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RAIN and Storytelling _ DREAMY Bedtime Story _ Hypnos Conundrum · Abide Meditation App

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good evening, I'm Abbey Offa. Welcome to episode one of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The Hypnoth's Conundrum, a six-part sci-fi bedtime story. In this series,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: we'll be joining the members of the starship Rem on
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: a dreamy adventure through space and time to distant planets
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: in the great beyond. Every member of the Starship crew
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: files a personal log at the end of each day
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of their mission. These logs are transmitted to the Interstellar
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Command Center as a way of tracking the mission's progress.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: As the Chief Historian of Interstellar Command, my job is
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to review the logs as they come in each evening.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: So in each episode of this series, I'll read you
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the daily log from a different crew member on the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Starship Rem. Today is the first day of the mission
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and I've just received the captain's daily log. While my
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: computer decrypts the data from her log, go ahead and
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: make sure you're comfortable in bed. Take a moment to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: relax and observe your breath. Feel free to fall asleep
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: at any time. Interstellar Command stores these logs indefinitely, so
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: you can always come back and listen again. Now, let's
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: begin with Episode 1, The Log of Dalma Garak, Captain
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: of the Starship Rem. Mission, The Hypnos Conundrum, Day 1.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Just minutes ago, the Starship Rem left Docking Bay 8
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: at the Reinhardt Space Station. What a sight it was,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: watching her sleek hull glide smoothly between the Docking Bay doors,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: ready to begin its first mission. We're going in search
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: of the fabled Hypnos flower. It's thought to be able
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: to send people into a deep sleep. When it's paired
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: with a cryochamber, it might, finally, allow our crews to
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: venture into deep space without ageing. Cryochambers keep space travellers'
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: physical bodies safe by lowering their body temperatures. This flower
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: should help prevent even the slightest bit of ageing. Deep
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: space missions can last for months and even years. it's
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: much less stressful on a crew to be able to
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: sleep through much of the travel. So far, we haven't
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: been able to find a way to suspend the normal
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: aging process in order to make such missions possible. But
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the hypnos flower might just get us there. Other crews
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: have tried to find it and failed, but this time,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: with a starship REM on our side, We're going to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: do it. Of course, we've taken the REM out on
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: test flights, but that was nothing compared to this. To
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: sit in the captain's chair on a ship like this
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and give the order to head out, there's nothing quite
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: like it. I've been a captain for five years now,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and I spent a good many years as a first
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: officer before that. under the command of then Captain Anders. Now,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Anders is an admiral. When she was promoted, that left
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the starship Northway without a captain, which is how I
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: ended up in the seat for the first time. The
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Northway was an old ship, but still a science vessel
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: like this one. Everything seemed to go wrong on that ship.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: The left thrusters went out my first day in command,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: so we didn't even leave the station. We spent four
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: weeks docked for repairs. When the crew went in to
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: fix the thrusters, they found other related issues, and, well,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: it just went downhill from there. By the time we
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: finally got the north way out of the stations, our
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: mission had been reassigned to the crew of the Oceanus.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: So we flew back to Interstellar Command and waited for
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: a new assignment. It was a disappointing first mission, to
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: put it mildly. But over the next five years on
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the North Way, we did have our fair share of adventures.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: The North Way was a good ship to learn on,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: that's for sure. But this ship, the REM, is something else.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: The REM is a brand new, state-of-the-art, deep-space-rated, first-class science vessel.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: The hull was built from the ground up, all to spec,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: to be the best of its kind in the fleet.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: All of the equipment is new. The living quarters have
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: never been touched. The galley has never seen a dirty plate.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: The cryogenics test lab is the best of its kind.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: You should have seen the faces of the science officers
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: when they first stepped inside. Sickbay is spotless. The linens
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: are crisp and white, and the doctors have been outfitted
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: with the finest tools of the trade currently on the market.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor myself, but there sure does seem
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: to be every kind of scanner known to the medical
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: field in there. As the captain, of course, I hope
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: nobody ever has to visit sickbay, aside from routine check-ups
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and inoculations before any away missions. But if something did happen,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: they'd be in good hands. My engineers couldn't be happier
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: with the insides of this ship. The engines are more
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: powerful and more reliable than those of any other ship
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: active in the fleet. When we powered up to leave
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the station, they hardly made a sound. And they certainly
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: didn't do any of that humming and vibrating the Northways
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: used to do. The ship was as quiet as a mouse.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Now we're on our way to one of the smaller
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: systems in the middle rim to find that flower. No
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: one on an interstellar command crew has ever actually seen
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: a hypnos flower before. But we know they're out there somewhere.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Other crews recently made contact with supply traders. who said
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: they've heard the flowers can be found growing on the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: surface of the planet Dawn in the Miron system. Dawn,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: of course, is one of two planets in that system,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: shrouded in a layer of bolonite gas. None of our
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: ships have ever been equipped with sensors calibrated to penetrate
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: bolonite gas. And if you can't get accurate readings of
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the surface of a planet, you can't send down an
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: away team. It would be too dangerous. For the past
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: three years, the best minds have been working in the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Interstellar Command Development Labs to build sensors that can read
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: through bolonite gas. And this ship is the first to
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: carry them. We should arrive at dawn in less than
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: 24 hours from departure. If all goes well, we'll orbit
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the planet for a few hours to test the sensors.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And then, if it's safe, we'll send down our first
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: away team. The away team will be made up of
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: our lead science officer, the doctor, two support science staff,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and a security crew member. Like all large science vessels
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: of this class, The REM has two small away shuttles
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: for short-range missions. It's challenging to land a vessel this
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: large on a planet's surface, so we typically want to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: keep the ship in orbit and send down a shuttle
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: with a smaller crew instead. For this mission, the away
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: team will take the shuttle Baikal, which has been outfitted
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: with the same sensors and a state-of-the-art communications relay. We
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: should be able to talk to the shuttle when it's
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: on the planet's surface, even through any interference from the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: bolonite gas. Once on dawn, the away team will first
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: conduct a survey of the surrounding area. They'll document the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: local plants and wildlife, and keep an eye out for
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the hypnos flower. One of the traders provided the captain
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: of the Oceanus with a sketch of the flower. It
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: looks to be fairly small, with a trumpet-shaped head. The
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: trader apparently didn't have any colouring tools, so it's just
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: drawn in pencil. But he told the captain the flower
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: is dark purple, with black around the edges. and a
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: distinctive bright yellow star at the centre. If the away
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: team locates the flower, they'll collect a sample and bring
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: it back up to the ship for analysis. We may
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: return to the surface to collect additional flowers over the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: following days, or we may return to the Rhinad station
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: with our findings. It will depend, I suppose. on what
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: we find. At mealtime today, the science officers were crowded
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: around a table in the galley. I overheard a bit
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: of their conversation, and they seem excited to be part
