LJ IDOL, WEEK 1.
Sep. 18th, 2026 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xylaIWantToBelieve.org/ZenithCrew - 1hr ago
Axel_Warden
MY NAME IS AXEL WARDEN - I AM THE LONE SURVIVOR OF THE ZENITH CREW.
I’m begging whoever comes across this post to please share it. Spread the word. Don't let the Galactica Corporation and the government get away with their lies.
(I have proof that I am who I say I am. Click the link. It's a photo I took of Myers and that damn teddy bear two years ago before it lost its left eye. https://i.imgur.com/MkiVFCl.jpeg)
I know many of the people on this forum believe what happened to us was the result of something alien, and that it was covered up in some sort of conspiracy. Guess what? You’re absolutely correct.
Wayne Myers didn't have a psychotic break. He didn’t kill the rest of the crew and then himself. I didn't survive because he forgot about me in his mania. I survived because I was in my environmental suit the day the venom got into Myers and subsequently into everybody else. I was coming down with the flu on our last day there, and I stayed in my suit so I didn’t spread it around.
I guess it's true what Cormac McCarthy wrote. That sometimes bad luck saves you from something worse.
When I arrived back on Earth, the threats started. I was ordered to keep quiet. So, for the past three months, I have. Now I’m breaking my silence. My friends deserve better. The world deserves the truth.
There were seven of us. Six men, one woman. Lucky Seven we called ourselves. The mission was to document any signs of extraterrestrial life on the recently discovered planet, Celestia.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
All my life, I'd fantasized about finding evidence of extraterrestrial life. I was a dreamer, we all were. Given the chance to find proof, we let ourselves dream even more.
About changing the course of civilization. That our names would appear in the history books.
That we would be immortal.
We were so determined to be the ones who found it that we never bothered to consider what might happen if we succeeded.
It was a five-day mission. We were told nothing could go wrong, and at first, nothing did. Other than the fact that we all had trouble adjusting to the temperature of Celestia, which was well below freezing.
Or rather, all of us except Myers.
"I was born and raised in Minnesota, and we're Norwegian on my mom's side. I can handle a little cold. Unlike some of you!" He was grinning in his typical way, blue eyes sparkling, arm around Kane's waist as he teased Hudson, a Texas native who wouldn't quit complaining about the ice and snow.
It's the last memory I have of him.
That planet was never meant to host anything other than those creatures that thrive in its glaciers. Certainly not humans with our warm blood and fragile bodies.
McNamara was unable to determine how long it took Myers to become infected after being exposed to the secretion. Given how rapidly it spread, logic dictated it was likely minutes. Hours at most.
As is often the case, no one noticed anything until it was too late.
"You were sleeping together, you should have noticed something was wrong with him!" Tanaka yelled at Kane, who, in turn, claimed that Hudson and McNamara, in charge of taking environmental samples and blood work, respectively, had found nothing amiss either.
McNamara, annoyed by the thinly veiled accusation, pointed out how it probably hadn't shown up in blood work when he tested Myers.
"Or, he broke protocol at the wrong time, and removed his gloves when he was with you!" he leveled at Kane.
The blush on her cheeks told us everything.
"But what was it he was exposed to?" Ivanov's voice was barely a whisper as he asked the question I'd been too afraid to.
The universe itself answered us when we noticed the teddy bear begin to move on its own. It belonged to Myers, who had previously been on two other space missions. It was his lucky charm, he told us, always a kid at heart. The bear had seen better days; an eye was missing, and stuffing leaked though a hole in its back.
The worm slithered out of the bear's empty eye socket, coating the fur in an inky secretion. Fire was the only thing that killed it.
Realizing it must have found its way back with us when we took the planetary samples didn’t save any of them. Kane began to deteriorate an hour after Myers' death. Ivanov went next. Hudson and McNamara followed.
Tanaka was the last to start breaking down. Only we remained; the rest of them lay scattered in various states and parts across the ship.
"I can't just leave you," I cried as Tanaka forced me into the dropship.
"You can and will, Warden. That’s an order. Today is not your day to die."
Why not? I asked myself as I hurtled back to earth. My eyes were stinging, vision blurred.
A question I still ask myself when I start awake in the middle of the night, the screams of my friends still ringing in my ears.
Survival has its price - guilt.
Yesterday I was informed that another space crew is being sent to Celestia next week. Galactica knows the truth, and so does the government. They're gambling with people's lives just to get those samples.
They don't care what happened to us, or that it could happen again. There’s no reason for alarm, is what I was told. That the crew will be safe as long as they're careful. But the new crew has no idea what's on that planet.
So, fuck Galactica and fuck the government.
This is the truth. If I never update again, everybody will know the real reason why.
-Axel Warden, navigator of Zenith.
189 comments💬 Share post 📨 Comment 💭
____________________________________________________________________
(the image link to a picture of Mr.bean and his teddy bear, is very much intentional, haha.
As it's written as a blog post, I wanted to have the link actually work and so it was my way of having a bit of fun, rather than just pasting a broken link or a bad ms paint drawing of a teddy bear. Also I felt like it worked as a possible picture of the character with the teddy he took on space missions! 🧸)
Axel_Warden
MY NAME IS AXEL WARDEN - I AM THE LONE SURVIVOR OF THE ZENITH CREW.
I’m begging whoever comes across this post to please share it. Spread the word. Don't let the Galactica Corporation and the government get away with their lies.
(I have proof that I am who I say I am. Click the link. It's a photo I took of Myers and that damn teddy bear two years ago before it lost its left eye. https://i.imgur.com/MkiVFCl.jpeg)
I know many of the people on this forum believe what happened to us was the result of something alien, and that it was covered up in some sort of conspiracy. Guess what? You’re absolutely correct.
Wayne Myers didn't have a psychotic break. He didn’t kill the rest of the crew and then himself. I didn't survive because he forgot about me in his mania. I survived because I was in my environmental suit the day the venom got into Myers and subsequently into everybody else. I was coming down with the flu on our last day there, and I stayed in my suit so I didn’t spread it around.
I guess it's true what Cormac McCarthy wrote. That sometimes bad luck saves you from something worse.
When I arrived back on Earth, the threats started. I was ordered to keep quiet. So, for the past three months, I have. Now I’m breaking my silence. My friends deserve better. The world deserves the truth.
There were seven of us. Six men, one woman. Lucky Seven we called ourselves. The mission was to document any signs of extraterrestrial life on the recently discovered planet, Celestia.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
All my life, I'd fantasized about finding evidence of extraterrestrial life. I was a dreamer, we all were. Given the chance to find proof, we let ourselves dream even more.
About changing the course of civilization. That our names would appear in the history books.
That we would be immortal.
We were so determined to be the ones who found it that we never bothered to consider what might happen if we succeeded.
It was a five-day mission. We were told nothing could go wrong, and at first, nothing did. Other than the fact that we all had trouble adjusting to the temperature of Celestia, which was well below freezing.
Or rather, all of us except Myers.
"I was born and raised in Minnesota, and we're Norwegian on my mom's side. I can handle a little cold. Unlike some of you!" He was grinning in his typical way, blue eyes sparkling, arm around Kane's waist as he teased Hudson, a Texas native who wouldn't quit complaining about the ice and snow.
It's the last memory I have of him.
That planet was never meant to host anything other than those creatures that thrive in its glaciers. Certainly not humans with our warm blood and fragile bodies.
McNamara was unable to determine how long it took Myers to become infected after being exposed to the secretion. Given how rapidly it spread, logic dictated it was likely minutes. Hours at most.
As is often the case, no one noticed anything until it was too late.
"You were sleeping together, you should have noticed something was wrong with him!" Tanaka yelled at Kane, who, in turn, claimed that Hudson and McNamara, in charge of taking environmental samples and blood work, respectively, had found nothing amiss either.
McNamara, annoyed by the thinly veiled accusation, pointed out how it probably hadn't shown up in blood work when he tested Myers.
"Or, he broke protocol at the wrong time, and removed his gloves when he was with you!" he leveled at Kane.
The blush on her cheeks told us everything.
"But what was it he was exposed to?" Ivanov's voice was barely a whisper as he asked the question I'd been too afraid to.
The universe itself answered us when we noticed the teddy bear begin to move on its own. It belonged to Myers, who had previously been on two other space missions. It was his lucky charm, he told us, always a kid at heart. The bear had seen better days; an eye was missing, and stuffing leaked though a hole in its back.
The worm slithered out of the bear's empty eye socket, coating the fur in an inky secretion. Fire was the only thing that killed it.
Realizing it must have found its way back with us when we took the planetary samples didn’t save any of them. Kane began to deteriorate an hour after Myers' death. Ivanov went next. Hudson and McNamara followed.
Tanaka was the last to start breaking down. Only we remained; the rest of them lay scattered in various states and parts across the ship.
"I can't just leave you," I cried as Tanaka forced me into the dropship.
"You can and will, Warden. That’s an order. Today is not your day to die."
Why not? I asked myself as I hurtled back to earth. My eyes were stinging, vision blurred.
A question I still ask myself when I start awake in the middle of the night, the screams of my friends still ringing in my ears.
Survival has its price - guilt.
Yesterday I was informed that another space crew is being sent to Celestia next week. Galactica knows the truth, and so does the government. They're gambling with people's lives just to get those samples.
They don't care what happened to us, or that it could happen again. There’s no reason for alarm, is what I was told. That the crew will be safe as long as they're careful. But the new crew has no idea what's on that planet.
So, fuck Galactica and fuck the government.
This is the truth. If I never update again, everybody will know the real reason why.
-Axel Warden, navigator of Zenith.
189 comments💬 Share post 📨 Comment 💭
(the image link to a picture of Mr.bean and his teddy bear, is very much intentional, haha.
As it's written as a blog post, I wanted to have the link actually work and so it was my way of having a bit of fun, rather than just pasting a broken link or a bad ms paint drawing of a teddy bear. Also I felt like it worked as a possible picture of the character with the teddy he took on space missions! 🧸)
no subject
Date: 2026-09-17 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2026-09-18 12:33 am (UTC)But also fuck Galactica and fuck the government for sure. They need to heed the warning of the only survivor, damn.
no subject
Date: 2026-09-18 02:19 am (UTC)All of this to say - I enjoyed this deeply, and you, friend, are a talented writer. <3
no subject
Date: 2026-09-18 02:57 am (UTC)But THE TEDDY BEAR. I was already suspicious the second you kept mentioning that missing eye, and then it became the vehicle for bringing the danger aboard. Nope, nope, NOPE. And then discovering afterward that the working link leads to Mr. Bean and Teddy made the whole thing even better. You managed to make an innocent teddy bear creepy and sneak a ridiculous joke into the middle of a genuinely tense sci-fi story. I loved that combination.
no subject
Date: 2026-09-18 04:30 am (UTC)"You were sleeping together, you should have noticed something was wrong with him!"
What a horrible thing to say, but it still felt like a very genuine comment someone would make.
Worms in teddy's eyes, yikes! Fantastic story!
Dan
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