indicator. It was at full charge an hour
30:26
ago. I checked the readout. 50% and
30:30
dropping fast. That's.
30:33
Impossible and. I said these things are rated
30:36
for 12 hours continuous use. I know we watched the battery
30:41
level fall in real time. 45 percent. 4035 Beverly, move
30:47
closer to me. She scooted her chair over until
30:50
our knees were almost touching. My own light was holding steady,
30:55
but hers kept draining, like something was feeding on it. 20%
31:01
fifteen, Larry, she said, and her voice was different now,
31:07
smaller. I can feel it pulling.
31:11
The light in her hands flickered once, twice.
31:15
Don't let go of it, I said, reaching for her arm. 10% five.
31:22
The unit went dead. I'll never forget what?
31:25
Happened next. The darkness didn't just.
31:29
Fill the space where her light had been.
31:32
It moved, flowed around Beverly like thick water, and she was
31:36
gone before I could even grab for her.
31:40
Not fading. Not disappearing slowly.
31:44
Just there one second. And completely absent the next.
31:48
Like the darkness had. Swallowed her whole.
31:52
I was alone. Sitting in the main cabin with
31:55
one working light and the weight of that presence pressing
31:58
against every surface of the ship.
32:01
I could feel. It now really feel it.
32:05
Malevolent, impatient and hungry.
32:09
The hull creaked. Not from temperature changes or
32:12
structural stress. Something else.
32:16
My portable light flickered. I made it to the cockpit and
32:20
sealed the blast door behind me. The main power systems.
32:23
Were still functional, but as I watched the status displays,
32:27
warning lights started appearing 1 by 1.
32:31
Environmental controls, navigation systems, life
32:34
support, backup. The darkness was getting inside.
32:39
It wasn't just surrounding us anymore.
32:42
It was infiltrating the. Ship itself, working through our
32:45
systems like some kind of infection.
32:48
I could hear it in the walls, feel it in the deck plating
32:51
beneath my feet. This had been our final
32:55
sanctuary, and now it was failing too.
33:00
The main lights dimmed. The computer screens flickered.
33:05
I realized then that the darkness wasn't just some
33:08
environmental hazard we'd stumbled into.
33:12
It was alive, intelligent and it had been playing with us from
33:17
the very beginning. I figured if anyone.
33:20
Was going to find our ship. They deserve to know what
33:23
happened here, what this place really was.
33:27
The emergency beacon still had maybe 20 minutes of power left.
33:31
I could see the battery indicator blinking amber on the
33:34
console, that slow steady pulse that meant it was running on
33:37
fumes. 20 minutes to get. It right to make sure whoever
33:43
came after us wouldn't make the same mistakes I.
33:47
Pulled up the emergency. Broadcast protocol on the main
33:50
terminal my. Hands were shaking a.
33:52
Little. Not from fear, exactly, more
33:56
like when you've been running on coffee and adrenaline for too
33:59
long and your body starts reminding you that you're still
34:02
human, still mortal. The message template popped up
34:08
on screen. Standard expedition.
34:11
Report format, mission parameters, crew status,
34:15
environmental conditions, all that official bullshit that
34:19
nobody actually reads I. Deleted the whole.
34:22
Thing and started over. This is Commander Larry Schultz
34:26
of the Deep Space Expedition vessel Aurora, Mission
34:30
designation A779. If you're receiving this
34:34
transmission, do not approach this planet.
34:37
Do not send a rescue mission. Do not send anyone.
34:42
I stopped typing, stared at the words for a second.
34:47
They look too small on the screen, too quiet for what they
34:50
were supposed to say. We landed here 8.
34:54
Days ago, full crew of seven. As of this transmission, I am
34:59
the only survivor. That part hurt to.
35:02
Type Seven people. Good people.
35:06
Nathan with his terrible jokes about dehydrated food.
35:10
Bonnie always humming while she worked on the engines.
35:14
Fern. Reading Medical.
35:15
Journals during her downtime, like other people read mystery
35:18
novels. Leroy teaching Shane card tricks
35:21
between communication checks. Jackie collecting rock samples
35:25
like they were precious stones. All gone.
35:30
The planet exhibits no. Detectable solar radiation.
35:34
Complete absence of natural light sources.
35:36
Our portable illumination systems function normally but
35:40
have limited effective range beyond the perimeter of
35:44
artificial lighting. The darkness appears to possess
35:47
properties inconsistent with normal environmental conditions.
35:51
I was trying to sound professional, scientific, like
35:56
maybe if I use the right words it would make sense to someone,
36:01
like maybe the next crew would figure out what we couldn't.
36:05
But that was bullshit and I knew it.
36:08
The darkness is alive, it moves with purpose and intelligence.
36:12
It can manipulate our equipment, interfere with our
36:15
communications, and it takes people, not kills them, takes
36:20
them. They disappear without trace,
36:23
without struggle, without leaving any evidence they were
36:27
ever there. My fingers stopped.
36:30
Moving on the keyboard, the cockpit felt smaller suddenly.
36:35
The emergency lighting. Cast these weird shadows that
36:38
seem to shift when I wasn't looking directly at them.
36:41
Probably just my eyes playing tricks.
36:44
Probably. Just the stress getting to me.
