PuzzleType: CRASHED_FREIGHTER_

#1

Alien: ... LOG EXTRACTION COMPLETE ...

{Read Log}

Life goes on. Day after day, delivering after - kzzzkt - I hope to go home, soon. The life of a - kzzzkt - is not for one like me.

Multiple Sentinel energy signatures detected, requiring immediate - kzzzkt -

Dropping out of warp, they're - there's -

The Sentinels - kzzzkt - what are they doing?

Fighting each other, the Sentinel ships are engaging each other - kzzkt - ignoring us for now -

The Sentinels appear to have departed. They're - kzzkktz -

Distress signal nearby - kzzkt - broadcasting 'sixteen' on repeat.

I'm going to take a look...

{Leave}

#2

Alien: // LOG DAMAGED // PARTIAL RECORDS AVAILABLE //

{Read Log}

My love. I dive into a black hole tomorrow. I know we agreed not to - kzzzkt -

I warned them about - kzzzkt - advisability of such a large vessel moving through the rift. But they are arrogant, vain creatures, are they not?

We emerged into the skies above the - kzzkzkt - anomaly.

Reality itself has abdicated here. Vast hexagons litter the landscape of this once proud planet, now become the plaything of our unseen foe...

I fear I will not be back home for - kzkzzkt - time.

We drank the water.

My love... forgive me...

{Leave}

#3

Alien: ... LOG INTEGRITY COMPROMISED ... PATCHING ...

{Read Log}

I do not like this. Forced to harbour Gek on board? To give them safe passage across the stars? I lodged a complaint. Let's - kzzkt -

We encountered remnants of the Vy'keen Expeditionary Force. Their ships decimated, fragments of flesh and steel floating through the asteroid field.

Sentinels scan their debris. We leave quickly.

I refuse to take my crew any further. You should have told me why we were doing this, why - kzzkt -

There is no hope, is there?

{Leave}

#4

Alien: ... ACCESSING LOG ...

{Read Log}

These Korvax really are something, aren't they? We tried - kzzkt -

What made it tick? What was the point?

It just - kzzkt - stared at us...

We made a great deal of profit in that last port. We asked the Korvax what it wanted us to do with its share.

It spoke for the last time since boarding the freighter. It said -

The Korvax showed me a secret. There is not long to go, now. We must head towards the centre. We must - kzzkt -

{Leave}

#5

Alien: // CREW MANIFEST MISSING // LIMITED DATA AVAILABLE //

{Read Log}

We approach the temporal anomaly. I have to admit, I'm excited. I might be the first - kzzkt -

The system possesses impossible properties. Last night, sound briefly travelled faster than light.

I asked them to forgive me, but they told me I was being a fool. They told me I was a good captain. We drank until late in the - kzzkt -

One moment our instruments are decimated. The next, they seem advanced far beyond their original capabilities.

And the beauty of it, I can't sleep -

The stars... there are sixteen of them, now - kzzkt - I'm going to approach -

{Leave}

#6

Alien: ... DISTRESS BEACON POWER: 0% ...

{Read Log}

We have crashed. It was much calmer than I thought it would be. Our training worked, the crew were composed, and - kzkzkt -

Twelve casualties. They will not be forgotten.

We are running out of food. Whatever we attempt to scavenge, whenever we attempt to fight for our survival, the Sentinels arrive to prevent us. We need to get off world...

We are going to retreat beneath the surface and await rescue. I will maintain my own link with the ship.

They are dead - kzzkt -

No longer hungry, no longer - kzzkkt -

What have we done?

{Leave}

#7

Alien: /// MAYDAY EVENT /// DISTRESS SIGNAL BROADCAST ///

{Read Log}

I had heard the rumours. So-called 'Traveller anomalies', beings of varied appearance and purpose. Their ship approached, our weapons primed. They - kzzkt -

The one before us begged for peace. They appeared to be bio-mechanical, at least in part.

We struck them from the sky.

Probes recovered the body. Well, fragments of DNA and code. The two are almost interchangeable, my researchers tell me.

I must confess to a great deal of excitement. But this - kzkzkt -

Our duty: we must understand what is happening to our worlds.

Visuals confirm it. The same individual we shot down two weeks ago is standing right before us again.

These beings are somehow restored upon death, just as the Emperor suggested.

Well then. An opportunity to retrieve more samples. I order their death once more.

{Leave}

#8

Alien: ... NO CREW ACTIVITY DETECTED ... SEARCHING LOGS ...

