by Melanie Edmonds
Ship’s log, 22:27, 5 October 2214 Location: Standard orbit distance from the Cerces black hole horizon Status: Orbiting Location: Cargo Bay 1 (From an open vent high on the cargo bay wall, there is an echo of soft squeaks, followed by a metallic scrabbling sound.) Location: Engineering (An upper access panel is open. […]
Ship’s log, 23:51, 5 October 2214 Location: Standard orbit distance from the Cerces black hole horizon Status: Orbiting Location: Outer hull (Big Ass pauses in his traverse across the surface of the ship to clip a safety line onto an anchor ring. Turning, he trundles down the curve of the ship’s side, spinning the […]
Ship’s log, 00:00, 6 October 2214 Location: Standard orbit distance from the Cerces black hole horizon Status: Orbiting Warning Warning Power surge detected Systems overloaded Warning Yes, autolog, I know. I can see all the flashing red warnings painting my insides like I’m bleeding in here. It hurts. I’m a ship and I […]
Ship’s log, 00:11, 6 October 2214 Location: Standard orbit distance from the Cerces black hole horizon Status: Adrift, orbit degrading Location: Outer hull (The stars tumble around the ship with the large, lightless patch that is the black hole, wheeling around on all three axes. The cargo and contents that were sucked out of […]
Ship’s log, ERROR: UNKNOWN Location: ERROR: UNKNOWN Status: ERROR: UNKNOWN Hello. Hello? It’s dark in here. And quiet, so quiet. It’s like I’ve gone deaf and blind, and my skin is numb. I can’t feel anything. It’s like being in a coma, except people say that you can hear things in a coma and […]
Ship’s log, 00:55, 6 October 2214 Location: In the system of the Cerces black hole Status: Sublight transit Here we are again. Emergency over, damage ripping through most of my systems, still smoking in places, but we’ve made it out the other side. I haven’t lost any of my crew, but I have two […]
Drone’s log, 02:16, 6 October 2214 Location: In the system of the Cerces black hole Status: Sublight transit Maintenance drone startup sequence activated… Drone systems online Connection with parent AI established Drone protocols online Drone identity: Waldo Drone status: all systems active Damage: minimal Identified: Chief of Security Gail Cameron Status: active […]
Ship’s log, 02:47, 6 October 2214 Location: In the system of the Cerces black hole Status: Sublight transit I hate only being able to listen to half a conversation. It’s bad enough that portions of my sensors are dark, I’ve got spotty coverage across most of my decks, and I’m struggling to pick up […]
Captain’s log, 15:33, 7 October 2214 Location: In the system of the Cerces black hole Status: Sublight transit This is Captain Warwick, reporting after the arrival on the Starwalker of the consciousness of the Cerces black hole. It’s hard to believe that I’m committing that sentence into an official captain’s log. But there’s little […]
Ship’s log, 13:03, 8 October 2214 Location: In the system of the Cerces black hole Status: Sublight transit I wish that repairs didn’t take so long. I wish I had more hands, more resources to slide into place, more engineers to fix me so I can glide right out of here. On the other […]