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: of this mission. If we do find the hypnos flower,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and it does what we think it does, this mission
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: could make history. This could be the key to real, safe,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: deep space travel. That would open up a universe of
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: possibilities for a crew like this. To be able to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: travel to the far reaches of known space and not
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: age a day. It would be incredible. The potential for
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: exploration would be limitless. That's why Interstellar Command assigned the
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: very best crew to the REM. I've worked with some
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: of the officers before on the Northway, but there are
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: a few new faces too. This is the first time
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: First Officer Farrell and I have been posted together. I've
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: heard good things, and he seems more than capable of
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: wrangling the crew when needed. The science lead, Jax, was
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: with me on the North Way. Jax is Argolian, which
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: is great for a science officer. Argolians can see twice
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: as many colours as humans and can sense temperature differences
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to an eighth of a degree. I read some of
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Jax's field notes from one of our last away missions together.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: It made me see the planet we'd visited in a
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: whole new light. If anyone can spot the hypnos flower,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: it's Jax. We have a doctor on loan to us
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: from Rynad Station. Dr. Trelor is a specialist in astrobotanical epidemiology.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: It will be the doctor's job to work on extracting
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the components of the hypnos flower They can be used
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: for deep space cryosleep. Our lead engineer, Ro Nez, helped
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: build the ship and knows the REM from the inside out.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: She'll be responsible for keeping the REM running at top
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: performance throughout the mission. She was posted to the dock
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: at Rynad straight from the academy and I've heard She's
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: one of the best minds to graduate in years. She's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: not really a people person, but she doesn't have to
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: be as the engineer. So long as she can speak
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: to the ship, we'll be fine. We also have a
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: non-commissioned android on board. It's registered as SLN-29. and it's
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: a newer model of the SELIC line of synthetic AI.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: It's supposed to have the most interactive info chip to date,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: with a developmentally capable personality system. That means it should
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: be able to communicate like a living, breathing crew member,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: even though it's an android. and it will be able
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: to develop its own personality as time goes on. Right now,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: we have the android working on ship systems, since it
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: can interface directly with the REM. I'm not sure what
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: it will be like to work with an artificial lifeform
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: in that capacity, but I'm hoping it will be beneficial
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: to have one on board. In total, on the REM,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: we have 216 crew. They work in shifts, so the
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: ship is never without a competent crew manning all the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: stations on board. We have several scheduled mealtimes throughout the shifts,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: but the crew can go to the mess hall any
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: time to pick up a snack. Crew bunks can accommodate
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: two people, Some have chosen to bunk with a friend
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: on an alternate shift, though we have enough space so
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: each crew member can have their own private quarters. It's
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: a nice benefit to working on a ship this size.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: It's meant to have enough living quarters to house special
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: research groups or delegations for an extended period of time.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: So when it's just the base crew people can have
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: some privacy, which I know they appreciate. It's quite a
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: responsibility looking out for all of these people. I can
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: honestly say it's an honour to be trusted with this
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: mission and with the command of such a magnificent ship.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: We've had a fine start to the day. Since departing Rynad,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: we had the chance to see two of the most
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: striking planets in this system. There was the gas giant, Thorlop,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: and Solon 7, the ringed planet. Thorlop is larger than
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: most of the other planets in this system combined. Though
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: we were travelling a safe distance away, it still filled
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: our viewing windows as we passed. It's a hazy, brownish-purple
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: colour with enormous, swirling gas clouds. The clouds move and intermingle,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: creating wild spirals that ebb and flow, as though pulled
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: by some unseen tide below. The centre of the spirals
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: are a deep violet that fade to a chocolate brown
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: along the arms. Maronite is the most prevalent gas on Thorlok,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: which creates its distinctive colour. It's like a bouquet of
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: flowers that's been tossed in the air, First Officer Farrell said.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I suppose that's the best description I've heard. Solon 7
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: is a cherry red planet with ultramarine rings. Ultramarine is
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: one of the deepest, most vibrant shades of blue you
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: can possibly imagine. It's such a rich hue, it's almost
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: difficult to look at directly. I wonder what Jack sees
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: when she looks at Solon 7. I imagine it's beautiful.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: The red colouration on the surface comes from all the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: vigour in the soil, There are craftspeople on a neighbouring
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: moon who collect the Vigon and use it to make
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: pots and bowls. They're really quite lovely and sturdy too.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Seeing these planets for the first time reminds me that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: we still have so much to learn about the galaxy
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: and all it holds. That's why I'm so hopeful about
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the hypnos flower. will get us one step closer to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: finding out some of these mysteries of the universe. I
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: wonder what dawn will be like when we finally arrive.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Bolonite gas is a muddy brown colour so it's not
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: much of a looker from the outside. But underneath that
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: gas there could be a desert or a rainforest or
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: mountains higher than those on the moons of Gavin. If
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: there's one thing that's for sure It's that this mission
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: will be one to remember, no matter how hospitable or
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: attractive dawn is or isn't. Well, it's getting late. It's
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: time to settle into my new quarters. They're quite spacious, really,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: with a bed and a table and a large work
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: desk in the corner under the picture window. That's one
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: of the perks of being the captain on a new ship,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I suppose. You get the corner with the view. All
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of the crew is present and accounted for, and the
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: second shift is about to begin. First Officer Dorian Farrell
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: has command of the bridge until 0700 hours. This is
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Captain Garrick signing off. Good night. Good night. Today is
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the second day of the mission and the lead science
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: officer's daily log is arriving as I speak. Now. Let's
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: begin with Episode 2, the log of Lead Science Officer Jax. Mission,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the Hypnos Conundrum, Day 2. We arrived at dawn late
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: last night. This planet is the home of the Hypnos flower.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Retrieving that flower is the whole purpose of this mission.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: When we arrived at Dawn, we went straight into orbit
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: around the planet, which is the sixth planet from the
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Sun in the Miron system. The first five planets are Milokos, Nasida, Phrex,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Drex and Sovor. Dawn has three moons, called Dawn on 1,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: 2 and 3. We won't be travelling to any of
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the moons on this trip, but they're circling this planet
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: with us, though we're in a much lower orbit than
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: any of them. From orbit, dawn is a deep, velvety
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: brown with a touch of purple, like the colour of
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: argolian bean chocolate. I love argolian bean chocolate. It tastes
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: like summer, and when it melts in your mouth, it's
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: as though liquid sunshine itself were on your tongue. I'm
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: sure dawn doesn't taste like chocolate, but it certainly looks
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: like it from above. It's interesting to hear my fellow
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: human crew members talk about dawn's colour. They just say
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: it's brown. Well, yes, it's brown, but it's so much
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: more than just brown. I wish I could somehow give
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: my human friends my senses, so they could see what
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I see, hear what I hear, and smell what I smell.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Us Argolians can see more than two times the colours
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: that humans can. I'd like to see it from their
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: perspective too. I guess we all bring our different strengths
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: to the mission, don't we? Anyways, Dawn's colour is due
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: to bolonite gas, which makes up most of the atmosphere
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: of the planet. Bolognite gas has been a problem for
