Old Logs: 02-24 MAY 3301 (Unrecognized Invasive Lifeform)
28 Jul 2024Vasil Vasilescu
Sunken deep in the COVAS archives of the Always Lost, old logs from Vasil’s three decades of wandering the galaxy occasionally rise to the surface. Explanations for the random appearance of archived logs range from the COVAS being so old and glitchy, to the more philosophical idea that it is the ship dreaming of its past. ::02MAY3301
::[System ID missing]
Initial FSS scan detected 6 planets and 7 moons. After cataloging and probe-mapping all bodies, I have decided to spend some time on [System ID missing]2, an earth-like planet near the outer edge of the habitable zone. At .73G with nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of 1.24 atms it is too good of a find to not investigate. After four months wandering the void, a few weeks exploring an earth-like planet, feeling the weight of gravity and the natural wind will be a welcomed diversion and [MISSING OR CORRUPT DATA]
::VOICE LOG
::04MAY3301
::[System ID missing]
I just dismissed the Always Lost and watched it rise into the sky until I lost track of it. Even at noon the cloudless sky is more slate gray than blue, with light from the small, orange sun covering the surface in a dusky light that casts indistinct shadows.
It is no coincidence that I chose to explore a valley in the planet’s temperate zone. The valley’s rolling hills and its jagged mountains mirror the alpine peaks of my family home on Emerald. It was too tempting to pass up being reminded of a place I’ve not visited for nearly 20 years, but often think of. Other than the alien plants (mostly flowering lichens and primitive, wheat-like grasses) I could be standing in a summer meadow somewhere on my family’s ancestral land.
Anyway, there are only about five hours of usable daylight left so I’d best get back in the SRV and start looking for a suitable campsite for the night. A tent, a campfire, and a starry sky. It’s going to be a great night.
::12MAY3301
::[System ID missing]
Little Bastards. The only way I can think of that they got into the ship is by hitching a ride on the SRV and somehow surviving decontamination. I first noticed them during my week planetside when the SRV started having power issues. These things that look part slug and part stick insect, about the size of a thumbnail, had managed to get into the SRV. Clumps of them, half of them black and half of the white, were wreaking havoc on the SRVs electronics by shorting out circuits and draining battery power.
Now they are on the ship doing the same thing. Here I am in orbit above [System ID missing]2 with a damn infestation of electric space slug-roaches. All I’ve been able to learn so far is that the black and white colors are indications of gender, they change color (and sex) depending on what is required for reproduction, and they love electronics, especially the FSD initiator conduit.
The FSD has failed once during supercruise thanks to them. Having a sketchy FSD thirty-three thousand light years from the nearest starport does not exactly produce any warm fuzzies, and although I was able to repair the initiator conduit, I am hesitant to risk a catastrophic failure if I leave the system without first wiping out the infestation. At least here there is an earth-like planet I can squat on.
COCKPIT RECORDING
::17MAY3301
::[System ID missing]
I think I have a solution! I was repositioning the Always Lost so the heat exchangers vented away from the sun when I noticed one of the space roaches just sort of stroll-sliming along the console like it was having a pleasant afternoon walk in the park and maybe thinking about getting a gelato from the vendor by the fountain. As the ship rotated, the little shit remained in shadow. Wherever it encountered sunlight, it moved away.
Planetside, these things only come out from underground well after the sun has set. [System ID missing]’s K star pumps out a huge amount of IR radiation, so in in orbit, I try to keep the ship on the night side of the planet. It helps keep the ship cool and cut down on the power use that the space roaches love. Maybe keeping the ship cool was causing more problems. If they are adverse to heat or IR, a coronal dive might-
[MISSING OR CORRUPT DATA]
“Warning. Heat levels at 183%.”
“I know, Jefferson. Keep-“
“Hull integrity compromised. Power plant at 78%. Thrusters at 42%.”
[MISSING OR CORRUPT DATA]
::24MAY3301
::[System ID missing]
There have been no electrical problems for a week so I feel confident that the dive into [System ID missing]’s corona rid the Always Lost of its space roach problem. I’ll probably still be finding little corpses months from now, but better that than let them fry the FSD and leave me stranded.
[System ID missing]3 and 4A provided enough raw materials for the AFM to repair everything that was damaged by the heat except for itself and the powerplant. The power plant cannot operate above 74%, but the Always Lost can operate at 68% power before having to shut down any systems. As beat up as it is the Always Lost soldiers on, never complaining.
Jefferson, though, cannot stop complaining. I know the COVAS has no independent intelligence and only operates based on learned algorithms, but sometimes I think it is being intentionally difficult. Jefferson constantly corrects me that the ship had an infestation of an “unrecognized invasive lifeform” whenever I refer to them as space roaches. On one occasion Jefferson had started counting down to an atmospheric purge to try and kill the roaches without me telling it to do so. There is also the hint of a smug “I told you so” tone in its voice when it reports on the lingering damage from the roaches and the heat treatment.
[MISSING OR CORRUPT DATA]
“There are 1,328 unexplored systems within maximum jump range,” said Jefferson. “Plotting jump to random system.”
The chosen system appeared as blinking white target reticle on the HUD. I started turning the Always Lost towards it and away from [System ID missing]2. I took a last look at the planet, serene in the black velvet of space. Even as far away from civilization as it was, a system with a near twin of Earth in mass, gravity, and atmosphere, hosting abundant flora and fauna would be worth a fortune when I registered it, more than compensating for the problems I had. The planet's rarity, though, was a bigger problem.
For two days I've been considering whether to solve the problem or profit from the rarity. Now that I was about to leave the system I opted to solve the problem by removing the temptation of profit. “Jefferson, delete current system from nav records and remove mentions of it from all logs.”
“Reason?” asked Jefferson as a failsafe against accidental deletion.
It reminded me of home, and such a place did not deserve to be exploited. Once I registered the system it might take a few hundred years before miners and colonists arrived, but it might take thousands of years before someone else randomly happened across the system, and that was thousands more years it could remain pristine and peaceful.
“It has roaches,” I said and engaged the jump.
“Unrecognized invasive lifeform,” corrected Jefferson.