Beyond the Stars

Final Frontier

SS Explorer5463

Captain's Log

January 1st 2415

We've been separated from the rest of the fleet with no idea where we are or how long we've been travelling. The ship's log is corrupt and the date nothing more than an approximation. Every spec of data collected since I brought the Taistainae girl on board is gone, just like her. At first I thought I'd dreamed her, but Amilee remembers her too. She's has the gift the girl gave her before whatever happened to bring us to this point.

Our last memory, Amilee's fifth birthday party, is the only marker we have to estimate the missing time. Doc reckons she's now around seven years old, so it would appear we've been sleeping for more than two years. How and why we survived is unknown.

In the absence of fact, whatever is left must provide the answer, no matter how unlikely.

Bria, and whatever she did to us, is no longer our primary concern. Sometime during the absence, the ship sustained severe damage to the engine. We've been drifting, running on reserve power for months. There's little hope in retracing our course as the damage is too severe to fix. Thoughts of rescue are non existent. No one is willing to activate the distress beacon in unknown territory when we don't know if our enemy may hear it. After listening to tales of some of the most horrific torture known to man, death is preferred and the overall consensus of the crew. So, once the reserve runs out, the air generators will stop. In other words, if we don't find a suitable planet soon, we're dead.

All hands are currently occupying levels one and two, with every other level sealed to reserve as much power as possible.

"Captain Thorpe!" Lieutenant Buoy's excited timbers boomed through the intercom, interrupting what would likely be my last journal entry. "Star system ahead."

Maybe there is a God after all. "Sensors picking up any life forms?"

"Only the short range sensors are working, Sir, we need to be closer."

I hestiated. What choice did I have? Issue the command that would take us into the unknown? Assuming them as advanced as us, possibly an attack from whatever inhabitants occupy the star system? Or let my people die without at least trying?

"Set course, Buoy. How long til we're in range?"

"At our current trajectory, a day."

"Raise the amber alert. I'm on my way."

My first reaction on stepping onto the bridge was to look for the system on the main screen. Foolish of me I know, but I'd come to think of it as a window. Seeing nothing but a blank wall reminded me just how dire our circumstances were at that point. Buoy activated the personal monitor in front of my seat, drawing arrows and circles around our target on his own screen. The changes mirrored onto mine, highlighting a few specks of light in an otherwise black screen.

*****

Initial scans of the star region showed nothing, which was a good thing because we had no weapons or shields to defend ourselves had we been attacked.

"One primary sun, two small planets with a moon orbiting each," Exo stated, echoing what he could see for the benefit of the crew listening to the broadcast over the shipwide comm. "Data's coming in on the first one... Damn. First one's a no go, too much methane gas."

Disappointed whispers echoed through the hallways.

"Coming into range of the second," Exo continued. "I don't want to get anyone's hopes up but it looks more promising. We have water and vegetation, good quality air capable of sustaining life... Sensors are picking up numerous indistinctive mammals... No surface dwellings."

I had to wait several minutes for the cheers to die down enough to be heard over the din. "Take us in for a closer look, Buoy."

"We need to active the heatshield to make it through the atmosphere, Captain. It'll drain what little power we have left."

"A one way trip? We are out of options, Buoy, take us to our new home."

"Aye aye, Captain."

*****

SS Explorer5463
Captain's Log
January 3rd 2415

This will be my last log, and a short one, as all power reserves were depleted during the landing.

We've claimed the planet in the name of Earth. No name as yet, we need something in keeping with those names of our home in the Sol System. I'm thinking more in terms of gods than chocolate bars, but some of the suggestions put forward have been ridiculously funny: Twix, Malteser, Snickers, Eros. I don't mind Eros so much, though I believe he was Cupid?

First impressions of our new home are positive. It's a lot like Earth. Despite the recon team bringing evidence of prehistoric type tools from the woods on the opposite side of the lake, we've not encountered any intelligent life. I have seen something that resembles cattle in the pasture this morning, albeit extremely hairy versions of them, and a few birds.

We'll use the Explorer for shelter and work on a settlement in the surrounding pastures. It'll take a few years, but I'm hopeful that ...

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