The Messina Zone

In the near future, the crew of a starship tasked with finding planets capable of sustaining life ventures into a certain stretch of the void that has a rather bad reputation.

-LOG ENTRIES FROM CABIN [3] OF THE [S.R.V. DIANA]-

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[CERTAIN INFORMATION HERE HAS BEEN REDACTED]

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-LOG 1-

-EARTH TIME: 22:28-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 18, 2020-

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My name is Barbara Perrin. I am a nerd.

Okay, jokes aside. I am a crew member of the S.R.V. Diana. For all of you non-science-nerds, “S.R.V.” stands for “Space Research Vessel”. Our mission is to find and document planets that have suitable conditions for sustaining life. Basically, everyone here has signed themselves up for a good few years up in scenic outer space looking through visors and typing. Anyway, I am the ship’s Information System Technician, or, in layman’s terms, I do the computer stuff. Programming, typing, and finding problems in technology. That’s my game. So far, we’ve only been up here for a couple of days. You might think that being up here going boldly where no man--or woman--has gone before would be positively riveting. Well, in actuality, literally nothing has happened. Imagine going through two whole days of your life in which you do absolutely nothing except sit in a chair and stare at a wall. Yeah. Well, I better get some sleep. I’ve got a full day of recording information tomorrow.

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 2-

-EARTH TIME: 16:19-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 19, 2020-

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Well, things are starting to pick up around here.

We’ve finally gotten a couple of notches under our belt when it comes to planets. Oh, here’s something good. Jace, our Navigator, just came to all our cabins and informed us that we’re beginning to head towards the Messina Zone. I’ve actually read up on it, so here’s a little background. It’s a large area mostly filled with small stars which is named after the Strait of Messina, which, in Greek mythology, is where Jason and the Argonauts had to sail through to reach Greece. The Strait was said to be home to a bunch of pretty nasty creatures, like the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis. The Zone gained its name because it’s said that space vessels have ventured into it only to disappear without a trace. Ooooooh. Spooky, right? Nah, no one really believes it. What could possibly be in there to have destroyed so many ships?

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 3-

-EARTH TIME: 18:32-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 20, 2020-

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We officially entered the Messina Zone at midnight last night.

Everyone’s kind of having a laugh about it, saying that we’re “past the point of no return” and stuff like that. Our Flight Officer, Katherine, even joked about getting a message on her monitor that said “All Ye Who Enter Here Shall Die” before we passed in. I think we’re all in agreement that the whole “Space Bermuda Triangle” thing is a load of crap. As far as progress goes, we had been finding a pretty good amount of planets until we entered the Zone. So far, there’s absolutely nothing here except a surprising amount of space junk and some small stars scattered around. However, we’ve detected a large amount of planets worth investigating on the other side of the Zone. We’re too far in to turn back and go around, so the quickest way is straight through. Let’s hope that no legends come to life.

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 4-

-EARTH TIME: 15:45-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2020-

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It’s been three days since we entered the Messina Zone.

Normally, it wouldn’t take us more than a couple more days before we reach the perimeter again, but, under the circumstances, it’ll probably take a bit longer. Something’s wrong with the ship’s controls. No matter how much the steering is moved, we’re always moving slightly off course, directly left of where we were heading. Katherine and I have been trying to figure out what’s wrong with the controls, but so far we haven’t found any technical problems. It’s no cause for alarm, though. Worst case scenario, it’ll take longer than expected to exit the Zone. No big deal.

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 5-

-EARTH TIME: 23:56-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2020-

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Okay, now there’s a cause for alarm.

We were all woken up about 45 minutes ago by a noise that can only be described as an eerie singing. It sounds kind of like what you would expect a mermaid to sound like. It’s very strange...both unsettling and beautiful at once. It can’t be coming from the ship. Part of our training was to listen to and memorize the meanings of every alarm or signal sound in the entire ship’s mechanism, including anything that would be caused by a malfunction in the structure of the ship itself. After multiple full system checks, some of us have begun to get a bit scared, which I find completely understandable. I’m starting to get a bit freaked out myself. After all, we’re in the vacuum of space, where there is no sound, and yet we are hearing something that can only be coming from outside. I’m actually beginning to think that there’s a possibility of the stories being true.

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 6-

-EARTH TIME: 02:17-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2020-

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This is very, very bad.

