The Fate of the Fulgentia

Section 1

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

Actually, this is no longer a matter of speculation.

According to the statement recorded by Sarah Stanton, Facilities Co-ordinator for the Exploratory Space Probe Fulgentia before her untimely demise, Chief Scientist Peter Dolan flailed his arms for approximately 15 seconds after initiating an unscheduled space walk without protective gear. There was no audible sound, since the vacuum of space contains no air which could possibly vibrate. Instead, a kind of red mist exuded from his lips and nostrils, freezing instantly. His body swelled slightly, like a ballon being inflated, and then everything seemed to freeze solid before he drifted away out of sight. Presumably, the air left in his lungs expanded, bursting them in his chest, and his blood began to release gases into his tissues since, at 0 PSI pressure, it was essentially boiling. It is one of the goals of this investigation to attempt to determine why Chief Scientist Dolan took it into his mind to exit the airlock without donning a spacesuit. Since the Fulgentia was later lost with all souls aboard, there are many other issues with which this investigation will need to concern itself.

After some initial delays in the schedule, The crew of the Exploratory Space Probe Fulgentia left the Bruno Systems Technology Center in Spacepark, Texas, by shuttle, made rendezvous with their craft at Assembly Port 5, and departed Terran orbit on September 19, 2043 at 8:57 AM without incident. According to Bruno CEO Travis Christian, the richest multi-trillionaire in the world, the purpose of the mission was, "to expand our knowledge of the universe to the most distant boundaries safely possible." In actuality, Mr. Christian had become convinced that Amalthea, one of the "mini-moons" of Jupiter, was composed of solid gold. He had become determined to initiate a "space gold rush," and the Fulgentia had been the first sortie in this new phase of earth exodus.

The highest ranking officer on the Fulgentia was Chief Mission Manager and Overall Project Lead Samuel Eddy. Mr. Eddy had no previous extra-terrestrial experience, but had been a senior director at Bruno in charge of materials retrieval and analysis. There was some speculation that he was assigned to this project in order to temporarily remove him from the on-ground management hierarchy. Second in command was Mission Operations Manager Jackson Reed. Before the Fulgentia, Reed had logged just under 12 AUs of interplanetary travel, including 5 round trips to Mars, mostly on behalf of Bruno. The third most senior officer was Chief Security Manager Elliot Snyder. Snyder was the only member of the crew who had actually visited the Jovian orbital sphere before, with around 11 interplanetary AUs to his credit. Some friction developed between Reed and Snyder early on in the mission as to the relative extent of their authority. Unfortunately, this interpersonal conflict seemed to have played a significant role in the tragedy which eventually ensued.

There were fifteen additional crew members, including Facilities Co-ordinator Sarah Stanton and Chief Scientist Peter Dolan, who were mentioned earlier. Only two of the total of eighteen survived the voyage: Reed and Snyder are known to be alive. Dolan's corpse was retrieved in the previously described condition. The rest are presumed missing, since the Fulgentia no longer exists.

Although much remains to be confirmed, the basic facts of the case seem to be as follows. The Fulgentia arrived on schedule at refueling Port Alpha and continued its voyage without any deviation from mission plan. At some point between Port Alpha and Mars Port, the disagreement between Reed and Snyder reached a crisis point. Mr. Eddy ordered Reed to be temporarily confined to a storage cell, and he was discharged from the vessel when the Fulgentia arrived at Mars. He was ordered to await the next possible Bruno courier ship for an expedient return to Earth in order to receive intra-corporate discipline, but he immediately contacted the Interplanetary Court of Justice and lodged complaints to the effect that he had been illegally incarcerated and subjected to physical assault. Given that nothing could be resolved until the Fulgentia returned from Jupiter orbit in an estimated 10 Earth years and 53 days, the court did not take any immediate action. Reed's case increased in priority, however, in the light of subsequent events.

