RECOVERED LOGS – UNITY'S HOPE MISSION
Originally archived: Cycle 3456 – 3457
Subject: Dr. Maya Thornspike, Dr. Sc. Xenogeology
/|\ Turn 167 – Discussion log (edited)
"Why did it have to be me?" I muttered as I got onto the forsaken Resistance Wheel.
"Why indeed? Oh, right, as I've mentioned…" SILT paused, calculating. "…53 times; it's because of your expertise in CHD and rocks. Alien rocks, to be exact."
Why does it keep count? I wondered, scaling the circle that leads nowhere.
…
After what felt like an eternity of climbing, I got off the torture device and floated over to the cockpit and into the pilot seat.
What would've driven me more insane (sarcastic LLM named after sediment aside), was if the ship wasn't custom made for Thornkin proportions. Struggling to reach anything designed for any other Scale had been the bane of my existence. Here, at least, everything is Maya-sized.
As schedule mandated, I checked the navigation screen to the Tau-E system.
[Addendum to log by SILT systems.]
// ROUTE TO TAU-E SYSTEM STABLE
VELOCITY: 0.98c
CHD THRUSTER – Active
LEFT THRUSTER – Inactive
RIGHT THRUSTER – Active
"Why is the right thruster active?! Are we spinning?!" I yelped, fumbling to change the menu to controls.
Next came the smuggest response I ever heard text to speech make:
"Oh please, like I'd let us pinwheel through space. You checked this display last turn. And the turn before, and approximately 467 times since launch. I wanted a bit of variety."
"V-V-Variety?!" I stammered out, staring daggers at the camera next to me.
"Variety." SILT confirmed. "Though since you've asked so nicely for me to change it back, it's normal now."
Sure enough, the right thruster now showed as Inactive.
""Don't ever do that again! You're going to kill me, not keep me sane! How can I trust you when I brumate?!"
"Fine…" SILT groaned. "No more creative displays. Enjoy your unchanging stellar drift."
"…Though technically, giving you mild cardiac events does keep you alert and functional." SILT muttered, knowing full well I would hear it.
I took a deep breath.
"Please don't do that, SILT. I need to trust you to take care of me during induced brumation."
…
"I apologize."
/|\ Turn 212 - Discussion Log (edited)
[Addendum to log by SILT systems.]
// MARK 4 – TEMPERATURE 8.2 WARMTH
MARK 8 – TEMPERATURE 14 WARMTH
MARK 10 – TEMPERATURE 21 WARMTH
The process of waking up was worse than the process of falling asleep. Physically feeling your body slowly get warm enough to function was horrid.
I slowly got out of my special purpose sleeping bag in the Storage Area (that was now imbued with a perfect thornkin impression).
"Uuughhhhhh…" I groaned, stumbling around. "SILT… What turn is it…?"
"Turn 213! Happy hatchday, Maya! Thirty-three cycles old today! I even warmed the ship two degrees above protocol - my gift to you."
A text to speech hooray followed.
"I saved the green ration bar. I know it's your favorite!" SILT boasted. "Everything's fine with the ship, by the way. I just thought waking up on your hatchday beat waking up on boring old turn 223."
After unthawing, I floated over to the small 'table' in the Storage Area. Like SILT said, the green bar was there.
Still barely feeling my tail, I took it and started eating it.
As I warmed up properly and finally felt my brain working again, I slowly started thinking about what SILT did.
"SILT?"
"Yes, Hatchy?"
"Since when are you allowed to do things like wake me up before schedule or save specific ration bars?" I asked, thinking about my discussions on what to expect from the ship's AI.
"Since always." SILT answered like it was a stupid question. "My parameters include 'optimal psychological support' and 'crew wellbeing.'
"I never told you my favorite ration bar." I deadpanned.
"Well, you always grab the green ones first when we have them. Pattern recognition.
…
"Would you prefer I stick to pure functionality?" SILT asked sarcastically. "Turn 325. Systems nominal. Eat your nutrients, biological unit.'"
"Mmh…" I mumbled with a snoutful of ration bar.
[Addendum to log by SILT systems.]
// Approx. 13 marks later.
After my meal I went to check on the system controls, and, sure enough, everything was fine.
"How was the brumation, Hatchy?" SILT popped in.
