Thirty-Eight Entry

March 10^th, 2037

1500

Dear Space Diary.

So I’m currently held hostage inside the ship by three alien balls of light.

I originally thought one of them was Lightdog, the rather playful and friendly light I met earlier. Well, playful and friendly right up until it kidnapped me and dumped me in this rubbish heap.

But really, how do I know if it’s the same one? They all look pretty much identical. All light and ball-like.

Whoever they are, all they’ve done for the past hour is just go round and round the ship. Which means I’m pretty much stuck. I don’t know what they’d do if I opened the door.

1510

So I’m feeling particularly foolhardy. Let’s open the door. At least I’ll know if I’m trapped or not.

Two more hours until I can stay outside for any length of time, but I figure just opening and shutting the door shouldn’t be too fatal.

Here goes something.

1511

Lights just going around as normal. I’ll try and open the door when they’re furthest away.

1512

Door open.

1515

Man those things are fast. The second the door was opened they were right outside. I don’t know if they can see, but I swear they were staring at me.

Door closed again. Heading back to the cockpit.

1516

...where they were waiting for me. Right outside the window. Just sitting there.

As giant kidnapping balls of alien light go, they’re reasonably unsettling.

1520

Still just sitting there.

1530

Guys, I promise I’m not going to open the door again.

1545

And they’re back to circling. I guess that’s an improvement.

Ok, so I’m trapped in here. I don’t know what they’ll do if I try to run, but I’m not sure I want to find out.

1550

Messaged NASA, sending them those logs they were after, and explaining my predicament. Asked for any advice they could provide. Nothing to do but wait until they respond I guess.

Before I sent the logs, I found a printer and printed off a copy. A lot of it is garbled and corrupted, but I can make out a fair bit, especially towards the start.

1558

Mary and the Zubrin were the first attempt to land someone on Mars. I’m guessing they failed because NASA like their PR and would have talked the hell out of it if they had done it.

So, what happened?

1603

Well, she got to Mars. But it looks like when she got there they found –

CRASH

What was that?

The Lightdogs are back outside the front of the cockpit. But I don’t think they’re looking at me this time. They seem... distracted?

CRASH

Oh. And now they’re running away.

This does not bode well.

CRASH

Something big just smashed into the rock in front of the cockpit. Long and metallic, like a massive cylinder.

It doesn’t seem to be doing anything. I gotta look outside.

1608

...Well, now I know why they ran.

There’s hundreds of them.