Choice Chosen:Touch the screen at 22136…
Captain’s Log (22136)
When you touch the screen, a deep male voice begins speaking:
“Captain’s log, star-date 22136.”
“It has been a very long trip, but I believe my part in it will be over soon. There are just the two of us left now, myself and Cindel. We debated for a long, long time what could have gone wrong. Out here there are no answers that we can know for sure. We can only know that we have been out here for so much longer than we had ever considered. We all knew that this was going to be a one-way trip, but we all thought that we would at least make it all the way to our destination. We had talked about how our retirement might go, and what the passengers on the ship would think of us. I think most of all we longed to meet our passengers and learn about them. But alas, we know now that day will never come.”
The voice stops and you hear an intake of breath followed by a cough before it continues, “Sorry about that. To back up a little bit- our best guess is that there were some errors in the calculations used to determine our trip. Sure, the best scientific minds on earth worked together to build this ship and send us on our way, but no one had ever traveled at NLS speed for such a long time. The general consensus among the crew is that when the scientists made their calculations, they simply made an error. There was a theory that the closer we traveled to the speed of light, the less time would pass. This was used to determine how long the entire journey would take. Obviously the trip is taking a lot longer than those calculations could have guessed.”
“We all held out as long as we could, but no matter what we intend, the human body can only last so long. At last check, all the passengers were completely safe, as far as we could tell. The fuel and supplies level seem perfectly okay as well, so perhaps the calculations related to those items were all correct, but only the relative life spans, or the affect on travel and time were wrong. It appears that the ship and the passengers will arrive on schedule, as long as nothing else goes wrong.”
The voice stops speaking rather suddenly and you are left alone in the quiet of the ship once again.
Captain’s Log (22137)
When you touch the screen, a deep male voice begins speaking:
“Captain’s log, star-date 22137.”
There is a pause for a few seconds before the voice continues, “Cindel didn’t make it through the night. I’m not surprised. Actually, I’ve really suspected for over a week that she wasn’t going to last much longer. I went and checked on her this morning, and she didn’t get up. I think she went peacefully…at least I hope she did. She was the youngest, but in some ways the strongest of all of us. I really didn’t expect that anyone would outlast her, much less me. But as we have said from the start of this trip, ‘What will be will be.’”
“I am now the only one left. With no one left to talk to, I don’t know how things will go. Physically, according to the crew monitors, I’m still fine. But while my body might last for some time, I do not know what might happen to my mind. Over the years we tried to keep things normal. Well, as normal as you can expect from a fifty-year long journey in a closed space.” There is a brief laugh as the voice continues, “You know, I think we stopped counting when we reached 100,000 card games. Yes, we really did play that many card games. I don’t think anyone kept track of who won them all, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did!”
“Anyway, I will do my best to fulfill my mission and get this ship to the destination. I do not think I will live to see New Earth, but hopefully the ship will follow the instructions and make it to the destination. The pods should be able to self-deploy to re-animate all the passengers. I just hope the fuel and supplies last until that time. If not, well, I’m not sure anyone will ever even know since we are so far out here, truly in the middle of nowhere.”
The voice stops speaking and silence again surrounds you.
Captain’s Log (22138)
When you touch the screen, a deep male voice begins speaking:
"Captain’s log, star-date 22138.
“Ahem. I fear that this will be my last communication. My time is near. Strangely, I have no idea if anyone will ever even hear this… or is the being that hears this voice next will even be human or understand what I am saying here. Actually, that could be quite interesting, couldn’t it? What if some different civilization plays this message and doesn’t understand English? What if I talk wrong? May I mambo dogface to the banana patch?”
The speakers are filled with the sound of giggling. Then the voice continues, “But what if this is heard by the scientists who sent us on this mission? Well, I would certainly have some choice words for them. Maybe I shouldn’t say what I think of them here. Who would think that humans could go for literally decades in a ship and not go insane? I’m not saying I’m insane, mind you, but it has been a long time now that I’ve been alone. And I was supposed to be able to retire on New Earth! But wait, what if the passengers of this ship arrive at New Earth and THEY are the first to hear this message? Oh, it will be a message from beyond the grave! ooOOoooo! Creepy!”
Once again there is a giggling, but then the voice speaks again, “So. Well. I guess that’s it, then. I mean, I don’t have anything else to add. I think I’m supposed to say, ‘Tell my wife I love her,’ but I don’t have a wife! And no kids. Well, at least none that I know of! Oh yeah, that one never gets old.” The voice erupts into laughter once again, and then the speaker turns off suddenly.
The Bridge
You are standing on the bridge of the space ship. There are computers running all around you, flashing various lights, but everything is still completely silent. There are six empty seats around the circular room and large windows looking out in all directions into nothing but blank space.
There is one chair that seems to be centered around a number of screens. This looks like the captain’s chair, and it has some controls on the armrests of the chair. There is another chair that sits next to a screen marked “Navigation” and another chair next to a screen marked “Research.” None of the other screens are labeled. There is also a ladder headed up into the ceiling.
- Go check out the captain’s chair…
- Look at the navigation console…
- View the research console…
- Head up the next ladder…