Deep Space Killer

IN the depths of space, in the deep black between the spiralling arms of the galaxy, a horror born of nightmare resides.

None can say what it looks like, for none who have encountered it have survived. The Selingi of Foradda Prime call it the Hidden Death. The Nitronus of the Fablus Cluster call it the Unseen Hell. And the Humans of the Terran Enclave, with typical creativity, have named it the Deep Space Killer.

Whether Hidden Death, Unseen Hell, or Deep Space Killer, the result is the same. A ship is reported missing. Some time later, it is found, adrift in the deep black. The entire ship, whether bio-organic, fusion propulsion, or gravitic drive, has had all energy depleted from it's systems. And the crew...

Death was a mercy.

At first the Deep Space Killer was dismissed as a spook story, akin to the tales of sea serpents and dragons ancient mariners would spin. But as the death toll mounted over the decades, and other starfaring species spoke of similar experiences, gradually opinions began to change.

It took the deaths of a shipload of Enclave officials for the Terrans to finally decide to do something about the Deep Space Killer. Most sentient species accepted the loss of one or two of their starships, once in a while, as merely one of the risks of star travel. But the Humans, with their need to dominate all aspects of the universe, from subatomic particles to the vast forces of the stars, grew rabid in their lust for revenge upon the Deep Space Killer.

Their starship armada was mobilized. They hunted the depths of the deep black between the spiralling arms of the galaxy, seeking their foe. Their scientists formulated theories, ran computer simulations and tried to determine what the Deep Space Killer was. Many theories presented themselves over the ensuing years. The Deep Space Killer was a band of marauders, pirates of the stars. The Deep Space Killer was a being made of anti-energy, sucking the life forces and energies of the ship's drive systems vampire-like to continue existing. The Deep Space Killer was a form of mass insanity, as planet-born races were not intended to face the vast empty nothingness of the deep black and stay sane.

But each of these theories were debunked in turn. A band of marauders would leave a trace - their propulsion drives would trail away from the derelict ships. A being of anti-energy did not explain the mutilations of the crew. And several starfaring species had been doing so for tens of thousands of years, long enough to psychologically adapt to the nothingness of the void.

Gradually over the decades the cost of the hunt grew prohibitive, with lives lost and ships destroyed, and the Humans reluctantly called off their pursuit of the Deep Space Killer. But the hunt seemed to anger whatever it was that was killing in the deep black, and now, no ship can travel there, for none who dare, ever return.