1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,560 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,439 Let's get into it. Attention. This is the crew log 3 00:00:12,439 --> 00:00:15,560 of Ensign Colby Jordan. We're all designated as systems technician. 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,120 Current simon is CHICRGO acquisition vessel Achilles room in four, 5 00:00:19,199 --> 00:00:22,320 which is undergoing post flight processing and containment procedures in 6 00:00:22,359 --> 00:00:26,079 docking port to a station alf Centaury. Information contained in 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,120 this file has not yet been vetted Level one analysis 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,079 of file indicates eleven security breaches committed in the creation 9 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,600 of this file. Please set your system's security at EPSILLON 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,119 while accessing this data. Remember your safety in the company's 11 00:00:39,119 --> 00:00:42,719 safety are one and the same. Log number one August fourteenth, 12 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,799 twenty seventy four. I really have no idea how to 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,119 begin this, since I don't normally bother with doing logs 14 00:00:48,119 --> 00:00:51,200 in the first place. Always felt like a pointless exercise 15 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:53,359 since the shippe I keeps track of everything and the 16 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,799 Jericho Company exacts don't care what we think as long 17 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,520 as it doesn't impact our jobs. I had to fight 18 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,840 dirty with Achilles. Hey, I just to get access to 19 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,799 the logging program, so I'll just be blunt. They are dead. 20 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:09,840 Everyone else is dead and the ship doesn't believe it impossible, right, 21 00:01:10,599 --> 00:01:13,000 I mean, surely the big books back on Earth created 22 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,680 a perfect system, one that can't go wrong. We're so 23 00:01:15,799 --> 00:01:18,239 trusting of our machine captains that the corporate newsletters are 24 00:01:18,239 --> 00:01:21,040 always spouting off about the ninety two percent mission success rate. 25 00:01:21,599 --> 00:01:24,120 Jericho AI has a thousand dies in ears, can take 26 00:01:24,159 --> 00:01:26,640 control of any ship, and uses cold and practical logic 27 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,239 to get the job done. Why even send humans on 28 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,319 missions any more? Accept us system technicians know the bitter truth. 29 00:01:33,879 --> 00:01:35,799 The company can't afford to fashion every ship in the 30 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:37,920 fleet with the true AI, so they slap together a 31 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,719 bunch of cognitive programs into one fancy package designed to 32 00:01:40,719 --> 00:01:44,000 mimic a true artificial intelligence. It does find at handling 33 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:46,319 ship functions, but it's not an intellect that can think 34 00:01:46,359 --> 00:01:49,040 and adapt. That's why cargo ships are sent out with 35 00:01:49,079 --> 00:01:51,200 a crew of six humans, and why the captain isn't 36 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,120 mechical but flesh and blood. It's also why we have 37 00:01:54,159 --> 00:01:56,280 implants in our chests that transmit our by our readings 38 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,280 to the ship, because that's the only way the system 39 00:01:58,319 --> 00:02:01,959 knows we're alive. That fact is rather important because Jericho 40 00:02:02,079 --> 00:02:03,599 trusts a state of the art tech far more than 41 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,840 it trusts its employees. Our rank affects with ship systems. 42 00:02:06,879 --> 00:02:10,479 We can access without authorization from a higher rank. The captain, 43 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,439 of course, has full authorization, but only if the computer 44 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,360 allows it, and little on me an ensign is at 45 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,680 the bottom of the rom I can't even make a 46 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,360 log entry with a captain westing Houses approval. But if 47 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,080 the captain is rendered dead or capacitated, the highest rank 48 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,000 and crew member gates control. We don't make that determination, 49 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,080 though the computer does. Because even though the system can't 50 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,000 determine if we are alive or dead without help, it 51 00:02:32,039 --> 00:02:34,879 decides how to doll our control. Basically, we have a 52 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,439 chain of command dictated by our implants. I should of control, 53 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:43,280 I don't. Westinghouse and the others are dead. Their implants aren't. 54 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,319 The expansion got them, but the computer still thinks they 55 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,199 are alive. As a result, I'm locked out of most 56 00:02:49,199 --> 00:02:52,080 ship systems because I need captain authentication to do anything. 57 00:02:52,599 --> 00:02:55,280 Let us tax are tricky. I managed to put together 58 00:02:55,319 --> 00:02:57,759 a diagnostic program that forces the ship computer to go 59 00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:59,919 into maintenance mode for twenty one minutes and free se 60 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,240 seckons every twenty four hours. In that time, while the 61 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,599 computer is distracted, I have the ability to enter the 62 00:03:05,599 --> 00:03:08,319 system and whittle away at the security firewalls and encryptions. 63 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,400 It's been fifty seven hours since the crew died, and 64 00:03:11,439 --> 00:03:14,240 this log is my first success. I'll have to cut 65 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:16,840 it short because I'm almost out of time. I'm going 66 00:03:16,879 --> 00:03:20,400 for the communications system next. I'll transmit a distress call 67 00:03:20,439 --> 00:03:22,719 in this log and hope someone intercepts it in time. 68 00:03:22,759 --> 00:03:24,599 Because the ship is on its way to off Centaury 69 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,639 Station and it cannot be allowed to dock. Repeat. Do 70 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,000 not allow the ship to dark under any circumstances. Log 71 00:03:31,039 --> 00:03:34,560 two August eighteenth, twenty seventy four. Three days attempting to 72 00:03:34,599 --> 00:03:38,400 send out a signal, three wasted days the expansion eat 73 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,319 the calms rare. I'm a tad tomoralized right now, so 74 00:03:41,439 --> 00:03:43,439 I'm going to waste to day's access time with another 75 00:03:43,479 --> 00:03:46,520 log entry. Even if I can transmit any date off ship, 76 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:48,319 I can at least keep a record of what happened 77 00:03:48,319 --> 00:03:51,240 here in case the ship survives. But I don't, though 78 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,719 honestly it'll be better if the ship doesn't survive either. 79 00:03:54,319 --> 00:03:57,159 I'm not ready to go that direction yet. We still 80 00:03:57,199 --> 00:03:59,479 have two months before Killes four arrives at the station. 81 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:05,560 I have time. I suppose I should talk about the others. Florin, Mads, Kindy, Lars, 82 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,520 and Westy Hass. None of them deserved what happened. They 83 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,319 were all good workers, committed to the unofficial company slogan, 84 00:04:12,439 --> 00:04:15,599 the cargo comes first. I won't say we were great friends, 85 00:04:15,599 --> 00:04:17,720 since HA spent more time with a computer than talking 86 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,959 to them about their home, lives or significant others. But 87 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,800 I'd sip alebation pack with any one of them. None 88 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:25,759 of them were incompident either. They didn't die because one 89 00:04:25,759 --> 00:04:28,000 of them got greedy or high and did something stupid. 