Final Moments of a lost spaceship

A running transcript of the last moments of 'The Raleigh'. Can this explain what happened to the ship?

The following is a transcript of the radio messages broadcast between Earth Control in Cape Kennedy and the ill-fated RALEIGH, which was attempting a first human landing on the dwarf planet Pluto. One of the greatest mysteries of modern times, this never-before-seen transcript goes some way to explaining the disappearance of THE RALEIGH. And now, due to the government’s new ‘OPEN INFORMATION’ act, we are obliged by law to release a running itinerary of the events. 

What strikes many people when reading the transcript is the speed with which events unfolded. In real-time, the whole event took place over a number of hours, which is documented accordingly in the following script.

We may never know the true reason for the disappearance of the craft. The most likely explanation is that a radio malfunction repeated messages that had been sent prior to the date of the craft’s disappearance. This caused understandable confusion, which in turn led to the accidental opening of the airlock and therefore the deaths of all the crewmembers. However, recent conspiracy theorists have labelled this as a crude explanation to cover up what really happened. The truth is we will never know what really happened. 

 

For the ease of the reader, the speech from Cape Kennedy is set in bold lettering, while the speech from THE RALEIGH is set in normal lettering.

Any parenthetical moments are set in THIS MANNER.

 

 

 

 

“This is Earth Control, calling The Raleigh, do you receive me? Over.”

 

“Earth Control, Captain Samson of The Raleigh, receiving you loud and clear. Over.”

 

“Prepare auto-jets for readjustment.”

 

*BEEP*

 

“Auto-jets primed and ready.”

 

“Adjust direction by centre 3-3-2-2.1”

 

*PAUSE*

 

“Adjustments made, Earth Control. Now on course.”

 

“Adjust velocity by .5 percent.”

 

*BEEP*

 

*PAUSE*

 

“Velocity adjusted by .5 percent, Earth Control.”

 

“That’s it for the moment, John. You can relax now. We’ve taken control of the ship”

 

“That’s good to hear, Dan.”

 

“How are things up there?”

 

“Quiet. And boring. The others are sleeping, I’ve finished reading my book and the iHol’s not working.”

 

“Sorry to hear that, John.”

 

“I might go and get some sleep myself. Nothing else to do.”

 

“Copy that, John. You do that; we’ll give the alarm call if anything’s needed.”

 

“Roger that, Earth Control. Captain John Samson signing off. Over and out.”

 

*RADIO INTERFERENCE*

 

*RADIO SILENCE FOR 4.7 HOURS*

 

“Reading you loud and clear, Earth Control.”

 

“Please repeat Raleigh, please repeat.”

 

“Reading you loud and clear, Earth Control.”

 

“To which message is this replying?”

 

“The alarm call was sounded, followed by orders to standby at our work areas. All crew members now standing by for further orders.”

 

“Earth Control to Raleigh, no such message sent. Alarm call not due for three hours.”

 

“Negative, Earth Control. Alarm call clearly sounded.”

 

“Obvious fault or malfunction. Sorry to wake you all up.”

 

*STATIC INTERFERENCE*

 

“Please repeat, Earth Control.”

 

“Alarm call unintentional. Disregard orders and return to bunks.”

 

“Reading you loud and clear. Over and out.”

 

*STATIC INTERFERENCE*

 

*RADIO SILENCE FOR 20 MINUTES”

 

“Reading you loud and clear, Earth Control.”

 

“Please explain, Raleigh.”

 

“What do you mean ‘Please explain’? You’ve just sent us a message.”

 

“No message sent, Raleigh.”

 

“I tell you we heard a message! It was your voice!”

 

“Please repeat message that was apparently sent.”

 

“It was something like ‘Earth Control to Raleigh. Proceed to stations immediately. Await further instructions.”

 

“No such message sent.”

 

“Then what the Hell did we hear!?”

 

“No current explanation. Will report to you when satisfactory explanation is put forward. For the moment, it’s most likely to be a computer fault. A repeat of a message sent yesterday.”

 

“Let’s hope so.”

 

“What else could it be?”

 

“I don’t know. And frankly I don’t want to know.”

 

“The alarm call is in two hours and forty minutes.”

 

“Dan, there’s something weird hap-

 

*RADIO INTERFERENCE. MESSAGE PARTIALLY BLOCKED OUT*

 

-re not alone.”

 

“Sorry Raleigh, the last message was cut out by radio interference. Please repeat.”

 

“There’s no point, it’s nothing really. I just can’t wait until we get to Pluto.”

 

“You all go back to your bunks now. The alarm call will sound when you’re needed.”

