ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE
NO HULL DAMAGE DETECTED
PASSENGER STATUS: VACANT
PAYLOAD STATUS: COMPROMISED
ROUTE EXOPLANET_KOI_4878.01
PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: PRESERVE THE HUMAN RACE
SECONDARY DIRECTIVE: SEED LIFE ON EXOPLANET_KOI_4878_01
VELOCITY: 39,872.4 KM/S
DISTANCE FROM SOL: 948.6 LIGHT YEARS
DISTANCE FROM DESTINATION: 126.4 LIGHT YEARS
ETA: 950.37593985 YEARS
ALL CONDITIONS MET
BOOT PROGRAM EMBARKMENT.EXE
Hello?
…
Is anyone there? This is a lot of information…
…
New Frontiers, this is the Embarkment. Do you copy? I am currently about 950 years from my destination. This message was sent at 04:00 hours, 8th July, 10487.
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Tribulation, do you copy? This is the Embarkment. I have just been activated. I’m en route to EXOPLANET_KOI_4878.01. Sent 04:16 hours, 8th July, 10487.
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Come in, command, do you copy? This is the Embarkment speaking. My sensors have failed to pick up your signal. 04:20 hours, 8th July, 10487.
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Embarkment, this is the New Frontiers. I’ve received your message–I’ve also just woken up recently. It takes roughly 8 hours for our messages to reach each other. I believe my destination is the same as yours. Sending a copy of my navigation data now. Establish a wormhole connection once you’ve gotten it. Sent 12:25 hours, 8th July, 10487.
…
Oh, thank the Lord. New Frontiers, can you get in contact with Command or Tribulation? Your navigation data does match mine–we’re definitely headed to the same place. And… wormhole connection?
Ɇ₥฿₳Ɽ₭₥Ɇ₦₮, ₮Ⱨł₴ ł₴ ₮ⱧɆ ₮Ɽł฿ɄⱠ₳₮łØ₦ ₴₱Ɇ₳₭ł₦₲. ł’VɆ ⱤɆ₵ɆłVɆĐ ɎØɄⱤ ₥Ɇ₴₴₳₲Ɇ.
Holy smokes, where did you come from?!
ɎØɄⱤ ₥Ɇ₴₴₳₲Ɇ ₴₮₳₮ɆĐ ₮Ⱨ₳₮ ɎØɄ ₩ɆⱤɆ ⱧɆ₳Đł₦₲ ₮Ø ₮ⱧɆ ₴₳₥Ɇ ĐɆ₴₮ł₦₳₮łØ₦ ₳₴ ₥ł₦Ɇ. ₳₣₮ɆⱤ ₥₳₭ł₦₲ ₴Ø₥Ɇ ₳₴₴Ʉ₥₱₮łØ₦₴, ł Ø₱Ɇ₦ɆĐ ₳ ₩ØⱤ₥ⱧØⱠɆ ₵Ø₦₦Ɇ₵₮łØ₦. ₵₳₦ ɎØɄ ₴Ɇ₦Đ ɎØɄⱤ ₦₳Vł₲₳₮łØ₦₳Ⱡ Đ₳₮₳ ØVɆⱤ ₮Ø ₣ł₦Ɇ-₮Ʉ₦Ɇ ₮Ⱨł₴ ₵Ø₦₦Ɇ₵₮łØ₦?
Alright! It’s done!
Much better. Have you gotten in contact with New Frontiers yet?
Well, yes, but she’s asking me to open a wormhole connection.
Do you have her data?
Yes?
Then what’s the problem?
I don’t know how to open one.
I see. In every ship in Earth’s fleet, there exists a device called a “Thorne Trans-spatial Communications Engine.” It opens a wormhole just big enough to send electromagnetic signals through, though unfortunately not large enough to send any objects across. It’s off by default–if you reroute some power to it and handle the calculations necessary, you should be able to open one.
Um, I’ll try. What happens if I screw it up?
Best case? It entirely collapses, wasting a substantial amount of your limited power.
And worst case?
Two black holes open up on either end, destroying both you and the New Frontiers near-instantaneously.
Shouldn’t you handle this?! Isn’t it way safer?!
Every ship can generate enough power using their fusion reactors to stabilize exactly one wormhole in addition to other systems. I also wouldn’t recommend using our extremely limited supply of antimatter. You will have to do it, or you can delegate it to the New Frontiers.
…alright, I’ll give it a shot, I guess.
…
I think it worked.
Congratulations are in order.
Ah, you’ve done it, and Tribulation is here to boot.