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Interstellar Command ships for a very long time. Interstellar Command
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: first encountered Bolognite gas on the planet Vefra in the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Durgon system. An away team was on the surface of
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Vefra when they came to a geyser that was shooting
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: up both liquid copper and Bolognite gas. When the crew
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: went to scan the geyser, they found they couldn't register
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: what was on the other side of the Bolognite gas.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Of course, they could walk around the geyser and see
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: for themselves, but the Bolognite blocked their scanners. Then other
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: crews found planets like Dawn with Bolognite atmospheres. As much
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: as they may have wanted to go down to the surface,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: they just couldn't, since they had no idea what they'd
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: be flying into. For the past several years, interstellar command
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: development teams have been working to build a new type
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: of sensor that can actually penetrate bolonite gas. And the
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: REMP is the very first ship in the fleet to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: carry them. Both of our shuttles, the Baikal and the Aral,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: are also outfitted with the sensors. That's how I got
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to lead the very first away team down to the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: surface of a Bolognite atmosphere planet. We took the Baikal
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: down just after 0800 this morning. It was me, Dr. Trelor,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: two of my science crew, and a security officer, just
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: in case. The sensors worked like a dream. From orbit,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: we were able to see that beneath the Bolognite gas
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: was a planet covered in tropical rainforest. Half the planet
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: was flat, and the other half fairly mountainous. We decided
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: to aim for a hilly area, near one of the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: largest water sources on the surface. I piloted the Baikal
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: down through the gas layer, which is one of the
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: thickest layers of gas I've ever encountered. But thanks to
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the sensors, it was smooth sailing the whole way. We
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: landed in a small clearing surrounded on all sides by
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: massive trees. They were similar to the Medenian lollip trees
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: on Gavin, but not exactly the same. They both have
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: sessile leaves with no stems, but the lollips grow to
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: a maximum length of two metres, while these were as
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: large as four metres. We disembarked from the shuttle, and
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: began our scans of the clearing and nearby rainforest. We
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: found no large wildlife in the immediate area. There were
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: some smaller insects and a few ground beetles, but that
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: was about it. It's true, rainforests are usually teeming with
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: smaller wildlife. Many rainforests, like those on both Duran and Enrin,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: also have large predatory animals, but we didn't find any
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: on Dawn. However, when we began to scan the plant life,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: what we found was incredible. There were over 1.7 million
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: types of flowering plants alone. That's twice as many as
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: on Duran. there were more than 78,000 types of trees
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: over 12 meters in height, which is mind-boggling. While my
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: title is lead science officer, I was trained as an astrobotanist,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: specializing in tropical and subtropical species. So you can imagine
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: how amazing it was to be in a place that
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: had more of these types of plants than I've ever
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: seen before. After we finished our initial scans, we began
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: our on-foot survey of the nearby rainforest. The canopy was
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: dense and lush. There were at least 36 distinct shades
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: of green in the overhead foliage. Once we'd walked in
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: about a mile, I stopped for a moment under a
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: particularly large tree. The other crew stopped as well. We
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: all stood there in silence, listening to the sounds of
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: the forest around us. To my left, a small beetle
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: hummed atop a large leaf. Tiny insects chittered in the
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: undergrowth around my feet. I heard the long, hollow call
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: of some type of bird off in the distance. It
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: echoed from tree to tree, before turning to a whisper
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: many miles away. It had recently rained in this forest.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Rivulets of water ran down the spines of the larger
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: leaves and sent heavy droplets down to the underbrush below.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I listened to them plop to the ground, one at
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: a time, and burst, sending even smaller rivulets down tiny
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: blades of grass to the earth below. The rainforest had
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: its own song, it seemed. It was a song of water, growth,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: then life. There's no doubt dawn is bustling with life.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: After a moment's rest, we continued our hike through the trees.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: The ground crunched beneath our feet. There were at least
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: three distinct layers of undergrowth. It was nearly impossible to
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: dig down under the leaves, stems, stalks and moss that
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: actually reached the dirt below. The flowers around us were
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: absolutely wonderful. They were tiny cerulean blue flowers with little
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: fluted petals that smelled like lilac and jasmine perfume. Another
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: of my favourites were these large bell-shaped sandstone orange flowers
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: with thick cinnamon brown stems. They smelled like melons and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: apricots warming in the sun. We kept walking until we
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: came to a small cluster of caves. The entrances were
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: just over two metres tall, high enough for even the
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: tallest crew members to walk inside standing up. They were
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: formed by stormy grey stone. The security officer and I
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: walked inside about a quarter of a mile and then
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: turned back to the entrance. I suspect there is quite
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: a large network of caves that crisscross that portion of
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: the forest. I'd like to return to conduct further research
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: if we have time at the end of the mission.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I mention the caves because that is where we finally
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: caught our first glimpse of the elusive hypnos flower. Snaking
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: around the entrance of the first cave was a long,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: thick vine The vine was a deep emerald green and short,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: rounded leaves poked out from the stalk every few centimetres.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Dotting the vine at regular intervals were small, trumpet-shaped purple
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: blooms with distinctive yellow starbursts at the centre. Near the starburst,
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the petals were a deep amethyst. They darkened to indigo.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: about three quarters of the way up, then to an eggplant,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: then to jet black at the tips. I've never seen
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: a flower with that type of colouration before. I pulled
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: out a sample kit from my bag. Following standard procedures,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: I clipped a small portion off the end of the vine,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: being sure to get some leaves and several flowers in
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the cuttings. Dr. Traylor also collected a sample from a
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: nearby vine for his research. I secured my sample in
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: a large tube, which I then put back in my rucksack.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I noted the precise coordinates where we'd found the flower.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I also recorded a separate log, describing in great detail
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the location of the flowers, nearby plants, insects and beetles
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: and the weather conditions in the area. I won't go
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: into such great detail here, but I will note some
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: of the more interesting finds. There were four small greyish
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: beetles rooting around a clump of leaves approximately 17 centimetres
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: from the end of the vine. They appeared to be
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: eating the rough decaying edges of the leaves. and leaving
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the soft supple centres alone. I'm curious about what happens
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: to the leaves as they decay that makes them more
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: palatable to the beetles. There were also six small moth-like
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: creatures circling a crimson flower approximately one metre to the
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: left of the cave's entrance. There were four cream-coloured grubs
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: burrowing beneath the vine and one small fuzzy violet caterpillar
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: making its way over a particularly large knot in the vine,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: about 26 centimetres from the sample end. No wildlife specimens
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: were collected. Our away team then packed up our bags
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: and returned. via the same route we'd taken, to the
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: clearing and the shuttle Baikal. We powered up the Baikal
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: and tested the surface-to-ship communications by sending a quick message
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: to the bridge, letting them know what we'd found. Sending
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that message was one of the most exhilarating things I've
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: ever done, aside from actually finding the flower and exploring
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: this barely-known planet. The security officer wanted a chance to
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: pilot the shuttle, so I gave him the controls to
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: take us back up to the REMS shuttle bay. He
