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[Thank you for choosing Automata Co shipping. Service with a smile that you can trust! Please wait to be boarded. Shippment includes [700 Units Profolatol] and [700 administration syringes.] Thank you for your service of [19] years.]
Captain's Log, stardate 7.25.19952022.
"Captain's Log."
I'm sure when space ships were new, back when they were manned by thousands of people from old Earth, a "captain" meant something. It feels a little strange to call myself a captain, some grubby man behind the wheel of a freight hauler. I don't even go off-world most days.
Today I'm hauling drugs.
Yesterday, I was hauling napkins.
Knowing I'm the only thing between a family and voidpox is a lot more weight on my shoulders than knowing I'm the only thing between a family and a soiled lapel.
Anyway. Captain's log. Keeping these used to be a big deal. They kept them in ship black boxes so people knew what was going on before a wreck, but nowadays, I think the company just has me keep this just to keep me from going insane.
Everything is automated, now. Everything but deliveries. I haven't seen anyone in weeks.
Some people don't like automation. I love it. It means that instead of being a wet miner like my dad, they can pull water out of the ground with robots and automatons. If anything gets crushed by stones while they're down there, then it's a hundred-thousand credit machine instead of a human life that gets snuffed out.
I picked up the medicine from an automaton, one of those AutoCo things that has a great big screen on it that has a face that changes. It gave me a big smile and handed me my boxes. I like automation, but I'm not a fan of the actual robots.
There's something so sterile about those robots, especially the AutoCo ones. I've got this theory that the more a company tries to be all friendly and happy, the faker it seems. They don't creep me out or annoy me, they just feel depressing. Some soulless robot springing to life to lie to my face.
Oh well. Today I get to see people. It's been twenty-seven days since I've seen a person, hauling freight from one end of New Earth to the other. Napkins from Hampton to Aladonia. Cheese and crackers from Hypsilon to Sarcarth. Now medicine from Zephyr to New Usah. I've been hauling a hell of a lot of voidpox meds. They say there's an outbreak.
I can't get reception this high, either. I've been getting my cargo from orbital stations so all I have going from station to station for hours is whatever I've downloaded onto my onboard listening computer. Listening to books and making Captain's Logs.
Back when they wrote things with symbols, Captains Logs were kept in these huge sheets of wood called "papers," and they could stack enough of them to fill shelves. They found a whole bunch on old Earth. They don't even need to be plugged in to read.
Sometimes I think how progress isn't as forward as we think. Once they made computers back in negative a hundred or so, we gave up being able to see words as well as hear them. I wonder if they ever made symbols to talk on a computer.
It might be fun to listen to a book from those days. I don't even know how you'd listen to it. I'd probably have to hook up a scanner to read the symbols to me, I don't think I'd be able to learn the symbols.
Jesus Chris, I'm lonely.
I guess being up here, thousands of spines in the sky, I'm not risking voidpox. I hear it's pretty bad. My ex-wifer got it back before it could kill you and she was in bed for a week. We had to change the sheets three times and get a new mattress because of all the blood. I wonder how Myla is. Once this haul is through, I'll see her and Dorance again.
It's been twenty-seven days since I've seen a person, but it's been a million years since I've seen my daughter.
New Earth is pretty from up here. It's uncanny. Every day it's like a green-tan orb and every night it lights up. I wonder if old Earth looked blue because of all the water.
Not far now. This is my last stop and it's only a few minutes. A hundred spines and I'll dock above New Usah. It's getting dark down there. Doesn't seem as bright, today, I wonder why.
Alright. Docking at New Usah port, uh, 612413. 0303 hours local, 6097 celestial.
This is Styler Magnet, signing off. See you soon, Dorance.
[Attention ship number [00017009]. This docking bay is quarantined due to contamination of organic crew. Please stand by.]
Captain's Log, stardate 7.26.19952022.
No communication with port 612413 since last night. I've been docked for twenty-four hours.
Ugh... I missed my appointment with Myla. No way to even contact her. She probably thinks I flaked. Nothing I can do.
Even when I have a good excuse, it won't matter. I wasn't there. Sometimes we have to take responsibility for things we can't control. I hope Dorance misses me as much as I miss her.
612413 says they're quarantined, but they're only responding with automation. I hope they didn't forget me.
It's darker tonight planetside.
Why am I so nervous?
[Attention ship number [00017009]. This docking bay is quarantined due to contamination of organic crew. Please stand by.]
Captain's Log, stardate 7.27.19952022.
Another twenty-four without a signal. Fuckers abandoned post. This is idiotic. I feel like a dumb-shit for waiting here two days going stir crazy. They abandoned a post expecting a shipment of meds. I can't even radio for a different station.
Don't they know how badly they screwed me? Quarantining my only way back planetside?