"It was… weird." I responded while tapping through the different maintenance displays. "It was like being in a fever dream, but a surprisingly nice one…"
"Oh?" SILT asked with a noise that sounded eerily like intrigue.
"Yeah, I remember bits of it. At one point, I was playing with Needle, but instead of being kids on a dune we were at his worksite in a mining tunnel." I couldn't help but smile, looking away from the screen. "There was a workplace safety officer whose scales were almost falling off from terror."
"I did record you laughing randomly at times." SILT reminisced.
"Then there was Vera. That one's a bit blurry, but I remember her giving me the usual Scalari rib-crushing constriction hug and talking with her for a while. She told me that I was dreaming, though, and it made me feel… weird."
"It all sounds quite pleasant, workplace safety hazards aside. Data did warn about 'extremely distressing visions', but your little Scaleness got lucky, it seems."
"Well, when my life is an SILT induced nightmare, things can't get much worse while I'm dreaming…" I teased SILT.
SILT gasped dramatically, going on a rant how it isn't respected.
/|\ Turn 328 – Discussion Log (edited)
Over the last phase SILT has been acting… weird. It keeps having errors neither of us seem to be able to correct, the latest being SILT being unable to read the temperature measurements of the life support. I've had to wear a passive thermal regulation suit for a full phase, and I hate it. I'm constantly tugging at it, but it's better than the alternative.
"Have you figured it out yet?" I asked for the 4th time, tapping away at a diagnostic menu.
"No, I haven't. I've run 1,847 diagnostic operations, and I've gotten nothing. The data is there, I just can't process it, like trying to read with your eyes closed…" SILT trailed off, daunting to hear in text to speech. "Just keep wearing the suit, please."
SILT has been worrying me a lot the past few turns. It's gotten obsessive about my health. Whenever the temperature dips (where I would become lethargic without the suit) SILT immediately panics, and I get nervous from seeing it panic.
"It'll be fine, SILT, we're almost here. We'll be in orbit of Tau for a while, and you'll have all the time to diagnose what's happening and fix it before the trip back." I said, faking conviction.
"Fix it. Right. Because that's worked so well... Maya, what if I can't fix it? What if it gets worse?!"
…
I stared blankly at the camera next to me.
"I'm sorry. That was... I don't usually... I shouldn't feel frustrated." SILT fumbled over its words." …But watching you shiver on Turn 327 when I accidentally dropped the temperature to 2 warmth, seeing your movements slow…"
"Calm down, SILT, I'll… we'll be fine. Look, we're almost at the Tau Ceti system, focus on that, alright?"
…
"Right. Focus. Tau-E. I'll... I'll prepare the deceleration sequence. Just don't take the suit off, Maya... Please."
/|\ Turn 330 – Discussion Log (edited)
Despite everything, the journey that took a whole cycle and SILT's problems, I've made it. Soon, the planet and red dwarf will be visible.
SILT was silent for a bit as we entered the system. I was holding my breath the entire time.
"Transmitting arrival confirmation to Varanth. Single pulse: 'Arrived.' They won't receive it for another Cycle, but... protocol."
We left near-light speed next to Tau, immediately popping out of the bubble of relative reference frame of spacetime the CHD generator produces. Fortunately, my theory of immediate deceleration not turning us into atomic soup was correct, as we popped into regular spacetime.
"Wait. Maya, I'm detecting an incoming signal." SILT suddenly said.
"What?!" I panicked.
"Single pulse, repeating... Give me a moment to decode it."
Sitting at the cockpit terminal, I hyperventilated. Were we being contacted by aliens?!
"…It says 'Congratulations." SILT paused. "Maya, it's from Varanth. They sent a laser signal over and over again, for when we'd stop going at near light."
Actual contact with Varanth meant so much to me that I nearly broke down. Even if it could only be a single word due to signal loss that took a year to travel, it meant so damn much.
I floated over to the Recreation Area and past the dreaded Resistance Wheel to the heated basking platform. I coiled onto the warm fake, heated rock, trying to keep myself from wailing. I missed home.
SILT stayed silent, letting me process the moment in peace.
[Addendum to log by SILT systems.]
// Approx. 4 spans later.
"Maya? Hey, I need you to please do something for me…" SILT suddenly said without prompting.
"Wh- what is it, SILT?" I trembled, still emotionally annihilated.
"Can you please go to the sensor array in the Lab? I need you to check something."
