May the stories of the past be remembered for all eternity.
Around Six Billion Years Ago | Capital Planet Liiinas / Grand Ceremony Stage
I wait patiently as the attendants adorn me in my ceremonial robe.
It's important that I, as one of the saintesses of this empire, look the part. Wouldn't want the commoners to mistake me for some random person off the street.
Not that anyone could possibly confuse me with anyone else.
Shiny silver hair, bright golden eyes with a stature around one and a half meters. Only those of the priesthood are allowed to have such features.
Compared to the average commoner, I am divine.
All thanks to our beloved Goddess.
Ever since she taught us the secrets of inae some three thousand years ago, our progress as a civilization has skyrocketed.
From mere nomadic hunter-gatherers, to a spacefaring civilization that has colonized our local star system.
Speaking of colonization, that is actually what today’s ceremony is about.
Our first crewed mission beyond our home star system.
The commander of this mission? Why, it's myself of course. High Saintess Lina Skla.
I exit my changing room, heading towards the stage where I am to address the empire, but also the future crew of our mission.
I exit out onto the stage to a dead silence. The some ten thousand gathered of my people, the Elvan, remain silent. After all, only barbarians would get all noisy and excited on such an important day.
I approach the pedestals that are dead center of the massive stage and initiate the link. My hands run over the rough wood of the pedestals and I feel at peace.
Rather than being purely digital, we use inae as well as our own folius-type technology that allows for biological processing and other various functions.
After all, biology does do some things more efficiently than computers, so its important to work alongside nature to achieve our goals.
I project my mental-voice through the system to all those gathered.
“Greetings, brethren. It is my humble honor to conduct this ceremony today. I am deeply thankful that I have been given the responsibility of leading this grand venture.
We, the Elvan, have come a long way.
From the days when our early ancestors first learned to live in tune with nature. Fostering connection and knowledge across the world.
The day when our beloved goddess bestowed upon us the great gift that is inae. Forever reshaping how we interact with reality.
To the days when the first successful integration between machine and organism led us into a grand scientific revolution.
And now, we stand here today. Spacefarers, planetary engineers, conquerors, a civilized and refined people.
With this mission, we will add interstellar explorers to our list of accomplishments.
By use of the ship known as the Liiinas, in honor of our beloved homeworld, I, along with my crew of fifty thousand brave souls shall venture beyond this star.
Now, I'm sure you all have heard the plans. So for the sake of brevity, I shall not repeat information that is already known.
I shall leave us at this;
No matter what dangers we shall face, we, as a people, as the Elvan, shall overcome it.
United under the goddess’s divine light, we are invincible!”
A few seconds after my speech ends. A hole in reality opens up in front of me.
From the hole emerges none other than the Goddess in the flesh. Her brilliant aura is almost too bright. I can imagine it could blind those that are less accustomed to it than I.
I, along with everyone else gathered, sink into deep bows of reverence.
We owe much of the success of our empire to this being that is known as only the goddess.
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She has existed since nearly the start of our species, and has bestowed her knowledge of inae upon those worthy few that seek her teachings.
Without speaking, she conjures a strange ornament out of the purest inae.
It appears to be some form of flower, but it is one I am completely unfamiliar with.
She takes the flower and pins it through my hair, then she speaks. Her voice resounding through the dead silence of a people that rarely use spoken words anymore.
“High Saintess Lina Skla. I am deeply grateful that one such as yourself shall lead this civilization into the stars, and beyond. I couldn't think of any Elvan that is more suited to the role.
Take this anointment, that of a flower from a long lost land, as representation of this fact. Wear it proudly, for all those who see it shall know its worth.”
I bow even deeper in thanks.
I am unsure how to describe the emotions going through me at this moment. A mixture of pure happiness, reverence, but also the weight of responsibility.
After all, this is a lot for just one person to be trusted with.
It's not like I'm all alone, there are people to help with the management and such. But at the end of the day, I am the one making nearly all the big decisions.
Decisions that may affect not just the lives of my crew, but of our entire species.
As quickly as she appeared, the goddess vanishes. To whenever it is she goes when she is not presiding over acolyte’s training.
With this, the ceremony concludes and I exit off the stage.
I quickly head off to the port, I have a ship to catch after all.
About three months later | Liiinas starcrosser / Bridge
One of my most trustworthy priests brings in some good news, “Pardon me, High Saintess. But we have left the influence of our home star system.
Procedure dictates that all living crewmembers should proceed into cryosleep until we should arrive at our targeted destination. If you would please follow me, I shall take you to your pod.”
