Scribd
Upload
10 views3 pages

Like Us First

In Chapter 1 of 'The Silent Colony', the crew of the Omen arrives at the seemingly abandoned colony on Erebus-6, where they find everything intact but no signs of life despite a distress signal. As they explore, they discover half-eaten meals and an unsettling final transmission from the colony leader warning of an unknown presence. The chapter concludes with the crew encountering survivors who appear human but evoke a sense of unease in Kade.

Uploaded by

solcrbn
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
10 views3 pages

Like Us First

In Chapter 1 of 'The Silent Colony', the crew of the Omen arrives at the seemingly abandoned colony on Erebus-6, where they find everything intact but no signs of life despite a distress signal. As they explore, they discover half-eaten meals and an unsettling final transmission from the colony leader warning of an unknown presence. The chapter concludes with the crew encountering survivors who appear human but evoke a sense of unease in Kade.

Uploaded by

solcrbn
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Chapter 1: The Silent Colony

The Omen dropped into Erebus-6’s gravity well, shuddering against the thick atmosphere, its
hull vibrating like a living thing. Kade sat strapped into the pilot’s chair, watching the colony rise
into view, a perfect grid of white prefab structures surrounded by black nothingness. The lights
were still on. The distress beacon was still pinging. And yet, no one was responding.

“Still nothing?” Garret asked, her voice clipped, professional, but tight around the edges.

“No movement detected,” Santos replied. “No comms response. Just the same looping distress
call. Twenty-six days and no variation.”

Kade didn’t like it. The colony should have looked abandoned—darkened halls, power failures,
damage from storms or wildlife. But everything was intact. The floodlights shone in artificial
brilliance, illuminating the landing pad like a beacon. The buildings were unmarked, untouched.
No cracks in the windows, no doors left ajar. If it weren’t for the distress call, it would look like no
one had ever set foot here.

It was too clean.

The ship settled onto the landing pad with a dull thud. The moment the engines cut, the silence
became oppressive. No distant hum of machinery. No whine of wind against the hull. Not even
the crackling of static over the comms.

The team moved in silence, securing their helmets, weapons low but ready. The Omen’s airlock
released with a soft hiss, and the six of them stepped onto the surface of Erebus-6. The black
rock underfoot swallowed their footsteps.

The colony stretched before them in neat, sterile perfection. A small outpost—six habitat domes,
a command center, a medbay, storage units. The place could hold five hundred people. But right
now, it looked like a graveyard.

Garret swept her rifle across the rooftops, checking the high ground. “Where the hell is
everyone?”

“Could be inside,” Ellis muttered. “Waiting for rescue.”

“They wouldn’t leave the landing pad empty.”

Kade led them to the colony’s main entrance, a reinforced airlock leading into the command
building. No need for security overrides—the doors slid open as soon as he pressed his palm
against the panel. Inside, the air smelled stale but breathable. The emergency lighting was still
on, humming softly.

Then they saw it.


Plates of food sat on the dining tables in the mess hall, half-eaten but untouched for weeks. A
chair was overturned. A mug of coffee had been left to dry at the edge of a counter. A jacket
hung over the back of a chair, as if someone had just stepped away.

No blood. No damage.

No bodies.

Kade forced himself to exhale. The team spread out. Ellis and Carter moved toward the living
quarters, Vance checked the perimeter. Kade, Garret, and Santos headed for the command
center.

The main console was still active. Colony logs flickered across the screen in precise
time-stamped order. Normal operations. Environmental reports. Routine maintenance.
Then—nothing.

Kade pulled up the final recorded transmission. The colony leader appeared on-screen, his face
gaunt, eyes wide with something close to terror.

“This is Overseer Martin Rand. To any ship receiving this—” His breath hitched. “We are not
alone.”

A sound crackled through the speaker, something wet and organic, just beneath the static. Rand
swallowed, his jaw tightening. “They look like us.”

The screen flickered. Then the feed cut out.

The timestamp read twenty-six days ago.

A crackle of static filled the room. A voice—soft, warm, perfectly normal—came through the
colony-wide speakers.

“Hello? Is someone there? …Oh, thank God. Please, we need help.”

Kade’s blood went cold.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor.

The team turned.

A group of six people stood at the far end of the hall. Their uniforms were worn but clean, their
faces familiar. Survivors.

A woman stepped forward, her hair tied back in a loose ponytail, eyes glassy with relief. “Are
you real?” Her voice shook. “Are you really here?”

She looked like any other exhausted survivor. But something about her smile lingered too long.
Kade stepped forward. His gut told him something was wrong. But they were human. They
looked human.

He ignored the cold in his spine and said, “You’re safe now.”

The woman’s lips twitched.

For a fraction of a second—too fast for the others to notice—her smile vanished.

Then, it was back.

You might also like