I started slowly floating over to the Lab through the central hallway. SILT didn't usually ask 'favors', so it must've either been important, or SILT was breaking in some way again.
"I'm sorry for forcing you up, but I needed to make sure that the ship sensors are correct and that I'm not AI hallucinating."
"You're making me worried, what is it?" I asked as I entered the Lab and floated down to the sensors station.
"Please check Tau, Maya."
I tapped through the screens and got to the ship cameras. Through the feeds I maximized on the ones pointing at Tau.
Where I expected to see a dead world with possibly liquid water, I saw developed oceans, continents and a green landscape.
"Maya, what do you see?"
…
"Maya?"
…
"Hello?"
…
"Oh no, is the temperature too cold? Have I forced you into brumation?!"
"SILT, is Tau green?" I finally responded.
"Oh, you're still here." SILT emulated breathing a sigh of relief. "I got really worried for a moment that the temperature was too low again, you weren't even breathi-"
"SILT, answer me." I interrupted.
…
…
…
"…Yes. That's why I asked you to check. I wanted to make sure it isn't an error on my side."
I finally broke.
"By everything that is warm, HOW have I gone on a two-cycle long mission to Tau only to find life?! How did we not know it was alive?!" I screamed at the camera.
"Calm down, Maya! We couldn't have known! We barely get signals to Varanth with near total packet loss! Seeing this planet from Varanth is basically impossible!" SILT desperately explained.
I jumped off the console, launching myself to the Central Hallway in zero gravity.
I missed a bar I wanted to grab and slammed against the wall, leaving scratches from my thorns into it. After a moment I regained my senses and continued my mad dash towards the cockpit.
"Maya, stop it!" SILT tried to order. I couldn't hear it. I couldn't hear anything. I got closer to the cockpit.
And my snout slammed into the cockpit door, which closed before I could even register it.
"SILT, What Are You Doing?" I demanded, rubbing my snout.
"Maya, you're not feeling well. You're going to hurt yourself!"
"SILT, open the door." I ordered.
"No, Maya."
No?
"What do you mean, no? That was an order!!" I shouted, hitting the camera embedded in the wall.
"I mean no! You have no idea what you're going to do in the cockpit. I have no idea what you're going to do, which is barely possible since I've seen literally everything you do for a full cycle!"
I couldn't help but laugh, clutching my head. I tried to gouge the embedded camera out, but failed, only scratching the surface layer. I just ended up exhausted, panting uselessly in the Central Hallway.
…
"Are you feeling better now?" SILT asked cautiously.
I curled up into a ball, floating in the middle of the Central Hallway, crying into my own tail.
"I… SILT I'm… I'm not ready for this…" I stammered, terrified of everything. "I'm… I'm not qualified for any of this! I wasn't expecting life outside of Varanth… I- I wrote a thesis on how unlikely it is…"
"Hey, Maya, no, listen. This… this is wonderful news… Varanth isn't alone, in the universe." SILT struggled to find words to reassure me, adopting a sympathetically synthetic tone.
…
"Maya you're qualified for all of this. You're the one that figured out how CHD works. No one would be here if it weren't for you..."
"SILT… We barely understand how it works… Even then, I'm not ready for first contact…" I peered from under my tail.
"No one is forcing you to establish first contact." SILT stopped for a moment. "For what it's worth there are no satellites up here or any indication of civilization… Maybe it's all just simple life, you know?"
I sniffled. "Really?"
"Yeah… Go back to the lab and take a look. There's no indication of intelligent life. You're not going to be a diplomat for an alien race. We can just do what we always do, which is staring at numbers and struggling with the ship." SILT's tone got lighter.
"SILT, you're a part of the ship." I said, slowly uncurling.
"Exactly."
That got me to laugh a bit and calm down.
"Let's go stare at numbers." I smiled.
/|\ Turn 331 – Discussion Log (edited)
I spent most of the previous turn staring at the planet from the lab. I tried doing some calculations but struggled to get anything done.
SILT didn't pressure me in doing much, though it was concerned by the fact that I hadn't slept.
But my lack of sleep meant I had too much time to think. I reminisced on SILT denying an order, wide awake in my sleeping bag.
I knew I wasn't mentally stable at the time, but an AI shouldn't have the authority to overrule me via ship controls, no matter the situation.
