Pirate Radio

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. However, they can sure hear you sing! Next up we have the latest pop song of 2134 coming all the way from earth, ‘Can you Still Hear Me.’” Marshall slid down his audio track while raising the new one. The song faded in and the bubbly pop star started her song.

Marshall rolled his eyes while he removed his headset and placed it on the stand near his computer monitor. They sure don’t make music the way they use to, he thought to himself as he slumped in his chair. He sat a minute watching the audio waves on his monitor rise and fall, the screeching of the singer could be heard from the headset. Marshall sighed heavily and stood up and stretched his arms above his head. He even went on his tiptoes as if that would deepen the stretch. He slouched and spun around on his heels to exit the small padded room. 

He shut the door behind him and glanced up at the clock ticking down above the door. It read ‘2:06:46.' Which was perfect. It would leave him with plenty of time to pick up his supply drop. He scanned the room from left to right. His sleeping area was tidy aside from the neatly stacked pile of clothes on the ground. Marshall tended to walk around naked a lot of the time, it saved him from having to hand wash his clothes. In the corner of the room sat a comfy, blue, corduroy couch. There was also a coffee table with a huge map of “Ganymede” Jupiter’s moon hanging off of it. A red line on the map showed the path Marshall would have to take to reach his supply drop every month. At the end of the path was a circle with a little doodle of a treasure chest brimming with food. Marshall was very proud of his little drawing. Honestly, this area felt like home, he was even allowed a lamp that shone orange light instead of the cool blue light like the rest of the facility.  

The whole other side of the room contained the kitchen, a tiny workout space, and the bathroom. The ‘kitchen,’ if you could call it that was full of cupboards and compartments that held many rations of dried food and tubes that looked like toothpaste. The only real equipment in the kitchen was a sink, which had to be used pretty sparingly since water has always been such a problem to transport in space. These days it's mostly recycled back into the facility.

Finally, in the corner of the room there was the closet. It isn’t much of a closet anymore, Marshall took everything he could out of it one day and decided to set up a radio station. Jupiter’s largest moon still didn’t have a ton of inhabitants yet, mostly just scientists and people like Marshall. He figured the people here deserved good music, plus he wasn’t a half-bad radio host. 

Marshall was stationed on Ganymede to record activity on the moon. Not very interesting work for a scientist, so sometimes the company would hire freelancers to do the boring as well as dangerous work. The upside is that the pay is pretty decent. Ganymede has been a hot topic in the scientific community for a while now, they have been looking to terraform the moon and start making colonies. Since the Earth has been overcrowded since the early 2100s.

Directly in front of Marshall was the airlock which would lead into the changing area. Before he stepped into the next room he glanced back at the clock and it read ‘2:05:29.’ He walked on through and shut the door behind him locking it and making sure that it was sealed properly. Along the sides of this tube-like room were three space suits on either side, bright orange with accents of white. On the shoulder was the emblem of the Interstellar Colonization and Deep Space Exploration Assembly. Or for short the C.D.SEA. Their logo was the planet Earth with the C.D.SEA’s entire name encased around it. A 1950’s space shuttle was plastered on the front with the nose of the ship escaping the edges of the planet. 

Marshall suited up in the first orange space suit ensuring all safety measures on his suit were working properly. Just before he slipped on his communication cap he catches a reflection of himself in his helmet. He notices that his coarse brown hair was getting pretty long as well as his poorly grown patchy beard. Maybe when he got back he would try and trim it a bit. With his cap on he grabbed his helmet and twisted it until it made a satisfying click sound, locking it in place. Clumsily, he made his way to the control console on the other side of the room and pushed in the sequence to deactivate the artificial gravity. A blinking red light and a siren activated. Marshall went to sit down at one of the lockers, the empty one he took his suit from. The suit itself was pretty heavy mostly due to the oxygen tank as well as the entire thing having its own heating system. He glanced at the thermometer near the control panel which was still flashing red and it read -112 degrees celsius. Marshall stuck out his bottom lip and started to nod to himself. Not bad, that’s a lot warmer than the other day… Jeez, people only talk about the weather when they don’t have anything else to talk about. Marshall sighed and continued to wait while the room acclimatized. 

Eventually, the sirens stopped. Hissing air filled the room indicating that the room was pressurized successfully. The red flashing light turned green, followed by the sound of mechanisms unlocking the huge metal door on the other side of the room. Marshall leaned forward and bent his arms readying them against the bench. He pushed up propelling his entire body up into the air. His helmet hit the top of the tube and made a loud ding sound before sending him back down.