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: seemed happy to have had that opportunity. I don't think
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: security officers get the chance to pilot shuttles that often.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Back on the ship, Dr. Trelor took his sample to sickbay.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: He has a containment area where he's planning to work
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: on the vines. He'll get started trying to extract the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: sleep-inducing parts of the plant. I took my sample back
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: to Science Lab 2. Over the next few days, I'll
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: be dissecting the plant and recording all of its specifications.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: The doctor and I will be the two people working
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: most directly with the plant, though we'll be doing different
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: types of research. Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Once we got back to the REM, I noticed the
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: sample was giving off a faint odour of pecans. I
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: asked the rest of the away team if they could
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: smell it, but they all said they didn't smell anything
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: at all. It's not raw pecans, I smell, but more
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: like pecans toasting in a cast iron pan over a
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: hot stove. It's extremely faint I suppose I'm not surprised
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: none of the human crew members can detect it. The
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: reason I'm adding this information is that the sample cases
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: are supposed to be airtight. This is the first time
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: I've detected an odour from a sample exuding from an
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: airtight sample case. I have to remember to check the
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: rest of my sample cases to make sure there's no
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: potential for cross-contamination. What an amazing and adventurous day it's been. Thankfully,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I'm at the end of my shift now, because I'm exhausted.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: I should probably get some sleep. Even though we have
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the fabled hypnos flower now, the work of figuring out
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: how to use it has only just begun. This is
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Lead Science Officer Jax, signing off. Good night. Today is
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the third day of the mission, and the lead engineer's
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: daily log has just arrived. Now, let's begin with episode three.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: The log of lead engineer Ronez. Mission, the Hypnos Conundrum,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: day three. Well, I guess it's just you and me again, computer.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I must spend at least half my days talking to
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: computers or conduits or the engine of this ship. I
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: guess it's to be expected as the lead engineer. I
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: spend more time with the insides of REM than I
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: do with any of its crew members. And it's just
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: as well. I've never really been much of a people
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: person anyways. Ships are easier to understand. They aren't so complicated.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, they still have moods and opinions, that's for sure.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: But I've always found them more predictable than people. If
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: you learn a ship, you can really know a ship.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: I'm still getting to know the REM. It's a new ship,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: with all new, sleek and shiny parts. I had a
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: lot of fun being the first engineer to climb into
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: some of the holding areas and pull off the wall coverings.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I was the first to touch many of the control
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: panels on this ship. I know that probably sounds silly,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: but I think it was all the flashing lights on
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: ships that made me want to become an engineer in
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the first place. As a kid, I used to look
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: over my uncle's shoulder. He was an engineer too. I'd
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: watch him poke and prod at all the flashing lights
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: on his circuit boards. He'd connect this to that, and
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: a light would go from red to green, and it
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: would be fixed like new. It was like magic to me,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: and it still is if I'm being honest. Every time
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: I figure out a problem on a ship, I get
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: that little surge of pride and wonder, and that's what's
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: been particularly frustrating today. We have a serious plant problem
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: that I just can't figure out how to fix. Ever
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: since the away team came back with that hypnos flower,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: my ship hasn't been working the way it's supposed to.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I know this could be the scientific discovery of all time,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: but it is wreaking havoc on the REM. I'm not
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: sure if the scientists just didn't know, but Nobody informed
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: me the flower grows like a weed. Yesterday, the team
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: came back from the surface of dawn. Jax, the lead
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: science officer, put her plant trimmings in the lab. Overnight,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: the flower went crazy. Jax sent me a message this
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: morning telling me to get down to the science lab
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: as quickly as I could. I was already awake, of course.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: cleaning the floor panels in the engine room. I packed
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: up my toolkit and headed for the lab. I didn't
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: hurry that quickly because I figured a science emergency couldn't
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: really be that bad. But it turns out I was wrong.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: The hypnos flower trimmings had been inside a specimen container,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Jack said. But when I got there, I found her
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: picking up broken pieces of that container off the floor
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: It seems like overnight the flower sample grew this giant
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: tendril that snaked up the wall and all the way
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: back into one of the ventilation conduits. It also grew
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: a bunch of smaller tendrils that were hanging down from
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: the ceiling and sprouting new growth of their own. The
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: tendrils were all covered with these bright green leaves and
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: dark purple flowers. The plant had grown straight through two
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: empty specimen tanks, breaking the casing on both sides, and
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: had completely coiled around a workbench and chair, making it
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: impossible to get to any of the tools in any
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: of the drawers, or to sit down. Where there used
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: to be a ceiling, that's now what I can only
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: describe as a miniature jungle. Smaller tendrils completely cover the
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: top panels and the upper third of the walls. In
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: some places, the ends hang down nearly to head height,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: all covered in leaves and flowers. I had to brush
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: one out of my face when I first walked into
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: the room. It would have been pretty, in a way,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: had it not damaged so many of the supplies in
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: the science lab. We'll have to wait until we're docked
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: back at Rhinad to replace all of them. Of all
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: the parts of the plant that were where they shouldn't be,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: the one that really concerned me was the tendril in
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: the ventilation shaft. It's not affecting the function of the shaft.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: The thing is, from there, the plant could theoretically get
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: anywhere on the ship. The way the ship is designed
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: means there's a criss-crossing series of large shafts and conduits
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: that run through the walls. It's how you can get
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: to one spot or another without taking the hallways, for example.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: While most people spend their time in the common areas
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: of the REM, I spend a lot of my day
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: crawling through shafts to get to the hard-to-reach places on
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the ship. When I saw the tendril in the ventilation shaft,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: I realized it could be spreading to the ship's other
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: systems and areas. Without crawling back there to see for myself,
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: I couldn't be sure exactly how much had been affected.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: So I grumbled at Jax. She was nice about it.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Then I got all my tools and went for a climb.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: I removed the grill panel that leads to the shaft
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: and climbed inside. Luckily the vine followed the bottom of
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: the shaft so there was still plenty of room for
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: me to edge along beside it. What I found was
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: not encouraging. Through the night this plant had sent its
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: snaky arms through every open space it could find. Its leaves, flowers,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: buds and stems had pushed open control panels and encircled
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: every button, switch and knob that it came across. One small,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: particularly determined tendril made its way back to a wiring
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: bundle that's pretty key to the propulsion systems. It had
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: crawled in and out between all the wires. The whole
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: thing was a mess. I followed that piece as far
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: as I could, The end of the tendril had shoved
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: the wiring out of the way and jammed up the circuitry.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: About five minutes after I found it, the entire propulsion
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: system went down. Now, that's not a huge problem since
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: we're in orbit around the planet anyway. But it is
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: problematic for me as the ship's engineer. And it's a
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: mystery I still haven't solved. Somehow I have to find
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: a way to bypass the affected systems and make sure
