text: Music blared over the speakers in the cabin of the Interstellar Travel Agency (ITA) Resonator, so loudly that not much else could be heard, and subsequently, Bailey did not hear the door opening and closing behind him, and wasn’t even aware anyone was in the room until the music suddenly stopped. Spinning around in his chair, Bailey looked agitated. “Why the fuck did you turn of my Rob Zombie dude? Haven’t you ever heard of manners?” Bailey spins back around, turning the music back on as he does. Mervin turned it back down; “Bailey, we just got a communication.” Mervin looked down for a second “It seems that the ITA Acceleration has gone silent.” Mervin’s words trailed off beside him. “Huh. That’s interesting” Bailey swiveled back around to face Mervin again. “Did you try to contact them directly? They’re heading the same way as us, they just left earlier, right?” “Yeah, that’s about the gist of it. I also sent out a probe. Nothing. It’s just not there” Mervin looked down, and handed bailey a PDA. “Here’s the data that we know about this area.” Bailey looked over it, swiping up slowly. “There’s an odd anomaly that’s occurs here. It’s the same kind that the ITA Acceleration reported before they disappeared. Bailey thought on this for a moment, and studied the reading the PDA gave him. “Mervin. How much do you know about AI?” Mervin looked at him with a dull, blank expression on his face. “Artificial Intelligence?” Mervin shook his head “yeah, I know what it is, I just don’t know anything about them.” “Well it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that there is one at the station we’re going to. One issue with AI has also been would they go rouge, and I’m wondering if one didn’t. Mervin looked at Bailey with a still expression on his face. “ You’re joking right?” “When am I not, Mervin?” Bailey turned Rob Zombie back up, and looked at the album art with it as Mervin left the room, and walked into the bridge area. The galaxy looked calm, like nothing was wrong, all at once; and it made him uneasy. He sat down at the helm, and scanned the area. He didn't detect any anomalies, and leaned back a tad bit, less on edge. Suddenly the klaxon on the ship sounded, and Bailey burst forth from his quarters, “Status, Mervin. What the fuck happened?” “I’m not sure yet, give me a sec.” Bailey sat at his chair, and looked at his own display, and saw it, dead ahead, a small, needlelike ship. “We don’t have a second. Incoming vessel. Unknown make and model.” Bailey looked up at the main display as it appeared “We aren’t alone, Mervin”. Mervin slides his hand across the panel “All system good. Want me to jump?” Bailey looked at the screen quietly. “Not yet.”, and then every-thing happened very quickly. There was a flash of light, and 3 clicks, followed by a gunshot. The result was Bailey had a needle in his abdomen, and Mervin had 2 in his chest. Some strange creature was lying dead on the floor, its’ head split open from the gunshot wound. Mervin lay slumped over his console, and Bailey fell back into his chair. “Computer. Jump to the last set coordinates.” Bailey started seeing black, and everything was going dark. “Computer. Set autopilot to Terran-7” Baileys voice trailed off, and then everything went black for him.