Emory Thorne sat in the systems maintenance room on the third floor of OrionX's main building, the blue glow from three monitors casting ghostly shadows across his pale face. At 2:15 AM, the entire floor was silent except for the low hum of servers. It was exactly what he needed—enough solitude to complete what he'd been planning for six years.
His fingers paused over the keyboard, not from hesitation, but from memory.
The fireball when Meridian exploded still burned in his dreams. Marcus, Sarah, David—his companions incinerated in the main cabin while he cowered in the escape pod, listening to their final screams fade into the silence of space.
But now he knew the truth. It hadn't been an accident. It had been murder. Someone had deliberately modified the navigation algorithms, killing his friends in Jupiter's orbit. And that someone—or those people—were preparing to do the same thing to the Saturn probe.
Unless he acted first.
Emory pulled up the Saturn probe's primary navigation system. His maintenance clearance gave him access to most of the core algorithm modules. For the past three months, he'd been studying these systems, searching for the most effective way to sabotage them. Not to recreate Meridian's tragedy, but to prevent it from happening again.
If the Saturn mission failed, if the systems showed critical errors before launch, then no one would die in space. No astronauts would die alone, millions of miles from Earth, like Marcus and the others.
His plan was elegant: introduce what appeared to be a random system error that would force the probe into safe mode on the third day after launch, automatically returning it to Earth orbit. A technical failure, but not a fatal one. OrionX would lose billions, but at least no one would die.
Not this time.
Emory began modifying key parameters in the orbital calculation modules. His changes were subtle—under normal testing conditions, the system would run flawlessly. But once in deep space, when the probe began executing complex orbital maneuvers, the accumulated calculation errors would trigger safety protocols and abort the mission.
He was inputting the final lines of code when the maintenance room door suddenly opened.
Emory's fingers instantly left the keyboard as he turned to see Eli Drake standing in the doorway, expression grim, holding a data storage device.
"I knew I'd find you here," Eli said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. "You're modifying the navigation algorithms, aren't you?"
Emory didn't deny it or try to hide the code on his screen. "You don't understand—"
"I understand perfectly," Eli interrupted. "I know what happened to Meridian. I know it wasn't an accident. And I know you're a survivor."
At these words, Emory's face grew even paler. "Then you should understand why I have to do this. They killed my friends, Eli. Marcus, Sarah, David—they all died because someone wanted to cover something up."
"So you're going to sabotage the Saturn mission?"
"I'm saving lives!" Emory shot to his feet. "You don't understand how ruthless they are. If the Saturn mission succeeds, if OrionX proves they can send humans to the edge of the solar system, then the next mission will have astronauts. Real people, not unmanned probes. And when something goes wrong—"
"Then you'll be just like whoever killed your friends," Eli said quietly. "You're making decisions based on fear and revenge, not reason and science."
Emory shook his head, tears in his eyes. "You don't know what it's like to die in space. To hear your friends screaming over the radio, knowing you can never save them. To watch their life support systems fail one by one while you sit in an escape pod waiting for rescue."
"Then tell me the truth," Eli took a step forward. "Tell me who killed them and why. We can find the real killers together, instead of sabotaging a scientific mission that could save countless lives."
Emory looked at Eli, seeing sincerity in his eyes, but also danger. If Eli knew the full truth, if he started investigating the real forces behind Meridian, he might die too. Just like Marcus and the others.
"Some things are more complicated than you imagine, Eli," Emory said softly. "Some people have enough power to cover up any truth, to kill any threat."
"Then we need to be smarter than they are."
Emory stared at the code on his screen. He'd already modified 80% of the critical modules. Just a few more commands and his plan would be complete. The Saturn probe would return to Earth shortly after launch—mission failed, but no one dead.
But if he stopped, if he trusted Eli to find and expose the real killers, then maybe—maybe they could actually prevent the next murder.
"Do you have evidence?" Emory asked. "About Meridian's truth?"
Eli held up the storage device. "I have technical analysis reports proving those navigation errors were deliberately introduced. I have personnel records showing who had access to modify the systems. And I have—" he paused, "I have your survival records, Emory. You know more than anyone."
Emory closed his eyes, Marcus's voice echoing in his memory: "If we don't come back, you make sure the world knows the truth."
Maybe it was time. Maybe he should stop trying to prevent tragedy through sabotage and seek justice by exposing the truth instead.
But then the maintenance room door opened again.
Milo Harlan stood in the doorway, flanked by two security guards. His gaze swept between Emory and Eli before settling on the modified code displayed on the screen.
"Looks like I arrived just in time," Milo said coldly. "Dr. Vale was worried you might do something foolish here, Thorne. I didn't expect you to drag our esteemed chief engineer into it."
Emory's hand slowly moved toward the keyboard's enter key. All he had to do was press it, and all his modifications would be committed to the system. The Saturn mission would be technically doomed to failure, but at least no one would die.
"Don't move, Thorne," Milo warned. "You've caused enough trouble already."
"Trouble?" Emory laughed bitterly. "You want to know what real trouble is, Harlan? Real trouble is discovering that people you trust will kill innocent astronauts for money and power."
Milo's expression changed, becoming more dangerous. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you know exactly what he's talking about," Eli interjected. "Just like you know your brother didn't die from technical failure."
The air in the room suddenly grew heavy. Milo's face darkened while the security guards looked confused but remained alert.
Emory realized this might be his only chance. He glanced at Eli, seeing understanding and determination in those intelligent eyes. Maybe they really could expose the truth and find justice for Marcus and the others.
But maybe they couldn't.
His finger hovered over the enter key, the fate of the entire Saturn mission hanging on this moment's choice.