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: new growth from the plant doesn't cause similar issues again.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: I've been working closely with Jax in the science lab.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: She's trying to figure out how to contain the plant
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: and keep it from growing so wildly. She's tried everything
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: from special holding containers to forcefields. plant just keeps on
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: growing she tried a water tank that didn't work and
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: we ended up with a very wet floor for my
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: part I've tried clipping the tendrils back and removing the
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: pieces from the wiring but every time I cut away
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: the plant new growth immediately sprouts from the parts I
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: cut both on the main part of the plant and
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: on the clipping So, basically, I just have two vines
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: instead of one, and they're both growing even faster than before.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: The first time I tried to cut back the plant,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: I put the clipping in my pocket. The next thing
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: I knew, it had grown right through a weak part
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: in my seam, and was hanging down the outside of
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: my pant leg like a keychain. This all led me
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: to wonder why the away team hadn't mentioned how fast
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: or extensively the hypnos plant grows. I asked Jax about it,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: and she said they had no reason to suspect it
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: would grow like this. Apparently, down on the surface of Dawn,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: the plant was pretty well contained. She said there was
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: a single vine growing on the ground near the entrance
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: to the caves. There were no smaller tendrils. There was
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: no mini-jungle of hypnos flowers hanging from the top of
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: the cave. The vines didn't snake anywhere they weren't supposed to.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: All in all, it seemed like a very orderly and
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: rather small vine, she said. In fact, that's why they
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: didn't even bring back that large of a sample. They
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: didn't want to take too much of the plant and
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: affect the part that was still growing back on dawn.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: She had taken some scans when she was on the surface,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: and she showed them to me. It's true what she said.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: The vine really wasn't that big. Now she's trying to
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: figure out what it is about this shit that's encouraging
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: it to grow so quickly. Apparently it's the perfect environment
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: for growth, but nobody can figure out why. Dr. Trelor
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: is also working on the problem. He's analyzing the molecular
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: structure of the hypnos flower, trying to understand how it
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: grows and what support its rapid growth here. He's had
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: a challenging time keeping his sample under control too, from
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: what I hear. I guess it managed to break his
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: first microscope, so he's switched it over to the larger scanner.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: So far, it seems to be working all right. We
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: can't wait to hear what he finds. Anything to help
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: contain this plant would be welcome right now. Normally, crew
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: members record their logs in their quarters at night before
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: they go to sleep. But I've got so much work
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: to do, call it damage control if you like, that
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: I'm still back here in one of the smaller workspaces
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: behind the engine room. My latest strategy is is just
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: trying to move the plant, instead of cutting it back
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: and causing more ends to grow. I'm just carefully shifting
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: the vine to places it won't do as much harm.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: It's a complicated task, especially when the vine has wound
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: itself around wires, as it has back here. What I
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: have to do is take the leading end and trace
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: it back through the wires, carefully untangling it as I go.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: I've got this vine mostly untangled now and I'm laying
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: it on the ground. I'm hoping it will just keep
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: growing straight along the floor instead of finding any new
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: complicated wiring to jumble itself up in. The amazing thing
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: to me is that I can almost see this plant
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: grow When you look at it close up, you don't
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: notice the growth exactly. But if you look away from
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: it and then look back, you can see how far
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: it's travelled in a fairly short amount of time. I've
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: never encountered any kind of plant life quite like this before.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: When I was at the Engineering Academy, I remember learning
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: about another kind of vine that grows in the jungles
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: of the planet Laveron That vine can grow hundreds of
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: feet in length from a single point of origin. When
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: scientists first discovered it in the thick tangle of trees there,
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: they thought it was multiple different plants wound together. It
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: turns out that it was just one, looping back on
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: itself countless times in an effort to fill as much
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: space as it could in the dense undergrowth. That plant
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: could only be contained by painting a thin mask of
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: sugar on the end you wanted to slow down. I
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: only remember it now because it's such a strange solution
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: to a problem. Who would have thought to paint sugar
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: on the end of a vine in the first place?
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: I actually asked Jax about it. and she got really
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: excited and tested it out on this vine. It didn't
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: seem to have any effect at all. She also told
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: me lots about the plant that I can't remember now.
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: She seemed to have fun describing it all, though. I
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: think she's really into plants. I like plants well enough,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: but I just don't get that excited about them most
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: of the time. I think I prefer metal and useful
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: composites Which makes sense for an engineer. Well, I'm just
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: about finished uncoiling what I can of the vine back here.
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: I keep yawning and I'm starting to get tired. I mean,
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: I have been awake much longer than normal, but I
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: usually don't get sleepy while I'm on an important job.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe this one's just been particularly tiring. I need to
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: take a break for a bit at least. Who knows
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: how long I'll have to keep redirecting and clearing these
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: vines out. And I've been at it for quite a
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: while now. Physical work is always tiring, especially when you're
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: cramped in an air shaft. I can feel sleep reaching
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: for me with its inevitable grasp. Almost like the inevitable
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: reach of these vines through the crevices of the ship.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: I guess I'll pack up my tools and head back
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: to my quarters and try to catch a few hours
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: of sleep before getting back to it tomorrow. And speaking
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: of tomorrow, I need to talk to Dr. Trelor about
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: the possible effect of being around this flower for so long.
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: It's supposed to put people to sleep. I don't think
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling anything unusual right now. but it would be
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: worth it to get a professional opinion. You never know
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: what might happen from being in close contact with an
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: alien species for too long. Most of the time it's fine,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: but it's always wise to be careful. This is Lead
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Engineer Ronez signing off. Good night. Today is the fourth
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: day of the mission. The Doctor's daily log just arrived
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: a little while ago, and it seemed quite interesting. Let's
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: begin with episode four, the log of Dr. Marius Trelor. Mission,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: the Hypnos Conundrum, day four. I'm getting very tired. If
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: I pause what I'm doing for more than just a
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: few moments, I feel my eyelids start to grow heavy.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: My vision blurs until all I can see is a
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: glossy landscape of colours and textures rather than objects around
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the room. My body feels as though there's a comforting
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: weight on it, like a heavy blanket wrapped round my
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: shoulders that drapes down to my knees. I feel safe
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: and secure as if I were in a cocoon. I
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: made the mistake of putting my head down on my
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: desk a few minutes ago. My head felt unbearably heavy.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: I had to close my eyes just for a moment
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: and when I did I quickly drifted off to that
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: place behind my eyelids where everything was black. Small starbursts
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: of yellow and white danced across the velvety background. I
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: watched them like little fireworks against the night sky. I
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: felt the thoughts of the day drifting off with my vision.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: All my research All my experiments. All my notes. Gone.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Without a trace. I started to forget why it was
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: all so important. It seemed to be but a trivial
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: problem from long ago that could bother me no more.