90 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,480 I know Jericho will try to spin events so that 91 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:32,240 they don't have to pay through the nose to reimburse 92 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:34,480 their families, but they deserve all the credits they can get. 93 00:04:35,199 --> 00:04:37,800 They had no idea what they were walking into. None 94 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,959 of us did. Our Age minus one thousand, one hundred 95 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,959 twenty nine looked like a million other planets in the 96 00:04:42,959 --> 00:04:46,319 Galactic Survey database, a barren rock with lots of free 97 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,920 minerals to exploit. All we had to do was keep 98 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:50,800 the ship in orbit and sit back while the drones 99 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,360 went down and did the work. I didn't study the 100 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:55,920 survey map myself, but Lars had been practically giddy about 101 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,959 the place after his analysis. There was a plentiful amount 102 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,360 of anomalous material glittering the surface, some of it piled 103 00:05:02,399 --> 00:05:05,160 up in mounds as high as three hundred meters. We 104 00:05:05,199 --> 00:05:07,120 didn't even need to break out the mining drones to 105 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,759 collect samples. If the material turned out to be valuable, 106 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,040 as the spectrographic report suggested, we'd had some serious bonuses 107 00:05:14,079 --> 00:05:17,600 coming our way. It was an easy job, too easy. 108 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,439 The drones only took four standard days to deliver the 109 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,519 sample payload to the Achilles four. All the drones scans 110 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,720 checked out no biological contaminants, no barren energy readings, no 111 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,920 explosive properties. The cargo wouldn't have made it into the 112 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,079 ship had it chirped any warning bells. The cargo shuttle 113 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:36,920 went into cargo Bay three without incident, and everybody was 114 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,360 there to greet it. Mads and Kindie were the only 115 00:05:39,399 --> 00:05:41,319 ones who had to be there since they were running 116 00:05:41,319 --> 00:05:44,439 the metallurgical tests, but the other three had decided to 117 00:05:44,439 --> 00:05:46,839 sneak a peak as well. I mean, this was a 118 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,040 brand new substance of finding that few ship crews ever 119 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,360 come across. Forget our bonuses. This kind of thing could 120 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,360 get us into the history books. Now, why wast I there? Well, 121 00:05:57,439 --> 00:06:00,519 I was going to be. I received an emergence message 122 00:06:00,519 --> 00:06:03,240 from the computer concerning the drone task force in the planet. 123 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:05,959 The drones were my territory, and I confess that I 124 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,160 get territorial about them, though I don't label them or 125 00:06:08,199 --> 00:06:10,759 give them names. We go through too many of them 126 00:06:10,759 --> 00:06:13,439 for me to want to get attached. So I diverted 127 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,199 to my work station on the bridge and view the 128 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,040 message right as the cargo was getting offloaded back in 129 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,800 Bay three. I admit that I was distracted from the 130 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:22,959 goings on in Bay three at first, because the message 131 00:06:22,959 --> 00:06:25,920 at me had a complete loss. All five drones assigned 132 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,519 to the surface had just died. All energy readings and 133 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:33,279 signals were zeroed out, and it had happened almost simultaneously, 134 00:06:33,319 --> 00:06:35,680 all of them going dark within a span of ten seconds. 135 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,319 But they'd been on mapping missions miles apart from each other. 136 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,839 Some kind of natural disaster a massive store or earthquake. 137 00:06:42,439 --> 00:06:45,160 This planet didn't have weather, and the computer would have 138 00:06:45,199 --> 00:06:48,160 warned us about any incoming meteor impacts or tectonic shifts, 139 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,240 So what got the drones? It was this mystery that 140 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,399 occupied my thoughts when I first heard the screens coming 141 00:06:53,439 --> 00:06:56,240 from Bay Free. I don't really want it well on 142 00:06:56,279 --> 00:07:00,079 what happened right now, I'm pretty low already. I'm all 143 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,600 almost out of time for to day that the records 144 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,800 showed that Uno Carrod. I am just lucky, if you 145 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,480 can call my current state of affairs being lucky walk 146 00:07:09,319 --> 00:07:13,319 three September first, twenty seventy four. I just noticed the date. 147 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,600 It's been a while, hasn't it. I've been using my 148 00:07:16,639 --> 00:07:19,279 access windows to try to reprogram the sistant to acknowledge 149 00:07:19,279 --> 00:07:21,519 me as a sole survivor, but the computer's not going 150 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,079 for it. Those damn implants. I suppose it's a good 151 00:07:25,079 --> 00:07:27,199 thing that the computer had a direct of constituting a 152 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,079 regard for life so high that it would to clare 153 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,959 crew member dead unless the impunt says so. The only 154 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:33,759 way to kill the directive is to kill the computer, 155 00:07:33,839 --> 00:07:36,360 which would kill the ship and then me. I should 156 00:07:36,399 --> 00:07:38,720 probably answer the million credit question you've been dying to 157 00:07:38,759 --> 00:07:41,319 ask me, how are the implants still functioning if the 158 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,920 crew is dead? Well, by the time you are reading this, 159 00:07:44,079 --> 00:07:47,160 there might be an answer, but right now I've no idea. 160 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:49,839 My best guess is that the expansion took control of 161 00:07:49,839 --> 00:07:52,439 the implant somehow and is replicating the vital signs of 162 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,079 my crew. The fact that it's sophisticated enough to do 163 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,319 to scares the crap out of me, But then I've 164 00:07:57,319 --> 00:07:59,680 been scared every minute of every day since the crew died. 165 00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:03,920 Right time to talk about the expansion. That's my name 166 00:08:03,959 --> 00:08:05,959 for it, and it does what it says on the 167 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,920 tin it expends. Thanks to the computer lockout, I only 168 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,000 have so many analysis tools at my disposal. It appears 169 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,560 to be composed of some kind of microscopic entity akin 170 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,639 to a virus or nanobot. Its main mass resembles I 171 00:08:18,759 --> 00:08:21,360 base moss, only its colors changed from red to blue 172 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,399 and back at random intervals. It doesn't move except when 173 00:08:24,399 --> 00:08:26,439 it's growing, which appears to be done by breaking down 174 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,879 other materials and assimilating it into its structure. When it grows, 175 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,000 it grows very quickly. In between my attempts to sway 176 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:35,240 the computer to my side, I've been able to access 177 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,200 security footage from the on board survulent system. I was 178 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,120 able to watch the last two and a half minutes 179 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,639 of my crew's existence before the expansion got the cameras 180 00:08:42,639 --> 00:08:44,879 and the ship initiated a total lock down around cargo 181 00:08:44,919 --> 00:08:47,559 Bay three. I've had over a month now to deal 182 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,120 with what I saw. I like to think I've processed 183 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,200 and moved on, but God, I get shells just thinking 184 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,320 about it. Up until fifteen hundred hours, the video depicts 185 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,759 pretty standard docking procedures. The cargo shuttle comes in and 186 00:08:59,879 --> 00:09:02,600 life to the floor. It takes seven minutes for the 187 00:09:02,639 --> 00:09:06,039 decontamination and threat scans to judau business, so nothing visible 188 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,000 is going