Relapse

[Tachyon 0]

“Relapse”

March 11, 2156

Lieutenant Dave Grey

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Dave Grey had woken up today without feeling very bad, although he had not felt particularly good either. It was a so-so day, a day when the world could go either way. It was only as the day went on that he realised the Universe's grudge against his very existence had not at all lapsed in intensity. It had, if anything, grown stronger and more pronounced.

 

The radiation signatures, those tell-tale last straws, had broken Grey the camel's back. They were so similar to what he had seen a few months ago that his jaw almost dropped open.

 

The hardest lesson he had to learn back when he first started on Challenger was that everything was cyclical, apparently. Nothing they did was finished; it would continue to affect them for the rest of their mission. Grey had made the mistake of thinking that their experiences with Rufus and Quantus, once over, were over for good.

 

Now those same radiation signatures were apparently manifesting all over Challenger. Grey knew that they needed to develop a defence, if possible, or at least try to make sense of what was going on.

 

All the while his mind was echoing the mantra, Why me? Why me? Why me?

 

He didn't like the response that he got: Why not? Why not? Why not?