“Ow!” Cried Marshall. He flushed a little, “Now I’m talking to myself…” No one answered. “Great.” He said. Marshall cleared his throat and started hopping his way to the door. He pushed it open revealing the vast landscape of Ganymede. 

Looking out past the research station nestled in between hills of ice and rock lies the frozen desolate moon. Spikes of ice shoot out of the ground haphazardly. Some spikes transformed into caves and canopies, able to let light through. Sections of the surface have dark grey rock breaking through sections of the ice, usually creating vast mountain ranges. Over time ice starts to accumulate and freeze those mountain ranges creating a thin layer of ice. There was a light wind today blowing specks of ice that sparkled as the sun hit them. Looking down at the ice Marshall can see his reflection with almost perfect accuracy along with the sky above him, which was dancing with vibrant colour. The aurora borealis, wisps of purple and green light fill the sky making this cold barren planet feel alive. However, nothing was more awe-inspiring than the huge ball of gas, Jupiter. The gas giant consumed the moons horizon. Jupiter was so close you could see the storms forming on the planet's surface. As Jupiter sunk behind the horizon Marshall began to dread the three and a half days of complete darkness he’d have to endure. The night usually brought with it a grim atmosphere followed by a quiet whistling. The whistling was a constant thing and it seemed to only get louder at night. Marshall always felt uneasy when he could hear it and wasn’t willing to bring it up with the other scientist. He didn’t want them to think he was going crazy and reassign him back to Earth.

Marshall held down a button located in his glove “ OV-195 Pathfinder this is Marshall Hemshaw of Perrine Research Lab, just checking in, over.” Marshall releases the button, and a couple seconds of silence followed. Until a female voice came over the radio. 

“Oh Marshall, you’re always so serious.” There is a hint of flirtation in her voice. “ I really enjoyed our… chat last night.” He could almost hear her smile over the radio. Marshall blushed a little and pushed down the button to respond. All that came out was a jumble of sounds when he attempted to speak. He released the button.

“Sorry I didn’t quite catch that, over.” Jesse teased.

“I had a good time too, it was nice, to connect like that.” Marshall couldn’t help but smile, however, his stomach dropped and the guilt set in. He could feel his wedding band scrape against the inside of his glove, becoming heavier the wider his smile became. Both were aware of Marshalls commitment to another.

Jesse spoke over the radio to break the awkwardness. “So, what can I do for my favourite regional research specialist?”

Marshall laughs, “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“It’s your job, duh,” Jesse mocks. 

“You and I both know it's just a fancy title. I basically just take pictures and collect rock samples. This job is so tedious they don’t even get a real scientist to do it anymore!” Contends Marshall.

“True, but you're still my favourite.” Jesse teased. Marshall blushed again. The two of them continued their flirtatious dialogue as Marshall readied his equipment for his journey. He located his moon rover and unplugged it from the building, checking to make sure the charge was full. Sometimes the solar panels couldn’t pick up the sun's rays due to the severe storms the moon would get. The battery was full and feeling confident Marshall hopped into his lunar rover and set out.

“I really wish the drop point wasn’t so far,” Marshall complained.

“Marshall, if they dropped it any closer the terrain could become unstable. The surface ice would crack causing the whole research lab (along with you,) to go tumbling down into the underground ocean.” Chided Jesse.

“Yes, yes, I know. You’re literally the smartest person on this whole planet, you know everything.” Marshall responded sarcastically.

“Moon!” She chirped.

“Moon.” He repeats with a smirk.

“Also technically, I’m not currently on the moon.” 

“Okay, you’re the smartest person orbiting the moon then.”

“Dr. Garcias is currently orbiting Earth’s moon right now.” Jesse explained.

“Well, in that case, I can’t believe I’m stuck working with the most annoying scientist in the known universe.”

“You’re not, you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting my younger sister.” The two joked as Marshall drove through the cold barren wasteland. The aurora borealis was still lighting the sky as Jupiter continued to sink behind the landscape. “Did you make any special request?” Jesse asked curiously.

Marshall hesitated to decide on whether or not to answer. “Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me!?” Jesse cried.

