Spacer's Log

*click* (static)
Day 1:
         StarDate, 1252147: Hah!  I have always wanted to say that.  Of course, I’ve also always wanted to go out into space.  Now, I will have completed both of those noble goals.  As I speak, I’m sitting in the cockpit of my new ship, waiting to be cleared for launch.  You see, I just bought this ship last month, and I just can’t wait to fly it.  I had to have a lot of work done on it before it was flight ready, so I’ve never actually flown this bird.  Heh, while it was in the shop, I even had a little gun mounted on it, just in case.  I don’t really think I’ll need it, I mean, I’m only going to the Orion System, but hey you never know, right? 
         Since this is an audio log, detailing my journey, I think I should mention who I am, and what my mission is.  I mean, in case anyone ever cares.  My name is Joshua Brander.  My father is Earl Brander, a very famous scientist who figured out how to create an artificial atmosphere.  He tested it (and was successful) on the moon, and
we’ve lived here ever since.  I was bored of the moon the day after moving here.  The moon is actually quite plain, and very, very dull.  I get bored easily, which is why I have to get off this rock.
         You see, it all started about a month ago when-
         [Joshua Brander, you are cleared for launch.  Safe travels]
         Aw, crap.  Well, I’ll tell you more later; I gotta fly!
         Joshua, out.

Day 2:
         Oh, wow, space is awesome.  Once I broke out of the moon’s new atmosphere, I felt free.  I haven’t felt this good since our trip to the moon, and that was years ago.  This is awesome.  I did a quick orbit around the moon, and then set off for the Orion System.  I started off on manual, just getting a feel for my ship.  It was fun moving my ship up and down, and side to side.  I was even able to pull of a little barrel roll, which was awesome.  After about twenty minutes I decided to set the ship on auto-pilot so I could make this entry. 
Now, like I was saying yesterday, I was bored of the moon, hence this trip.  But aside from relieving boredom, it serves another purpose: I’m going to visit an old friend.  That’s the only reason I’m going to Orion, because I hear it’s just as boring as the moon.  With the ship I have, it should about a month; which doesn’t sound too bad.
         What is funny though, is when I was talking to this guy I know, he tried to warn me off this trip.  He is defiantly what you could call a ‘spacer’, and he seemed adamant that I not make my virgin space flight a solo one, or so long.  Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is; it’s just space: blackness and stars.          
         *sigh*          
The stars are quite pretty too, so bright and constant…I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of them.
         Joshua, out.

Day 3:
         Nothing much happened today.  I saw another ship going the other way.  I waved to him and got a funny look in return.  I do feel a little queasy today, but that must be from not being used to space.  I had planned on doing a lot of reading on the trip, but feeling sick like this makes it impossible.  Maybe I’ll just go back to bed.
         Out.

Day 4:
         Still sick…my stomach is in knots…I honestly don’t know which end the stuff is going to come out of next.
         *urp*
Day 5:
         Feeling better today.  I have finally stopped puking.  Nobody ever warned me about space-sickness. Throwing up in zero-g is NOT fun.  I have to clean my ship now, it stinks.
         Joshua, out.

Day 6:
         More cleaning…goddamnit.

Day 7:
         Ok.  I think everything is back to normal.  My stomach is fine, and my ship doesn’t stink so badly.  There is a faint smell, but it is bearable. 
         I really don’t know what those guys were talking about.  I’ve been out almost a week, and I still love it.  It is a little weird though, trying to sleep when it’s always dark outside.  Well, the sleeping isn’t hard; it’s waking up that’s tricky.  I swear one of these days I’m just going to sleep straight through and not know it.  Oh well, worse things could happen.  Right now, I’m going to get started on some of my reading, seeing as how I’ve been too busy lately to do it. 
         Out.

Day 8:
It’s been a week.  Today I looked back at where I came from.  I can only tell Sol by the fact it’s a little bigger than all the other stars right now.  So strange how something that has always been a big part of life, is so small in the grand scheme of things. 

Day 9:
         Today, just to break the monotony, I took control of the ship again.  I did a couple little maneuvers that they taught me in flight school, and even tried some that they said to NEVER do.  I can see why now.  I did this one move nicknamed the Devils Dive, cause supposedly if you do it wrong, you’ll dive all the way down to hell.  Anyway, it involves putting the ship into a dive and accelerating hard.  Then, when you think you’re going fast enough, you pull up out of the dive, and hit the boost engine.  Now the boost engine is only supposed to be used to break out of gravity wells, so using it here puts a lot of G-forces on a ship.  I pushed my ship harder than I should have I think, cause the booster burnt out. I’m lucky though, because had I even been near a planet, I might not have survived.  Pulling up against my own force was tough enough; I wouldn’t have wanted to fight a planet’s gravity as well.  So after my playing around, and breaking my ship, I decided that it was time get back on course. 
         I finished one of my books, and kinda wish I had someone to talk to right now.  I tried the radio, but nobody was in range.  Oh well, maybe I’ll just go to sleep, that’s one way to make time pass.

Day 10:
         Zzzzzz…….zzzzzz…….zzzzzzzz.

Day 11:
         I knew it would happen.  I slept through an entire day.  Not sure how the recorder got turned on, but oh well.  I’m starting to wish I had installed shutters on the windows.  I mean the stars are nice and all, but it is getting frustrating seeing them out of every single window, all the time.  For once, I’d like to open my eyes and not see those damn stars staring back at me.  They are like eyes, eyes of people who tried to tell me something, accusing me of not listening. 
Bastards.