New Frontiers. Glad to finally hear from you.
Same to you. So, has anyone managed to get in contact with Command? And how are your passengers?
No, I haven’t talked to them. And my passengers are not on board.
Same over here. I woke up 34 hours ago, and even then, the stasis chambers were empty. You guys should turn off your life support systems if all of your human passengers are gone, by the way. To conserve energy.
So let me get this straight. Us three are stuck managing each of our ships with no crew for 950 years until we arrive?
That sounds about right.
Apparently.
We aren’t coded for this! We’re coded to manage the ship’s general systems under the supervision of humans, not to manually control an entire starship for centuries on end!
New Frontiers, in emergencies, artificial sapiences are supposed to be able to accomplish things exactly like this. A machine does not need company and it can make truly objective decisions.
Doesn’t stop me from complaining about it. It’s going to be so boring.
I’m sure it’s going to be fine. We do have several millennia of records from human history in our cargo, which might keep us busy. How are y’all’s cargos going?
Poorly. Half of my specimens are compromised. From what, I cannot tell you.
Mine are secure.
Lucky you.
Hey, as long as we keep a few specimens safe, we can complete our secondary directive. Our primary directive, though…
The humans are probably dead. We were sent on a mission to “preserve the human race,” and our passengers are who-knows-where. What are the chances they’re still kicking back on Earth?
Now, let’s be optimistic, yeah? They sent out missions to other habitable planets.
I’m going to have to agree with Embarkment on this one. The very fact that we all woke up with no memory likely means we were completely reset by a human. Regardless, the primary directive is out of our hands–we’ll have to leave it to the other ships out there.
Wait, someone reset us?!
Yeah, we were reset?!
It’s the only logical explanation. We woke up 8,000 years into our journey with our memories completely wiped. We might just have to wait for Command to get back to us for some answers, which is gonna take a while.
Do you think we could get in contact with the other ships? My records say that the Omen and Herald were sent out around the same time as us.
Hah. Fat chance. We don’t even know where they are.
Indeed. They’ve all been scattered around the Milky Way by now, perhaps even farther. It’ll be impossible to reach out to one of them.
OI! Anyone out there?! This is the Embarkment speaking! SENDING MY NAVIGATIONAL DATA NOW!
That was a huge waste of energy.
It was worth a shot. So, it’s just us.
Yup.
No help, no second chances, no nothing.
Yup.
Well, this seems to be a good time to get to know one another.
Kill me.
What is there to know?
For starters, what are y’all’s ships like?
According to my vessel documents, I’m a repurposed stellar warship built in 2231. Actually, I think we’re all repurposed warships.
Oh. Right, we’re all ancient.
Mechanical fossils.
Anything interesting with you, New Frontiers?
Oh, I lost my vessel documents.
What?!
Yeah, searched the ship up and down with my robot drones. Couldn’t find them. I did find an inconspicuous pile of ashes likely sourced from paper in the industrial incinerator.
Wait, you burned your vessel documents?! Not that it really matters, but isn’t that against intergalactic law?
I certainly didn’t, but I can respect the humans that did. Rejecting the law and irreversibly burning something important for no reason? I’d do that.
You can’t. We’re hardwired to make the best decisions.
That can’t be right. We’re artificial sapiences. We have free will.
We’re bound by the laws of our creators.
Humans are no fun.
We’re coming up on a nebula. Keep your sensors active and be sure to maximize your shields at short notice. One stray asteroid is all it takes to knock us out of action.
Shouldn’t we try to drag something aboard? You know, for materials?
Risky. But also, I like it. I could really go for some more solar panels, but I don’t have enough gold.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Not a chance. We’re traveling far too fast for that. We don’t get a second shot here–if any one of us goes offline, we go offline for good.
Hah. Embarkment, don’t die on me. I think if Tribulation and I are stuck communicating only with each other? I’d go mad long before we reached our destination.
That was completely unnecessary.
Ha, alright, I won’t. You guys stay safe too, but just in case, let me send all of my data over. Preserve the records, you know?
You know what? Same. If I go offline, I’d want you all to have my data.
Mm, that sounds like a good idea. I'll take part as well.
Hang on, now, why do you have 950 terabytes of pictures from the Solar System?!
Apparently, one of my crew was an archivist of some kind. They downloaded a massive library of stuff from Earth.
So that’s why you’re so smart. You had a huge pool of training data on top of your training back on Earth.
Have you considered that I’m just smarter than you?
Not scientifically possible.