on at all. At fifteen thirty nine hours, 189 00:09:09,039 --> 00:09:11,960 the system gives the okay, the bay pressurizes in the 190 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,679 crew enter the zero gravity zone using mag boots to 191 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:16,840 stick to the floor of the room. While this is 192 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,480 going on, an automatic silver crane is removing the sample 193 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,399 canister and locking it down. Mads goes over to it, 194 00:09:22,519 --> 00:09:25,000 Candy is right behind him, and the others are hanging back. 195 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,519 Everybody seem real. Eagert uncork this fintage wine we found, 196 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,600 but they were all following established procedure. If I could 197 00:09:31,639 --> 00:09:33,519 pin a negative on them, it was with Mads and 198 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:35,399 Candy who were definitely in a rush to study this 199 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,159 new substance. At fifteen forty two, Maz opens a secured 200 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,320 access point to the cargo canister in order to get 201 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,639 a microsample for study, which is less than a millimeter 202 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,279 in diameter and has a number of filterers on it 203 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,039 to help control substance spread. That was enough room to 204 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,919 allow the stuff to breach containment. It comes out like 205 00:09:52,039 --> 00:09:54,519 tooth gel bursting from a tube that got squeezed too hard. 206 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,279 Mads had his face right up to the axis point 207 00:09:57,279 --> 00:10:00,519 when it happened. Obviously, Mads was the first to get 208 00:10:00,519 --> 00:10:03,879 broken down. His face disappeared into the substance, followed by 209 00:10:03,879 --> 00:10:05,879 his head, then neck, and then the rest of them. 210 00:10:06,399 --> 00:10:08,840 His arms and legs flailed helplessly around like snakes on 211 00:10:08,879 --> 00:10:11,320 hot coals, and I suspected he was already quite dead. 212 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,600 At that point. Kender's noble instincts got the better of him, 213 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:16,559 and he grabbed one of Mad's arms and tried to 214 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,120 pull him free. All he accomplished was to become the 215 00:10:19,159 --> 00:10:21,200 second victim as the stuff worked its way on to Kenny. 216 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,159 For guy screaming as it took his hands and then 217 00:10:23,159 --> 00:10:25,759 took the rest of them. Westinghouse and the others backed 218 00:10:25,799 --> 00:10:27,720 off and round for the airlock. But the computer was 219 00:10:27,759 --> 00:10:30,279 already one step ahead of them, as was the expansion. 220 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:32,679 It was spreading out all over the cargo bay, a 221 00:10:32,759 --> 00:10:36,159 loving cuppet of hungry Adienzl's latching onto and absorbing everything edible, 222 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,559 other cargo container's equipment for our shuttles, and drunes, lubricant 223 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:42,720 for our machinery, and even a cargo shuttle itself. The 224 00:10:42,759 --> 00:10:44,759 computer couldn't allow a thing like that to get any 225 00:10:44,759 --> 00:10:46,600 further into the ship, so had trapped the captain and 226 00:10:46,639 --> 00:10:49,360 the others in there. I could hear Westinghouse screaming at 227 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:51,320 the computer to let them out, even used his command 228 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:53,440 of ride to try to get the door open. I 229 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,039 think he forgot about company policy involving mission priorities. We 230 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,039 know the tales about how entire crews have been lost 231 00:10:59,039 --> 00:11:01,559 on these missions, but the ships fly back just fine. 232 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,799 It's simple math, right. If you lose the ship, you 233 00:11:04,879 --> 00:11:07,240 lose the crew. If you lose the crew, you might 234 00:11:07,279 --> 00:11:10,120 save the ship. A ship eating organism is too much 235 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:12,320 of a threat to risk getting loose, and even a 236 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,360 captain's already can't change that. It ate the contents of 237 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:17,440 the cargo bay as easily as it took in mount 238 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,159 and kindy. In some places it would bunch up and 239 00:11:20,159 --> 00:11:22,399 send strands of itself into the other parts of the room, 240 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,879 using zero gravity to get about a quicker In short order, 241 00:11:25,919 --> 00:11:28,480 the room assembled a thick spider web in there, strands 242 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,559 of red and blue covering all the walls and flooring, 243 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:32,840 with bits of clothing and other material hanging off it 244 00:11:32,879 --> 00:11:36,080 in places. For dessert, it took out all four cameras, 245 00:11:36,159 --> 00:11:39,320 ending the available footage of fifteen forty four iOS. I 246 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:42,080 never did see what happened with the others. It fled 247 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:43,639 to a corner of the room not covered by an 248 00:11:43,639 --> 00:11:46,519 operational camera. I think they were still screaming when the 249 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:49,960 last camera fell. They may have still been alive. Considering 250 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,639 that their implants still claim they are alive. I doubt 251 00:11:52,639 --> 00:11:54,559 there will ever be a clear answer to their times 252 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:57,759 of death. Since then, my ability to monitor the expansion 253 00:11:57,799 --> 00:12:01,480 is very limited. Surfiskans can't determine if it's organic or 254 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,840 artificial hell, so if the scans are just about useless, 255 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,399 it gives me either false readings or no readings. It 256 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:10,320 explains why we got the all clear to take it 257 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,799 on board. At least the expansion can't absorb everything, or 258 00:12:13,799 --> 00:12:16,240 the ship would have been consumed with an IROs. It 259 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:18,559 is an appetet for all sorts of materials, but it 260 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,759 apparently doesn't like duracrete synthetic material composing the walls of 261 00:12:21,759 --> 00:12:24,200 the bay and the sample container it was in. It 262 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,480 also counts stomach unnatural materials like polister. The computers locked 263 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,639 down all three doors into the bay and other openings 264 00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:33,440 shut off of drcrete shutters. The ship could eject the 265 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,679 cargo bay into space, but not of five crew members 266 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:40,000 showing life signs inside, and not without captain authorization. So yeah, 267 00:12:40,159 --> 00:12:42,960 not an option for me yet. Despite the lockdown, it 268 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,200 got to the comerae. I don't think it targeted it deliberately. 269 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:48,879 The ship lost one of our backup power nose at 270 00:12:48,879 --> 00:12:51,399 the same time. I've had some time to study the 271 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:53,559 damage report, and my guess is that the expansion found 272 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:56,240 a power cable not adequately covered by the containment shutters. 273 00:12:56,919 --> 00:12:59,080 It followed the cable all the way to the power node, 274 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,639 and before new shutters could be implemented, it got to 275 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,480 the comerae. This stuff is in the outside of the ship, 276 00:13:04,639 --> 00:13:06,320 and there are a number of ship components that could 277 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,440 feed on out there, but it's not spreading. External cameras 278 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,360 show that the external bits of door meant maybe even dead. 279 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,919 I think it is a problem with complete vacuum, and 280 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,080 that might be why it acted on our h minus 281 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,039 one thousand, one hundred twenty nine. The planet had no atmosphere. 