RIFT
ELEVATOR
ENRUUA
RECOVERED DOCUMENT

The recall order

04:01–04:19. Commander Graf tries to stop the C-9 before it clears the rim lock. Reconstructed from the command channel.

Recovered document. Reproduced as found; spelling and gaps are original. The archive does not vouch for its claims.

Extract from the Asterion command channel log for the night of the blackout. Gaps are original. Times are station time.

04:01:12SYSTEMLaunch request filed. C-9 / recovery / pilot M. VENN. Routing: Relay Control.
04:02:42SYSTEMLaunch request routed: Command.
04:02:58GRAFVenn, this is Graf. Request denied. The rim is locked. Step out of the cradle.
04:03:10VENNRecovery missions don’t need your countersignature during an emergency, Commander. Section nine. You wrote it.
04:03:16GRAFThe emergency is the reason the rim is locked.
04:03:21VENNThe emergency is that my brother is talking to us from the bottom of the shaft.
04:03:30GRAFSomething is talking to us with your brother’s voice. You heard what it said. You are exactly the person it wants down there.
04:03:41VENNThen it’s going to get me.
04:04:05SYSTEMC-9 coupler online. Descent lock engaged.
04:04:30GRAFOkafor, cut the cradle power.
04:04:39OKAFORCradle’s on its own coupler, Commander. Demir’s modification. I can’t cut it from here.
04:05:02GRAFVenn. If you go, I will charge you with unauthorised descent and I will recall you from the first relay you pass.
04:05:11VENNNo relays left to recall me from.
04:05:13SYSTEMC-9 ascent override: DISABLED by pilot.
04:05:20GRAF…Marek.
04:05:24VENNKeep a light on in the cradle, Commander.
04:05:31SYSTEMC-9 released. Rim lock cycling.
04:06:—[11 minutes, 40 seconds of channel silence]
04:17:52OKAFORC-9, upper relay. Do you read.
04:18:30VENN—ead you. Floor one-one. They’re already here. Lots of them. Sana, they were waiting.
04:18:41OKAFORCopy, floor one-one. Light’s on, Venn.
04:19:00GRAFLog the recall order as issued and refused. And log that the upper relay stays open. That is also an order.

The ninety-second routing delay between 04:01:12 and 04:02:42 was recorded by the investigation as a desk routing fault. See Sana Okafor.

Related articles

ARCHIVE RECORDThe Asterion blackout (2217)At 03:17 station time all eleven lower relays go dark. The last packet carries six words in the voice of a man missing for three years.ARCHIVE RECORDCommander Helene GrafRim commander of Asterion Station. She locked the rim, ordered the evacuation and issued the recall order Marek ignored.ARCHIVE RECORDMarek VennSalvage pilot, younger brother of Ilyan Venn, and the only person aboard the C-9 when it went down against orders in 2217.ARCHIVE STORYSix words03:17, the night of the blackout. Sana Okafor is alone at the relay desk when eleven lights go out at once.