As it turns out, we’re heading towards something after all. A star. We are heading directly towards what has to be the largest star in the Messina Zone. The real issue? No matter where the controls are supposed to be steering us, there is no change in our course. Unless we can find the issue, we are all dead. [INFORMATION EXPUNGED] I’ve just received word that there is absolutely no issue with the ship at all. There is no fault whatsoever in the structure, controls, or any of the systems. And the singing still hasn’t stopped. That can mean only one thing. The ‘singing’ has something to do with our course. Somehow, the sound must be affecting the controls in some way. While I’ve never heard of anything like this before, it’s possible that the sound is at a frequency that can somehow mess with the Diana’s steering mechanism. That should be impossible.... No. I can’t focus on that. All that matters now is finding some way to get out of this.

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 7-

-EARTH TIME: 19:56-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2020-

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We are officially, royally, and in every way screwed.

The Diana has just entered the gravitational field of the star. Even if it is the largest star in the Messina Zone, it’s still not that large of a star in general, so normally, it would be relatively easy to get out of its field. However, given our circumstances, it’s a very real possibility that we are all going to die. We’ve all come to the, albeit unusual, conclusion that the ‘singing’ we’ve been hearing has been, somehow, someway, affecting the controls of the Diana. We’ve also all come to the conclusion that the stories surrounding the Messina Zone have to be true. While we still have no idea of exactly what is happening, one thing is for sure: it’s the cause of the disappearances of all those other ships. [INFORMATION EXPUNGED] It stopped. The singing stopped. It’s completely gone. And the ship...we’re moving. Oh, my God, we’re actually getting out of here. I’m sobbing. We’re going to be okay....

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 8-

-EARTH TIME: 21:37-

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2020-

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Everything was going fine. We were all so optimistic. Then, all of our hopes and dreams were dropped straight off a cliff.

It took an extensive amount of time to turn the Diana around, given just how massive she is. But the moment we saw what was behind us.... We turned around to see three...creatures, I suppose we’ll call them; they appear to be alive, albeit, in no way human. They're just...floating there. They’re horrible. From the waist down, they have long, centipede-like tails that sway back and forth and curve around their bodies, with many small, leg-like appendages.... From the waist up, some may say that they very vaguely resemble women, but I put great emphasis on the word vaguely. Where skin should be, they have hardened, white exoskeletons, and their arms are long and spindly...but their faces. Oh, those horrid faces...I can barely even call them faces.... No noses, not even nostrils. No eyes, either. Just mouths. Not even mouths...mandibles. And completely hairless.... How can they even survive out there.... [INFORMATION EXPUNGED] We’re trapped. There’s nowhere to go. These...things are obviously what had caused those sounds. How could such beautiful sounds...possibly ever come out of such horrific creatures? [INFORMATION EXPUNGED] I’ve figured it out. They’re like the Sirens from legends and mythology. They used their voices to somehow pull the Diana across the Messina Zone into this star’s gravitational field. Then they gave us our control back, but by then it was too late. They trapped us here. I need to go tell the crew.

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-END OF LOG-

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-LOG 9-

-EARTH TIME: 22:17

-EARTH DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2020-

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We’ve discussed the situation and come to one conclusion.

We are left with a choice: which direction will we go? We’ve tried going around the star and out of the field, but the creatures are too fast. They can swim through the void like sailfish through water.... If they enter the field, they’ll be killed. They need us to come out. That space junk I mentioned before? The remnants of countless other ships. These things have been destroying all those other vessels...God knows what happened to all those people.... We have only two options: go forward and be torn apart, or go back and be burned alive. We’re dead either way. In all actuality, we really have no choice. [INFORMATION EXPUNGED] Wait...we’re moving. The ship is moving. I need to look out the w^_”~%~{!:

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[INFORMATION ENDS HERE]

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Author's Note

This is my most recent story. I'm rather new to writing as a hobby, so please don't judge me too harshly. Any typos are caused by me copy-pasting this from where I wrote it on Google Docs. All of the symbols are part of the story.

Reviews

[Nxy]

I really liked it, I think how you made the story in the form of a log.

[E Chadwick]

Thanks! I took inspiration from the book The Martian, which, if you haven't read, I highly recommend.

[W0W7hi7]

I found this story from Pintrest and I fell in love with it! You are an amazing writer and you should make more like this!

[E Chadwick]

Thank you so much! The book I'm currently working on (which is on this website) is sort of sci-fi, so you might enjoy that too.