I was the first medical officer on the Steven Carr.
A hand-picked crew out of old Port Terra,
We headed for a distant star.
The rockets burned, and the engines flared
As we left the world of men,
But if I knew then what I know now,
I'd've never seen space again.
We cheered the ship as we cleared our space for the universe between.
Unease replaced our sense of duty
When the crew began to dream...
Obscene, unearthly visions that shattered our peace of mind.
They turned to me to solve our plight,
But no answer could I find.
One by one, the crew grew weaker, and the men began to die.
Drained of vital body fluids,
In the sick bay they did lie.
Two marks were all we ever found, on the throat or near the hand,
And as I poured through ancient books,
I began to understand.
Some creature from this warp-dimension had found us easy prey,
Just as, long ago on Terra,
Its kind had had their day.
Blood and death were its life and joy: now well I understood,
And the only thing that might bring it down
Was a shaft of seasoned wood.
Then I recalled our captain's treasure, a weapon from long ago—
A hand-carved spear out of Old World Europe
In his cabin down below.
Though I searched both long and hard, that wooden spear was gone.
When I saw it drifting in the viewport screen,
My breath was hardly drawn.
The ship warped free on auto-pilot; all the other crew were dead.
They found us drifting near Port Tallis.
I was sick with fear and dread.
The high tribunal that sat my case assigned to me the blame,
And when they heard my story out,
They said that I was insane.
I was the first medical officer on the Steven Carr.
A hand-picked crew out of old Port Terra,
We headed for a distant star.