212 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
212 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
Message Incoming...
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Source Melchizedek.0294
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Approach β Hyi
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Ascension 00h 25m 45.07037s
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Declination –77° 15′ 15.2860″
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Distance 24.34ly
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Equinox J2000.0 SOL
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Year 3782, QEC adjusted
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[Autotranslator enabled...]
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Jerome Somerset Pasani, Warrant Master
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:::
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I am serving the following packet in parsable envelope over QEC
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for intercept and transmission to the Idjani family. Due to our
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time dilation, I am not sure this will reach his father,
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descendants or ancestors. Local data-authority intervention
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requested. If anyone out there can help get this into the right
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hands we will owe you a debt.
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ENVELOPE 001 START
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:::
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Dear Mr. Idjani and extended family of Moussa Idjani:
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I regret to report that Doctor Moussa Idjani, ship physician to
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the Melchizedek and a personal friend, is deceased.
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Men of your son's utter dedication to the cause of life are rare
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and the loss of such a man is humanity's loss.
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In the years of close confidence and friendship that has grown
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between us, I have ever been impressed by the strength of his
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spirit and his cool confidence in the success of our program. He
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was a leader who shared his strength and faith with all who knew
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him. By his courage, skill and dedication, he has guaranteed
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future generations a place in the universe and a chance for peace.
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The work we do and the role Moussa played in it can not be
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overstated. It is to him that we owe our lives and hopes in the
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future.
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Your sacrifice is beyond measure, but I hope you can take some
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comfort from your knowledge that your pride can be without limit.
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I mourn with you as we pray for God's blessing.
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Millions share our debt to you for giving Moussa to man, and
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inspiration to mankind.
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Jerome Somerset Pasani, Warrant Master, Melchizedek Covenant Arc
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ENVELOPE 001 END
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:::
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I have, much to my great pride, never in the past been faced with
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a situation of having to report on the death of one of my crew.
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I admit to have borrowed heavily from history for the format of
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the letter. I hope it offers his family some consolation in this
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dark time.
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What I cannot offer them is an explanation for what happened.
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I have watched the video recordings, listened to the QEC
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transmission, interviewed the crew, and all that remains is more
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questions.
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Prezzi would suggest a logical review: carefully considered inputs
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and value measurements, a systematic approach to variable
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limiting, and absolute, brutal precision in analysis. Had I her
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training from the Ecclesia, I would use it to cut loose, to stop
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seeing his face in my dreams, and to stop the incessant questions
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nagging me. Why didn't I agree to wake Kroups? If I had, would he
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be gone instead? Why did I allow it to begin?
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Moussa was my conscience and confidant. He knew this didn't make
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any sense, but I pushed him regardless. We're so close to Beta! We
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just need to stretch a bit further and we've done it, the
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impossible task. But the cost.
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Moussa was my friend. I owed him more.
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I owe his memory more.
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At 24.542041, our doctor was attacked by a mutated arabidopsis...
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Entity. The violence of it--it began in what appears to be
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a reaction to an ultrasonic probe making contact with a small cell
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sample. The sample was in isolation in a mechanized microscopic
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recording device called a SAM3 (I'm not sure what the designation
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stands for). The remaining arabidopsis was contained in a secure
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section of the fore-botany bay, isolated by translucent graphene
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sheeting and reinforced self-sealing biofilm.
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The moment he--the moment it happened the separate arabidopsis
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plants, individually, broke through the secure enclosure and
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attached themselves to Mou--Doctor Idjani's unprotected skin
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around his hands, arm, and face. The plants moved independently,
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and with incredible force. The graphene sheeting alone can
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withstand nearly as much force as the hull crush-plating. Our food
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production requires the utmost care and safety, which it seems
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did us no good at all.
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I don't know how to describe the movement. I've been watching the
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video on loop wishing the QEC had the bandwidth to encode it and
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send along. I imagine there will be those back home who won't
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believe the reports no matter how carefully I present the
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evidence. Plants don't move like that.
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Arabidopsis is a common plant, or was when we left on our mission.
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For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is closely
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related to spinach or mustard greens. It grows well in a wide
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range of conditions and environments. Those aboard the Shin-Salyut
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replica orbital station may be familiar with it. If memory serves,
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it was the 6 or 7 Salyut that flowered the first arabidopsis in
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space, making it the first human space-plant. It flourishes today
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(or when we left) on the lunar colonies as leftovers of the
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original Chinese bases. I believe it has been adapted to Martian
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soil now, and it is one of the standards for botany labs on
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Visscher craft.
