The Haunted Traveler May 2017 Edition

My eyes widened as I saw the enormity of the ship.
We had mostly been on rescue ops for ships close to
our size, a handful of midsized passenger ships, but
nothing like this. The ceiling had to be at least 15 meters
high, cargo spread all around the walls of the room.
There was another door at the other side, but it had to
be at least a hundred meters away, minimum, and cargo
scattered in piles on the floor.
“They use these bad boys to haul supplies to the
Expansion Territories,” Leif said, answering our curiosity.
“Some of the planets have natural resources or
are farm-ready, but others need some terraforming to
make them habitable.”
There was a console that had lit up when we entered
the ship, and Khalis had stationed himself in front of it,
typing away.
“How many people does it take to man one of these
things?” I asked, still staring in awe at the bay we had
come out into.
“Usually it can hold at least a hundred, but according
to the manifests, this one was run by a skeleton
crew of 30 or so,” Khalis said, staring intently at the
console.
“30?” Tallis said as he closed the door to the airlock.
“If there’s 30 people on this ship, then where are they?
Shouldn’t they be here to greet their rescuers?”
The silence that followed Tallis’ words was the
heaviest silence I’ve ever heard. It pressed in from all
sides, overbearing in its vastness.
“We should be able to at least hear them at this
point. Hear anything,” I said quietly.
“Tallis, you and Khalis check out the bridge. See if
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