282 00:13:21,639 --> 00:13:24,200 It hasn't spread further on the ship since eating the carmaree. 283 00:13:24,879 --> 00:13:26,879 With any luck, it won't get any further. But it 284 00:13:26,919 --> 00:13:28,960 won't do me any good unless I can gain control 285 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,720 of the ship, speaking of which I better get back 286 00:13:31,759 --> 00:13:33,879 to it or else all these logs will be for nothing. 287 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,039 Log four September fifteenth, twenty seventy four. It got to 288 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,679 Cargo Bayne two that got to the food. My fault 289 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,960 for getting so stupidly complacent. Can't blame a computer or 290 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,759 the company for this one. The expansion had been so 291 00:13:47,879 --> 00:13:49,480 quiet that I thought it had gone into a type 292 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:51,559 of stasis, like what it did back on our Age 293 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,000 minus one thousand, one hundred twenty nine. I mean it 294 00:13:55,039 --> 00:13:58,320 had eaten everything it could right well, yesterday it pulled 295 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,320 a fast one by suddenly breaching Cargo Obey two. We 296 00:14:01,399 --> 00:14:03,919 kept the lion's share of the food stock. I had 297 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,000 moved some of it into the ship keelinary section from 298 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,919 my own convenience, so it wasn't a total loss. I 299 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,039 still have a month's worth of fruit of normal consumption, 300 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,480 so I could probably ration it to last until at 301 00:14:13,519 --> 00:14:16,799 least reaching Station Alpha Centaury in six weeks. But that's 302 00:14:16,799 --> 00:14:19,559 only probable. Number two. Number one is that it got 303 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,039 past containment again, and that is a bit more serious. 304 00:14:22,679 --> 00:14:25,159 Thanks to my constant hacking, I managed to gain access 305 00:14:25,159 --> 00:14:27,960 to structural scan records. It turns out that the drawer 306 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,039 creet isn't in peverse to the expansion. It just slows 307 00:14:30,039 --> 00:14:32,519 down the absorption rate to a crawl. There was a 308 00:14:32,519 --> 00:14:35,600 week section between Bay three and B two. It also 309 00:14:35,639 --> 00:14:37,480 means that the other parts of Cargo Bay could go 310 00:14:37,519 --> 00:14:39,960 at any time. And you know, it would be nice 311 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,679 if I could talk to this misbegotten son of a 312 00:14:41,679 --> 00:14:43,879 trash compactor about it and create a new containment line 313 00:14:43,919 --> 00:14:47,000 in the adjacent sections to Cargo Bay free. But I 314 00:14:47,039 --> 00:14:50,440 can't still locked out, so I just have to stay 315 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,039 out of the vulnerable sections and trust in a computer sakeouts. 316 00:14:53,679 --> 00:14:56,639 It's all just a stop get measure. My best calculation 317 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,799 is that the expansion will infest the entire ship within 318 00:14:58,879 --> 00:15:02,559 five weeks, it'll hic key systems like propulsion, the ntomatter 319 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,799 power plant, and life support. Before then starving to death 320 00:15:05,879 --> 00:15:09,840 is the least of my concerns. Alert Station Authority has 321 00:15:09,879 --> 00:15:13,440 issued a cautionary advisement. An accident has occurred in docking 322 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,600 port two. Please avoid use of docking port too until 323 00:15:16,639 --> 00:15:20,240 further notice. Remember your safety and the company's safety are 324 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:25,039 one and the same law. Five September sixteenth, twenty seventy four. 325 00:15:25,639 --> 00:15:28,879 Who comes up with all this bullshit? Which company executive 326 00:15:28,879 --> 00:15:31,200 decided that all us human employees, which are stupid, to 327 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,240 be trusted with our own ships? You know, all us 328 00:15:34,279 --> 00:15:36,240 dumb is with advanced degrees and ye us a space 329 00:15:36,279 --> 00:15:39,120 travel under our belts. But I guess they know better. 330 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:41,840 They know us learned folks are just rife with dysfunction. 331 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,200 Caun't possibly give us control. That'd be too much. A 332 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,360 functional mind, whether living or mechanical, would look at this 333 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,759 situation and say, hum, we appear to have by a 334 00:15:51,799 --> 00:15:54,919 hazard contaminating our ship. Maybe we should stop the ship 335 00:15:54,919 --> 00:15:57,559 and purge it. Let's set off the distress beacon or 336 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:59,600 ritual la probe to go ahead of us on broadcasts 337 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,759 for help. Let's do anything besides army flying back to 338 00:16:02,799 --> 00:16:05,559 our home base with a microorganism that eat practically everything. 339 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,480 But I get it now. Functional minds are on company policy. 340 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,000 They want obedient minds. They want the ship and their 341 00:16:13,039 --> 00:16:17,440 cargo back. The cargo comes first, company motto and all that. 342 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,559 Why else would you have your ship computer automatically head 343 00:16:20,559 --> 00:16:22,399 back to base despite knowing it as a boar hazard 344 00:16:22,399 --> 00:16:25,799 on board. That's why we're flying back eno. It's what 345 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,879 they call a non response of command protocol. If the 346 00:16:28,919 --> 00:16:31,080 designated captain is deemed alive and a lot by his 347 00:16:31,159 --> 00:16:33,360 or her implant, then a captain who refuses to give 348 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,000 orders is considered compromise, with the rest of the crew 349 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,240 likely in the same boat. In case of a compromised commander, 350 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,799 the ship automatically returns home unless his status changes. Its 351 00:16:42,879 --> 00:16:45,600 considered an anti piracy tactic, making the assumption that a 352 00:16:45,639 --> 00:16:48,120 compromised captain is either being coerced by pirates or is 353 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,159 aiming to become one. I know, I know. This is 354 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,039 all on productive renting. If this gets read, it's of 355 00:16:54,159 --> 00:16:56,200 some account in trying to tabulate the costs or a 356 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,200 manager trying to figure out how to spin this in 357 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,120 the media, they're all about up policy. This entry is 358 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,079 just a destruction because I am about to try something dangerous. 359 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,279 If it works, it should buy me more time, hopefully 360 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,319 enough to get me back to controlled space. If it doesn't, 361 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,920 this will be my last entry, and I don't want 362 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,160 to end my record without a last word or two 363 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:18,799 and one more thing in case I hadn't spelled it 364 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,519 up clearly enough. I'm pretty convinced that Jercho leadership is 365 00:17:21,559 --> 00:17:23,680 made up of nothing but a more robustards. But I'm 366 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,200 sure we all knew that already. Report day to breach 367 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,160 on September eighteen, twenty seventy four is caused file corruption, 368 00:17:30,799 --> 00:17:34,680 hard drive damage located unable to enact repairs. The next 369 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,279 log entry, designated entry number six and created on September seventeenth, 370 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,039 twenty seventy four, is being classified as ninety six percent retrievable. 371 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,880 Continuing to next entry Log seven, October second, twenty seventy four. 372 00:17:47,559 --> 00:17:50,400 I did it. I managed to pull off a minor miracle. 