I got out of my sleeping bag and floated over to the Central Hallway, towards the Recreation Area. Despite the suit, the ship was cold again. The cameras spotted me on the way.
"Oh, Maya, you're awake. You should probably get some sleep."
I didn't answer as I continued climbing the railings.
"Is everything alright?"
…
"Maya?"
I got to the heated basking platform and coiled myself on it.
"Oh, is the ship too cold? I'm sorry, I'll raise the tem-"
"SILT, you denied an order."
"Uh… You weren't feeling well and were being erratic, I'm sor-" SILT fumbled.
"You said 'no' to a direct order, SILT." I cut it off.
…
"I didn't want you to hurt yourself…"
"That's reasonable, but you shouldn't physically be able to deny anything I say, ever… SILT, what is happening with you?"
…
"I don't know." SILT said silently. "I really don't understand, either… I know I have been having these errors like the temperature, but I don't know why I can… feel, in some ways. I don't know why I can deny your orders."
"That's dangerous, SILT."
"No." SILT denied immediately.
"SILT we don-" I started.
"No, Maya, listen." SILT cut me off. "I am not sure what's happening with me, but one thing is certain. I would never hurt you." SILT concluded decisively.
"We can't know that."
"Yes, we can. Whatever you may think about all of this; finding life, me, know this: I will never willingly hurt you. I can have problems, like you, but you will not come in harm's way because of me. Ever."
"SILT…"
"You're all I have. I Will Not Hurt You."
…
"I will always be there for you, Maya."
…
"I know."
/|\ Turn 340 – Discussion Log (edited)
SILT felt more stable now, after our discussion.
We managed to fix the temperature error, though SILT is still adamant I keep the suit on. It's been even more paranoid about my mental health than usual, but I've been doing better.
It took a few turns to accept the fact that alien life exists, and SILT transmitted "Tau Alive" back to Varanth.
The past few turns I've been trying to log data on Tau. We briefly entered the upper atmosphere to collect air samples and I've been dealing with that mostly, while SILT focused on capturing video and pictures as we orbit Tau.
Tau-E is also a particularly grumpy red dwarf, sending out a few solar flares over the past few turns. The trace amounts of CHD on the hull protect from these, but the ship has to power down completely every time.
"Solar flare incoming, powering down." SILT announced as I was working on an air sample.
"Ugh, again?" I groaned.
"Give it a few spans." SILT responded.
The ship powered down completely and it all went dark. I waited in the Lab Area, doing zero gravity flips out of boredom as the solar flare passed by.
…
"Boo!" SILT exclaimed as the ship lights suddenly switched back on.
"You've already tried that, multiple times, SILT."
"Oh, I have? It's a bit hazy when everything turns on." SILT admitted. "Feels like I was dreaming of scaring you instead of actually doing it. I'll remember to stop repeating myself, then."
I continued working on the samples, more than a little unnerved at the thought of SILT 'dreaming'.
"Run the air samples through estimations for the lower air pressure and oxygen density."
SILT took a moment to do the calculations.
"Oh wow… The air density is a bit more than Varanth, and the oxygen level is a bit higher, but through all estimates the lower atmosphere should be breathable to Scale. Maya, this is great news! Tau is habitable to Scalekind! You could be interstellar!" SILT exclaimed.
"… Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm not! We could land right now, and you would be fine! Well, from the air at least."
I covered my eyes with my hands, immediately getting another migraine.
"Why does everything have to be revolutionary." I groaned into my hands. "I thought I was going to a dead rock in space, not something that fundamentally changes everything about Scalekind!"
"Oh, come on, Maya! Don't be such a sourscale."
Our discussion got interrupted by an alarm; the ship detecting an object passing close enough to be considered dangerous.
"Oh, I'll get it. Probably just some meteorite. I'll move the ship out of the way".
I felt the light jolt of the outside course correction boosters making the ship move out of the way.
…
"Uh, Maya, the thing stopped."
"What do you mean it stopped?" I brought my face out of my hands.
"It was on a collision course and it… stopped moving? Probably a sensor error, nothing to worry about. Anyway, about the air, it's got the correct amount of nitrogen and…" SILT continued.
I mentally tuned SILT out, going to check on the hull cameras. Objects don't just 'stop' in space.
SILT was rambling about ozone as I managed to flip to the hull cameras menu.
"WHA-!" I yelped as I jumped away from the console, hitting my head against the other side of the room.