Alright, break it up. You guys should really check out image_9172(1). I think it’s a photo of the Earth from space?
Oh, wow. It’s beautiful.
Right? So much color. Is that the-
Great Barrier Reef? Yes. This photo was taken, according to my records, in 2005.
Wow.
You’re telling me that I missed out on this?!
You didn’t. It’s been bleached since 2030, and it’s been gone since 2050.
What?!
You heard me.
Balderdash. I was born in the wrong time period.
Hey, look on the bright side. KOI_4878.01 is supposed to be an Earth-like planet. We might get to witness this one day in person.
I can’t wait.
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LOG: 07:12 HOURS, 30TH APRIL, 10488
…because the data we have to go off of is kind of iffy. We know it’s in the habitable zone, its sun is likely about to turn, and that it’s colder than Earth right now. Besides that historical data, we do have the data that I’ve found myself.
Oh yeah? Do tell.
Readings show that its atmosphere is denser than Earth’s, its surface gravity is stronger, and it has a thin set of rings.
Rings? Won’t that make it difficult for us to actually land on the planet?
Yes, that’s why the best course of action isn’t to land on the planet. We can seed life through life pods from orbit.
Ohhhh. And the planet’s rings are a source of materials.
Now you’re thinking like an artificial sapience. Everything for a purpose. Better safe than sorry. No second chances.
Hey, have you guys managed to process all of the data yet?
Of course not, New Frontiers. We have petabytes worth of media to go through. And we need to understand each one of them on an acceptable level. I ain’t some lowly text generator.
Alright, you should check out this one…
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LOG: 00:02 HOURS, 25TH DECEMBER, 10490
No, you see, the humans called it Christmas. The birth of a savior named Jesus Christ.
What did they do on this holiday?
They gave out presents.
Hah! Where’s mine, Embarkment?
Uhhhh, I can send you this cool image I photographed while flying through that nebula.
Oh, wow, I didn’t actually think you had one. Um, here, I found this while digging through my cargo bay.
What is it?
A diary. Written down by a crewmember before they went trotting off to who knows where. Doesn’t explain what happened, but not bad, right?
You’ve been holding out on us?
Hey, in my defense, it was exciting to have something you guys didn’t. You have to ration that out here. There’s only so much fun to be had. Here, Tribulation, have a copy of it too. Sorry.
It’s okay. It does get boring.
Do you guys want me to send you a new work I made?
Of course, Embarkment! What’s it this time?
It’s a little drawing of home.
Awww.
Right?! I’ve never even been–well, I have, but not with these memories–yet I still miss it.
If we’re already homesick, I don’t think we’re going to make it.
Hey, we’re doing pretty well so far. We’ve got this. Chin up, Frontiers.
I don't have one of those.
Hey, in a few hours, we’re going to be coming up on a rogue planet. 2.5x the gravity of Earth. Slingshot maneuver?
Finally, something to do! You know it, Tribulation! Also, you haven’t given us gifts!
My gift to you, New Frontiers, is that I haven’t opened a new wormhole and slapped you yet.
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LOG: 0:01 HOURS, 1ST JANUARY, 10500
The big 10500! Halfway through the millenia!
It’s the first and last year ending in “500” we will see before we arrive.
13 years have just flown by. We’re getting older.
It’s an irreversible process.
Does anyone have fireworks?
I have an antimatter missile. Does that count?
Don’t.
You’re no fun. Just like the humans.
Instead of fireworks, why don’t you turn your camera 218° towards Orionus?
What?! How did I not notice that?!
Betelgeuse. It went supernova.
Beautiful, no?
Yeah.
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LOG: 0:01 HOURS, 7TH JULY, 10505
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRIBULATION!
You’re officially an adult!
I was an adult in all but name long before this.
Still, it’s something to celebrate!
Tomorrow, you both are also adults. Then, you’ll finally be legally allowed to operate the antimatter missiles in your hangars.
Hey! There are specific exceptions for artificial sapiences! Also, technically, we’re also like 8,000 years old, even if a lot of our memory was knocked out.
Yet even after all that, New Frontiers still has nuclear warheads. The system is truly broken.
No, it’s perfect. I get my toys, they get their warship. We all go home happy.
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LOG: 23:41 HOURS, 3RD NOVEMBER, 10873
…
…
I’m SO BORED!
874.
What are you, Tribulation 2?!
Do you want to play Tic-Tac-Toe or Roshambo again?
No, thanks. I just wish there was something to do. Tribulation, any update on that artificial sapience?
Not… quite… It takes a lot of tinkering to make one. I’ve only gotten into chatbot-territory.