“You remember how we played that game? The one where I told you what I looked like and you tried to draw me? Well, I actually asked for pencils and paper… so maybe I could give it a shot. You know, drawing you.” Marshall jabbered. His hands sweaty in his gloves. There was silence from the other end. “Hello?”

“Marshall, that is very sweet.”

“Don’t say anything yet, I am not known for my artistic abilities. If anything you may end up looking like the abominable snowman with a clubbed foot.” Marshall joked.

“That’s what my drawing of you looks like!” Laughed Jesse.

Marshall eventually made it to the drop point, the wind was picking up and creating a blizzard in the fading light. There was a circle of red lights piercing through the blizzard indicating where the supply drop should be. Marshall parked the rover but left it running and started to squint. He couldn’t see the supply box.

“Ah, Jess? Are we sure my shipment was dropped off?” Marshall questioned.

“Yes, is it not there?”

“No, it’s not.” Marshall could hear the clacking of Jesse’s keyboard through the microphone.

“It looks like flight lieutenant Devron Smith dropped it exactly twenty-three minutes ago. Are you sure it’s not there?” Marshall scanned the area, even outside the red markers.

“Unless I’m going blind I don’t see it.”

“Okay, hang tight a minute I’ll see if I can contact lieutenant Smith.” 

Marshall was left all alone, it grew darker. The unsettling whistling sound could be heard through the storm. Stepping out of the rover he made his way toward the red markers. As he got closer he heard the ice crack underfoot and he immediately stopped. That’s weird. I remember the ice being thicker here. Not willing to take any chances Marshall got down on his stomach and inched closer to the drop point. Eventually, it became clear what happened. There was a huge hole in the centre. It looked like the supply drop cracked through the ice, shearing a hole into the surface. What's the saying? Did curiosity kill the cat? You’re a fucking idiot Marshall. Against better judgment, Marshall inched closer to the chasm until his head was barely peaking over.

Marshall held down the button to activate his microphone. “I figured out what happened. Looks like my supply drop crashed right through the ice.”

After a couple of seconds of silence, Jesse finally replied. “That’s impossible, that drop point is stable.”

“Maybe the planet is melting” Marshall joked.

Jesse did not laugh. “This doesn’t make sense.” After a couple of moments of thinking, Jesse continued, “Marshall, try and take pictures of the area, but be careful. We don’t want you falling in. We’ll figure out a way to get you your supplies.”

Marshall reached for the light located on his helmet and tried to flip the switch. The light turned on and the area lit up. He hit another button located in his glove to make a video recording. Marshall was able to peer down and make out smooth rock walls. At a certain point, the wall would jut out and plateau before dropping again. The underground area had plenty of natural openings and passageways leading into darkness. He was only able to see so far with the darkness creeping up from below. The sound of water lapping against jagged rocks rung through the cavern. Marshall leaned farther in hoping to see the water down below. His light wasn’t able to pierce through the darkness.

The section of the ice Marshall was laying on began to crack. Marshall froze. Slowly he started to inch back and stopped the video recording. While Marshall’s hand slid back over the ice he felt an indentation that he didn’t notice before. He turned his head to see three scratch marks carved into the ice. Marshall looked puzzled, and with his hand traced over it, he dug his nails into the ice hoping to leave a similar mark. The gloves of his suit took off the first layer of frost but wasn’t able to cut any deeper.

At this moment he heard the crackling of his headset. “Hey, Mar - get back to the - it looks like a - is coming - way, please - back.” Marshall figured the signal was being broken up by the storm which was only intensifying. 

“You’re starting to break up there Jess, but I took a recording of the area. It looked like it crashed right through.” Marshall waited for her response but all he got back was the cold silence of static. “Over.” 

Marshall retreated to his rover and got in. The storm was picking up, creating a white wall of blowing snow. The purple and green lights tried to pierce through the blizzard but to no avail. Marshall turned in his seat and raised a section of the rover and activated the heavy-duty flood lights. Even these lights didn’t help much, only reflecting the blinding white light. However, he did have a GPS that would be able to guide him back safely. Marshall glanced at the device on his wrist to see that his suit temperature was dropping. Instinctively, he turned up the temperature even though he knew that this would drain the suit's battery faster. The drive back to the facility would only be half an hour, maybe an hour because of the storm, so he wasn’t worried. Marshall put the Rover into gear and began his journey back to the lab. It was only in the silence of the drive did he start worrying about how he was going to feed himself.

