by Melanie Edmonds
Ship’s log, 19:47, 26 January 2214 Location: Gienah System, Corvus constellation Status: Sublight transit There’s a bitter taste in my mouth: I’ve decided to side with the pirates. It feels like someone has flushed acid through my ducts, or there’s a dustbunny in there, spitting with disgust. I’m backed into a corner. I could […]
Ship’s log, 20:03, 26 January 2213 Location: Gienah System, Corvus constellation Status: Sublight transit Our plan is set. I’m to make a suicidal FTL jump towards a star and ride the corona to the other side. I have to make everyone think I’ve melted in the heart of Gienah Sol, all to get enough […]
Ship’s log, 08:02, 28 January 2214 Location: Orbit around Gienah Sol Status: Partial sublight transit No more crazy FTL jumps for me. There’s a reason why they teach pilots never to do that and I came pretty close to the worst-case scenario. I have an awful list of injuries. It makes me glad that […]
Ship’s log, 10:27, 1 February 2214 Location: Positional orbit around Gienah Sol Status: Stationary Finally, I’m starting to feel whole again. My edges are the right shape, my skin has been repainted, and I have thrusters back in all the right places. My filaments are fixed and settled into their channels along my hull. […]
Ship’s log, 12:00, 1 February 2214 Location: Positional orbit around Gienah Sol Status: Stationary It took a little longer than an hour, but I’m hooked up to mid-deck and I’ve made sure that they’re not running any more diagnostics on the drive. There’s so much information there that I’ve barely had time to catalogue […]
Captain’s log, 09:24, 4 February 2214 Location: Positional orbit behind Mercury, Home system Status: Stationary Log recorded: Captain’s cabin This is John Warwick, ex-captain of the Starwalker. For some reason, the logger is marking this as a captain’s log instead of a personal one – I’ll have to talk to Starry about that. There […]
Ship’s log, 11:26, 6 February 2214 Location: Home system Status: Sublight transit to Terra Sol It’s time to head off again. I’m burning my way towards Terra Sol, the golden sun that spawned the human race. The Step drive is warming up in my core, just a few tests away from full calibration. Almost […]
Ship’s log, 11:37, 6 February 2214 Location: Error: insufficient data Status: Stepping Warning. Inertial dampeners offline. Warning. Failsafes disabled. Emergency protocols disabled. Warning. Warning. Warning. Almost there. Over to Gienah and back a few years. Don’t want to come out in the middle of that fight or be picked up afterwards. One thing […]
Ship’s log, 11:42, 6 February 2214 Location: Gienah system Status: Malfunction Everyone outside of Med Bay is asleep now, slack and drooling on my decks in the grip of an indiscriminate gas. An antidote protects those still awake and crouches inside syringes in their pockets, waiting for injection. I’m stabilising my position and reactivating […]
Ship’s log, 12:08, 6 February 2214 Location: Gienah system, 40 years ago Status: Wide orbit around Gienah Sol Screaming on mid-deck. Ebling and Wong are writhing on the ground, convulsions squeezing their cries into choked coughs. Rosie is bellowing and bashing a pirate’s face in. He must have tripped the collars; I don’t know […]