Titan

Written by Adam Mullen

Day One

The Archimedes touched down successfully on Titan’s surface not far from our home-away-from-home, Hab One. We’re the first six humans to set foot on Saturn’s largest moon.

The crew went to work setting up base operations and verifying that all equipment and supplies arrived safely.

We reported back to Command on Earth.

But all we received back was silence.

Day Two

We tried establishing communication with Earth without success. We verified that our comm relays on both Archimedes and Hab One work. It’s as if something is blocking our signals.

Volkov and Chang took a rover to scout around the area. It’s been twelve hours since they left.

Liu and Dorofeyev are on search and rescue.

Their oxygen will run out soon.

Day Three

Liu and Dorofeyev returned without Volkov and Chang. Our missing crew are considered lost.

Billings reported hearing a strange sound coming from outside the hab. A banging sound.

We thought it could be our lost crew members.

We went to look but there was nothing there.

Billings heard the banging sound again. Louder and faster than before. We investigated but found nothing that could cause it.

We’re worried about Billings’ state of mind. She seems to be exhibiting signs of paranoia and hallucinations.

Perhaps the stress of the mission is getting to her.

I think it’s beginning to affect all of us.

Day Four

We lost Billings today. The banging sound drove her to madness.

She rushed out of the airlock and out of the hab without her spacesuit on. It was the fastest I’d ever seen anything freeze into a solid block of ice.

Establishing contact with Earth has become our number one priority.

Something happened to our propellant. We have none to launch Archimedes into space.

We’re stranded on Titan.

Day Five

Something happened to our ration supply. There are obvious signs that someone got into the ration packs and threw the rest in the hab’s waste unit.

Now we’re nearly out of food and the three of us are pointing fingers at each other.

We only have enough for one person to last a week.

Day Six

In less than 24 hours, my last remaining crewmates have become extremely distrustful and paranoid. Very reminiscent of Billings’ downfall.

Liu has locked himself in the crew quarters while Dorofeyev has taken over the lab.

I feel like I am a lone voice of reason on a tiny raft in the middle of an ocean of the damned and unfortunate.

I now hear a faint banging sound from outside the hab.

Day Seven

Dorofeyev killed Liu in the night. Stabbed in the back with a broken beaker flask.

I tried to make contact with Earth. No response to my pleas for rescue. Only silence.

The banging from outside grows louder.

I won't be sleeping tonight.

Day Eight

I fought off Dorofeyev this morning. He nearly gutted me like a fish with a knife. I pinned him to the floor and knocked him out with a few punches.

I think I found the reason behind the comms silence, crew disappearances, and the banging.

We’re not alone on Titan.

Day Nine

I followed a set of rover tracks. They were different from the ones made by Volkov and Chang on day two. I think I found another hab.

Command never told us they had sent another crewed mission.

I thought I saw someone exit the rover and enter the other hab.

I grabbed Dorofeyev’s knife. I'm now making my way to the other crew’s hab.

Day Ten

I entered the other hab, ready to attack, but it was empty.

I heard a loud banging sound from out.

I looked around. There was no one there except for me.

But the banging grew louder.

I left the hab to check to see if the rover was still there. It was gone.

A spacecraft was nearby.

I couldn't speak the name that I read:

Archimedes.

Day Eleven

I scoured the other hab looking for answers. I read the crew logs.

I read the names over and over.

Volkov. Chang.

Billings.

Liu. Dorofeyev.

My crew.

It couldn’t be real. I knew it couldn’t be.

The banging sound was almost unbearable.

Hallucinations, just like Billings. I tried not to think about what that meant.

I trudged back to my Hab One, hoping to establish contact with Command.

The journey seemed to take forever.

I walked and walked but never saw Hab One.

There was nothing.

And now, my suit’s oxygen alarm is signaling that I'm about to run out of air. I was going to black out...

Day Twelve

…I woke up inside Hab One’s crew quarters.

There was no sign of Dorofeyev or Liu.

Billings’ frozen body was nowhere to be found outside.

There were no rover tracks.

I heard the banging sound again. It came from outside.

Two astronauts opened the airlock.

They said Command had lost contact with Hab One months ago. A methane storm had wiped out the base.

I was the only survivor.

They had come to rescue me.

End.

Titan

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