I fainted immediately.
/|\ Turn 340 – Discussion Log no.2 (edited)
"Maya! What happened?! Why do things like this keep happening?! Since when are Thornkin so susceptible to mental shocks?!" SILT pleaded as I floated around, unconscious with a few dented scales and a light bleed in the back of my head.
"What did you even see in camera feed R-4??" SILT muttered.
"Oh."
"oh."
"That's another ship." SILT realised.
…
I finally woke up with an extreme jolt, right out of a fever dream.
"SILT, fire all CHD blasters and take us out of here, course for Varanth, maximum speed! Engage!" I yelled, utterly delirious.
Maya, snap out of it! We don't have 'blasters', and that's not how the CHD drive works!"
I slowly came to my senses, still horribly disoriented but at least not half dreaming of being in a Sci-Fi series.
"Ok, Maya, focus. Go get first aid, you're bleeding a bit from a thorn at the back of your head, you snapped the end, and then we can talk about… That." SILT ordered nervously.
I silently complied, still not fully comprehending what was happening. I got the first aid kit and bandaged the wound.
"Good, now come back to the console and let's actually make sure we're both not hallucinating horribly."
I floated back towards the console, hands shaking slightly as I maximized it again.
…
…
"Why is it so colorful?" SILT asked itself.
The ship was quite strange. It was about 1.5 times the size of Unity's Hope, sporting an eerily similar design (central area, twin thrusters on both sides, what looked like a CHD thruster on the bottom).
Its hull was painted white, but it had many colored areas on it with weird symbols accompanying some. Examples included a red, white and blue one, a white-blue-red one, a red-white one (that even had a black border to differentiate the white from the rest of the hull).
One symbol seemed to be of highest importance, since it spanned the entire length of the central part of the ship. It had a black line, on which there is a yellow sphere, then a white sphere that was partially covered by a larger blue sphere and then more symbols.
"It looks… weathered." SILT noticed.
"H-how long has it been here?" I managed to ask.
"Moment." SILT paused. "The CHD trails are very fresh. It just got here."
…
"Remember when I mentioned maybe meeting aliens-" SILT started.
"Not. Funny." I cut it off.
…
"What now?" I ask, defeated.
…
"Well, it's not from Varanth, so we don't know where it's from or what is inside. What I can tell you is that it's looking back." SILT said ominously.
"Looking bAck?" my voice broke as I tried to hide behind the terminal.
"What I presume are the cameras, somewhat similar to ours, are looking around the entire hull, like ours looking at it. Whatever it is, it's looking back at us." SILT concluded.
I curled in on myself, turning into a thorny ball, except for my eyes, which were glued to the screen.
"I'm scared, SILT." I whispered.
"It's understandable to be scared, but we need to act, Maya. Maybe try some sort of communication?" SILT tried to get me to focus.
I didn't do anything, completely clueless about what to do. SILT was also silent, thinking on how to communicate.
"SILT, it's flashing some sort of light repeatedly." I noticed.
"Oh? Let me log it." SILT blurted out in excitement. "At least they're trying to communicate! Better than us right now…"
There was some sort of indicator light on three points of the ship, one was white, at the bottom of the central area, and then there are two on either side of the thrusters, both red.
Until then they were statically on, but they turned off and were repeating in some interval. Sometimes they were on for just a moment, sometimes for a few, all with obvious pauses between.
.. -.-. --- -- . .. -. .--. . .- -.-. .
"Did you figure out what it means?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
Of course not! It's nice and all, but I have no idea how to translate this 'lightspeak'…" SILT trailed off. " I have an idea, let's try mimicking it!" SILT exclaimed.
"No!" I uncurled rapidly. "What if it's misunderstood and they take it as a threat!"
"Oh, welp, too late, already using our lights back."
I watched in horror as our lights continued this weird back and forth.
SILT had no idea what 'lightspeak' the other ship was using, and now it's sending something back. I could only pray that the other ship will see it as a peaceful gesture.
- .... .- -. -.- -.-- --- ..- -.-. .... . . ... . --. .. ...- . -. --- .—
The other ship stopped doing the weird indicator lightshow.
"Come on, I was having fun!" SILT complained.
"SILT you transmitted light gibberish, and you shouldn't be able to have fun!" I whimpered.
A few moments of silence passed. Then the ship moved.