And WHY the hell aren't there any lights on down there?
[Attention ship number [00017009]. This docking bay is quarantined due to contamination of organic crew. Please stand by.]
Captain's Log, stardate, uh... Fuck, I don't know, the day after the last one.
(Panting.)
Okay. I'm going to make a terrestrial landing. I'm not supposed to, but they're not supposed to leave me high and dry for three whole god damn E-Days. AND IT'S STILL DARK DOWN THERE.
I just want to SEE someone. I want to see my daughter. I want to shake someone's hand. Those fucking robots just say the same thing. If a robot tells me to stand by one more time I'm going to make a homemade EMP.
[Attention ship number [00017009]. You are making an unlawful descent in an unauthorized vehicle. Please return to your designated docking bay. This will be logged in your employee chart.]
Captain's... Log... Nighttime...
I made it. That... Was a rough landing. Chris...
No federals are here to take me away, so I guess my landing wasn't THAT unlawful. I hope the medicine is okay.
[Attention ship number [00017009]. Your cargo is compromised. Please stand by for company pickup. Please do not attempt any salvage of company property. Thank you. This will be logged in your employee chart.]
Log. Nighttime again. Must be the 29th.
Everything is dark. No one is here. There's just... Nothing. What happened down here?
I just wanted to see Dorance again. I'd even take Myla. I just want to see a person. All I hear are those fucking robots.
I'm on a landing strip, but I haven't seen a single other craft take off. I've been using the radio all damn day, but no one's picked up. These things should have global reach. What the hell is going on?
[Attention ship number [00017009]. It is against company policy to abandon the craft. Please remain in your cockpit until further notice. This will be logged in your employee chart.]
Log...
This ship won't let me leave. All I have is the cockpit. Cockpit. Thirty days a cockpit. A month. Sure, you can stand, sure there's a treadmill, but people aren't supposed to be in a fucking COCKPIT for a MONTH.
This job is driving me crazy. Maybe I am crazy. I really think I'm in trouble... Fuck. There's enough food in here for another year, but I don't want to eat spacer's emergency rations for a god-damned YEAR.
But what do I do? Just starve to death on purpose? And that... FUCKING robot. It won't SHUT UP. Every time I try to pry open the cockpit door. Please. Myla. Dorance. Dad. ANYONE.
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. Contact cannot be established with the Automaton Co motherstation. You have been found in felony possession of a stolen craft. Please stand by for acquisition by Federal Enforcement. This will be logged in your employee chart.]
Can't connect to the mother station. What does that MEAN? There are about sixty all over the globe. Am I on the wrong planet? Can no one see me? I wish the Federals WOULD come so they could LET ME OUT.
And the medicine... God, all those people. Voidpox... I don't even want to think about it. It's not my fault, but how am I supposed to not feel bad?
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [56] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
The recording plays every five minutes, now. Every time it refreshes. Every five fucking minutes. My only friend in this little hell is that voice. I ran out of food yesterday. I've been eating emergency rations since then.
I don't think anyone is coming for me. If they do, how are they going to open this coffin?
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [134] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
Log...
Log...
Hahaha.
Hello? Hellooooooo! Hi. Hi. Hello. Computer, can you hear me? Radio mothersation computer. There's been a mixup! Hahahaha!
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [290] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
Dorance. Listen to your mother. You always SAY you don't want to visit grandpa, but you have a good time when you do.
Myla, stay out of this, okay? Just- Talk to the computer for a while, he's your NEW man, isn't he? ISN'T HE???
No- Shit. Sorry Dorance.
I KNOW not to swear in front of her, MYLA.
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [378] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
Dad...?
Dad.
Dad, I couldn't bring Dorance. She couldn't come. Haha. Hahahahahahahahaha. I know, I know, I know, I KNOW you never liked Myla. It's fine.
I'll see you again soon.
How could I have known it was the last time I'd see you, huh?
Are they with you over there? Are they laughing at me? Is that computer over there too? Please tell me he's not, he stole my wife you know. He's going to be SO mad if he can't get in. HahahahahaHAHA.
Dad. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. I love you. I love all of you. I'm sorry. Are you proud? I'm a captain now, dad. Haha. That's right! I h-have a whole crew. It's me and the computer, but it's a crew.
You went underground and I went into the sky. How about that, huh? How about that. How. About. That.
I'm a captain, now. I'm the captain...
I'm out of rations, dad, but I think we'll make it. We're so close. Me and the computer.
So... So close, now.
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [VARIABLE OVERFLOW] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [VARIABLE OVERFLOW] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [VARIABLE OVERFLOW] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
[Attention ship number [00017009] and onboard crew. It has been [VARIABLE OVERFLOW] days since last contact with Automata Co motherstation. Please stand by.]
[Fades Out]