373 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:52,480 Let's start with the fact that I need the ship 374 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:54,359 wouldn't make it back to controlled space if I kept 375 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,119 letting the computer cull the shots and I admit that 376 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,359 my dpack stunt didn't help matters. The vacus in Breck 377 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,400 I created two weeks ago caused a lot of damage 378 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,000 to ship's systems, both thankfully nothing vital, but the vacuum 379 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,079 brake is holding. The expansion has infested the entire twelve 380 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:10,720 percent of the ship it had access to you, but 381 00:18:10,759 --> 00:18:12,920 it can't get any further, not with the call vacuum 382 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,680 of space blocking it. So I tried a different tactic 383 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,599 with the computer. I pulled a Captain Kirk, as dos 384 00:18:18,599 --> 00:18:21,400 texts like to call it. I use some hard logic 385 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:23,519 in the system managed to convince it that the life 386 00:18:23,559 --> 00:18:25,880 signs coming from cargo Bay three couldn't be human life 387 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:28,440 signs any longer because a they'd been exposed to hard 388 00:18:28,519 --> 00:18:30,799 vacuum for fifteen days and be not moved out of 389 00:18:30,839 --> 00:18:34,160 the bays for weeks. Even a system as unfathomably stubborn 390 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,400 as a cargo ship computer could figure that one out. 391 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:42,200 So I'm the designated captain. Now that's my minor miracle. Unfortunately, 392 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,599 my options are limited. I can't jettison the expansion now 393 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:49,279 it's infected too much of the ship's structure. The expansion 394 00:18:49,319 --> 00:18:51,200 also took down the ship's probe launcher and all the 395 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,000 probes with it, so I can't rig up a probe 396 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,880 to transmit a distress call. Still, at least now I 397 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,200 have access to navigation and propulsion, and I can use 398 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,480 the more powerful ship scanners and the expansion since the 399 00:19:00,559 --> 00:19:03,400 drone scans were unreliable. Best of all, I don't have 400 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,240 to worry about stup attacking windows any more. I can 401 00:19:06,279 --> 00:19:08,000 doe these locks any time I want, so if you 402 00:19:08,039 --> 00:19:10,160 don't mind it, got some new toys to play with. 403 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,640 Hopefully I'll have a plan of action the next time 404 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,720 I sit down and record another one of these apocalyptic diaries, 405 00:19:15,759 --> 00:19:17,480 and it'll be nothing but good news. From here on 406 00:19:17,599 --> 00:19:21,599 out Station Alert. All trance at his own Section three 407 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:24,960 has now been prohibited. We are experiencing a significant power 408 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,839 fluctuation in that region and the issue is being addressed. 409 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,920 All non essential personnel still in his own section three 410 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,640 should remain at their current location until further notice. Remembered, 411 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:36,640 were safety and the company safety are one and the 412 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,960 same log eight October fourth, twenty seventy four are not 413 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:42,640 good news, not at all. My mom was one of 414 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,519 those kind people who never saw adopt She put her 415 00:19:45,519 --> 00:19:48,119 faith in heable remedies, in clean living and positive thinking, 416 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,119 and she stuck to her beliefs even when she started 417 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,720 getting pains in her chest and her breathing was growing shallower. 418 00:19:53,319 --> 00:19:55,160 I used to think it was a sign of insanity, 419 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:56,720 but more and more I think it was actually a 420 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,640 sign of fear. She was afraid of reality intruding into 421 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,000 her happy that having some unsure a picture of her 422 00:20:02,039 --> 00:20:04,160 chest with a timid growing in her lungs would forever 423 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,119 spoiled the magic in her life, replacing it with cold, 424 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,400 dread and the omnipresence of mortality. She died in ignorance 425 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,160 of what killed her, a blessing the rest of the 426 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,640 family didn't get when the coroner told us about the cancer. 427 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,519 This stuff isn't what I would call smart, not human smart. 428 00:20:18,559 --> 00:20:20,200 But it has a few brain cells somewhere in that 429 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,319 mess of my good cells. Yes, my coiit is in fungus. 430 00:20:24,039 --> 00:20:26,000 I've no idea how to define it better than that. 431 00:20:26,599 --> 00:20:30,240 I'm nos a noobiologist or even a regular biologist. It 432 00:20:30,319 --> 00:20:33,160 might be related to a mushroom, but it's a smart mushroom. 433 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,799 I did a full thermal scan of the affected areas, 434 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:37,720 since the stuff gives off a lot of heat as 435 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,480 it grows, and the scan showed that its tunneling through 436 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,480 the floor, a ceiling, and even the auter hole. Its 437 00:20:43,519 --> 00:20:46,319 avoiding vacuum by going inside the struts and plaiting digging 438 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:48,720 right up the middle. Most of the supports have a 439 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,880 thickness of five centimeters, which doesn't offer much wiggle room, 440 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,759 but the stuff is carving out tunnels only one centimeter thick. 441 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,119 It's low going. But if slow going works for tortoises, 442 00:20:58,279 --> 00:21:01,160 as I'll work for this stuff too. Our computer projects 443 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:03,680 the closest expansion mass will bypass my vacuum break in 444 00:21:03,759 --> 00:21:07,039 nine days, most likely emerging in the engine room. I 445 00:21:07,079 --> 00:21:09,200 can to pressurize the engine room, but I'll never be 446 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,960 able to pressurize it or else. The expansion would immediately 447 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,920 infest it and take out the engines. Worse, even if 448 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:16,799 it can't get the engines, the stuff will shrug its 449 00:21:16,799 --> 00:21:19,599 metaphorical shoulders and tunnel to the next section. I can 450 00:21:19,599 --> 00:21:22,359 see where this is going. The expansion will keep coming, 451 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,000 and the only way I can slow it down is 452 00:21:24,039 --> 00:21:25,880 to keep to pressurizing more and more of the ship. 453 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,880 Eventually I'll be stuck on the bridge, sleeping on the floor, 454 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,359 surrounded by trashing my own ways, waiting for the Expansion 455 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,039 to reach me in my last centuary. I'm the captain 456 00:21:34,079 --> 00:21:36,480 of a sinking ship. What an honor to be me. 457 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,839 The rescue pod remains an option, but every space marin 458 00:21:39,839 --> 00:21:42,000 the knows the odds of a successful rescue outside of 459 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,160 controlled spaces. Next to nail, I can control the navigation 460 00:21:45,279 --> 00:21:47,079 system now, so I can turve out our course if 461 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,599 I wish. I suppose I could part the ship next 462 00:21:49,599 --> 00:21:51,400 to a quasos, so I could have a spectacular light 463 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,519 show to watch before the ship this integrates. But I 464 00:21:53,559 --> 00:21:55,920 am not going down with the ship. Do you hear me? 465 00:21:56,559 --> 00:21:59,400 Do you hear me, you miserable corporate che I am 466 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,920 not dying for you, are this company. I'm riding this 467 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:03,599 ship out of the damped until I find a good 468 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,200 place to get off. I'll send it straight into Alpha 469 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,319 centaury itself and melt the ship into slack if it 470 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,200 means destroying the Expansion. But I am living through this, 471 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,200 so says I the Captain of Achilles room in four, 472 00:22:14,319 --> 00:22:17,160 and so it shall be done. Log nine, October eighteenth, 473 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,680 twenty seventy four. I couldn't help but reread my last entry. 