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+--- Thread: Conception (/showthread.php?tid=150153)
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 05-17-2017
MANIFEST DESTINY
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 05-17-2017
Away then, with all idle French talk of balances of power on the American Continent! There is no growth in Spanish America! Whatever progress of population there may be in the British Canadas, is only for their own early severance of their present colonial relation to the little island three thousand miles across the Atlantic; soon to be followed by Annexation, and destined to swell the still accumulating momentum of our progress.
And whosoever may hold the balance, though they should cast into the opposite scale all the bayonets and cannon, not only of France and England, but of Europe entire, how would it kick the beam against the simple, solid weight of the two hundred and fifty, or three hundred millions –American millions– destined to gather beneath the flutter of the stripes and stars, in the fast hastening year of the Lord 1945!
And whosoever may hold the balance, though they should cast into the opposite scale all the bayonets and cannon, not only of France and England, but of Europe entire, how would it kick the beam against the simple, solid weight of the two hundred and fifty, or three hundred millions –American millions– destined to gather beneath the flutter of the stripes and stars, in the fast hastening year of the Lord 1945!
~John O’Sullivan on US Annexation of Texas (1845 A.D)
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-17-2017
“Excellent!” Andrea tucked the notepad under her arm.
“You’re both ready to meet Captain O’Hara, then.” She stood up, expecting us to do the same.
“What about our questions? Captain of what?”
“Those still have to wait. Captain’s orders. Oh and… welcome aboard the Liberty exploration vessel Trailblazer 17. We’ll be referring to each other by our last names from now on, until the mission ends. I’m Dr Peterson, first scientific officer. Sergeant Gorman, specialist Zelman, follow me!”
Chris got up without hesitation and marched after her out the door. I stumbled out of my fake relaxed position and followed as best I could, almost tripping as I climbed through the door latch. I expected a long walk down a corridor like the one my pod traversed before I was frozen. We walked about four meters across the entire length of a narrow gangway, climbed five metal girder steps to an open bulkhead, then entered through into a small room filled with buttons and monitors.
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-17-2017
A man with a black cowboy hat sat leaned back in a command chair, gazing pensively into the darkness through a window in front of him. Smoke rose from a cigar he held, his elbow on the chair’s arm-rest. An eerie humming tune accompanied by southern blues slide guitar was in the air. I recognized the melody as “Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground”, one of the “Sounds of Earth” samples carried by the first Voyager space probes to leave the Sol system in the twentieth century.
“They’re ready for mission briefing.”
The cowboy ignored Andrea and kept looking at the murky weather for a while although he must have noticed us the moment we entered. Silent lightning flashes of a storm outside lit the silhouette of his face occasionally.
Finally he rotated the chair and mustered Chris and me from head to toe. His face was hard and unfriendly, his unkempt hair and muttonchops beard intimidating. He rose, walked a few steps until he stood about half a meter from Chris and looked into his eyes, hands clasped behind his back. Chris stood motionless, looking straight forward as if the captain wasn’t there.
Robot mode again.
O’Hara nodded with approval, then turned to me.
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-17-2017
His eyes were a sparking greyish blue. It was hard to tell if some of the lines on his face were wrinkles or scars. It wasn’t a cowboy hat after all, but a cavalry hat with crossed sabres emblem, the kind the US Army wore during the civil war and indian wars. I imagined him riding a horse, cutting down rebels and indians with a sabre. On his uniform was another emblem. An Egyptian Hieroglyph. The Eye of Horus. Is he an archeologist too? His expression turned into an angry glare as his eyes moved towards Peterson.
“They’re still under the influence of drugs. It was Zelman’s first cryo-trip. She’ll need some more time to adjust.”
I realized my eyes must have been wandering all over the place while he inspected me.
The captain walked to the window and resumed looking outwards. With a voice that sounded coarse but firm from all the yelling he must have done in his life, he said:
“You’re under my command now, and there’ll be no slacking for as long as that’s so.”
Was he listening to us before?
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-19-2017
“You’ll obey every command as if your life depends on it, because it does. All our lives depend on each of us. Succeeding here will be the most important thing you’ll ever do in your lives. Failing here will be the worst thing, and the last thing, you’ll ever do in your lives.”
He glared at us.
“Understood?”
“Yes SIR!” Chris barked loudly.
“Ye…”
“Good.”
With a less commanding tone, he said “Sidd, play back mission briefing gamma one, level four clearance.”
The music abruptly stopped. An androgenous voice began to speak out of no-where.