 

*RADIO INTERFERENCE. STATIC NOISE. SOUNDS RESEMBLING SHUFFLING FEET AND A VERBAL CLICKING NOISE*

 

*INDISCERNIBLE BACKGROUND VOICES. SOME OF THEM IDENTIFIABLE AS CREWMEMBERS*

 

*LOW, HEAVY BREATHING HEARD THROUGH INTERCOM. MOST LIKELY EXPLANATION-COMPUTER FAULT AMPLIFYING STATIC FEEDBACK*

 

“What the Hell’s going on Earth control!? You just told us to go back to our bunks! Now we hear you telling us to obey your orders? What’s the game!?”

 

“I’m sorry Samson but none of us know what you’re talking about.”

 

“No! You said our alarm call was over two hours away!”

 

“Samson, what is the meaning of-”

 

“What’s all this about opening the airlock?”

 

“Samson, do you read? DO YOU COPY!?”

 

*RADIO SILENCE FOR 7 SECONDS*

 

“Very well, Earth Control. Altering course now.”

 

*BEEP*

 

*STATIC INTERFERENCE*

 

*SAME UNNACCOUNTABLE CLICKING NOISE. THIS TIME QUICKER AND RANDOM IN SPEED, TONE AND RHYTHM*

 

“SAMSON! TELL US WHAT’S HAPPENING!”

 

“Hello Earth Control, co-ordinates changed. Course altered accordingly.”

 

“Hello Raleigh, this is Earth Control. On no accounts should you have altered course! Return to your previous course immediately!”

 

*RADIO SILENCE FOR 10 SECONDS*

 

“Earth Control, what are our orders now?”

 

“YOU MUST RESET YOUR COURSE AT ONCE!”

 

“Orders received, Earth Control. Speed decreased by 99%. Out of interest, what is all this about Dan?”

 

“JOHN! For God’s sake man, listen to me! Return to original course and speed!”

 

“Ah, I understand, Dan. For a second I thought there was something wrong!”

 

“What in Christ’s name are you talking about man?”

 

“No, we can’t see the Neptune Capsule yet. Do you know how long it will take?”

 

“Neptune Capsule? We have sent no Neptune Capsule, John.”

 

“That’s good; I’d hate to be stuck here for ages.”

 

“John, if this is some elaborate trick that you are playing at the expense of NASA of all things, then there’ll be hell and leather to pay when you get back! I know you said you were bored, but there is no need for this unnecessary wastage of valuable time, equipment and money! Now, RETURN TO ORIGINAL COURSE IMMEDIATELY!”

 

*RADIO SILENCE FOR 32 SECONDS*

 

“Dan?”

 

“Are you listening now, John?”

 

“What do you mean ‘now’? You ordered us to change course, and now you’re blaming us! It sounds like you’re the ones-”

 

*STATIC INTERFERENCE. UNNACCOUNTABLE CLICKING NOISE RETURNS. BACKGROUND PULSATING NOISE PRESENT ALSO*

 

“And what is that clicking noise!? Why do we keep on losing contact?”

 

“Copy Earth Control. Boy, I’m glad you cleared that up! I thought for a second there you were playing some trick at our expense!”

 

“John, I have no idea what’s going on. But please-”

 

“Earth Control, this is Captain Samson. We can see the Neptune Capsule. Preparing for docking operation. Funny, I don’t recognise the ship class.”

 

“John, I have orders right from the very top. Whatever’s happening, DO NOT CONTINUE! RETURN TO ORIGINAL COURSE!”

 

*CRACKLING NOISE. BANGING SOUNDS. RAISED VOICES HEARD IN BACKGROUND*

 

“Earth Control, what the Hell have you led us into!? For God’s sake what is-?”

 

*SAMSON’S VOICE RAISED SOMEWHERE IN BACKGROUND. SOUNDS OF A STRUGGLE. AUDIBLE CLICKING NOISE HEARD. SHORT CRY-PERHAPS FROM SAMSON.*

 

*SOUNDS OF SCRAPING NEAR TO MICROPHONE. FINAL CLICKING NOISES, THIS TIME RESEMBLING HUMAN SPEECH MIXED WITH RADIO STATIC. SOME SECTIONS OF SPEECH INAUDIBLE*

 

“We………..you……….not………….-lone in the univ-………….is ours……………not………-end……….assisstan………………”

 

*FINAL CLICKING NOISE, ALMOST RESEMBLING LAUGHTER.*

 

*RADIO SILENCE*

Author's Note

I thought that this would be an interesting experiment, trying to write a story by means of a running transcript, rather than a sequence of events.
That way, the reader can draw their own conclusions and try and work out what happens using their imagination :)

Reviews

[Sara Caverly]

Here's my review: I must say, this is a very interesting work! It was exciting and did leave a lot to the imagination. The end said 'alien' and I thought that was a great element. The transcript format worked well for the story. It was overall pretty brilliant, but I must bring a bit of critique to the table. I think some indication about when this occurred in time would have helped it some, and I was a little lost with the names. Other than that, excellent job.