Jim goes for the metal desk.
The memory dumps you into the memories of someone at a similar desk, in a room full of people sitting at similar desks. It would pass as a school room if not for the fact that the students very wildly in age. And that each one is hooked to an iv drip. They're all sitting stock straight at their desks, staring ahead at a screen on the wall. The screen is blinking images and phrases, but they're flashing by so quickly that you can't consciously tell what they are. Occasionally the blinking will stop and a single message will hold on screen for several seconds. When this happens, the vessel, and the rest of the group by the sound of it, feel something. A conditioned emotional response.
"Your master is the UWM"
The vessel's chest swells with happiness and pride.
"Your enemy is the Altered"
Hatred, revulsion, and purpose. No fear.
"You must always protect humanity."
Love, compassion, willingness to sacrifice.
"Loyalty to your creator."
And on it goes, for quite a while. It takes you a moment to notice when it loops.
((And I must thank you greatly for this effort.))
Check the black void memory.
This memory drops you back into the now familiar view of the universe from the multifold camera eyes of the ghost ship. However, it's hard to say exactly where you are. You can see nothing but empty space and scant few stars in all directions. You feel that the ghost ship is thinking; thinking in it's own particular way. It's hard to say what it would think of, out here all alone, but it seems contemplative, introspective even. It's thinking about the past.
Hard to say when this one loops, since it's very static, but you're pretty sure it has by now.
Although there are things that I want to get into...Basically, I'll let you guys know that we're doing another 5 man mission after this one -mission 10- and then we're gonna pick up the guys on the planetoid, assuming they're still alive.
pick up the guys on the planetoid, assuming they're still alive.
assuming they're still alive.
((Was that ominous foreshadowing? Looking at recent developments, I think that was ominous foreshadowing.
Welp, only one thing left to do.))
Panic!
I never make assumptions about the survival of people on mission. You guys have always surprised me in just how many ways you find to die.
Enter the burning world memory.
Burning world.
The Burning world memory is from the viewpoint of the ghostship's camera eyes yet again. It's in low orbit around an earth-like world, drifting silently as it looks down on the scattered settlements below. It doesn't know the name of this place; but it knows that 45,230 people live there, by last count. That they eke out an isolated life, growing their own food, producing their own wares and having little to do with the galaxy spanning worlds of man. Below, sunlight is sweeping across the surface; sunrise to those scattered inhabitants, a pool of shadow being pushed back across a green blue marble by a tide of light, from the ship's view.
It knows that these people have rejected the offers to join with the UWM. And it knows, because it was told, that light hours away is an Altered armada, a wall of flesh ships sweeping across space; slamming mindlessly into any solid body and nesting upon it. It knows that no ships capable of evacuating these people are anywhere close enough to help. And it knows that this colony will hold back the Altered like tissue paper holds back the sea. In fact, by the time their weak telescopes catch sight of the horde, they won't even have enough time to type up a distress message before the first ships impact. It is a cruel equation and it's conclusion is as inescapable as any natural law.
The ship doesn't even need to concentrate very hard; it's become much more capable over the years. One by one the colonies vanish in bright points of light and their signals vanish with them. It takes less then a minute. For a while it just watches as those point of white light spread out into yellow and orange; smoldering across the surface.
It loops from there.
Author
Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Missions 9a, 10, 11, and Heph post war survey team) (Read 463321 times)