The ambient lighting dulled slightly with a flicker, before settling in slightly brighter than before. Spangler and the technician assisting him stopped mid-task, simultaneously glancing up and around the room before making uncertain eye-contact with one another. Albert was the first to break the silence, “What the hell did you do?” The tech raised  his hands in front of him, with a vague ‘wasn’t me’ expression. The sensor console came alive, interrupting with the familiar chirp. Both men looked at the display apprehensively, before the Ensign’s comm badge interrupted the moment.

=/\=“Lisald to Spangler. Al, your department is now powered to 101.3%. We are really looking forward to all you discover for us.”=/\=

Spangler tapped the device, “Thank you, Lieutenant. We’ll be popping breakers in no time.” He made eye contact with the tech again, both shrugging. The ship had just recently come into range to make complete use of the long range sensors, to a resolution which would give them something useful. He looked back to the console, which with the boost in power things were moving much quicker. Albert’s jaw dropped slowly, as he began to make sense of the information speeding past. “Oh crap.” 

 “I need two Class IX probes readied with sensor pallets configured. Let me know when the calibration is confirmed.” The words came without his eyes moving an inch nor did Albert wait for a response before passing through the lab doors. He knew the probes were ready, but given the situation, he couldn’t afford to not know for sure. The sensor console in the lab was more than capable, and the fact it wasn’t on the bridge appealed greatly to him, but Spangler knew this situation was best handled from that very location. 

The bridge doors opened, Albert slowed to a reasonable pace just before passing through. He went straight to the Science station, oblivious to activity already going on in the room. The Ensign focused on maintaining a neutral expression as he hurried to pull up the information that was coming in. He didn’t bother referring to the data they already had; even if it was correct, which seemed unlikely now, it was already running through his mind. At least one space-faring civilization to be specific. And specifically, the fact that there was now nothing of the sort. It was all gone. The lifeform analysis cluster had completed it’s work, and found nothing. “Double crap.” Albert whispered to himself.

The Ensign looked up, realizing he was now not only the bearer of bad news, but he didn’t have a good explanation for why either.  

“Triple crap.”

OFF:

A post that I almost named “Triple Crap”, by yours truly,

Ensign Albert Spanger, Acting Chief Science Officer, USS Cygnus

(Dictated, not read)