## BEGIN AUTOMATED SHIP'S LOG ## , . . + . o . , * -o- . . * . , * -0====> / / ' / / ___ ___ // ___ ___ ___ / / // ) ) || / / //___) ) // // ) ) // ) ) //___) ) / / // / / || / / // // // / / // // / /____/ / ((___/ / ||/ / ((____ // ((___( ( ((____ ((____ --------------------- [SB-129 Class Starship] ---------------------- Earth Date: 2312-09-20T00:00:00Z System uptime: 51 days Location: Mercatan Space >embed --start 0 --end 6 "Captain's Log" Fetching Captain's Log excerpt... Captain's log, Earth time 2312-09-19T20:19:36Z. After much pestering by Xēcnes we are proceeding to a region of space that could supposedly hold some answers regaring the Lovelace's little stray tour. Xec believes to have discovered some strange readings thereabouts that show similarities to the alien technology on board. >embed --start 0 --end 96 2312-09-19sa.tscript Fetching transcription file... SYSTEM: 3 aliens vessels are approaching at high speed. Appropriate personel please report to the bridge. (silence) SYSTEM: 'Captain' Aanya, please report to the- AANYA: Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, I'm here. SYSTEM: 3 alien vessels are going to intercept the Lovelace in 1 minute and 13 seconds. AANYA: Yeah, okay, got it. (yawn) Wait. What sort of ves- ST-WEK: What's all that noise. XECNES: Three alien vessels are- ST-WEK: Yes, I know, I gathered this from the very loud and very annoying alarm. I think we all heard it. AANYA: What sort of vessels? SYSTEM: Unknown. XECNES: Aanya, did you transmit all of the Haven's data into the System? AANYA: Would it recognize our old friends, you mean? Of course. This far out of their space I think the chance of meeting them is slim anyway. Still, whoever these guys are, I think we should avoid them either way. ST-WEK: Agreed. XECNES: But they might know something about the Lovelace's journey. I think we should talk to them. (crashing sound) SYSTEM: 1 of the ships has opened fire. ST-WEK: Thank M'Ghs we've got you or we would never have known. XECNES: The alien ship is attempting to communicate with us. AANYA: It's been doing plenty of communicating already. Ignore them, I'm getting us out of here. (clicking and beeping) AANYA: Damn, they've got us cornered on all sides. (crashing) AAYNA: (sigh) Let's just see what they want. (beeping) UNKNOWN: Alien vessel: You have illegally entered Mercatan Space. This justifies a fine of 400- (silence) ST-WEK: aanya, he's staring at you.. AANYA: i've noticed, thanks. (whispering between two people on the other ship) AANYA: might as well seize the change to get us out of here (clicking) UNKNOWN: Wait! I think we might have gotten off on the wrong claw here, heh. My name is Reniw, 3rd Captain of the Authority's Space Fleet. You are cordinally invited to visit Mercat Prime. We apologize for any inconvenience we might have caused you, you know how it is with all these freeloaders nowadays, heh. SYSTEM: Matching designation "RENIW" to "UNKNOWN" entity. RENIW: What? AANYA: Don't mind our System, it's a bit.. chatty. ST-WEK: something you could could've fixed already.. AANYA: sh! XECNES: This is a pleasant turn of events. I have been meaning to ask the inhabinants of your system- RENIW: The invitation has been extended primarily to the Lady Amentis. ST-WEK: who? AANYA: Could you give us a minute? (clicking) AANYA: Time to make like a fly and say bye bye I should think. XECNES: What? We are so close to uncovering a vital piece in our search for truth! ST-WEK: Who is this 'we' you're always on about. AANYA: Look, we know this human thing is important to you. But you saw how this guy regarded you, to him anyone other than me on this ship might as well be part of the furniture. XECNES: I do not mind. AANYA: Oh yeah, sure, and what happens when he finds out I'm not this Lady he thinks I am? No thank you. ST-WEK: Not worth it. AANYA: I'm getting us out of here. Surely they would not fire on their precious Lady Mantis or whatever. (clicking and beeping) (sudden crashing) XECNES: They are requesting communication. AANYA: Granted! (beeping) RENIW: Her Ladyship's presence has been requested by the Authority himself. AANYA: Look, I don't know who this chick is but I'm not her. RENIW: At this point that is irrelevant. If the Authority wants you to visit you're going. Sorry ma'am, I can't lose this job. AANYA: Oh, shut up! (clicking) AANYA: So, kids, it seems we're going on a field trip. >embed --start 134 --end 160 "Personal Log: Xēcnes" Fetching Personal Log excerpt... Though it came about through less than optimal means, I was glad I had the chance to explore the planet which might lead me to an answer regarding the Lovelace's mysterious disappearance from human space. Once we had been escorted to Mercat Prime, Aanya was granted a mandatory audience with the Authority in Metropolis 17, while St'Wek and myself were shown to the outer region of the city. Once there we found there was no way for us to return to the city centre. The planets infrastructure was not fit for flightless creatures such as us, since its inhabitans were all winged and bore a striking resemblance to the "owls" on Earth. Even if we had been able to fly we found that air travel was highly regulated and expensive. The residents of Metropolis 17s outer ring were extraordinarily uninterested in