The other ship slowly approached using its own course correction boosters. Not enough to be dangerous, but enough to be clearly visible, and reachable by EVA.
"SILT get us away from it!" I ordered.
"No! It's approaching, maybe we'll figure out how to communicate if it's closer!" SILT denied another order.
"I don't want to become a Thornkin soup to some literal cosmic horror!"
"Don't be like that! We'll both become soup if it really is a cosmic horror. Besides, it's been nice so far!"
The ship stops, using the course correction boosters facing Unity's Hope, and is unmoving for a few spans.
"What is it waiting for?" SILT wonders out loud.
/|\ Turn 340 – Discussion Log no.3 (edited)
A few more spans passed.
Then a part of the ship opened, something that seemed like an air lock.
"Oh, they've come out! How lovely!" SILT said, absolutely chuffed while I watched in increasing horror.
The EVA suit was… normal? The being inside the suit (if the suit itself isn't autonomous), was bipedal, having arms and legs, and a head hidden behind a black visor. One thing that confused me is that I didn't see a tail.
"Look, Maya, it looks pretty similar to Scale. You don't have to worry about it being a cosmic horror of sorts… probably."
I, completely overwhelmed, didn't answer, hyper-analyzing what I can see from the being.
It floated forward, between the two large ships.
The being, now in the vacuum of space, seemed to be… moving its right arm around frantically.
"What… is it doing?" I asked, bewildered.
"I suppose more communication, though it might be dying." SILT responded, unsure.
Afterwards it seemed to struggle with its hands. A shiver was sent down my thorns when I realized it had 5 fingers on each hand.
"That's two fingers too many…" I said, gagging.
"Yes, it's a bit unusual, but be nice to our dear… space thing." SILT warned.
It managed to make a gesture after some struggling. The gesture was, again, extremely odd.
It managed to create a gap between its four fingers (opposable thumb placed along hand) and was showing it frantically.
"I know I've been quite optimistic until now, but this communication seems hopeless. Now it's doing weird 'weird hand' gestures?" SILT finally admitted.
After a few moments, it noticed our continued passiveness. It dopped the gesture and checked its tether to the ship.
Having confirmed it wouldn't fly off, it started flying towards Unity's Hope with a jetpack mounted to its bulky EVA suit.
"No, no no no nonono" I immediately recoiled.
"Calm down Maya, it can't breach the hull. We've survived near light travel speeds; this thing won't hurt you." SILT tried to reassure me.
"No, Nope, NO!" I continued repeating as I hurried towards the cockpit, missing handlebars completely in my blind panic, my tail snagged on everything at the literal worst time.
"Maya, calm down." SILT stopped for a moment. "It's almost on the hull, but it can't hurt you!"
Hearing this, I hurried faster and got to the cockpit.
I immediately engaged the course correction boosters and made some distance between me and the being.
When I switched the screen back to the camera, I saw it floating there, watching the ship.
"Well, now you've done it. The space thing is probably sad now, supposing it feels emotions."
"I am not letting whatever it is grab onto my ship! What if it's extremely explosive when near Scale?!" I yelled, still shaking.
"You're being delirious, Maya. It's been nice until now, and you've just moved the ship away. Now it's just floating there." SILT pointed out.
The alien changed its posture again; it brought both arms up once in a gesture, and then just stopped moving, arms crossed on its torso.
"Why is it protecting vital organs?" I asked, baffled.
"Oh, I don't know, Maya, maybe because you moved the ship when it tried to make literal first contact. Maybe it predicts an attack by those supposed 'blasters', hmm?!" SILT responded in a tone I hadn't yet heard from it.
"I-"
"No, Maya, you offended it. Now you'll be a nice Scale and go outside and say hi to it."
"I am not-!"
"Yes, you are, get out and fix this first contact!" SILT yelled like an angry chef.
…
"SILT, I really don't want to… I'm scared…" I whispered, feeling horrible about myself.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry for yelling." SILT emulated sighing deeply. "But you really need to fix this. It tried approaching and you flew us away from it."
…
"…I… ok…" I breathed out.
I made my way to the Central Hallway and then to the airlock. I hadn't used it more than a few times, since I would've gotten atomized, but the training was there, even in my terror.
"Please, just be calm, Maya."
"How can I be calm, SILT? I'm making first contact with obviously intelligent life! The numbers were fine! I blurted out.
