--------------
Ship : Lantashi Dance
Log : 003
Date : 2496-07-22-08
Status : System Approach
--------------
/* TRANSMISSION START *
Commander Yonas' Report:
It has been slightly over a month since the last QEC report,
delivered by Captain Lantashi.
Lantashi is still in command, but our Doctor, Kit, is very
worried about her. The captain is spending much time in the
Garden, often in a trance. I believe the predicament we find
ourselves in has unhinged her. She is often speaking in a
language unknown to any of us. We thought it could be an
ancient form of Sylvan, but if it is, the ship AI is unable
to translate.
Current status -
Entering Star System Kelev 01-072. We overshot the our destination
by 125 light-years. The actual year we find ourselves in is an
estimate, based on last known speed and direction.
All crew are now awake. As the captain mentioned, 20 pods were lost
during flight. Another 5 crew died on activation. Five are activated
but currently confined to med-bay, still struggling from being
activated from stasis many years past how long the capsules, or
ship, were supposed to last.
Most primary computer systems are down. Life support is working,
and both suprising and thankfully, propulsion is online. 01-072
has two planets in the habitable zone, the 4th and 5th planets
from the star. One looks to be 1.45 times the size of earth,
the other .85 times.
That is the most we can tell in this nebula. The gasses of the
nebula, while lighting up the sky and helping the Garden to grow,
heavily interfere with our sensors.
The Dance was designed, among other things, to be a kind of an
ark. As such we have a lot of ancient technology on board. The
oldest computer on board is something called an Amiga. There is
also an early 21st century GNU/Linux communication device
(something they used to call a "cell phone") that some creative
person, centuries ago, managed to port Serentity OS to.
None of this is in my area of expertise. I'm not even an Earth
native, unlike the captain, whose race somehow survived on earth
thousands of years before humans came to be.
However, one of the engineers woken up, a 25-year old (when she
was put into statis) woman named Sarah West. Miss West unpackaged
and reactivated the old hardware, modifying it and hooking it
into the ship systems.
Much of the hardware was way too old to be of use, but using it we
were fortunate to bring enough systems online to learn about our
local environment.
Every vessel should have a resident geek, a hacker who loves to
tinker and find uses for hardware and software no one has thought
of before. I bow my horns to you Sarah West. You are a life-saver!
*If* we make it to the closer of the planets within the habitable
zone (01-072.4 - the 4th planet), which is closer within its orbit,
and *if* it has a breathable atmosphere and decent life, and *if*
someone we can actually land the shuttle (or the whole ship)
somewhere on the planet... well, that will give us time at least.
It is probably 2 more weeks until we enter orbit
The greater threat, right now, seems to be on the ship. No, not
the captain, as strange as she's acting. I've spoken with the
other officers, and we all known to be careful which orders to
obey of her's right now.
But many of the crew are convinced there is something on the
ship with us. A life-form, not of any race known to us. Several
of us, myself included, have caught "glances" of something
unnatural. But before we can focus on it, it is gone.
The sensors, cameras, microphones, etc, have not picked it up.
It is only being spotted with the bare eye.
We've asked the AI. It has postulated that it may be a new
life-form that exists in the nebula, and is not ship, or planet,
bound. The other thought our AI had, even more disturbing, is that
the life-form is made purely of software, but somehow "evolved" to
no longer be bound to computer hardware.
Chief Security Officer Dothmer is concerned with any of the
possibilities. He thinks that onboard is not software, or an alien,
but some sort of demon. I worry about Dothmer almost as much as
the captain, because he wants to exit the ship, without
suit, to become one with the cosmos.
We can't reach that planet soon enough!
gemini://cosmic.voyage/Lantashi Dance/dance-log003.txt