Marshall was able to make it back to the lab without much incident. There was however that infernal whistling that seemed to follow him all the way back. Marshall plugged in the rover and was quite thankful that he didn’t have to unload his supply crate in this weather. He stepped through the airlock and began the tedious process of engaging the gravity. As soon as the doors opened to his cozy lab he grabbed the blanket that was hanging off the couch and wrapped himself up. Walking into the kitchen he grabbed the second to last silver bottle that was labeled coffee. He shook the bottle for a couple of seconds before the thing heated up and then cooled. He cracked the lid off and took a swig, it filled him with a pleasant warmness.

Glancing up, the timer read ‘0:37:12.’ That trip took longer than I thought, probably because of the blizzard… and literally everything going wrong. At least my track didn’t end. Marshall slipped on sweatpants as well as a pullover, then proceeded to waddle into his office. His first task was to try and make contact with Jesse, which should be easy. The stronger signal from the base reached the OV-195 Pathfinder and Marshall was able to make contact.

“OV Pathfinder this is Marshall Hemshaw, I was able to make it back to the Perrine research facility. I lost contact due to a storm.”

“Marshall!” Cried Jesse. “I hate losing you in the field like that.”

“Eh, what can you do.” He says with a smirk. 

Marshall was unable to know for certain but, he sensed Jesse rolling her eyes. “Listen, your supply drop should have never broken through like that. We specifically chose that location because it was stable.”

“Then what happened?”

“We don’t know.” Marshall was silent, he leaned forward and twiddled his thumbs. “But we do have some good news, you won’t starve out there.”

“That is good news!”

Jesse was biting her lip. “There is bad news as well…”

Marshall laughed, “ Of course.”

“We obviously won’t be able to make another drop at the same location. So, in the meantime, we’ll make a drop at a different research base.”

“So, you want me to pick up my supply drop from another location?”

“Yes.”

Marshall was silent for a second trying to make calculations in his head. “But, isn’t the next base over at least nine hours away?”

“Yes.”

“What about the suits? They can only last about eight hours out in the cold?”

“That is why you are going to have to take the batteries from the other suits with you and replace them when they start to die.”

“How many? Four?”

“You should take all of them, just in case. Trust me, you don’t want to be stranded out there.”

“I heard that freezing to death was actually quite peaceful.”

“Not funny, this is serious Marshall.”

“I know, I know. “ Marshall let out a sigh. “Should I leave right away?”

“No. The soonest we can get a supply drop ready is twenty-four hours. You still have emergency rations right?”

“Yes, if you call those tubes of calories and protein food.”

“Well, you might have to have one for dinner tonight. We’re going to contact Ajani from Nun Sulci research facility and inform him of the situation. For your own safety, we're going to ask you to stay with him once you get there, so you can recharge the rover as well as the batteries.”

“You know I took this job to get away from people.”

“You like Ajani, he’s the one who requests all that funky disco music.” 

“Jess, there’s a reason disco died back in the ’70s, the 1970s!”

“Look it will be good to have some human contact, plus this isn’t a request, it's an order.”

“Okay, well, I have to finish up here and upload the video. There wasn’t too much to look at, might not even be worth looking into. We can maybe send drones down eventually.”

“Mmm maybe, first thing first though, and that’s to find you a new drop location.”

“Sounds good.” Changing the subject Marshall asks, “Does Leading Research Director Jesse Morales have any request for the radio?”

Jesse took a moment to think. “Do you remember when you first got the radio station up and running, and we-“

“How can I forget.” Marshall smiled.


The next morning came around and Marshall was already preparing for his journey to Nun Sulci Station. He gathered his maps, and equipment and piled everything into his moon rover. It seemed a tight squeeze but being mildly uncomfortable sounded better than potentially freezing to death on a desolate moon millions of miles from Earth. Most importantly he set up his radio station to continue playing music continuously for the next couple of days. He gave a detailed account to his listeners, informing them of his journey. After loading everything up and having his filling breakfast that consisted of shake-a-coffee and protein from a tube, he was ready to set out.

It was dark and would continue to be dark for the next three days. There was no aurora borealis, making the planet feel colder than it was. The ice fields looked sharp. Marshall had to drive with the rover’s floodlights on. This time, however, the light reached far and made it easy to see. 

Marshall's drive to the next station over was pretty uneventful, aside from the annoying whistling sound driving him mad. He adjusted the rover's radio to pick up his broadcast turning up the music to drown out the sound. He also enjoyed a pleasant conversation with Jesse. Talking about anything and everything, food, movies, sex, they always had a good time together, Marshall just wished he could see her face.