At some point after the Fulgentia had successfully docked at Refueling Port Gamma and then continued its journey, Mr. Eddy approved the dispatch of a completely unexpected Call for Emergency Relief. Without any previous warning, he announced that the vessel had become unnavigable and that life-support systems were no longer sustainable. Apparently the hull of the ship had been somehow compromised, but this hypothesis cannot be confirmed. Rescue operations from Mars Port and from Europa Port were initiated immediately, but the vessel's location was so remote that no help could reach it from either origination point before a minimum of 2.3 Earth years had elapsed. When the first rescue mission arrived, the debris field was located some four thousand kilometers from the last recorded position of the vessel. This debris included Chief Scientist Dolan's desiccated corpse and an errant landing pod in which Mr. Snyder was discovered in a deep comatose state. Although he is still technically alive, he has not emerged from the coma and is currently receiving intensive medical care. No other significant fragments of the vessel or crew members were recovered.

In view of the virtual lack of physical evidence and mission data from the Fulgentia, this investigation will need to rely on information from other sources. Bruno Systems has committed its full support and cooperation, but given the highly sensitive and proprietary nature of the mission, they have so far provided only highly redacted logs filed by Chief Mission Manager Eddy. Aside from dates and the corresponding vessel location and fuel and supply levels, there is minimal substantive content remaining in these logs. Another source of information is the testimony of Mission Operations Manager Reed, which is surprisingly objective given his current legal situation. There is some obvious personal bias, of course, and the testimony ends well before the destruction of the vessel, since Reed was removed from the crew at Mars Port, but it definitely helps to construct a useful framework for the events on the Fulgentia which ultimately ended in tragedy. Two additional crew members have provided some helpful background information as well, since they maintained private journals which were relayed to Earth for storage on quantum networks. These journals are not under Bruno's control and are therefore fully accessible. One of the authors was Facilities Co-ordinator Sarah Stanton, who has already been quoted above. Her journal is extensive and detailed, although it contains much in the way of personal reflections which are not all germane to the issues at hand. The second journal keeper is Chief Security Manager Snyder, the second surviving crew member, who, as has been noted, is currently hospitalized and in a deep coma. Snyder's journal, unfortunately is mostly encrypted, but some entries were kept in plain-text for obscure reasons which only Mr. Snyder can illuminate.

Let us begin with the following extract from Reed's statement:

I'm not someone who normally has "intuitions" about things, you know? I usually just step in, get the job done and move on. Who cares how I feel about it? Some jobs are hard, some jobs are easy. This gig on the Fulgentia, though, was a long-time commitment. You don't want to be stuck that long in close quarters with a bunch of people you hate or who hate each other. It's kind of important for everyone to get along. Especially in the beginning.

I guess it was Eddy who first gave me the willies. He was so... remote, I guess you would say. Like he wasn't really "present," to use one of those fluffy expressions. He just didn't connect. Not just with me, you know? He didn't connect with anybody except Snyder. Those guys were really tight, for some reason. I mean, on the gigs where I've been on the management team, the Chief Manager meets with his staff on a regular basis - his whole staff, not just one or two of his favorites. Eddy only met with Snyder and then Snyder passed the word down the line. After a while, I kind of wondered what I was doing there. Finally I requested an "audience," you might call it, with the great man. He just, you know, sat there. I tried to give some suggestions - like maybe we should have a full crew meeting to get everybody going in the right direction, boost morale, all that kind of stuff. He just nodded and said he would talk to Snyder. No crew meeting ever happened.

I eventually gave up on Eddy, just tried to do my job. I had been on enough gigs I didn't need that much direction. But then Snyder started interfering. He didn't seem to get that I was Mission Operations Manager. As Security Manager, he should have had his hands full, but apparently there were no security issues to deal with since he had plenty of time to involve himself in daily operations. He was constantly second guessing me, citing Eddy as the final authority, even though no one ever heard from Eddy except him, I guess. If I sound pissed off it is because I was. And there was no way to appeal anything to the Chief Manager. It was like he just wasn't there.

The issue with Sarah - with Co-ordinator Stanton - was what brought everything to a head.

*****

Based on Reed's observations, there seemed to be management failures from day one of the mission. To gain further insight into "the issue with Co-ordinator Sarah Stanton," let us now examine an extract from her journal:

It was such a great honor to be selected by Bruno for the Amalthea Team. I mean I was just ecstatic. But then I started thinking about how long I would be gone - such a huge piece of my life! It's not like I really had anyone serious I would be leaving behind - except Mom, I mean. All my friends had moved away for work. My roommates were moving to other cities. I would have been pretty much alone except for Erskine. [Note: Erskine was Ms. Stanton's pet chinchilla.]

