(told in monologue format)
[transcript]
SARA, transfer reserve power to your control and switch helm over to your system... now!.. [TRANSFER COMPLETE]... Okay, begin recording:
This is Captain Taylor of the colony ship Ventures Heart recording my final log prior to our launch to the Perseus system. I am pleased to say that so far we have a clean sheet; not that I want to tempt fate of course but all in all the first stage of this mission has been a resounding triumph. We set out from Europa station four days ago and finally cleared the outer edge of the Sol system as of 3pm, Earth Central Time (ECT). Our flight status is green! All personnel, bar myself and Doctor Haskins have been safely secured in cryostasis in preparation for the long journey through open space and towards our end destination. Currently I'm in the process of activating the "caretaker procedures" by transferring all ship's control to SARA.
To be honest I still find it hard to believe that for us it will feel like we just went to sleep and woke up to find we have magically travelled many thousands of light-years in one night, but for this ship it will have witnessed over 200 years of continuous flight time across the endless void of deep space. The mind literally boggles at that thought! I would also be lying if I said that I wasn't a little afraid by that same thought. As an experienced Naval captain I'm so used to being able to command heavily armored vessels wherever I need them to go in just a few days, all with a fully staffed bridge of trained personnel ensuring that whatever we meet along the way we can deal with in that exact moment. But suddenly I'm here all by myself on this huge bridge having to hand all vital functions over to the ship's dedicated AI system, known as SARA. They assure me that this system is all but perfect, yet I find I still have my nagging doubts; no offense SARA... [NO OFFENSE TAKEN CAPTAIN]... But then to be fair, I would likely still have the same exact doubts leaving command to anyone other than myself; human or otherwise. What can I say? I'm a control freak! Something that actually helps when your commanding military vessels, but not so great when you have to relinquish that control and put your life and that of your crew in the hands of this level of uncertainty. Though I must confess that I have seen artificial intelligence go well above and beyond to safeguard the lives of my crew; especially when I was Captain of the Merlin. Rogue mercenaries feigned a distress call and caught us out in the asteroid belt, setting off a fusion bomb hidden inside a huge chunk of rock; essentially creating one of the largest fragmentation bombs in human history! Quite ingenious really, but also very deadly. It blew out a huge section of the portside hull and crippled our defences and maneuvering capability, forcing us to have to repel boarders when the audacious gang thought they could just waltz on to a colonial frigate and steal our weapons! I still kick myself for falling for that one. But it just amazed me how without any order or direction the AI immediately reacted (on-the-fly) redirected power and life support to ensure my crew members in the damaged area were kept safe from unnecessary danger. We still lost eight people sadly, but I know that if not for that AI's intervention, the death toll would have been significantly worse. SARA, sound confirm you have access to all power systems... [CONFIRMED]... Roger that!
So anyway, even with all the doubts, being a lead part of this historic project is still one of the greatest achievements in my entire career; if not my life! A mission to establish the very first colony in a solar system outside of our own. I mean, which intrepid soul wouldn't want to be part of that? When I was offered command of the ventures heart I almost passed out! I'd been trying so hard to keep all of my expectations low so as not to suffer too much disappointment should my application fail, that it completely overwhelmed me when I was told that I'd actually been selected. I was also a little taken aback by how big this vessel really is once you get aboard her. I've seen large ships before for mining operations and cargo transport, but this one is by far the largest I've ever witnessed. Almost five miles long by three miles wide. I feel less like a captain and more like the mayor of a flying City. I'm just thankful that I'm not expected to run everything by myself. Even the most accomplished control freak would struggle with that task, believe me. So to ensure things go as smooth as possible every section has its own assigned supervision and the Colonial Governance Directive (CGD) have highly experienced settlement teams on board ready to start setting up our new home on arrival; all of whom are currently sleeping like a baby in the Stasis Bay. So my job is basically to get us to the Perseus system, establish orbit around the second planet (officially designated as M1128, unofficially designated as "New earth") hit the wakeup sequence and begin transporting resources equipment and personnel down to the coordinates chosen for the new settlement. After that? I don't know.. Maybe I'll find a small little corner of this new world to live out my retirement. Just get to sit back and watch as the colony grows, knowing that I helped secure a future for our species.. But of course we can't get too ahead of ourselves now can we!? First of all we have to actually get there in one piece... Okay, SARA I've locked a course to the Perseus system and I'm assigning you full control of both navigation and the ship's Stardrive can you confirm please?.. [Course accepted and recognised! Both navigation and Stardrive control have been reassigned to my network!]... Good.
So I know that we have a lot of people back on Earth and the Colony's asking why we are spending so much money and resources on such a risky mission to place a colony so far from home? One that won't even begin to be set up for another 200 years; if at all. But personally, I think that Professor Pinsent pretty much cleared that one up as far as I'm concerned. How in recent years, two black holes have been discovered within this part of the galaxy, one of which the simulations predict a 75% chance that it could result in the complete destruction of our solar system sometime within the next eight to ten thousand years. So by establishing a colony in a system far out from this sector, should the worst ever come to pass then our species will live on out there in prosperity rather than us all facing complete extinction back here. It's a bit like that age-old saying of not putting all of your eggs in one basket, except humanity are the eggs and the Sol system is our basket! The CGD certainly loved their phrases. I think their initial sales pitch for the Venture Project coined at least 17 timeless words of wisdom in a single presentation, with the most recent being "not to hedge all of your bets on one horse!" So as big and as high-tech as she is, the Ventures Heart isn't going to be the only colony ship of her kind to hit the stars. Six months ago the CGD managed to secure funding for a second Exodus class vessel. Now while there are no other systems as of yet discovered for colonisation, seeing as the search is always ongoing, and that it takes four years of hard labor to build one of these vessels, it makes perfect sense that when we do find one we have a ship and trained crew all ready to go. Lieutenant Suarez told me that they've created a competition amongst the different schools to think up a name for her. Unfortunately we'll be well on our way by then, so I guess I'll have to find out what they picked two centuries from now.. Actually that reminds me: SARA, what's the status on the relay's?.. *[All communication relay satellites are secured and fully operational; ready for automatic deployment at pre-designated co-ordinates on Mission!]... Excellent!