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-19-2017
“Trailblazer Seventeen has been assigned to interstellar exploration of system Sirius-Omega-One-Five-Nine. The mission is expected to take forty-nine years, the majority of which the crew of four will spend in cryostasis. Active Omega Protocol dictates that the sharing of mission details with non-authorized persons will result in immediate termination of all leaks. Liberty Citizen Rights of the crew are suspended following Cincinnatus Law for the duration of the mission.
Secret excavations on Planet Manhattan have revealed incontrovertible proof of the existence of a technologically advanced Precambrian civilization. Although no evidence of present day alien activity has yet been found, it is believed that what appear to be stellar schematics indicate a location of interest in the Omega-159 system.
Our mission is to map the system and search for signs of intelligent activity. If applicable, gather data on alien artifacts, technological capabilities, life forms, or communications. Revelation of sensitive information to intelligent alien life forms is to be avoided at all costs.”
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-19-2017
“Stop playback.”
The captain sat back down in his chair and watched us for reactions. I waited it out until someone said something.
“Before you’re further familiarized with mission details, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. We’re here to make a giant leap for mankind and acquire knowledge which will affect the destiny of our species.” He looked directly at me. “We’re not here to make friends with little green men or highly evolved trilobites, who may or may not decide to wipe us off the face of the universe first chance they get. There'll be no wishful thinking about noble celestial beings, and no moral or philosophical romanticism.” O’Hara leaned forward in his chair clenching his right fist. “We will take whatever brings our species forward technologically, we'll make no concessions out of the goodness of our hearts, and we'll do whatever it takes to emerge victorious in the event of conflict.
We now know that we’re not alone, we know we’re technologically outmatched, we know that those who outmatched us somehow went extinct on the planet we’ve settled on. We can’t afford to let ourselves be fooled by misplaced compassion instincts or hopes of altruism from beings we have no common interests or symbiotic relations with. The only viable survival strategy is to expand our knowledge, capabilities, and reach over all the star systems we can. Make no mistake. Humans will never accept to live under the possibility of annihilation by aliens. We'll strive to become the dominant species in this sector, and in this galaxy.”
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-20-2017
I couldn’t stop myself from imagining him cutting down little green men from his horse. When will these drugs wear off?
“With that in mind, I’ll let you retire back to your pods to rest and clear your heads. Our Synthetic Intelligence and Data Device will help you catch up on events tomorrow. Sidd, prepare remaining briefings for tomorrow.” I suddenly realized how tired I was.
“But first, you should come and have a look at something.”
He gestured us to look out the window. As we took a few steps towards it, I instinctively reached for Chris’ arm to keep my balance. Walking now felt as if I was wading through muddy water.
“Sidd, dim the bridge lights.”
I strained my eyes to make something out in the darkness outside. There was a dark mist, more clouds in the distance, and a bunch of large boulders strewn all over the place. As I tried to find out what the ground looked like, I discovered that there was none. We were in space, in an asteroid field, engulfed in some sort of nebula. Then suddenly, for a very short moment, a flash of lighting lit something in the center of the view which I hadn’t noticed before.
RE: Conception - Karlotta - 07-20-2017
Something symmetrical, with straight lines, with a circular gap in the middle.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.
I could now make out that the object was composed of two interloping sets of three congruent pieces arranged around a circular empty space, one set thin, the other wider. Although it looked sturdy and simple as if made from rocks, it was perfectly shaped and symmetrical, carved, or manufactured in some other manner.
By them. The alien civilization. The lost civilization.
But something was wrong.
We’re not on a planet. We’re in space. The computer said “excavations”.
My heart sank as I understood that we had already been shipped off towards the mission before we were awakened.
The room started to move and twist around me, as if it wasn’t real... as if it was an illusion about to be dispelled. I closed my eyes as I felt like everything around me started to revolve around my head. I felt nauseous. A sharp pain raced through my head. Whatever positive effects the drugs had were now gone.
Is this really happening? Am I really here? Or am I still on the Liberty, dreaming? It’s all too weird… but feels… familiar. I’ve seen this before. Or am I just having a deja-vu right now?
Not a deja-vu, not a dream.
A memory. I’m remembering something that happened before.
Does that thing remind me of Stonehenge? Is it like… an astrological calendar of some sort? Does it look like the atmospheric docking rings on Enceladus? Is it… some sort of gate? Or is it just me? My imagination?
Not a calendar of time, not a gate between places.
A bridge between two worlds.