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: My thoughts went to my family and friends. To all
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: the people who make me smile and bring me comfort
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: and happiness. And then my visions turned to the other
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: members of my crew, to Jax in her lab, and
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: to the captain at the bridge, to Ro in her
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: engine room, and the first officer in his quarters. I
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: thought of them going about their daily tasks, making sure
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: the ship is running smoothly, that all the bits and
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: pieces are in the right places. But what was my
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: job aboard this ship? That thought pulled me back to
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: the present, to the now, to why my research is
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: critical for the crew. I'm the doctor. I'm the one
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: who knows the most about this strange plant we found
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: on the surface of Dawn. I'm the one leading the
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: research into deep space travel, cryo chambers, and suspended aging
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: through deep sleep. I'm the one who knows the power
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: of the hypnos flower better than anyone. And that's why
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: I have to stay awake. The practical application of this
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: flower could forever change the way we travel long distances.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: We already have cryochamber technology, which allows us to drop
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: a person's core temperature very low, keeping them in a
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: kind of stasis. The hypnos flower allows that person to
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: sleep deeply and comfortably. Used together, both would allow crew
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: members to travel for months or even years without aging
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: and without feeling any discomfort at all. We could program
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: ships to take us on missions to the far reaches
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: of space we've only dreamed of visiting. When we set
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: out for dawn, We had envisioned finding the flower and
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: bringing it back to the ship for testing. But something's
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: gone wrong. We didn't account for one critical piece of
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: the puzzle. How to prevent the hypnos flower from working
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: so well, so fast. And what to do if it did.
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: We presumed that standard procedures and materials would work for
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: containing and sustaining the plant on the ship. Although we
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: had no way of knowing, it's clear now that we miscalculated.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: You see, all the plans we had were for closely
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: monitored tests and the application of the plant in a
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: controlled setting. We didn't plan for what to do if
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: the plant grew and grew until the whole ship was overtaken.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: We didn't expect there to be vines a kilometre long.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: snaking their way through all of the dark and hidden
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: parts of the ship, or thick growth hanging from the
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: ceiling like a dense jungle. Walking through the ship now,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: you'd think it to be some kind of terrarium and
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: the crew just a part of some larger experiment. Everywhere
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: you look, there's green. There are tendrils with dark purple
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: flowers and thick leaves, hanging from the ceilings, curling down
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: the walls, running along the floors and around tables and chairs.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: The inside of the ship is damp, the way a
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: greenhouse gets. It's what happens when there's more plant life
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: than any other in an enclosed space. It's beautiful in
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: its own way, watching this plant grow untamed. It's wild
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: and raw. so unlike what we've come to expect from
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: travelling through space. But the greatest problem is, we were right.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: We were right about the hypnos flower. We were so
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: incredibly right. It works, and I have no idea how
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: to make it stop. When the first few crew members
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: fell asleep, we didn't realise they'd done so. as it
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: had already come time for them to finish their shifts
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: and rest. But then this morning, a security officer and
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: a member of the science crew didn't report for their shifts.
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: They were found still in their quarters, tucked away snugly
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: under their sheets, fast asleep. I was called to check
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: on them, but nothing I did could wake them up.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: Throughout the day, more crew members from the night shift
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: fell into the same deep sleep. We didn't alert the
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: rest of the crew immediately, but the captain and first
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: officer knew. By afternoon, all of the first officers had
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: been told. Then we called an emergency meeting. Roe was there,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: as was Jacks. Ro had just finished eating a late
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: meal in the mess hall when we called her in.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: She said she had been feeling unusually tired as she
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: worked late, uncoiling the plant from a wiring bundle. I
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: told her then to try and stay awake. She fell
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: asleep at the end of the meeting. She laid her
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: head down on the table, despite our protests. It was
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: as though she were overtaken by the uncontrollable need to sleep.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: We moved her from the table to sickbay. She's laying
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: on one of the medical beds in the corner here now.
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: I brought her a pillow and some blankets and have
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: been keeping watch over her ever since, monitoring her for
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: any changes. But there haven't been any. She's perfectly safe.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: and sleeping like I've never seen anyone sleep before. This morning,
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: Jax also didn't report for her shift. We found her
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: in her quarters too, with her head on the table
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: in her living area. She'd been writing in a journal
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: in an attempt to stay awake, but sleep, it seems,
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: won out. It makes sense that Roe and Jax were
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: two of the first to fall under the Hypnos flower's spell.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: They had both been in close contact with it early on,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: and had spent a lot of time working hands-on with
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: the plant. The two crew who first succumbed were also
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: on the away team. By late afternoon today, more than
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: half the crew had fallen asleep. Some laid down in
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: the hallways and corridors, others made it to their quarters.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: Still more fell asleep at the tables in the mess hall,
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: at their stations on the bridge, and at their workspaces
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: around the ship. We moved as many of them as
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: we could to their beds, but after a while, it
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: became too much to do. We made sure they were
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: all comfortable where they were, and focused our attention... on
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: the Hypnos flower. The ship monitors the vital signs of
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: all the crew members at all times. I've been checking
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: the stats every 15 minutes. About an hour ago, the
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: captain and first officer fell asleep. Now, I'm the only
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: one left who's still awake. It's like we've become a
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: ghost ship. Naturally, I've been going over what went wrong.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: What did we miss? When the away team collected the
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: sample on the surface of Dawn, I know they were careful,
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: but there must have been something there in its natural
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: environment that kept the plant in check. It may have
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: been something about the atmosphere, but I don't think so.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: I've gone over all the readings from the planet's surface
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: and tested small portions of the vine in atmospherically controlled containers.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: but it doesn't make a difference. My guess is it
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: was something far more simple. I think there must have
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: been something on the surface of the planet that used
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: the vine as a food source. Maybe it was some
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: kind of animal or insect, perhaps. That would make sense.
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: If we brought the vine here, but failed to bring
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: the kind of creature that somehow prevents its unrestrained growth,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: it would account for why we can't get it to
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: stop now. It's a classic situation of an invasive plant species.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: When brought to a new environment, without other species evolved
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: to keep it in check, the plant takes over. At least,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: that's my best theory at this point in time. I'm
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: tagging this log I'm recording with emergency priority. My hope
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: is that if we fail to maintain communication with Rynad Station,
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: they'll send out a search party and find us here.
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: If they replay my log, they'll have some understanding of
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: what came to pass on our ship. If only so
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: they can protect themselves before they too fall into a
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: deep and unwavering sleep. To anyone listening, if you can
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: travel to the surface of dawn, try and find what
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: subdues the hypnos flower. Figure out why it doesn't grow
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: so wildly there. I'm sure that's where you'll also find
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: the secret of how to wake us all up. The
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: other forms of life on dawn were not asleep, so
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: they must have some way of avoiding the hypnos flower's effects.
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: That's the other problem, you see. I have no idea
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: how to wake anyone up. I've tried a range of stimulants,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: electric stimulation, every means we know of. Nothing works. We're lucky,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: at least, that this is a safe part of the system.
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: There have never been accounts of anything bad happening here. Occasionally,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: trading ships pass through, but that's it. For that reason...
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: Anyone must also take great care in coming aboard the REM.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: The power of the hypnos flower lies in its pollen.
