Alpha Aliens

1

From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

Miss you all. This mission's taken too long. I should have been home for Drae's mating ceremony. I can't wait to taste mom's ndaa again. When I get back, I'm taking a long leave.

I don't know if this starforsaken planet has reception. (My communicator's screen is cracked badly.) It's been three days, and I can't push or pry open the doors to my evacuation pod. None of my telemessages have evoked rescue - or replies. Email is my next resort. Forward my coordinates to G.E.S.S.'s Central base ...

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

C'mon, check your emails. Please. I'm growing extra tentacles here waiting.

I'm going crazy. There's nothing to do in this blasted escape pod; everything is running out of juice. Forward my coordinates from the last email to G.E.S.S.

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

Is this my fault? I knew Aler struggling with the news about his family, but I never thought our 'mad scientist' would go off the deep end and sabatoge the entire craft to exact revenge on the Galactic Exploration of Stellar Systems. Should I have said something to him? Could I have stopped this?

Is this my punishment? Utter isolation. It's an effective hell.

Please, if you're reading this, forward my coordinates ...

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

Hey.

It's been five days, six counting today. Day ten is the day protocol says ships stop searching for pods that haven't made contact.

Could you please respond?

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

Is anybody reading this? I'm almost out of water. Rations are thin, too.

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From: Xande Centauri.

To: The Centauris

Helloooooooooooooooooooo?

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

We're the dominant extraterrestrial life form in the G.E.S.S. guidebook. We're the "alpha" species. Yet I feel so powerless, spinning through space, cut off from everything but the stars.

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

Day ten.

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

I'm scared. I just want to come home.

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From: Xande Centauris

To: The Centauris

Help. Please. Please, oh stars, please someone see this. Please help.

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

No one is reading this. I'm accepting that. Still, I can't crush the hope that someday, someone will. Like those Earthling stories of a message in a bottle.

I love you, family of mine.

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

I just want to be home. I keep drifting off ... Keep waking up still here. Despair and I have become friends. There is nothing worse than this ... I know how Aler felt when he lost his family.

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From: Xande Centauri

To: The Centauris

I don't want to die like this. Everything hurts. My throat is dry, my stomach is in fiery pangs.

I have my blaster. It's one of the only things that works still.

I'm so scared.

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From: The Centauris

To: Xande Centauri

XANDE! You're in range finally. Oh stars. Finally. They're coming. They're coming. Just hold on.