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I've spent a lifetime with this plant, and whatever the hell
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killed Idjani was not that. Something changed when we were in
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cryo, and the DNA pasting doesn't account for it. The plants, the
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way they moved, it reminded me of Cephalopoda. I've seen videos of
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the aquatic creatures when they reach land and fling themselves
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around with flailing limbs. Arabidopsis, or what used to be
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arabidopsis, moved like that. It was animal movement and unnatural
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to witness.
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The plants shot across the room so fast, the camera had to be
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slowed to see it clearly. The graphene just crumpled inward and
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they piled through. There are scrapings of plant remnant on the
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edges that were identified prior to purging the compartment. The
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things didn't seem to care that they were shredding their
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own...flesh...bark? I don't know how to classify any of this. We
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need to come up with new terms. A-rabids? I don't know.
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Anyway, as unnatural and difficult to explain that part is, what
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comes next challenges us all. If Eva hadn't witnessed it
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first-hand I don't know that I'd trust the cameras, frankly.
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There's only so much you can take in at once.
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The arabids attached to Moussa's skin. This part I watched
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clearly. They didn't touch a piece of clothing in the act. They
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knew exactly what parts were him and what weren't. Almost as soon
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as they connected, the buds sort of burrowed into him. The growth
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rate was inconceivable. A whole root system shot through him and
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sort of affixed him to the spot. It was like someone told him to
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freeze in place and he acted like a tree, except he was a tree.
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The image of it won't leave me. I know Eva feels the same. She
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can't go near botany anymore. I can't blame her.
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Eva Hämäläinen deserves some mention here. I believe our situation
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would be significantly more dire without her immediate action. She
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has asked that I forgo sharing some of the details of the event
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out of what I believe to be embarrassment, but I must decline. To
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leave anything out of the encounter is a disservice to her bravery
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and undermines the intensity of the critical moments.
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As the arabids affixed and rooted into Moussa, they did not kill
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him instantly. As best we have theorized, the root system was
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attempting to work symbiotically with his own circulatory system.
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While he was unable to move or communicate as normal, he was very
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much alive. The recordings show him struggling against it at
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first, but after a few minutes he seemed to settle into place. We
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couldn't make out the words clearly beyond a reconstructed phrase:
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"Together we grow, together we grow, together"
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He repeated it softly as Eva arrived. She saw him and what it was
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doing, and it...saw...her as well. You can hear her reaction on
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the QEC as she saw the scene. Eva screamed like a banshee and
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vomited simultaneously. The later I mention despite her
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reservations because of the importance to her own survival. The
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surface growths on the doctor moved toward her as she screamed.
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They were so fast, I believe they would have reached her before
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she could react. However, the arabids did not seem to be able to
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distinguish between her and her vomit. The plants splashed down
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onto the floor for a brief moment, giving her time to act. The
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emergency containment and isolation systems were already in place,
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but breached. Melchizedek's systems were on high alert, so when
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she pushed the hot-release button, the whole fore-botany container
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detached instantly.
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Were we in normal space and not under gravity-sheer, Eva would
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have been pressure ejected into vacuum between the plates.
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Instead, the atmospheric isolation was enough to hold her position
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as the emergency crush plating dropped into place. Fore-botany hit
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the grav-shear wall a moment later and was broken into subatomic
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particles instantly.
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We had no opportunity to examine Doctor Idjani's body or any of
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the affected plants in fore-botany. The doctor's active samples
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were all included in that compartment when it jettisoned. Despite
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the value of the food stores and the scientific questions raised
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by the events, I am glad it's over with. This nightmare cost me
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the life of my friend. We must proceed without our doctor. Our
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questions have no answers: neither scientific or from faith.
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Prezzi would suggest I proceed logically, and I will do my best.
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The food shortage is our most dire problem and we're unequipped to
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deal with it. I'm thawing out Xavier and Kroups immediately.
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I need fresh minds who know the science to get us through this.
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We will get through this. Humanity is counting on us. We have paid
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a dear price but it will not stop our mission. I will be as clear
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as I can to all who read this whether traveller, scientist, or
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crew: I mean to seed Beta Hydrii with the gift of life, the
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blessings of God, and make a home for our people in the stars.
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I will see that through even if it costs us every life aboard. We
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will pay the price.
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.
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