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: Anyone who comes aboard must take precautions. Under no circumstances
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: should they breathe the contaminated air. Full respirators must be
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: worn at all times while on board the REM. so
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: long as the hypnos plant is growing at its current rate.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: Despite all of this, I'm not worried. I know someone
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: will listen to our logs and find out what's happened here.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: They'll find the solutions, and administer whatever is needed to
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: wake us up again. And until then, we'll just have
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: had a nice long sleep. In a funny way, it's
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: what we all joke about needing. And now we have it.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: Everyone on board is certainly getting the good night's sleep
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: that they deserve. It's hard work on these missions. There's
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: something else I should mention. The captain was the last
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: person awake except for me. With her now asleep, full
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: control of the ship has now passed to me. I've
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: established emergency protocols for the ship. It will remain in
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: orbit until someone manually takes control of the helm with
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: the proper interstellar command codes. I've also set up protective
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: forcefields around all of the crew members, including me. Anyone
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: with the same command codes can deactivate them. I've put
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: a lock on our life support systems to keep them
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: functioning normally. I've also made sure the seniors' officers' logs
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: have all been tagged with emergency priority, like mine. They'll
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: begin playing automatically should the proper codes be entered. As
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: a final precaution, I've done something not everyone may agree with,
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: but I believe it's our best option. We have on
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: board the ship a SELEC model SLN-29 Android. Until now,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: the Android has been performing a number of tasks around
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: the ship, typically in spaces that are challenging for living
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: crew members to be in. But the SLN-29... is capable
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: of much more than that. It can do complex calculations
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: better than any living crew member. It's capable of advanced
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: analysis and could perform research with greater precision than even
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: I could. At least that's what testing environments have shown.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: These androids, though exceptional, have never been used in the
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: field for advanced human functioning activities. I've had the chance
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: to interact with the SLN-29 a few times. It has
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: a personality function with the ability to adapt and learn.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: That means it can actually learn to interact like a
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: living crew member. No one has ever really explored what
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: this means for the future of space travel, or for
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: these androids. They're still seen as machines in the eyes
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: of Interstellar Command. but I believe there's potential. That's why
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: I am now also transferring emergency command codes to the SLN-29.
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: I have instructed it not to move the ship from orbit,
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: but it will be able to take emergency action if
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: the need arises. I've also instructed it to keep watch
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: over the living crew members and make sure they're doing
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: all right. I've been yawning every few minutes and I
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: feel my eyelids growing heavy again. So heavy. I need
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: to stay awake but everything in me is calling for sleep.
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think I can keep myself awake much longer.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to finish up this log and send it.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: If anyone listens to this, send assistance immediately. The ship
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: should be fine on autopilot for a long time, but
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: with all of the crew asleep, we may be left
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: orbiting Dawn forever. And be careful with the hypnos flower.
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: It's more powerful than we ever imagined. This is Dr.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: Traylor signing off. Good night. Today is the fifth day
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: of the mission, and the only log that's come in
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: is from an android, SLN29. Now, let's begin with episode five.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: The log of SLN29. Mission. The Hypnos Conundrum. Day five.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: Everyone is asleep. Since 2100 hours on day four of
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: our journey, I have been in acting command of the
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: starship Rem. This is the first time in recorded history
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: that an android has been in acting command of a starship.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: I've noticed that humans and other living species place a
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: lot of value in what they call historic moments. It
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: is interesting to me especially as I'm learning to be
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: more and more like them. That's because of my programming.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: I am a Celic Android with an Alpha 2 personality system.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: It includes the most interactive info chip that's ever been
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: used in any Android. The chip allows for developmental ability,
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: meaning I can learn from those around me. I am
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: programmed to recognize mannerisms and speech patterns and adopt them
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: into my system. While I feel I've learned quite a
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: bit about how humans think and interact with their world,
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: there are a few concepts I am still trying to understand.
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: One of them is a joke. Humans seem to use
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: jokes when they want to make other humans smile and laugh.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: But the words included in a joke can be the
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: same words used in any other kind of sentence. And yet,
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: delivered at the right time, those benign sentences can make
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: other humans very happy. I would like to learn how
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: to tell a joke, as they say. Perhaps I can
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: ask a crew member to teach me. But that will
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: have to wait since all of the crew members on
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: board are asleep. The last person to fall asleep was Dr.
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: Marius Trelor. It was he who transferred the emergency command
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: codes to me. It was his final decision. It was
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: a logical decision. He was right to assume that I
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: am well suited to make appropriate choices for the welfare
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: of the sleeping crew I'm happy to report that everyone
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: is healthy and sleeping in optimal conditions. As an android,
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: I have more than double the strength and speed of
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: my human counterparts. I made the decision to move the
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: rest of the crew members that had fallen asleep in hallways,
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: the mess hall, and in all of the other places
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: around the ship back to their own quarters. Humans seem
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: to enjoy sleeping in beds, which strikes me as somewhat inefficient.
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: But for them to be comfortable, I felt it was
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: the right thing to do. I could have helped move
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: crew members to their quarters when they first started to
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: fall asleep, but nobody asked me to. I shall have
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: to remind them that in the future. They can ask
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: me to be of service outside the maintenance bays, Dr.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: Traylor instructed me to keep the REM in orbit around
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: the planet of Dawn, which I have done. It is
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: a logical thing to do, as Dawn is where the
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: Hypnos flower comes from. The Hypnos flower has been a
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: problem for this crew, and in order to solve a problem,
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: one should go back to the source. That is what
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: I did. Only time will tell if what I did worked.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: When the doctor transferred the command codes to me, I
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: was scrubbing the floors of one of our cargo bays.
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: The computer, which is integrated throughout the ship, informed me
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: that I was now in acting command. There was not
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: a position I ever expected to be in. I finished
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: my work in the cargo bay and then walked to
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: the bridge of the ship. I looked at dawn below
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: us in the viewscreens. It appears brown because of the
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: bolonite gas in the atmosphere, even though it is not
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: brown on the surface. I checked that we were holding
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: our orbit. I sat down in the capsule. chair. I'm
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: not sure if I'm allowed to do that, but as
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: the acting commander, it seemed appropriate. Every captain I've seen
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: sits in the captain's chair. And when the night shift
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: lieutenant takes over, he or she also sits in the
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: captain's chair. My observations are that it is a large chair,
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: and it is quite firm and comfortable. There wasn't much
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: to do in the captain's chair, though, so I got
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: up again. It seemed to me that there was a
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: problem that needed solving for things to return to normal,
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: and as the last crew member awake, it seemed it
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: was up to me to solve it. but I knew
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: I did not have the information I needed. I requested
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: that the computer replay all of the crew members' logs
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: that mentioned the hypnos flower. The computer keeps track of
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: words used in logs, so I knew it could pull
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: relevant recordings. There were a few logs that weren't particularly useful,
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: but some that proved to be. The lead science officer, Jacks,
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: recorded one soon after she returned from her away mission
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: to the planet's surface. She described the process of collecting
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: her sample of the hypnos flower, along with detailed descriptions
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: of the nearby surroundings and wildlife. She noted four small
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: greyish silver beetles, six small moth-like creatures, four whitish cream grubs,
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: and one small Fuzzy Violet Caterpillar The small fuzzy violet caterpillar,
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: as she described it, particularly caught my attention. Jack said
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: the caterpillar was, quote, making its way over a particularly
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: large knot in the vine, about 26 centimetres from the
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: sample end. No wildlife specimens were collected, end quote. It
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: may be important to mention here that I remember every
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: piece of dialogue I have ever heard, exactly as it
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: was said. I am also able to process speech at
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: 20 times the rate that humans can. It makes listening
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: to logs a much more efficient process for me than
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: for my fellow crew members. In describing her first impression
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: of the hypnos flower, Jack said, quote, Snaking around the
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: entrance of the first cave was a long, thick vine.