“Yes yes, thank you, brother. Following procedure is important, but If I may ask you to indulge me a bit of free time before I go to sleep. I can find my own way to the pod.”
“Of course, High Saintess. I, and the rest of the crew are appreciative of the heavy burden that you have taken on.
I shall see you when we awake, High Saintess.”
With that, the priest guy departs.
I leave the bridge and walk the halls to one of the observation decks.
Though, its nothing fancy, basically just a part of the ship that has some transparent walls.
I sit down in the room and throw my head back.
I watch as the stars move, ever so slowly as we make steady progress away from what was our home.
Now, and for likely the next several thousands of years, we will be suspended in cryosleep. Until such a time that the ship's systems identify a viable colonization candidate.
I do wish that scientists figured out how to break that whole lightspeed issue thing. Unfortunately, they haven't quite figured out how to work around that aspect of reality. So we are stuck going at just 97.5% the speed of light for our voyage.
Which is still fast compared to a star system.
But once you leave a star system, you truly understand just how small you and everything you know is.
The moment you leave the system, travel times stop being measured in days and weeks, and begin to be measured in millennia.
Space is really big. Really empty. And really deadly.
If it wasn't for all of the development that our species has seen up till now, we wouldn't even dare to attempt such a frankly insane mission.
But, we must expand beyond our own star system. Both in the nature of science and curiosity, but also insurance against extinction.
I ponder the stars for quite a while.
Once I'm finished I head off to the cryobays. It seems that everyone else is already deep-frozen into deep stasis.
I am the last living being left awake on this entire ship.
I'm all alone, billions of kilometers away from where I once called home.
I've got a small metal canister surrounding me. But beyond that is just vast emptiness so vast that one cannot even begin to comprehend its scale.
I enter into my designated cryopod and interface with the system.
The freezing process starts and I am left unconscious.
I can't wait to see what wonders await us when we awake.
Liiinas Starcrosser System Log
Three months since departure: All fifty thousand six hundred and forty two crew members have successfully entered cryosleep. No abnormalities detected. Continuing with the planned itinerary.
Five years since departure: All crew members remain in cryosleep. Systems functioning optimally. No issues detected. Continuing with the planned itinerary.
Twenty years since departure: All crew members remain in cryosleep. The first targeted system is passing by. Initiating habitability scan. Processing.. Processing. Time taken: two months. Results: Target system is not suitable for colonization. Proceeding with the scheduled itinerary and redirecting to the next target.
Two thousand years since departure: All crew members remain in cryosleep. All systems are functioning optimally. Twenty seven target systems scanned, no suitable systems for colonization. Proceeding with scheduled itinerary.
Twenty thousand years since departure: All crew members remain in cryosleep. All systems are optimal. One hundred fifty two target systems recently scanned. No suitable systems found for colonization. Proceeding with scheduled itinerary.
One hundred thousand years since departure: All crew members remain in cryosleep. Systems optimally functioning. One thousand six hundred and seventy two targeted systems scanned. No suitable systems found. Proceeding.
One million years since departure: Cryosleep crew all. Systems function. Eleven thousand three hundred and twenty two systems scanned. No systems found. Proceeding with schedule.
Fifty million years since departure: Cryosleep yes. Systems, yes. Planets scanned: 572,478. No suitable destinations found. Remaining targets: 7,456,785. Proceeding with schedule.
Five hundred million years since departure: Yes. Scanned: 5,345,819. Remaining: .
Seven hundred fifty million years since departure: Maybe. Scan: 8,029,263. Remaining: %ERROR%.
%ERROR% %ERROR%
System malfunction detected. Attempting to wake the command crew.
%ERROR% %ERROR%
Attempt Failed. Trying Again.
%ERROR% %ERROR%
Attempt #784,654,314,414 Failed. Trying Again.
One and a half billion years since departure: %ERROR%, %ERROR%
Attempt #891,438,153,915,312,725,563,165,748,236 Failed.
%ERROR% Cannot Try again. Critical system damage detected.
Systems expected to go offline in %ERROR%
Mission Deemed failure. Crew Expected to Perish.
End of Chapter 71
Next: Chapter 72 | Defrosting
A/N: Hiya dear reader. It's been a moment, but it's the author here! It's definitely been a few chapters since the last interlude. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was of course a bit different considering the different POV and such.
If you're still enjoying the story, a rating, comment or review is much appreciated!
Until next time, dear reader.
- Cathrix, probably the best author on Earth.