Isolation

My name is Isiah Fortsmith, and I am- or was- the captain of the USS Ishimura. A boarding ship with a crew of two hundred, engineers, scientists, and workers. Our last mission was the transportation of refugees from earth-1 to the Proxima Centauri system, where we would deliver them to eden transit. I kept daily logs of our journey up to the point of hyper sleep, as well as once we were awoken. Everything went smoothly, there were no hiccups in the system or flight path, and we estimated our arrival to be exactly within acceptable transitory limits.

My only mistake was also the one that caused the guaranteed destruction of the Ishimura itself. The on board A.I. was named Satoshi, it controlled most of the ships systems- everything from significant to minor details of daily maintenance. It was programed to raise us from hyper sleep at the designated point in the travel plan. My mistake was an obvious one in hindsight, but I should have known better. After I awoke, I remember noticing that the system date on the sleep pods didn't align with the scheduled programing, but the error somehow didn't sink in.

We are taught on the first day of training, an A.I. doesn't make mistakes. If you noticed that it has, then something has gone terribly wrong. I'm guessing the breach occurred because of a computational error caused by too many minor flaws in the systems log that led to a blockage- like a clogged artery that causes a heart attack. This was compounded by human error, as myself and most of the crew were still reeling from the side effects of post-hyper sleep syndrome. It was the perfect storm of bad timing, and worse coincidences.

The explosion occurred on the engineering deck, right next to the server decks for the A.I.'s mainframe. When the decks were hit it caused Satoshi to immediately malfunction, and we could not rely on him to start the emergency protocols. It was a disastrous few minutes that led to Satoshi inadvertently starting the Ishimuras self- destruct systems. We tried to stop it, but with Satoshi's condition it was impossible. I gave the order for my crew and all passengers to use the escape pods and abandon ship, but said that I would remain onboard.

If I could make it to the engineering deck and disable Satoshi's power source, there was a chance I could reverse the self destruct sequence. I nearly succeeded, but while I was attempting the removal of his core, a secondary explosion occurred near the first. It knocked me around and I hit my head. The last image I remember seeing was the hole sucking me toward it before I lost consciousness. I recount all of this now as consolation to myself, as this took place some time ago.

How long I cannot say, because when I awoke, I found myself floating through the endless void of space. My suit is top of the line, and I have warmth and oxygen for the moment. But I have no means of navigation, or orientation, and the Ishimura is no where in sight. I have tried to contact someone via radio broadcast, but have only received static so far. I know I have only been adrift for a short time- maybe a day or two- but time slowly loses meaning out here.

Millions of stars twinkle in the distance, teasing me with there brilliant light. Every now and again, I think I see something approaching from far off, a ship on the horizon. But the distance between us never seems to close, and they always remain a glint of light on a forever shore. I take some solace in knowing the rest of my crew is safe, I did my job and protected them, and I will not be remembered a coward. Now I close my eyes, and try my best to sleep, but a crackle in my ear causes my lids to flutter open slightly.

It is the same white noise I've heard for hours, but somewhere deep within it, I swear I can almost make out a voice. No words yet, but a kind of melodic tone in the hissing sounds. Ahead of me, a light shines brighter than most of the other stars. As we drift closer together, I feel its bright warmth calling me home, and I am ready. The light wraps itself around me, and I shut my eyes as I am gathered into its fold.

The End