February 20th,
2037
0735
Dear Space
Diary.
A little
nervous to read this report NASA have sent me. It contains a potential solution
to get me out of this spaceship and back to Earth. Which is fantastic and
amazing. I honestly thought there wasn’t a way. However, I’m worried I’m not
going to be very pleased with the solution they’ve come up with, largely
because of the subtle way they wrote “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LIKE IT” at the end
of their last message.
Can’t put it
off any longer. Time may be a factor.
0800
Still going
through report. Largely technical information and schematics.
0830
Just to
cheer me up, they’ve included some worrying figures about the ship. Travelling
at three times the expected maximum speed (and still accelerating, I might add)
apparently isn’t that good for the engine. If they can’t do something about it
soon, the engines might die. And then explode. Charming. At least soon does
mean about a month.
Nearly
finished report. So far it sounds fairly doable. The new prototype they
mentioned earlier has completed Earth testing, and they are confident it will
not suffer from the same “unexpected exceeded performance parameters.” Take
that to mean the new model has brakes.
It’s being
modified. They’ve taken most of the life support systems and replaced it with
autopilot systems, long range remote controls, and what seems to be the world’s
largest hook and pulley system. They appear to have turned their bold new
passageway to the stars into an intergalactic tow truck.
So far, so
good. They send it out to catch up with me, grab hold of the ship and manually
turn it around and send me back to Earth. Not bad. Does mean I am still stuck
in this thing until the other ship can catch up, but still a safe and
straightforward plan.
Lots more in
the report though. Shall keep reading.
1000
Spoke too
soon. By fixing the braking problem they’ve also prevented the prototype from
travelling at beyond maximum speeds, so there’s no way the ship could catch up
with me.
So how do
they intend to get to me?
1020
Here we go.
They have limited control over my steering, and will use nearby astral bodies
to effect an immediate emergency stop.
What does
that mean?
1025
…Oh dear
God, they’re going to smash me into a planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment