Day 03. The Starship Alliance
Well to say that things have been rather hectic around the Starship Alliance for the past few hours would be a drastic understatement. I’m taking this opportunity here in an attempt to keep a record of the events that could very well be the last of my life. I’m not even joking when I say, “I have a very bad feeling about this.” Not two hours ago, Lillie burst back into the room screaming something about how they’d just picked up the hyperspace signature of a Conglomerate heavy patrol cruiser – the real authorities – on a direct intercept course with the Alliance and after rummaging around in her various pockets, she handed me a little storage chip, telling me it was of paramount importance that I deliver it’s contents to the leaders of the Free Radicals and not let it slip into the hands of the Conglomerate at all costs.
The panic on board the ship was quite palpable, people running and yelling things at each other here and there, as Lillie led me hurriedly down the hall towards the escape pods, just about pulling my arm right from the socket as she went. We ran past the engine room and from what I could tell, it seemed that they were going to attempt an emergency jump to hyperspace, this being quite a risky venture even in the best of circumstances, I didn’t like their chances and offered to help out. I did what I could, but it was too late; the Conglomerate ship was soon right on top of us, firing multiple barrages of purple laser blasts that seemed to violently shake the ship like crazy with every hit.
The Starship Alliance and everyone on board, after some time it seemed, eventually resigned to the fact that their capture was inescapable. I headed again for the emergency escape pod bay, where Lillie reminded me a second time of my mission to deliver the information on the chip she had given me to the Free Radicals, adding that the fate and entire future of the galaxy was in my hands. That statement made me feel much, much worse. I asked her if she would come with me as I stepped into one of the pods, but while closing the pod hatch she told me that the Conglomerate regard her as much too valuable to let escape so easily this time, and that I was her only hope. I watched her through the window as I was lowered for ejection, then again looked out to the starship fire fight that was rapidly shrinking into the distance, hoping that they would not be following any time soon.
I walked over to the large reality screen and found the main control unit, put the disk in, dimmed the lights and sat down. The film began. It looked just a little dated and like it was made on a shoestring budget, but it wasn’t too bad really and once it was over, I immediately had to watch it again. Even now that I’ve had some time to ponder everything over, I’m still not certain I will be able to convey even the basic nature of what they were trying to get across in the film.
It was entitled,
The Truth About The Galaxy: and what they don’t want you to know and it presented the series of events leading up to the beginning of the great collapse. Now I’d never really taken much interest in the subject all that much, not being much into galactic trends and the interstellar economy. The realityvisions had never really stated in any clear detail, exactly what elements had brought about this dramatic change throughout the galaxy, but instead presented a confusing multitude of conflicting stories until, in the end, most people I know just lost interest and accepted it. It’s what they seem to do with everything.
I guess you could compare this film with a lot of those ones you see in all the old war movies that they’re always showing to influence the minds of all the soldiers, to make them hate the enemy, what they call propaganda, but I’m not sure I’d label it as that. I honestly feel that just about anything you see on the reality screens can generally be said to be doing the same thing, influencing minds. And this film seemed somehow to just make sense to me, confirmed many of my suspicions and also it seemed some of my deepest concerns – some things my mind must have kept concealed for a long, long time – about the way things were and the way things should be, were brought suddenly bubbling to the surface through the various images flashing before my eyes.
I was asleep almost before I even hit the large, soft mattress of the bed and during the night I dreamed a few things, weird things, most of which I can’t really remember. I’m always having strange dreams like that. I dreamed I was on a strange, uncolonised planet that was all just barren rock and all the mountains, stones and rocks looked like me. I dreamed I was flying a giant war cruiser into battle against an unknown enemy. I dreamed I was back at home on the farm again where I grew up, playing out in the fields. I heard my father calling me to come inside, but I didn’t and just kept running further and further from the house, until I must have come to the edge of a cliff or something because the next thing I knew, I felt myself falling into deep dark nothingness.
That was when I woke up, with a sudden jolt. I looked across the room and was somewhat surprised to see that the reality screen was switched on and was showing some kind of nature show or something. I couldn’t really see very well without my glasses, which I guessed I must have forgotten to take off before I fell asleep and must have fallen off somewhere around the bed. Eventually I found them, put them on and looked over to see a girl who looked very much like the girl from last night who took me from the junk ship last night. She was just sitting there in front of the realityvision, watching it intently. Her hair had changed – it was a sandy blonde rather than straight jet black – and she was wearing very different clothes to the outfit she had on before, but I was certain it was her. “Vanessa?” I asked after I realised I was just sitting there staring. She turned to look at me and immediately smiled as she got up and approached. “My name’s not Vanessa,” she replied with a small laugh, “it’s Lillie.”
Now I think I’m still trying to take it all in really, but it was indeed her, the very same person, but also in another sense it wasn’t. She apologised for my treatment the night before and said that it was an unavoidable necessity in order not to create too much suspicion. She went on to explain things a little further, although she seemed in quite a hurry. I don’t know whether it was just the initial shock of everything or something else, but I not quite certain I understood all she was trying to say. I think she sensed that I wasn’t really getting it before too long and stopped. She took my hand and placed in it a small realityvision disk, and told me that she would be back again a bit later, but in the meantime, I was to watch the screen and try to keep an open mind.
I watched from the rather large window of the room they had put me in, as the Starship Alliance pulled away from the old junk freighter I’d come to know so well. I wondered just how long the freighter had before it would be destroyed by the phage, if there would be any survivors. I wondered if Mervyn would find a way to escape. I knew if anyone could, it would be him. He was always very good at escaping his work shifts.
The room they had me locked in was actually quite nice and believe it or not, I actually began to feel quite at home there after only a short while and could have almost forgotten that I was being held prisoner for a second or two. The walls were bright white and illuminated with strip-lights that ran across the rim of the entire ceiling. There was a large bed, a coffee table and all kinds of other pieces of furniture. You could not even compare it to my quarters back on the junk ship. On the far wall, it even had quite a large reality screen and after I began to tire from waiting for someone to come and explain to me exactly what this was all about, I figured they wouldn’t mind if I watched a few minutes.
I turned it on and flicked around for a bit, but it’s strange, I couldn’t find any of my usual favourite channels, and the programs that were being shown were unlike anything I’d seen before. It’s kind of hard to explain, but one thing I did notice was that in just about every show, they had people helping each other and cooperating, instead of trying to blow everyone up and things like that. None of the shows seemed to hold my attention for too long and pretty soon I had to turn off the whole thing, resolving that no one was going to come and I might as well just try get a good night’s rest. I certainly need it after all that’s happened.