When I called Mom she was so proud, though, so excited for me. "No one in the family has ever done anything so heroic, so historic! You've got to say 'Yes,' sweetie." So I said, "Yes."

Well, actually, I said "Yes, if..." It was a big "if," and if they had not gone for it, I had decided to turn them down flat. It was a kind of a test. I asked if I could bring Erskine along. What was I supposed to do with him? Mom could never have handled him, plus she has all those cats. Erskine and I have been together for, I don't know how many years. One of my old roommates left him behind. Why she wanted a pet chinchilla, I never knew, and why she named him "Erskine," I never knew, but I had gotten used to him and we - well we got along. We were good company for each other. So they said "Yes" to my "If," and I got it all in writing, just like the rest of the offer, and here we are.

****

Reed's statement continues to describe his conflict with Snyder:

If Eddy was remote and not connected with the crew, Snyder was the opposite. His attitude toward crew members was - well, predatory, I would say. He would pick one, apparently at random, and then almost stalk them until he found them alone. Then he would insist on initiating a private conversation. Privacy is a rare thing in such a small space. I mean you get used to the lack of it to the extent that any privacy at all is worthy of note. The only occasions for a private conversation with a supervisor or senior manager are usually disciplinary or to lodge a complaint about another crew member. There are well-defined procedures for this kind of interaction, to protect all parties involved. One of the requirements is that a neutral third party be present, usually a manager, so as to avoid a situation where it is one person's word against another. There is no way Snyder was not aware of these procedures, but he consistently ignored them. He would catch someone alone and then invite them to his quarters or invite himself into theirs. It was, well, weird, and it caused a lot of comment among the crew. Eddy probably wouldn't have done anything about it, so I never bothered trying to bring it up with him. Snyder even approached me at one point. He stopped me and asked me some nonsensical question about whether I had been "introduced to the light." When I indicated my lack of comprehension, he just turned around and walked away.

One situation which seemed particularly egregious was Snyder's treatment of Ms. Stanton. She made it quite clear that she wanted to keep with the procedures, that she wanted her supervisor involved in any interactions with him, but he just kept after her. Everyone noticed... well, at least I noticed. Finally, I decided to interfere. I told Snyder that his behavior was against regulations and threatened to report him (for all the good that would have done). He became enraged and threatened both of us. I suppose I probably only made the situation worse for Ms. Stanton, but I had had enough of Snyder. I was fed up to the gills!

***

We turn now to another journal entry from Co-ordinator Stanton:

I haven't had time to add anything to the journal for a while. I guess if I am going to apologize, it should be to myself. Things are going, well pretty well. It's just that I've been swamped. At least I feel useful.

There is one thing that has been a little odd, which is why I am taking the time make a record while it is happening. That way I can refer back to this in a few weeks and just laugh about it, I hope. Mom always warned me about this kind of thing. I never paid a lot of attention and thought that once I finished university and got a real job with a real company it would be so unlikely. I mean this is all just so last-millennium. But, as usual, Mom was right.

She always said that it wasn't really about gender anymore, since it is such a slippery thing now, but anytime there was a difference in power, there was opportunity for people to misuse it. Didn't matter if they identified as male or female or non-binary, it was power that corrupted. And people without power were attracted to those that had it. She said female-identified bosses could be just as bad or worse than male-identified. I don't know. My supervisor, Kendra, who maybe be trans - I don't care and it's none of my business anyway - has always treated me with respect.

Anyway, Elliot Snyder - I'm using his first name because that's what he did to me - Snyder was a bit of a surprise. I'd caught Reed the Assistant Manager looking at me with a kind of gleam in his eye, but Snyder? He seems like the kind go guy who would oooh and aaah over a chance to claim stock options and get his jollies by playing trivia games. Not that I mean to dis trivia - I mean my friends on the crew and I have trivia night every Wednesday, but Snyder was not your classic tough guy security specialist. More of a cybersecurity geek, I would have thought. So, yes, it was a bit of a surprise when he requested a private conversation. "My quarters or yours?" He actually said that. I declined on the grounds that I was too busy dealing with the crisis of the hour at that time, which I was. In this job there is always a crisis. Nothing earth-shattering, or probe-shattering, of course. Someone needed a new key card. Someone needed a new room assignment NOW because their next-door neighbor snored too loudly. Someone stuck in the shower without any clean towels. That kind of thing.