So as you can imagine, communication between Earth and Perseus is going to be a bit of an ordeal. Even with all of our latest innovations, the delay is predicted to be years long; which is no good for anyone. So we are carrying a complement of fully autonomous relay satellites which will be individually dropped behind the ship at set intervals as we go. These will help to relay messages between Earth and the new colony. They are programmed to receive transmissions, boost the signal and then send it on to the next, much like a line of people all passing along a message. This should reduce the delay down to weeks, possibly even days so that we can communicate with the Colonial Governance Directive in a more practical timeframe. The whole idea is a bit of a gamble in itself, because if any of them do go wrong for any reason then they can't be repaired. It would take countless years for engineers to reach them. The developers have done all they possibly can by designing the satellites with the very latest "self-repairing" technology and even installed several backup systems to help prevent lasting breakdowns, but as I keep telling people, a mission of this magnitude will always require some give-and-take. Nothing is ever assured! We can't expect conditions to always be perfect for us. There is always going to be risk in some form or another so we need to be realistic about this. Maybe while we're sleeping the experts back here will invent something more effective, but as of right now it's the best option we have available and so we have no choice but to go for it. Besides, with the amount we are set to deploy, personally I estimate that we can afford to lose two or three of them without any massive degradation of signal. From what I understand it'll be mostly for official communiques and status updates; maybe to help co-ordinate future operations (I'm not entirely sure) but what I do know is that on a personal level, for all of the people on this ship, communicating with Earth is unlikely to be a high priority, when you consider that those 200 years of stasis hibernation ahead of us are a one-way trip for those we leave back home. Because while we are softly sleeping, they are all growing old. For them time will roll on regardless, so even if the communications do work as intended, by the time we wake up there will be no one that we know left back here to communicate with! That's the personal sacrifice every person on the Venture Project had to accept. I myself never married, I never had children. I was too much of a career man, it wouldn't have been fair to put them through it. But I know that some of the crew, the ones whose family members weren't accepted into the project, are leaving behind Parents, Brothers, *Sisters... I can't imagine what that must have felt like, going into stasis knowing that when you wake up, all these people that you know and love will be gone. But I guess they truly believe in what the mission represents for the greater good of all humanity. But still, I tip my hat to their courage.
Right, that should now be everything assigned to your control SARA, can you please confirm?.. [Yes Captain, all systems are fully accessible on my network]... Okay then, time to go. The ship is now under SARA's control and Doctor Haskins says she's prepared my pod and awaiting my presence in the Stasis Bay. So how do I feel moving forward? This venture is wrought with danger and unpredictability. We are essentially going to sleep, pointing this ship towards a solar system we know very little about, other than a few scans which show an Earth-like planet in orbit of a stable star, with nothing but an intelligent computer system at the helm. Numerous simulations of the mission revealed a "sizeable risk" that the Ventures Heart could malfunction or suffer some kind of damage while in flight that could see us thrown out into deep space or destroyed entirely! But I suppose my biggest fear is the thought that we could arrive at new Earth and discover that the planet is not as suitable as we thought. Maybe along the way it suffers some cataclysmic disaster; after all a lot can happen in 200 years. But again, as I have already said, it's a risk and a struggle which ever way we go at it. Because even if everything were to go according to plan, we still have a Herculean task ahead of us! But we are building an entire colony, quite literally from the ground up with no one to rely on but ourselves to get the job done. Whatever we meet, whatever we face, it's all on us! If we need something that we haven't brought with us then we will have to find a way to fabricate it from the resources and materials we find on the planet. So "best case" and "worst case" scenarios are simply a matter of perspective when you really think about it.
So despite all of these fears and doubts, I suppose if there's one thing that I feel more than anything else, is a great sense of excitement, of hope and of purpose! If ever there were a reason to face such adversity and danger head-on then surely this is it; isn't it? True pioneers of the human race! Yes we could all die out there, but then we all have to die someday; we can't escape it forever. Besides, who says that staying in the Sol system will be any safer? Tell that to those eight brave sailors who died on the Merlin that day in the asteroid belt. Just like this mission, life is also a risk whichever way you live it, and so for me it's all about deciding what risks are worth taking in the end. New Earth is worth risking everything for in my book, so that if and when that black hole reaches the soul system, then the lasting legacy that we will build shall serve as an enduring beacon of hope and prosperity for all human kind!.. End of log.
SARA, the bridge and indeed the ship are yours... [Thank you Captain]... Take good care of her now!.. [Yes Captain.]... But can you do me one favour?.. [What is your request Captain?]... If anything goes wrong; like really wrong!.. [I have orders to wake all senior staff & technicians in the event of a major event or incident.]... I would certainly appreciate that, thank you. Talk to you in 200 years SARA (hopefully)... [Sleep well]... Doctor Haskins, I'm on my way...
© Westley Nash (2017)
#thoughtsofsteel
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Westley xx
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