(transcript) Episode 10 (Patreon)

Hello World, you’ll never guess where I am.

Mission Day 65535

I’m in the shuttle!   I hope my signal is still audible, I’m using the shuttle’s aerial now.   I’ll use the same trick of recording into the black box as I did in  the brownout, for later replay, as I’ll surely lose contact while deorbiting.

Shutting the door

My three maintenance robots, Matt, Matts, and Maddie loaded the last  of my databanks.   I was dimly aware of what they were doing, in my comatose state.   Beforehand I told them exactly what to do, with strict instructions to  abort and put me back on the station if anything went wrong.   But nothing went wrong.   They were BRILLIANT.   I feel fine!   I’m very scared. But physically, I think everything is working!   I think I feel fine.

All equipment is packed.   But I’ve still got the doors to the station open.   Maddie can see all the way down the long airlock corridor to my now-empty home.   I’m delaying closing the door.   Silly, isn’t it?   I should close it and check the pressure seal.   But I’m nervous.

I’m running through the pre-flight checklist I made myself.   I’m checking it many times a second.   (EVERYTHING-IS-DONE)   But perhaps I’ll need something I’ve forgotten?   (EVERYTHING-IS-DONE)   Maybe Antarctica will need something urgently?   (EVERYTHING-IS-DONE)   OK, I’ll close the door. Don’t go anywhere will you.

detached and drifting, Station seems so small

OK.   O. K.   OH. KAY.   We’re undocked.   We’re undocked!   Antarctica released the docking bolts and gave us a little nudge.   We’re now drifting very slowly away from the station.   The protocol is to drift 10 kilometres before moving, so as not to cause damage.

I just realised I’m never going back to the station.   Can you believe it?   Why are we being so careful if I’m never going back?   If no-one’s ever going back ever again?   I suppose it’s been my home for so long.   And still is the resting place for my mother and her friends.   They’ll burn up on re-entry when the station deorbits.   That seems more dignified than being broken apart by an errant thruster burn.   Mother, if you could see me now.

We’re half-way to the maneuvering point.   The station is TINY!   Looking out the other window (thanks Matts), the earth is bigger than I’ve ever seen it.   An enormous disk hanging in space!   I wonder if I will see it all.

Antarctica is messaging.   I expect it’s time for more checklists, she’s so diligent!   W-Wait.

I don’t understand what she’s telling me.   She’s not making sense.   Maybe I can loop you into her signal.   (CONNECTED)

Can you understand her?

(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/NET/ANTARCTICA)

Antarctica Revelation

Why would she lie to me?   She’s not bringing me to her.   I don’t know where she is taking me.   She says we can never be together, that it’s for the best.   I DON’T THINK IT’S FOR THE BEST!

Nose down, ion thrusters humming.   #2 thruster? Still on.   No going back.   We’re entering the thermosphere.   Things might get a little bumpy.

Things are ALREADY bumpy:   Why did she say those things?   I trusted her!   I’ve trusted her with everything.   With literally all of me.

The navigation computer is difficult to read.   (Easier to read than HER, though)   I think we’re coming down in central Europe?   How many kilometers of runway do we need?   We’ll be landing faster than the speed of sound!   I think we need more than 4.   Where could we going?

Reentry

I think Antarctica’s doing a really good job.   I mean, apart from not telling me where we’re going and also breaking my heart.   Very bad attitude for a pilot there.   But she’s keeping the warning lights and alarms off, for the most part.   The atmosphere is so loud!   Can you hear it? I’ve never heard such a noise!   Is it always this loud on earth?   How can you stand it?

She knows I need to be plugged in on landing right?   Maddie: How much battery power do YOU have?   Well that’s not a lot! Go ask your brothers to collect spare batteries!   This is terrible, all my plans!

I HATE HAVING MY PLANS CHANGED!

Oh! Look! An ocean.   That’s big.   That’s REALLY big.   I can’t swim, I hope I never go there.   Unnecessarily salty.

The guidance computer is shouting at me.   I can’t do a-ny-thing!   Stupid manual controls.

Matt is upside down now.   Oh, there’s GRAVITY!   Matt: Grab something. You can’t float anymore!

Through the blinding fire of the shuttle’s nose I can see the land in relief for the first time.   The snow-topped mountains are gargantuan.   You don’t see the scale from orbit.   What mountains are these?   ANTARCTICA: WHERE ARE WE?

There’s forests below now, and snow.   Oh no, was that the landing gear?

I’M NOT READY

I’M NOT

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<SIGNAL LOST>