Snyder didn't go away. He kept coming after me. It seemed like any time I walked down a hallway alone he was there. Maybe he was using the security cameras to track me, I don't know. Finally he said that as my superior he was "summoning" me to meet with him. I told him that he was not my supervisor and that if she gave her permission and attended our get-together as well, I would be happy to comply. About this time, as our voices were beginning to be raised, Jackson Reed shows up to rescue me. He ordered Snyder to stop harassing me and pointed out that he actually was Snyder's supervisor and if Snyder persisted in violating company rules and regulations he would be disciplined. Snyder laughed in his face and asked him who he thought was more likely to be disciplined once he had had a word with the Chief Mission Manager. He said both of us would regret our words and then he stormed off. Reed apologized for Snyder's behavior, said that kind of thing was not condoned by the company, etc. Maybe he was expecting me to thank him and throw myself at his feet in gratitude, but I was annoyed at the whole situation. I told him I had somewhere to be and went straight to my quarters. That's why I'm here recording this.

***

Reed was correct that he had made things worse, as is clear from Stanton's next entry:

OK, back already. I thought things had gotten better but then after the end of my last work cycle the other gravity boot locked into place. (See I can still try to joke about it, even if it's a bad joke.)

Snyder came knocking on the door of my quarters with two staff members at his side. He told me that my chinchilla had been determined to be a security threat and that I must surrender it immediately. I told him that keeping Erskine was part of my employment offer and ran to retrieve the employment contract from my writing case. I'm afraid I panicked and as I returned I seized hold of Erskine and held him clutched to my chest.

Snyder replied that my contract was no longer in effect since he could override its terms as Security Lead. I recognized his companions. One was Gus Spitzer, a pretty hefty guy whose main job was IT - he looked a bit heftier than when we had started the voyage. I didn't remember seeing him in the gym, but I usually went with my group of friends from the facilities crew, and we tried to time our workouts for when the heavy fumes of testosterone were at their lowest ebb. Snyder's other backup was Ada Keiserborg, our Mission Systems Engineer. She is apparently female-identified but well-endowed in the bicep area. I didn't remember seeing her in the gym either, for what it was worth. Both of them were regarding me with a good deal of what I took to be pity. Every once in a while they gave Snyder a squinting side-eye as if asking, "Really? Are we really being asked to waste our finely honed martial arts skills on this?" Such a pity!

Finally, on Snyder's order, Ada reached for Erskine and he gave his little high-pitched growl and snapped at her. She may have been muscular, but she wasn't stupid. She backed off.

At this point, my valiant hero Reed made his appearance. He started by telling Snyder the same thing I had, that my pet was part of my employment contract. Snyder repeated his schtick about overriding it and Reed promptly overrode him, pointing out that he was higher than Snyder in the corporate food chain. Reed then dismissed Gus and Ada. At his higher management node, they reported to him and would be disciplined for insubordination if they refused to obey him. With some relief, they left.

Now it was Reed vs. Snyder like two stags locking horns over a hapless female deer. I have never seen real stags do this, of course, since they only exist in zoos now and their mating process is carefully controlled, but they still show it on VR programs. Threats were uttered. Both men turned red in the face. I was wondering which one would stroke out or go down from heart failure first.

Then Snyder made a grab for Erskine and Reed punched him in the face. It was so fast and I was so startled that I lost hold of the little guy. He went dashing out the door and down the hallway as fast as he could to get away from all the human drama.

We used to play VR games where we fought alien monsters who were trying to take over our solar system. It turns out that the monsters weren't E.T.s at all. They were right here. We were living right next to them. We just didn't recognize them for what they were.

***

Now back to Reed's account:

Snyder actually looked pleased when I hit him, as if that was what he had been waiting for.

"Assault," he muttered through his swelling lips. "That was physical assault. Now you are off this vessel."

"We'll see," I responded. "There will be a hearing. Maybe you're the one who will be off the vessel."

"Don't count on it," he warned me.