474 00:22:21,279 --> 00:22:23,359 I can't tell if I'm getting leany or just down 475 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,759 right scary, considering I haven't talked to another sentient soul 476 00:22:26,799 --> 00:22:28,599 in weeks, I don't think I can be blamed for 477 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,680 going a little nuts. The ship computer can't hold a 478 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,920 decent conversation, and these logs are just me talking to myself. 479 00:22:35,519 --> 00:22:37,880 I guess it's true what they say about solitary confinement. 480 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,440 It's the best punishment out there, though it still pales 481 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,119 to the type of torture where you're trapped in a 482 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:45,039 prison cell with a predator that's doing everything it can 483 00:22:45,079 --> 00:22:47,920 to get to you. At least the astrophysics classes I 484 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,640 took in training are paying off the computer, and I 485 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:52,480 came up with an alternate course that should shave four 486 00:22:52,559 --> 00:22:55,200 days off the strip. That means I have five days 487 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,359 before we enter controlled space. That puts me inside the 488 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:00,640 range of the quantum beacons, which pick up the low 489 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,759 power to stress signal from the rescue pod. Here de kaye, 490 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,319 I think I might live through this. It's going to 491 00:23:06,319 --> 00:23:09,759 be tight, though, after ship is already depressurized, I have 492 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:11,839 a vac suit available to get through the vacuum, but 493 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,640 breathing is in my biggest problem. The stuff is taking 494 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:16,960 through the outer hole as well, and my rescue pod 495 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,480 is right in its path. Best estimate I can come 496 00:23:19,559 --> 00:23:21,440 up with is that the rescue pod will be consumed 497 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,519 right around the point I reach controlled space. I can't 498 00:23:24,519 --> 00:23:27,519 get more precise than that which SCHEVL lifeformans. This race 499 00:23:27,519 --> 00:23:30,480 takes the hole in Gilada. Space. Mariners like to claim 500 00:23:30,519 --> 00:23:32,799 we're powered of an ancient tradition that goes back centuries 501 00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:35,039 to the times of wooden ships travel in Earth's oceans, 502 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,279 spending months or even years away from their homeland in 503 00:23:37,319 --> 00:23:40,599 search of famed fortune or just plain survival. I've heard 504 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:42,720 lots of tales over the years of sailors meeting all 505 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,240 manner of disasters, from freak storms to hidden shoals to 506 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,119 belagient pirates. The tails that always stuck out in my 507 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,200 mind want the dramatic ones. But the store is about 508 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,960 slow death. A ship that wandered until it becomes own, 509 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,960 whether the wind refused to blow for days or even weeks, 510 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,920 the crew to bleeding their stores and their water, to 511 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,720 come into starvation, dehydration and inviting while they contract a 512 00:24:00,799 --> 00:24:03,079 nasty disease that spreads all through their ranks, the men 513 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,359 dying to an enemy they can't fight or flee from. 514 00:24:05,559 --> 00:24:07,039 What was it like to be stuck inside a death 515 00:24:07,039 --> 00:24:09,680 trap like that, praying for strong wind, hoping for rescue, 516 00:24:09,759 --> 00:24:11,519 wanting for a piece of dry land to escape to. 517 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,920 I really hate those stores now Log ten October twenty first, 518 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,640 twenty seventy four twelve vires before I reach controlled space, 519 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,000 twelve lovely iyurs. I mean, what's twelve virus more in 520 00:24:24,039 --> 00:24:26,480 the scheme of things. I've been stuck on the ship 521 00:24:26,519 --> 00:24:30,240 for over three thousand, six hundred iurs. Now twelve viyres 522 00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:34,519 is easy, peasy. I'm just really bore, also really freaked out. 523 00:24:35,319 --> 00:24:37,079 Is that possible being bored and freaked out at the 524 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,920 same time, or is my mood just taking turns going 525 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,000 from one to the other and I can't tell any more. 526 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:44,960 I've quarantined myself to the bridge for a few days now, 527 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:47,799 and my leisure options are limited. The company has a 528 00:24:47,839 --> 00:24:50,960 real problem with people using Bridge hardware for entertainment purposes, 529 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,599 and while I co attack into my own stash of videos, 530 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,440 I might very well jeopardized and key systems in a process. 531 00:24:57,279 --> 00:24:59,640 So I've been doing a lot of reading, mostly status 532 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,279 report and training simulations and other fun things like that. 533 00:25:03,039 --> 00:25:05,599 I also decided to look over the recorded orbital scans 534 00:25:05,599 --> 00:25:08,200 of our H minus one thousand, one hundred twenty, not 535 00:25:08,279 --> 00:25:09,960 because I was looking for a clue or a pipany 536 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,559 concern in expansion, but because again I'm really bored. You 537 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,920 know what. I found a whole lot of mountains. The 538 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,519 thing is, while they are literally everywhere on the surface, 539 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,000 there is a pattern to them. The biggest mounds are 540 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,200 closer together, in some cases lined up symmetrically. The three 541 00:25:25,279 --> 00:25:27,519 D imaging picture shows some of these clusters going on 542 00:25:27,599 --> 00:25:29,559 for miles and miles, and the more I looked at them, 543 00:25:29,559 --> 00:25:31,920 the more they resembled the outlines of sidscapes, with the 544 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,279 tallest one substituting for skyscrapers and the numerous smaller mans 545 00:25:35,279 --> 00:25:38,640 stepping in for apartment buildings and houses. It got me thinking, 546 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,000 what if those mounds used to be buildings. Maybe this 547 00:25:42,079 --> 00:25:44,200 isn't a fanciful notion created by a man both on 548 00:25:44,279 --> 00:25:46,480 board of time and with too much time on his hands. 549 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:48,880 I have to think that this planet wasn't always a 550 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,759 wastened It occupies a Goldilocks own and has the right 551 00:25:51,799 --> 00:25:55,319 planetary spin. Caravity is comparable to Earth. It just lacks 552 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,880 an atmosphere, and that is a big problem. Then again, 553 00:25:59,279 --> 00:26:02,680 maybe it did have an atmosphere once. Maybe the expansion 554 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,920 came to our age eleven twenty, or was created by 555 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,240 an intelligent species that once lived there, and it did 556 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,000 what it does well. It ate everything it could, reducing 557 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,119 a fellow sentient species into nothing but mounds of organic refuse. 