Alien Cargo

Plot

After months of hyper-sleep aboard the cargo transport ship Solar System Shipping Vessel No.17 (SSS-17), two crew members, Chris McNiel and Theta Kaplan, awaken. The ship's computer has roused them almost ten months past their scheduled time because something has gone wrong. The ship's internal systems are badly damaged, fuel is nearly gone, and their position is off the ecliptic. They realize the first shift likely killed each other, causing the ship's desolation, but do not yet know why. With only nine hours of life-support power remaining, they consult the ship's log and discover a space probe brought aboard by a first-shift crew member. They find a strange substance and begin analyzing it. Soon after, they start arguing, which escalates into violence, and they try to kill each other in a running struggle through the damaged ship. Meanwhile, the crew of a nearby deep-space research ship following a comet, alerted to their predicament, evaluates whether a rescue is possible. Trapped in the freezing cargo hold, a near-hypothermic Kaplan realizes the substance is a biological agent that induces psychosis but becomes inert at low body temperatures. The ship's computer suggests a drug that should cure the infection. Kaplan injects herself, traps the still-psychotic McNiel, and treats him. They then persuade the reluctant research ship to attempt a slingshot rescue. As they prepare to depart, they discover the drug was only temporarily effective and that they remain infected, unable to risk contaminating others. They transfer the uninfected sleepers over with minutes to spare before the sleep chambers fail. McNiel and Kaplan decide to stay with No.17 as it hurtles toward the sun to prevent future contamination. To pass the time, they dismantle the probe and find a canister of the blue contaminant. They discover the probe was originally from Earth and speculate it picked up the virus in space, accidentally contaminating an unknown alien race, who then sent the probe back as retaliation.