So I wasn't surprised when his goons showed up at my quarters. I assumed that they were going to escort me to a hearing. Even when they cuffed me and locked me in a supply room, I assumed it was a temporary measure until the hearing. Snyder was probably locked up, too.

He wasn't, and there was no hearing. Three weeks went by. I was brought food and allowed out for hygienic purposes, but there was no hearing. When we finally arrived at Mars Port and I was marched down the walkway to surface transport I realized that there was never going to be a hearing. "Railroaded" sounds like an antiquated term in the age of space travel but it seemed ironically appropriate.

Snyder was there to see me off. Not handcuffed like I was, obviously, and not being escorted from the Fulgentia. He was just there to gloat, although I noticed that he was still sporting a scab on his lip. As I was led past him, he couldn't resist taking the opportunity to give me little push. He was hoping I would fall to my knees, probably - one final humiliation. But I managed to keep my balance.

Did he say anything? Not that I recall, but I whispered to him, "Now you've assaulted me." I'm not sure if he heard it because they were moving me along pretty quickly.

The Port authorities weren't sure what to do with me, so they took off the handcuffs and released me on my own recognizance. I was still waiting for a shuttle back to Earth when Eddy's CER, his Call for Emergency Relief, came through. I volunteered to go out on the rescue mission, but my assistance was politely declined. I was still at the Port when word came back about the fatalities. They were... most of them were decent people. It's... well it's a hell of a thing.

****

The investigative committee would like to express its gratitude for the patience of the reader who has carefully perused our report up to this point. What we have documented may seem to be a typical instance of interpersonal conflict of the type which is becoming more and more common aboard long interplanetary journeys, but we believe that the facts we have laid out have a direct and intimate connection to the horrifying tragedy which later overtook the Fulgentia.

In concluding this section we would like to add the following details relating to the account we have provided so far. We believe that each of them has important implications for the next phase of the investigation.

Jackson Reed's Employment Status

Upon his eventual return to Earth, Reed was offered the opportunity to resign from Bruno Systems, in which case he would receive a generous severance package in return for a commitment to honor the non-disclosure clause of his employment package and refrain from providing any information to the press or to our investigation. He declined the offer, probably on the advice of whatever legal counsel he has retained, on the grounds that it might be tantamount to a confession of partial responsibility for the fate of the Fulgentia. From what we can determine, Reed has, somewhat ironically, found new employment with a security company.

The Escaped Chinchilla

Based on entries in Sarah Stanton's journal, Erskine the chinchilla was never recovered, despite numerous search and retrieval efforts. The creature's location at the time of the final disaster was still unknown. It may turn out that security manager Snyder's concerns about the threat an animal of this type posed for the security of the vessel were actually well founded after all.

Sarah Stanton's Fear of Harassment

Stanton's journal indicates that she had ongoing concerns about further harassment from Snyder. After Reed's arrest, she began to share quarters with her supervisor, Kendra Williamson. Her journal makes no further reference to any contact with Snyder, but it is possible that Williamson intervened on her behalf, further provoking Snyder.

Chief Scientist Dolan’s Suitless Space Walk

We began this report by remarking on the discovery of Peter Dolan’s frozen body floating in the vacuum of space with no protective gear. We are still convinced that his apparent suicide has direct bearing on the fate of the rest of crew of the Fulgentia. It is unlikely that the mental state which drove him to this act was limited to a single crew member. What could have happened after Jackson Reed’s removal which affected the crew in this way? We will examine more about Dolan and his background and employment history in the future sections of the report.

Elliot Snyder's Prognosis

As we have indicated, Security Manager Snyder also kept a journal which was stored in a terrestrial quantum network. These entries were mostly encrypted but sometimes contained plain-text segments. Unfortunately, these are equally cryptic. For example, one reads, "The Light is the Truth." Another contains the motto "Love under Light, Light Over Love." Of somewhat more importance is the fact that the committee has recently been informed that Snyder has emerged from his coma. According to his medical team, while he is not yet capable of speech, his cognitive functions have not suffered permanent damage, and he will soon be able to communicate via mechanical assistance. His prognosis for full recovery of linguistic ability is excellent.

The investigative committee is very eager to participate in Elliot Snyder's rehabilitation at the earliest possible opportunity.