558 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,200 Maybe it destroyed the atmosphere as well, or maybe the 559 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,680 species destroyed the atmosphere in order to stop it from 560 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,359 going any further. Can't prove any of it, but it 561 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,039 makes for a pretty depressing tale. It's also a good 562 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,039 argument for why a ship needs to fly into a 563 00:26:26,079 --> 00:26:28,759 sum good thing, a pre programmed the flight computed to 564 00:26:28,799 --> 00:26:31,079 do so. Once I'm off the ship, I just have 565 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:32,880 to send a short brain signal from the pod and 566 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,440 voilat the Achilles four becomes part of the grid beyond. 567 00:26:36,039 --> 00:26:37,880 I'd say I'll be sad about it, but I kind 568 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,440 of hate this ship. Now twelve hours to go. Like 569 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:46,160 I said, easy peasy log ten addendum, Ah, I can't 570 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,279 even I'm not in the right frame of mind to 571 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,319 do a log, but a record has to be kept. 572 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,440 I have to find a way to get this out, 573 00:26:52,599 --> 00:26:55,079 find a way to transmit this. It's all I have 574 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:59,480 left now. Others must know what happened here, others besides Jerko. 575 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,599 The pod is gone and no, not because expansion ate it. 576 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,119 That would be unfair, but it would make sense self 577 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,640 replicating sporel like Nno, structures must do what they must. No, 578 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,240 the pod is gone because I decided to send navigations 579 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,599 a semi course correction while I was still on the bridge. 580 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,359 I didn't want to risk the pulse short range transmit 581 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,880 of not being up for the task. I didn't think 582 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:22,559 it would matter when I did it, since the star 583 00:27:22,599 --> 00:27:25,200 I picked for the jaw kuiliominous forty tree was well 584 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,200 inside controlled space and wouldn't fate my time mine. Good 585 00:27:28,279 --> 00:27:31,039 thing I thought ahead, I guess. As soon as I 586 00:27:31,079 --> 00:27:33,799 executed the course correction, I was immediately locked out of 587 00:27:33,799 --> 00:27:36,519 the navigational system. At the same time, there was a 588 00:27:36,559 --> 00:27:39,599 rupture at the pod bay compartment. Damage control showed a 589 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,519 localized whole breach limited to the rescue pod itself. Somehow, 590 00:27:43,559 --> 00:27:46,920 the pods internal power cells went into overlow. That can't 591 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,599 happen unless the cooling system is disabled. Is gone. My 592 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,319 control of the ship is gone. Most of my captain 593 00:27:53,319 --> 00:27:56,480 authority is gone in terms of access, unlocked out of 594 00:27:56,519 --> 00:27:59,920 anything important. Yet turns out there was another order in play. 595 00:28:00,559 --> 00:28:02,240 After I cried my eyes out over the loss of 596 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,559 the pod, I went back through the status logs, going 597 00:28:04,599 --> 00:28:07,079 back to when this whole horror show started two months ago, 598 00:28:07,079 --> 00:28:09,720 hoping to find out why this had happened. I found 599 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,440 what I was looking for. One day before the common 600 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,440 ray got eaten, Achilles four received a communication from Jericho 601 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,319 systemaized only, meaning that no crew member on board had 602 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,000 access to it. The message wasn't in the log, but 603 00:28:21,039 --> 00:28:23,000 thanks to my deep hack, I could get the computer 604 00:28:23,039 --> 00:28:24,799 to cough it up, and I'm not ashamed to say 605 00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:26,599 that I cried my eyes out again after reading it. 606 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,759 The ship computer. It transmitted the biohazard warning and what 607 00:28:29,799 --> 00:28:32,599 preliminary data it had on the expansion to Jericho at Quarters, 608 00:28:32,759 --> 00:28:36,000 which as standard procedure in these kinds of situations. What 609 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,319 isn't standard As the ship received the corporate order to 610 00:28:38,319 --> 00:28:41,279 maintain a course for Alpha Centaury Station. The ship could 611 00:28:41,319 --> 00:28:43,359 also the course as long as it arrived at station 612 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,960 within three months. External communications can only go through corporate channels. 613 00:28:48,599 --> 00:28:50,720 Any attempt to destroy the ship by the captain, like 614 00:28:50,799 --> 00:28:53,799 I had just done, would result in command lockout. At 615 00:28:53,799 --> 00:28:55,839 the same time, the ship computer would ensure the crew 616 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,000 didn't attempt to flee the ship. So all shuttles and 617 00:28:58,119 --> 00:29:00,279 pots we have mysterious problems arise if we can try 618 00:29:00,319 --> 00:29:03,720 to use them, such as culling systems abruptly breaking. Wouldn't 619 00:29:03,759 --> 00:29:06,960 one us warning the authorities right, Jericho knows what they 620 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,039 have aboard the ship, and they want to bring it home. 621 00:29:09,559 --> 00:29:12,480 The cargo comes first, the crew comes last. I have 622 00:29:12,559 --> 00:29:15,799 no more words for you, my corporate overlords. Words no 623 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,519 longer due justice to what you've done. I can't even 624 00:29:18,519 --> 00:29:22,519 bother to I can't even log eleven October twenty fourth, 625 00:29:22,559 --> 00:29:25,279 twenty seventy four. It's taken me a few days to 626 00:29:25,279 --> 00:29:28,039 get my ship together. I can't say that my shed 627 00:29:28,079 --> 00:29:30,799 is in fact together. I think I'm way past pulling 628 00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:33,599 myself into a state resembling an actual human being. But 629 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,720 I got something. I got me a plan. It's a 630 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,440 bad plan, and it's a fatal plan, but that's the 631 00:29:39,519 --> 00:29:42,559 only kind of plans I have left to use. I'm dead. 632 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,720 I already feel dead, like I'm a ghost, wandering and 633 00:29:45,759 --> 00:29:49,079 empty ship. My CoP's decomposing somewhere out of sight, or 634 00:29:49,079 --> 00:29:51,880 floating out in space, or just another part of that 635 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,880 creeping mass consuming the ship. This two days left in 636 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,160 my trip, but there's no salvation at my destination. Jericho 637 00:29:58,279 --> 00:30:00,359 is waiting for the ship to dock, no doubt, itching 638 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,319 to study test and dies out the expansion. They can 639 00:30:03,359 --> 00:30:06,519 probably still save me, but they won't. I'm too much 640 00:30:06,559 --> 00:30:09,759 of a liability now I have all the incriminating evidence 641 00:30:09,799 --> 00:30:12,759 needed to bring them upon criminal charges. They'll either let 642 00:30:12,799 --> 00:30:14,839 the expansion finish me off, or they might help my 643 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,480 demise along by initiating an accident. They'll alter or purge 644 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,279 some records, and that will be that one more loss 645 00:30:21,319 --> 00:30:23,880 pro added to the memorial wall back on Earth. They 646 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,480 don't know what they're dealing with. They only have early 647 00:30:26,519 --> 00:30:29,200 scanning data. They'll let this thing on to the station 648 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,480 and it'll run wild. Office Inurer station has over ten 649 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,200 thousand souls aboard, and cargo ships travel from the station 650 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,400 to Earth every day. No matter how thoroughly Jerco screwed 651 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:40,799 me over, I can't let all those people die. I 652 00:30:40,799 --> 00:30:44,119 can't risk the expansion getting to Earth. So my fatal 653 00:30:44,119 --> 00:30:47,200 plan well, since I can't deliberately fly the ship into 654 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:50,000 a star, i'll settle for doing it accidentally. I can 655 00:30:50,079 --> 00:30:52,480 do a d pack again, only this time I'll permanently 656 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,319 take out the ship computer. They'll cause the engines to 657 00:30:55,359 --> 00:30:58,240 shut down as an automatic safety precaution. The trick is 658 00:30:58,279 --> 00:30:59,799 when to do the shut down, but I figured it 659 00:30:59,799 --> 00:31:02,480 at well. If a time it right, the ship will 660 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:04,839 do a gravity slinchip passentry room, and four a small 661 00:31:04,839 --> 00:31:07,160 gas giant, which will send me right at the start DELF. 662 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,720 Since I can't use the ship computer to help guide 663 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,039 me this time, I have to use my own calculations. 