Upon reaching Nun Sulci station Marshal’s heart dropped, all the way down to his feet. “I think

I’m going to be sick.” 

“What?” Jesse was still laughing from their previous conversation, “Everything okay?”

“The a -“ Marshall stammered unable to find the words. He was looking at the Nun Sulci research facility, almost identical in every way to his. Except for the fact that this base was torn apart. The long airlock tube was completely destroyed, and huge gashes were torn out of the hallway. Remains of space suits were scattered all over. The building itself look compromised, with a huge gash in the wall. Right next to the tipped-over moon rover. Marshall stepped out of his vehicle.

“Marshall, what is it?” Jesse asked with more concern.

“When was the last time you made contact with Ajani?”

“About three hours ago, why? Marshall what happened?”

Marshall gulped, “The base is destroyed.” There was silence on both ends. Until Jesse spoke up.

“Oh Ha ha, Marshall very-“

“I am serious.” Jesse stopped talking immediately. She never heard Marshall with this much conviction before, she was becoming worried, “I need to see if Ajani is in there.” Marshall turned off the rover's radio, yet he could still hear it. It sounded like it was coming from the base.

“Wait, Marshall, I need to find the proper procedure.”

“There isn’t enough time! The atmosphere here carries small amounts of oxygen he might still be alive, and in need of help.”

“But there isn’t enough to survive here, that’s why you're still in suits!”

“I’m going.” There was silence. The whistling pierced Marshall's head sounding like it was coming from inside it.

“Just be careful, I’m staying on with you, but I need to find out the proper procedure.”


Marshall froze where he was standing. All the courage and bravado he had a second ago vanished, he was terrified. The song on the radio ended and the next one started up. Marshall started to inch toward the base, making his way to the airlock door. It wouldn’t open. The red light was flashing indicating that the hallway was trying to pressurize. Marshall looked about the torn room. Don’t think that is going to be happing any time soon. He circled the building hopping in the light gravity. He found the gash in the wall. The area was more than big enough to squeeze through. Carefully trying not to nick his suit Marshall climbed through the opening.

He entered an area extremely similar to his own. However, Ajani was slumped over a console in the middle of the room. He wasn’t wearing a suit or moving, Marshall noticed a pool of red liquid dripping onto the floor. Glancing around now Marshall could see streaks of red all over the room. It was always in three, like claw marks. Marshall's legs started to wobble. Like the claw marks left on the ice. He remembered brushing his hand over it, but he didn’t say anything to anyone. There was too much going on! It was just scratch marks, it could have been caused by anything, anything! Marshall’s heart started to race and yet he still walked over to Ajani. He tried grabbing his shoulder but accidentally bumped him too hard. Ajani fell off the console twisting onto his back. Marshall reached his hand up to his mouth but banged it on his helmet. Looking down, Ajani’s entire chest had been torn into. Blood spilled out of him and pooled onto the floor. His face wasn’t much better. There were three deep claw marks gashed across his face. Marshall stumbled back “Jesse, are- are you there?”

“Of course, are you okay? What happened?”

Marshall almost keeled over due to the whistling sound in his head. It hurts! It’s unbearable! What’s happening? Am I going crazy? I just want to scream! Then it stopped and got extremely cold. Marshall felt a pain in his back and blood shot out in front of him covering the console in blood. Marshall tried to scream but only bubbles came out in a mixture of blood and saliva. Tears welled up in his eyes terrified that he was unable to speak. He glanced down to see three black pillars protruding from his belly. Then in an instant, he saw another pair pierce below. He instinctively grabbed onto them trying to push them out. He wasn’t able to feel his legs anymore.

All of a sudden it felt like he was being torn apart. Every muscle in his body felt like it was being sheared in half. Then he was thrown into the kitchen area. Marshall landed like a rag doll, not able to move. He felt cold. The blood was leaving his body, pouring out onto the floor. Across the room just about where Ajani lay, Marshall saw a pair of legs. Who’s legs are those? 

Marshall's vision started to go black. His eyes started to close. The last thing he heard was his own voice over the radio “Nobody can hear you scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. However, they can sure hear you sing! Next up we have a fan request from Leading Research Director Jesse Morales.” Marshall slid into the void, listening to one of his favourite songs.