us. When we approached them to inquire about their world they either ignored us or told us not to address them during work hours. Quite some time passed before a young girl approached us and insisted only to speak within the privacy of her appartment. >embed --start 25 --end 6x "Captain's Log" Fetching Captain's Log excerpt... Metropolis 17. The sky was full of smoke, the buildings full of people and my host was full of himself. His "humble" estate covered about a third of the city. I had to walk quite a bit to reach the room I should be welcomed in. Some of the kind gentlemen who had forced me to attend had to carry me upwards, as there were no stairs. The Authority was a young man dressed in an expensive looking, coloured gown. Before he could speak I demanded an explanation, demanded to know where my friends were, hurled a few insults at him and told him slowly and clearly that I was not this Lady Amentis everyone was so randy about. He simply laughed at me as he waved his underlings to leave the room. Of course, he said, I was not Amentis. Amentis, he said, was an old Mercatan legend: a spiky purple woman who would bring wealth to the nation. He himself did not believe in fairy tales, of course, he said, he only believed in the rock hard value of his money. But the people, he said, had been getting unhappy lately, had been close to acting up about this whole financial crisis or whatever, he said (he said the words like it was an altogether curious and amusing concept to him), so he thought it a nice turn of events to have one of those purple women walking right up to his door and wiping her legendary purple feet on the welcome mat of pure gold. I listened to his tale with all the patience you can expect of a girl, noted how it was very interesting but I would rather like to leave with my friends now, thanks. My reasonable host reasonably denied my request and reasonably reqiured me to walk about in the city and hold a little speach about the things to come and maybe even about how great a leader The Autho- rity was, before he would leave us all go, promise. I was no fan of this idea but it seemed a small price to pay to finally get off of this awful planet. Splendid, he said, we shall travel to outer ring in the morrow. >embed --start 161 --end 171 "Personal Log: Xēcnes" Fetching Personal Log excerpt... Her appartment was a small room in one of the living blocks. She shared it with five other Mercatans, who weren't present at the time. At work, she explained. She herself worked the night shifts. St'Wek and I had barely enough room to breathe at the table in the corner of the room that she had invited us to sit at. She introduced herself as Oliz and had many questions for us about the life in space. In this part of the outer ring most people worked constructing parts for space ships. She'd always dreamed of traveling Before leaving the planet I had the chance to aquire an excerpt of her personal journal regarding our meeting. >embed "Other: Oliz' Diary" Fetching file... These travelers were the strangest creatures. I could tell instantly that they were not from any Mercatan colony looking for work on our prosperous planet. Those are usually uninterested in conversation, more focused on doing the work they came to do, keeping to themselves. Finally, I thought, some people that can tell me what it's like to live among the stars, to explore the greater Mercatan regions and beyond. The smaller one was very talkative, asked many questions about the Authority and the nature of our society. I told it about the Authority's great services to Mercatkind, his Space Fleet and how I'd love to join it one day. It wanted to know if we had seen any strange alien objects in our region within the last 20 revolutions around our sun. Of course I had not been alive that long, said I. They asked me to fly them to the city to see their friend. Hah! Can you imagine? If I could afford flying to the inner city, i said, I wouldn't be here anymore, would be joining the space program. That was enough of their questions, I demanded some answers to mine. The smaller one, Xēcnes, told me some fascinating details about space, was surprised I didn't know these things, as interested as I was, it said, I had less than adequate knowledge of my own system. How rude! Education is expensive after all. Once I have enough money, i said, I'll be moving to the inner city, joining the program, learning much about space and going there myself, thank you. The taller, wider one, who had been quietly sitting there and watching us converse, scoffed at this. Xēcnes asked how much money I had left to save for the education after paying for shelter and food. Truly, I was losing more money than I made at the moment. Xēcnes made some comment to its companion about a planet called earth and the devide of its people into classes and castes. I quickly corrected this misrepresentation! I may not have been born to as much money as the Authority, i said, but I am just as able to earn my place in higher society as anyone else. If I worked more hours, I informed them, I would have more money and could eventually afford to move to the inner city. Impressed with my dedication, I should quickly get a better job there and eventually make my way to the Space Fleet. So, a