{Read Log}

Half our cargo was spoiled by the breach. Try explaining that to the Overseer: The Gek don't take too kindly to broken - kzzzkt -

I think it will be better if I tell them in person.

Half our cargo was spoiled by the breach. Try - try - explaining - kzzkt - to - what's - kzzzkt -

The logs are full of hundreds of such messages, each one talking about a breach in the cargo hold.

The freighter's captain seems to grow increasingly panicked and self-aware regarding the repetition of these logs.

By the time of the final message, they are screaming with happiness and despair.

{Leave}

#9

Alien: ... SHIP LOGS REQUESTED ... ACCESSING ...

{Read Log}

The Vy'keen have left the Council. We knew that they would. Only two other species remain: the Gek and the Korvax. And us, I - kzzkt -

It's strange, but somehow I trust the warriors more for their honesty. No-one wants this alliance.

Entities Nada and Polo have been located in the next system. They appear to be alien to this universe, their structure suggesting a disturbance of dimensional boundaries.

We intercepted the coming and going of no less than 5182 Travellers within a single week. They grow in strength.

The space anomaly is right ahead of us. It's strange, but I feel as if - kzzkt -

But that is impossible, the dream of a fool. We only have one life to live.

{Leave}

#10

Alien: ... REQUEST LOG UNAVAILABLE ... SUBSTITUTING DATA ...

{Read Log}

We have been ordered to shoot down any Vy'keen vessels on - kzzkzt -

They have been deemed enemies of the Atlas, enemies of the Council, enemies of all humanity...

We have been ordered to aid a Vy'keen splinter faction in the hope that they might create internal unrest and divide their purpose.

We are to rendezvous with two promising revolutionaries, battle-brothers by the names of Hirk and Nal.

Someone is reading these messages.

Who are you?

{Leave}

#11

Alien: ... LOG EXTRACTION COMPLETE ...

{Read Log}

It began with an idea, a simulation...

The Korvax wished to know what would happen to the universe in the future. They wanted to confirm what had occurred in the past. We were part of their great effort, delivering vast quantities of Nanite Clusters across the galaxy.

The simulation shows me my child as if they are alive, taking their first steps for a second time.

It shows me their death. It shows my own.

I ask the Korvax to stop this. They refuse.

The Korvax shut down their machine. The experiment is over. They claim that the universe is multiversal, cyclical, without origin or endpoint, at least based on available data.

In some worlds, there might be Korvax. In some, no Gek.

In some, we never existed, or if we did, we destroyed our world long before other galactic powers could find them. I do not like the tone with which the Korvax speaks.

{Leave}

#12

Alien: // LOG DAMAGED // PARTIAL RECORDS AVAILABLE //

{Read Log}

The crew speak of mutiny.

Hah! Let them try. Let them see how I earned my position as the greatest commander this - kzzkt -

The log appears to have automatically recorded and transcribed the sound of gunfire and crying.

We hung their heads from the lamps above the canteen. Everyone has seen them. Everyone is complicit now. There is no turning back.

Where next? The whole universe awaits...

{Leave}

#13

Alien: ... LOG INTEGRITY COMPROMISED ... PATCHING ...

{Read Log}

This will be my last year running this trade route. I - kzzzkt -

I have a child at home to look after now, or so I am told. My travels must come to an end.

I look around my crew and ponder their families. The Gek are spawned in vast numbers, knowing their parents' identity, but by necessity they are unable to form any meaningful bond. Theirs is a life of competition from the beginning. Perhaps this is what gives them their nature as traders.

The Korvax have no children at all, apart perhaps from the artificial intelligences they create for various experiments. Only the family units of the Vy'keen resemble our own, small units of parents and a number of sibling children, raised as warriors.

Our entire history is one of war and hatred. We are so similar to the Vy'keen, and as I look at my child, I wonder...

Never mind. I will know soon enough, and there is business to take care of before I am home.

{Leave}

#14

Alien: ... ACCESSING LOG ...

{Read Log}

We are returning home, carrying data backups of the echoes.

The crew don't like it. All those souls creep them out. I tell them it's nothing to worry about. Those rich enough to survive death didn't care about us in life, and now we have their backups.

They need us now, in case there was an accident, or someone switches the main site off. Who'd want to do that, I wonder?