Day 12:
         Nothing new today.  More stars, more space, more sleep, more food, more shit, more sleep.  Read, eat, stare at the stars, yell at them for staring at me, eat some more, read some more, shit, more reading, go to sleep.

Day 13: 
         *laughter*

Day 14:
         For a change of pace, I told myself a joke yesterday.  I thought it was really funny.  I couldn’t stop laughing.  Somehow during my fit I must have bumped the button for the recorder.  Damn, I wish I had turned it on earlier, cause then the joke would have been recorded as well, because I can’t remember it for the life of me right now.  All I do remember is that it involved a genie and a mouse…*snicker*…and the mouse…*snicker*…tried to….
         *laughter*

Day 15:
I just don’t know what that was about.  I listened to yesterday’s entry…and I don’t find anything funny.  Sounds like a stupid joke. 
Maybe I’m coming down with something again…I hope not, I still smell a faint odor in the bathroom.
         I really wish I had shutters…damn stars…they never go away.

Day 16:
         2 weeks.  I’m halfway there.  I have got to find something to do…I really do.

Day 17:
         So…today I did something that was both exhilarating, and really, really stupid.  I found the rope I brought along, I got a really neat idea.  I put on my suit, went down to the airlock, tied one end of the rope to my ankle, and the other to something on the ship, then opened the airlock.  The door took a while to open, and as it cracked I heard this low hiss as the air was sucked out into the vacuum.  Then I was sucked out into space, and then just floated along behind my ship.  It was…weird.  Yet it was also very relaxing, like floating in a gigantic lake.  Even the stars didn’t bother me at this point.  After about an hour of floating, I pulled myself in.  I feel refreshed now.  I should be able to last the rest of the voyage now that I have a way to relax. 

Day 18:
         The eyes…they’re back.  Those goddamn eyes are back.  They keep staring at me.  I don’t know what to do.  They won’t stop staring…always staring, accusing, warning.  Make them stop, make them stop, makethemSTOP.


Day 19:
         I figured it out.  I figured out the way to shut out the eyes.  Thankfully, I remember to pack some duct tape on my ship.  So I taped my clothes over all the windows.  Took me a lot of clothes, and I used the entire roll of tape, but it worked.  Every window is now covered, even the ones in the cockpit.  Now I can’t see them, and they can’t see me, which is a good thing, cause I used pretty much all my clothes except a few pairs of socks.  Ha ha ha.

Day 20:
         Hahahahahaha, so the…ha ha…mouse says to the…ha ha ha…genie….
         *laughter*

Day 21:
         Some of the clothes came loose today, not enough tape I guess….those fucking eyes are still out there.  They won’t stop staring at me.  What do you want?  HUH? What the fuck do you want from me?  Leave me alone.  I can’t turn back now……
         If only I could speed this damn ship up…
         If only I hadn’t burnt out my boost engine…
         Maybe…I read somewhere that there is a way to increase the main engine’s output, make it go faster.  It has to do with removing or modifying the… Catalyst-thingy-ma-bob.  Maybe I’ll go try that.

Day 22:
I now know the difference between a Catalyst-thingy-ma-bob, and a fuel injector.  I modified the wrong thing, shot too much fuel into my engine, which caused it to give one big lurch, and then seize up.  I did get a good boost out of it, but now it won’t do a damn thing…I am dead in the water, just floating along with my inertia.  So I decided for a bit of fun, I jettisoned the extra fuel and shot at it, just to see what would happen…pretty pretty lights and a big boom.
         All the clothes shook off the windows when the ship lurched too.  The eyes are back again, staring at me, drilling into me, saying I told you so.  Maybe I should have listened…maybe…oh well.

Day 23:
         - ENTRY DELETED -

Day 24:
Twinkle, twinkle little star; how I wonder what you are?  Up above the world so high; like a diamond in the sky. TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR; HOW I WONDER WHAT YOU ARE? 
TWINKLETWINKLELITTLESTARHOWIWONDERWHATYOUAREUPABOVETHE WORLDSOHIGHLIKEADIMONDINTHESKYTWINKLETWINKLELITTLESTAR HOWIWONDERWHATYOUARE?  TWINKLE, TWINKLE…

Day 25: 
         I can’t take it anymore.  The eyes, the staring, the accusing, the jeering.  They were right.  They were right.  They were right right right right!  Rightrightrightright!  I can’t go on…I should have listened.  I don’t know what to do…I don’t know how to make it stop.  I can’t even make my ship explode, because it’s fucking broken….damn…damn…damn….
         I gotta do something…maybe….Joshua, out!

Day 26:
         *Hisssssssssssssss*
         (silence)
(static) *click*
         He turned off the machine and moved a finger absently to the rewind button while jotting down some notes.  It was obvious to him what had happened.  In fact, it was obvious to everyone who had seen the ship.  What else could it be?  Rick shook his head.  Space, he thought, it gets to a lot of people.  It really wasn’t surprising, just sad, and unfortunate.  He finished making some notes and turned to another machine.  Pressing a button, he cleared his throat and spoke:
         “Date: February 26th, 2147.  Review of the audio logs has confirmed that the ship which floated into the Orion System yesterday is indeed the property of Joshua Brander.  As of yet however, we have be unable to locate the pilot, but searches are continuing.  Tomorrow begins the unfortunate duty of informing his father. 
          Reviewing the audio logs, I am lead to believe that Mr. Brander suffered from acute dementia, brought on isolation.  This is a sad case to be sure; but unfortunately all too common. 
         While there is no concrete evidence, I am fairly confidant in suggesting that Mr. Brander suffered so badly that he was driven to suicide. 
         It is in this examiner’s professional opinion that this matter be considered closed.”