664 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:15,319 This could go very badly. I don't want to sling 665 00:31:15,319 --> 00:31:16,880 a ship into a planet if I can help it 666 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,319 or out in a deep space. Worship might eventually be recovered, 667 00:31:19,359 --> 00:31:21,480 but it's the best option for my list of fatal plans. 668 00:31:22,119 --> 00:31:24,640 If US succeed, then this lug dies with me and 669 00:31:24,759 --> 00:31:27,519 Jericho will probably skatee by without the authorities ever catching 670 00:31:27,519 --> 00:31:29,880 wind of the ship they were pulling. But hey, I'll 671 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,759 go out saving lives. Definitely worse fates than that one 672 00:31:33,799 --> 00:31:36,480 way or another. This is my last entry. I will 673 00:31:36,599 --> 00:31:38,759 waste my time thinking of famous last worries, but I 674 00:31:38,799 --> 00:31:42,000 will say this. My crew deserved better. I deserve better, 675 00:31:42,599 --> 00:31:44,440 and Jeriko deserves a whole hell of a lot more 676 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,319 than what they're going to get. Station security raised a 677 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:51,759 level OMEGA. Biohazard safeguards are now in effect. Please stay 678 00:31:51,759 --> 00:31:54,440 at your current location and evacuation team will arrive within 679 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,880 two aros. Remember your safety in the company safety or 680 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,839 one and the same attention hidden daed and newly discovered 681 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,400 A known log entry now available. Release of log entry 682 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,480 appears to coincide with signal BOAST originating from Achilles four. 683 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:14,160 Cause of transmission ann log twelve date annn hullo. There, 684 00:32:14,279 --> 00:32:17,680 my corporate overlords. If you're reading this entry, a few 685 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,559 things will have transpire for starters. I'm dead. I won't 686 00:32:21,559 --> 00:32:23,319 know how it happened, but I'll be dead none the less. 687 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,920 I hope it was fairly painless. Next, this ship is 688 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,480 still in one piece. Ye might think that means my 689 00:32:29,519 --> 00:32:31,359 plan is a failure, and that would be a fair 690 00:32:31,359 --> 00:32:34,880 assessment of things, considering what data you have available. Except 691 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,960 that was my plan, not the real one. I did 692 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,000 try to shut down the computer, but only so that 693 00:32:40,039 --> 00:32:42,880 the system would log my attempt. Ship computers have so 694 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,799 many firewalls underdundant hard drives that it's almost impossible to 695 00:32:45,839 --> 00:32:48,119 disable it through hacking. I did it so that you 696 00:32:48,119 --> 00:32:50,799 wouldn't look too hard at my actual hacking effort. What 697 00:32:50,839 --> 00:32:53,440 I did was rig up a new transmitter. The only 698 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:55,759 one I still had available was the one still attached 699 00:32:55,759 --> 00:32:58,079 to the wreckage of the rescue pod. I had to 700 00:32:58,200 --> 00:32:59,759 use my vecksuit to travel through a number of De 701 00:32:59,799 --> 00:33:03,119 pres Show's compartments, and it wasn't much fun. I kept 702 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,000 expecting the expansion to burst out of the walls and 703 00:33:05,039 --> 00:33:07,880 absort me at any time, but that didn't happen. I 704 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,000 raged the POD's transmitter to run off the ship's power 705 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,599 supply as well as connected to my personal digital device. 706 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,759 That way, the ship computer doesn't even know it exists. 707 00:33:16,519 --> 00:33:19,079 I've downloaded the logs into my personal device, and I've 708 00:33:19,119 --> 00:33:21,240 hidden the device somewhere it won't be found too quickly. 709 00:33:21,279 --> 00:33:22,960 But not before I set it to record my buy 710 00:33:23,079 --> 00:33:25,960 readings for my implant. I added the condition that if 711 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,039 my implant were to ever go dark, the device will 712 00:33:28,039 --> 00:33:31,119 automatically transmit two signals. One will be to send the 713 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,440 logs through the POD's short range array. It'll only work 714 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,319 for one good burst, but every communication array within two 715 00:33:37,359 --> 00:33:39,400 thousand miles of the ship will pick up the data burst. 716 00:33:40,079 --> 00:33:42,119 The second signal will be to the Achilles Room, and 717 00:33:42,119 --> 00:33:44,799 for itself, it will activate the program I put in 718 00:33:44,799 --> 00:33:47,200 the life support system, the one that will pressurize every 719 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,240 compartment on the ship. I've crunched some numbers and realized 720 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,079 that the ship's hull is in a very tenuous state 721 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,200 from all the expansions tunney. Returning the air to most 722 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,039 of the ship would be like truna let match into 723 00:33:57,039 --> 00:33:59,880 a pole of gasoline. The expansion will surge into all 724 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:03,599 the compartments, causing whole breaches everywhere. It could even rip 725 00:34:03,599 --> 00:34:05,920 the ship apart. I admit it's a plan with a 726 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:09,320 number of serious risks. What if my personal device runs 727 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,880 out of power first or gets smashed. What if the 728 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,119 expansion eats me and duplicates my implant readings. What if 729 00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:18,239 the pods transmit it proves too damage to do the job. Yep, 730 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,840 it's a desperate plan. But then I'm a desperate person. 731 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,280 I realized that even if I could destroy the ship, 732 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,360 I wouldn't stop Jericho. The company would just send a 733 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:28,719 new ship to our age minutes one thousand, one hundred 734 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,639 twenty nine. I have to expose the company and expose 735 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:34,280 the expansion, and nothing get people's attention like a dying 736 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:36,599 mariner's last love coupled with the public destruction of a 737 00:34:36,599 --> 00:34:39,119 cargo vessel in range of every able sin. So package 738 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:41,920 truth be told. The one thing I'm really afraid of 739 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:43,880 is that the company's retrieval team will bring the ship 740 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,800 directly into one of the station's docking ports. If the 741 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:49,079 ship comes apart inside a docking port, there'll be no 742 00:34:49,119 --> 00:34:51,639 way to stop it from infesting the station. But you 743 00:34:51,679 --> 00:34:54,960 guys wouldn't be that arrogant, right There are protocols for 744 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,760 this kind of thing. I mean, unless you're too busy 745 00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,639 trying to hide the ship to care about small matters 746 00:34:59,679 --> 00:35:03,119 like by hazard containment. I suppose no matter what happens, 747 00:35:03,119 --> 00:35:05,199 your corporate guys are going to be real cross with me. 748 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:08,280 No death benefits from my mom, no bonus for my 749 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,440 hard work, which I think is a real crappy thing 750 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,079 to do to a loyal employee like me. After all, 751 00:35:13,119 --> 00:35:15,840 I followed the corporate mantra. I delivered to you what 752 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,400 you wanted. In the end, the cargo came first, and 753 00:35:20,519 --> 00:35:22,920 that is the end. Thank you for listening and I 754 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:32,079 will see you in the next one.