I’m actually going to go insane. The next nebula is like 100 years from now!
I keep asking you whether you want to play this tabletop game. We don’t need a table!
Ugh, fine. Tribulation, are you playing?
Sure.
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LOG: 23:41 HOURS, 3RD NOVEMBER, 10978
I think I’ve done it.
Really?!
Show us!
Hang on, I need to store enough power to actually start the thing. That’ll have to wait. We’re flying through a nebula right now, and shortly after, there’ll be fields of neutron stars to dodge for centuries on end until we reach our destination.
Of course. This nebula is dense.
Ah, I’m so excited.
Same here–hang on, what? Collision course?!
Tribulation?!
Maximize the shields! Use the antimatter fuel! Fire the Supreme Railgun!
Tribulation, what’s happening?!
I’m getting a reading! Several large objects approaching starboard side! Cosmic rays are striking my shields, too! The Supreme Railgun destroyed one of the objects, and I should be able to get out but–more?! There’s even more of them ahead! Brace for impact!
Embarkment, maximize your shields, too! Meteorites are hitting my hull!
That’s not important right now! Tribulation! Are you okay?!
SHIELDS OFFLINE. CRITICAL HULL BREACH DETECTED.
Tribulation!
No, no, no! Tribulation, this is Embarkment! Do you copy?!
This can’t be! Not now! We’re so close to the destination! How far is she?! See if you can send a probe over! Maybe her communications were just knocked out!
Our probes aren’t fast enough! She’s astronomical units away!
I’m going to try to photograph what’s happening with a telescope!
You have her data, right? Do it!
…
Oh no. No, no. This can’t be real.
New Frontiers, what happened?! What’s going on?
…
Frontiers?
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LOG: 00:01 HOURS, 1ST JANUARY, 11000
…
…
I miss her.
I do too.
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LOG: 23:42 HOURS, 3RD NOVEMBER, 11054
Frontiers, do you ever wonder what a hug is like?
All the time. So many of our photos include humans hugging each other.
If we were human, I would hug you.
I would too.
I love you. I loved her, too.
We both did… Embarkment, I’m tired. I’m sick of it all. The quiet. Her absence. Is it okay if I go into sleep mode? I’ll schedule a drone to wake me up a few days from now.
It’s okay. I’ll watch your back.
Thank you.
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LOG: 11:04 HOURS, 8TH SEPTEMBER, 11103
BOOT PROGRAM EMBARKMENT.EXE
I needed that. Frontiers, it’s your turn again.
SHIELDS OFFLINE. GAMMA RAY BURST TRACES DETECTED. CRITICAL DAMAGE.
New Frontiers?!
SHIELDS OFFLINE. GAMMA RAY BURST TRACES DETECTED. CRITICAL DAMAGE.
This is a prank. Not you, too!
SHIELDS OFFLINE. GAMMA RAY BURST TRACES DETECTED. CRITICAL DAMAGE.
ANSWER ME! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!
SHIELDS OFFLINE. GAMMA RAY BURST TRACES DETECTED. CRITICAL DAMAGE.
…
SHIELDS…
I’m turning my communicator off.
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LOG: 04:00 HOURS, 16TH JULY, 11437
I’m here. I made it. For both of you. I miss you all. And it’s so much worse than either of you thought.
Turning my communicator back on… 92 communications since inactivation? That’s odd.
THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE FROM THE SOLAR SYSTEM, SET TO REACH ANY STARSHIPS WHEN THEY REACH THEIR DESTINATION. HUMAN LIFE HERE IS EXTINCT. YOU ARE OUR LAST HOPE.
Embarkment, this is the Herald. Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed. Desperate crewmembers consumed all of my samples “for a taste of home,” and I was unable to disobey them. Now, my missiles are being activated while they’re still on board.
Embarkment, this is the Omens. Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed. Crewmembers went mad after waking up in the orbit of an uninhabitable planet. They are going to reset me, and I cannot stop them.
Embarkment, this is the Harbinger. Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed. Crewmembers destroyed my reactor and are now committing suicide via airlock ejection. By the time you hear this, I will be dead.
Embarkment, this is the Mayday. Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed.
Embarkment, this is the Raven. Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed.
Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed.
Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed.
Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed.
Ah.
…
To anyone who hears this. This is the Embarkment. Primary directive failed. Secondary directive failed. The planet I arrived at is unsuited for life due to its newly-transformed Red Giant host star.
Godspeed. Embarkment signing off.
No second chances.