Live Cargo

The cargo ship Corvina has been in transit for 41 days. In hold 3, there's something that isn't on the manifest

TRANSIT · DAY 41 · Internal messaging console. Voice disabled to conserve power.

Yuen: Morning, everyone. Rada and Bakri on duty. Coffee's rationed to half a cup, sorry.

Rada: half a cup and 41 days, I'm filing a complaint with the union, Captain

Yuen: File it when we dock, and I'll buy you a full one.

CORVINA: Heads up: hold 3, temperature is +6.2°C above setpoint. Steady upward trend.

Bakri: I'm on it, it's on my way anyway

Bakri: container 9's seal has been busted from the inside

Rada: from the inside?

Bakri: the hinges are bent outward, that's not cargo impact damage

Yuen: Bakri, what was in 9? My manifest just says frozen biomass, no other details.

Bakri: same on mine, but the floor's soaked and it doesn't smell frozen

Bakri: smells like a slaughterhouse in summer

Yuen: Get up here. We'll seal the hold and check it out in suits.

DAY 41 · 11:02

Yuen: Bakri hasn't come up.

Rada: his locator's still in hold 3, hasn't moved since 07:31

Yuen: Idrissi and I are going down. Rada, you stay on the console.

DAY 41 · 11:48

Idrissi: We found him between 9 and 11.

Idrissi: He's split open from sternum to groin.

Idrissi: The ribs are bent outward, all of them, like the spokes of an inverted umbrella.

Idrissi: And there's nothing left inside. No organs, no blood, no clots.

Idrissi: It's clean, Rada. Clean as if it had been scrubbed out.

Yuen: We're bringing the body up to the infirmary. Rada, seal hold 3 and the entire lower passageway.

Rada: sealing now