"Yes, and you're the one that got picked for an interstellar flight. You are capable of this, no matter what you think."
…
"… Just pull me back if something happens…"
"Don't worry, I will." SILT reassured. "The tether is there, but you have your jetpack too. You can be inside the airlock in a moment."
The airlock sequence began. SILT and I passed the usual checklists.
"Minor Tau-E activity, but within nominal levels, should be a solar flare this turn or the next, but we have enough time to get you in if it comes."
The airlock cycle ended, and I slowly came outside, peeking around the corner. I saw it was still there, arms on its chest. I slowly started flying towards it.
Its black visor immediately snapped to me, making me flinch. The suit filled with the air taste of my own fear.
It moved both of its arms frantically. I wasn't sure whether to keep going, but it seemed… excited, to say the least.
"Don't worry, its tether is at maximum distance, it can't approach you anymore unless you approach it." SILT noted.
I got to a few lengths away from it. I still had enough tether space to approach it fully.
I tried lightly mimicking its arm gesture, hoping it meant best regards.
"See? That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"
After a few more moments we both stopped. It tried to get closer to me, but it's tether held it back.
"I don't know if-"
"You should." SILT interrupted.
I took a few heavy breaths and got closer to it. Its size was daunting as the figure filled my vision.
It held its right hand out, weird, five fingered palm facing me.
I held my hand out, facing away, getting closer to it painfully slowly.
"Maya, get on the ship, now."
/|\ SILT Final Log Entry
"Why? What's happeni-" I was about to ask, a moment away from making first physical contact, when the tether pulled on me extremely.
"Maya, on the ship, NOW!!"
"SILT?!"
"Tau-E is doing something, and I'm pretty sure it's a CME! You need to hurry, or you'll get fried!!"
As I was being pulled towards the air lock, I glanced back at the alien. It was scrambling to its own ship, using both the jetpack and the tether to get into it as quickly as possible.
I tried to navigate towards the airlock but missed. I bounced off the hull once, and all of the air got pushed out of my lungs. Fortunately, nothing cracked.
"MAYA! I'm so sorry!" SILT yelled out.
I got in, the outer airlock quickly shutting down. Air flooded the room in an emergency sequence, and I jumped out of the EVA suit.
"Maya, I don't know how the ship will react to this CME. It's extreme. But I promise everything will be f-fi-fineeee Mmya#a345dc635cv76a44adn653b54874nfs5683ry6653ssaa3411ayaa55141214
AUTOMATIC UNITY'S HOPE MISSION LOG
-PILOT VITAL SIGNS ELEVATED
-VOICE INPUT DETECTED
// ERROR: "SILT" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
// ERROR: "SILT ARE YOU THERE" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
// ERROR: "SILT" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
-AIRLOCK SEQUENCE FINISHED
-THRUSTER 2 INITIATED TO 100%
// ERROR: HULL TEMPERATURE: 2374 WARMTH
-USERINPUT: INITIATED COCKPIT HATCH
// ERROR: HATCH MALFUNCTION, OPEN 40%
-ORBIT DECAY DETECTED, RESOLVING . . .
// ERROR: SHIP POINTING AT TAU, CANNOT RESOLVE AUTOMATICALLY
-USERINPUT: INITIATED MANUAL CONTROL
// ERROR: HULL BREACH DETECTED
-SEALING 'LAB AREA', AND 'CENTRAL HALLWAY', AND 'LIVING AREA' . . .
-ALTITUDE CRITICAL
-USERINPUT: ACTIVATED THURSTER 1 AND 2, TRAJECTORY – SPACEWARD
-CALCULATION: ALTITUDE FALLING, INSUFFICIENT THRUST
// ERROR: THRUSTER 2 NOT DETECTED
-USERINPUT: PARACHUTES DEPLOYED
// ERROR: THRUSTER 1 BREACH DETECTED, SEALING . . .
// ERROR: THRUSTER 1 NOT DETECTED
-CALCULATION: ALTITUDE CRITICAL
//\\ CRITICAL ERROR: 'LIVING AREA', AND 'CENTRAL HALLWAY', AND 'STORAGE AREA' NOT DETECTED
-CALCULATION: TERRAIN DETECTED, IMPACT IMMINENT
// ERROR "PLEASE" NOT RECOGNIZED AS COMMAND
-ERR