We made first contact with the Korvax before all others. They found us, they showed us what we could - kzzkt -

They too have 'echoes', though the translation is imperfect. Their Convergence is a repository of all those who have ever lived. Ours is a mausoleum of vanity, a monument to the fear of death and nothing more...

... ... - kzzzkt - ... ...

...

{Leave}

#15

Alien: // CREW MANIFEST MISSING // LIMITED DATA AVAILABLE //

{Read Log}

The Traveller wished to dock without a ship. They claimed they could help us restart our engines after the - kzzzkt -

I took the risk, even if Hicks threatened to report me. Help is help.

They are strange beings. They do not appear interested in food or water, never leaving their so-called 'exosuits', even in habitable environments.

They ask many questions about our history, about the Atlas, and the visions of old. I tell them what I know, although it doesn't seem to help them.

... // We were those who saw the face of God // ...

... // We were those who were uplifted from an orb of dirt and rubble to the stars themselves // ...

The Traveller claims that none of it is real? Who are - kzzkt -

{Leave}

#16

Alien: ... DISTRESS BEACON POWER: 0% ...

{Read Log}

Freighters stretch ahead before us, a vast caravan herding our species across the stars.

We have deserted our past. We have left every colony behind. We go towards the - kzzkt -

The Korvax shared their discovery before they departed. They told us that the universe was going to come to an end. That every universe did, in time...

We would be wiped away, our purpose complete, and the Atlas would start anew. No-one would ever know what we did or who we were.

I will continue in my duty. Faith or doubt, submission or resistance... the end or a new beginning.

We travel to meet our maker. We travel to complete our great work. It is not for me to judge such things...

It is beyond all of us.

{Leave}

#17

Alien: /// MAYDAY EVENT /// DISTRESS SIGNAL BROADCAST ///

{Read Log}

I had a dream, last night... I saw all the worlds we had once inhabited, all the places we had once walked, and there was nothing left of it. Just dunes... just sand and rot and mud, stretching as far as the eye could see.

What if we don't come back? What if the Atlas decides we are no longer worthy of existence? It would be as if we had never been...

I tell the crew all that I have learned in my travels, committing multiple acts of treason and heresy in the process. I ask them what they think, how they feel, what they hope for.

The decision is unanimous. We will turn back. We will join with the Vy'keen in their exodus, leaving the centre to the worshippers of the Atlas.

Perhaps we can still survive, even if the rest of our species perishes...

Something is happening. Please, wherever you are, do not stop reading, do not - kzzzkt -

Sixteen - kzzkt - there are -

{Leave}

#18

Alien: ... NO CREW ACTIVITY DETECTED ... SEARCHING LOGS ...

{Read Log}

The Traveller found us once again. We have killed them eight times already, and still they show only kindness, only gratitude at an opportunity to converse.

What have we done? I cannot help but feel - kzzkt -

They tell us that they are not like the others of their kind, just as we are not like the others of our own species.

They survived beyond the end of all things. They committed terrible deeds, of that they have no doubt, but what are ethics in the face of an existential fall?

Universes come and go. Civilisations rise and they end. And through it all, the cycle continues. But even that must one day cease. Nothing lasts forever, not even time itself.

And in those final moments, in the decay of all that is or will be, the boundaries between worlds will fall. Our time will come again, if only in brief.

We will be seen, we will be heard, and our ship? Our freighter?

We will live again, in all our multiplicity, in all human worth... We will live again because someone, somewhere, will read our words for a final time.

{Leave}

#19

Alien: ... SHIP LOGS REQUESTED ... ACCESSING ...

{Read Log}

I say goodbye to the officers. I have served with them for years. There is no-one else I would rather end my life with.

One of them says they had a child. So did I. So do many...

All ranks mingle in a great and final night. We speak of the sights we have seen, of alien warriors, of traders, of beings whose minds we could never hope to comprehend.

We say goodbye to it all.

Our sensors tell us there is not much time now. The stars blink out, one by one.

Goodbye, my love.

Goodbye.

{Leave}

#20

Alien: ... REQUEST LOG UNAVAILABLE ... SUBSTITUTING DATA ...

{Read Log}

... ... - kzzzkt - ... ...

...

... ...

Is - kzzkt -

Anyone - kzzzkt - ...

It's not - zkzkzkt -

Nothing ends. Don't you see it? Nothing - kzzzkt -

Nothing -

{Leave}

#21

Alien: ... LOG EXTRACTION COMPLETE ...

{Read Log}

ERROR... UNEXPECTED LOG TERMINATION...

{Leave}