36:46
Probably. 1st we lost Nathan. Thornton during a perimeter
36:51
check. Then Bonnie Mills disappeared
36:53
from the engine Bay. Dr. Fern Palmer vanished from
36:56
the medical station. Leroy Chang and Shane Estrada
37:00
were taken while attempting to repair our primary
37:03
communications array. Jacqueline Harper disappeared
37:06
sometime during the night cycle while on duty in the geology
37:09
lab. I had to.
37:12
Stop again. The words were getting blurry on
37:15
the screen. Not from tears or anything like
37:18
that, I was past that. Just tired.
37:22
So damn tired. Each disappearance followed the
37:26
same pattern. No distress signals, no signs of
37:30
struggle, no equipment disturbance.
37:33
The affected areas showed no evidence of human presence after
37:36
the fact. It's like they were.
37:39
Simply erased. The Amber.
37:42
Light on the battery indicator was blinking faster now.
37:46
Maybe 15 minutes. Left maybe less.
37:49
I've documented everything. I could in the ship's databanks,
37:53
environmental readings, equipment logs, personal
37:56
testimony from crew members before they were taken.
38:00
Someone smarter than me? Might be able to make sense of
38:02
it, but. Don't send them here.
38:04
To try I. Leaned back in the.
38:08
Pilot's chair. It creaked a little under my
38:11
weight. Funny how normal sounds.
38:14
Could seem so loud in a place like this, so significant.
38:20
This planet is a. Trap.
38:22
I don't know what it wants or why it does what it does.
38:26
But it's patient. And it's intelligent and it
38:29
doesn't make mistakes. We thought we were exploring, we
38:34
thought we were discovering something new, but we were just
38:38
walking into something that's been waiting here for a very
38:41
long time. Jesus, I whispered.
38:45
I started typing faster. The ship's power.
38:49
Systems are compromised. The darkness is affecting our
38:53
electrical grid. All portable devices have failed
38:57
or are failing. The emergency beacon will not
39:00
last much longer. Do not attempt rescue.
39:04
Operations do not send survey teams classify this planet as
39:08
off limits and mark it as a no approach zone.
39:13
Whatever scientific value it might have is not worth human
39:16
lives. The lights went out completely.
39:21
The cockpit plunged into absolute darkness.
39:24
Not the kind of dark you get when you turn off the lights in
39:26
your bedroom. Not.
39:28
Even the kind you. Get in a cave or a basement.
39:32
This was something else, something that pressed against.
39:36
Your eyes like a physical weight.
39:39
I kept typing. Muscle memory guided my fingers
39:43
across the keyboard. I couldn't see the screen, but I
39:46
could hear the soft clicking of the keys had.
39:50
To trust that the. Computer was still recording.
39:53
This is my final. Transmission.
39:56
To my family if. Anyone bothers to forward this
39:59
message, I'm sorry. I did everything I could to
40:02
bring everyone home to the families of my crew.
40:06
They died with honor. They.
40:09
Were good people and. Good officers and they deserved
40:11
better than this place. The clicking stopped.
40:16
My fingers had found empty air where the keyboard should be.
40:20
I. Reached out with both.
40:21
Hands feeling around the console.
40:24
Nothing. The pilot's chair was still
40:27
there underneath me, but but everything else had just gone,
40:34
like the control panels had dissolved into the darkness.
40:38
Hello I. Called out.
40:41
My voice sounded small, muffled, like I was shouting into a
40:45
pillow. No response, no echo, nothing.
40:51
I stood up from the chair and took a step forward.
40:54
My foot found solid deck plating, another step still
40:58
there. But when I reached out with my
41:00
hands, I couldn't find the cockpit walls.
41:04
Couldn't find anything at all. The darkness had rushed.
41:08
In around me while I wasn't paying attention, while I was
41:12
focused on typing my warning message, it had.
41:16
Been waiting for me. To finish waiting for me to say
41:19
goodbye. I thought about Nathan.
41:23
And his stupid jokes. About Bonnie's humming.
41:27
About all of them. Disappearing one by one while I
41:31
stood there helpless. Watching my crew get.
41:34
Picked off like we were nothing more than insects caught in a
41:37
web. Now it was my turn.
41:41
I wondered if the message had actually transmitted, if the
41:45
beacon had managed to send it out before the power died
41:48
completely. Maybe someone would get the
41:50
warning. Maybe the next expedition would
41:53
read my report and decide to stay home.
41:57
Maybe. The darkness pressed closer.
42:01
I could feel it now, like a living thing wrapping around me.
42:06
Not cold, not warm. Just there, Patient, inevitable.
42:14
I've been wrong about. A lot of things on this mission.
42:17
Wrong about the planet's nature, wrong about our equipment, wrong
42:21
about our chances of survival. But I've been right about one
42:25
thing. This place had been waiting for
42:28
us. Waiting for explorers and
42:30
scientists and anyone else stupid enough to think they
42:33
could study something like this and walk away.
42:37
We weren't the 1st. Expedition to land here.
42:40
I was sure of that now. We wouldn't be the.
42:44
Last. The planet had one.
42:46
Again added seven more names to whatever collection it was
42:50
building in The Endless Night. 7 more victims who thought they
42:54
were explorers but turned out to be prey.