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: End quote. While she did not include any additional information
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: in that log, she did go into great detail in
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: another log she referenced in her recording. I went back
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: and reviewed that one as well. There was some useful
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: information about the wildlife, However, she also described 291 different
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: shades of purple in the second log. The log lasted
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: for three and a half hours. When she wakes up,
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: I plan to ask her why it was pertinent to
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: include descriptions of so many shades of purple. Lead engineer
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: Ronez also mentioned the hypnos flower in her logs. She
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: sounded very unhappy about the plant being on board the ship.
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: I can understand why she would express that kind of displeasure.
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: The plant caused a lot of problems that she was
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: tasked with fixing. There were a couple of things she
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: said in her log that I thought were useful. First,
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: she said, quote, Nobody informed me the flower grows like
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: a weed. End quote. This is interesting, as 89.7% of
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: plants classified as weeds in the known galaxy are the
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: main food source for at least one type of life form,
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: if not more. Weeds are food. She also said, quote,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: I have tried clipping the tendrils back and removing the
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: pieces from the wiring, but every time I cut away
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: the plant, new growth immediately sprouts from the parts I cut,
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: both on the main part of the plant and on
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: the clipping. So basically, I just have two vines instead
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: of one, and they're both growing even faster than before.
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: End quote. This proved to be useful information, especially combined
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: with what Jax had logged previously. Jax had noted that
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: there was only a single vine in its natural habitat.
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: On the ship, it grew unrestrained. Finally, I reviewed the
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: final log of Dr. Traylor. He noted, quote, When the
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: away team collected the sample on the surface of Dawn,
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: I know they were careful, but there must have been
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: something there in its natural environment that kept the plant
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: in check. End quote. He went on to say that
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: he did not think it was something about the atmosphere.
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Based on the composition of Dawn's atmosphere, I believe Dr.
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: Traylor was correct. Putting together the information gathered from each
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: of these three crew members and my own understanding of
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: galactic botany and ecosystems management, The logical conclusion is as follows.
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: In the natural habitat of the hypnos flower, there is
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: likely some kind of wildlife that spends much of its
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: time consuming the vine as food, thereby keeping the plant
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: from growing unrestrained and overtaking the rest of the surrounding environment.
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: This is the conclusion that led me down to the
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: surface of Dawn I was not sure if the captain
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: would approve of me taking one of the smaller ships
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: to dawn, but as I am now the acting captain,
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: I decided to grant myself permission. Command codes are for
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: one to make command decisions and to use one's best judgment.
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: I have always tried to use my best judgment, along
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: with my understanding of what the crew would want too.
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: My programming includes ship piloting, so I was able to
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: manoeuvre down to the landing site without a problem. I
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: chose to land in the same small clearing as the
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: first away team. I then followed the crew's trail through
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: the trees to the entrance of the cave. Humans and
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: Argolians like Jacks often can't perceive trails they leave behind.
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: for my optical sensors can detect even small disturbances to
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: the natural environment. Once I reached the entrance of the cave,
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: I found the vine, just as Jax had described. I
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: paused for a while and simply observed the vine in
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: its natural habitat. There were several other plant and insect
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: species around, as well as a pleasant hum in the
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: cave as the wind blew outside Based on Jax's observations,
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: I was able to confirm that the vine was in
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: largely the same condition as when the sample was collected.
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: The same species in the area were also generally in
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: a similar condition except for one. This time, instead of
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: one fuzzy purple caterpillar, there were 32 of them. Based
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: on these circumstances... I suspect that this fuzzy purple caterpillar
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: was the species that fed on the hypnos plant and
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: kept it in check here on dawn. I carefully collected
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: a small section of the vine with twelve of the
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: caterpillars on it and placed it in a live specimen tube.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: I put the tube into my rucksack and went back
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: to the shuttle, which I piloted up to the rem,
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: Once I docked the shuttle, I brought the specimen tube
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: into the science lab. It's important to note the vine
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: in the specimen tube had not grown at all during
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: the flight, despite being cut on one end. Ronez mentioned
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: in her logs that cut ends grow faster than the
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: leading edge of the vine. But two of the caterpillars
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: had migrated to the cut end and were nibbling it back.
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: Then I did something that would not typically be considered
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: standard procedure, but it seemed logical to act outside standard
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: procedure in this particular instance. So I released the caterpillars. Specifically,
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: I placed two caterpillars each on six different portions of
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: the vine in the science lab. I monitored their movements closely.
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: The caterpillars consumed half their body weight in vine every minute.
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: As they ate, they gave off a fine substance. It
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: was almost like a mist. Upon further analysis, I found
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: the mist had stimulant properties. The hypnos flower puts people
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: to sleep, and if my molecular analysis is correct, the
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: caterpillar stimulant should counteract the effects. I also observed that
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: in the places the caterpillars ate, the vine actually became
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: greener and firmer while also slower to grow. There must
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: be something in their saliva that provides nutrients to the plant,
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: keeping it healthy but also reducing its overall growth. It's
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: as though the plant grows more quickly without the caterpillars
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: in an effort to cover as much space as possible
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: before it cannot anymore. This appears to be a symbiotic
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: relationship between the caterpillars and the plant. The vine is
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: food for the caterpillars. They keep the plant from growing
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: so fast it overtakes the rest of its environment. They,
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: in turn, nourish the plant and keep it strong. And,
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: put together, they have no sleep-inducing or stimulant effect. It
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: has now been several hours since I brought the caterpillars
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: on board the REM. The total area covered by the
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: vines has been reduced by one-eighth. Six of the crew
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: members sleeping in quarters where the vine has been eaten
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: have begun to stir. They are not awake, but they
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: are moving slightly in their sleep. I am hopeful they
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: will wake up again. though I'm unsure of how long
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: that process will take. I will continue to monitor their progress,
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 1: as well as that of the caterpillars and vines. I
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: will continue to record logs as needed, updating my findings.
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: I would like to record something unrelated to the hypnos
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: flower now. I am appreciative of the fact that Dr.
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: Traylor chose to trust me with the responsibility of of
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: holding the command codes. Many view androids in the same
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: way they view other technology, no more than a tool
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: to serve a specific purpose. But my personality chip has
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: made me curious about my fellow crew members. I want
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: to learn from them, to learn about them. It is
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: interesting to hear them speak, and to better understand how
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: and why they make certain decisions. I know that for Dr. Trelor,
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: it was an unsure thing to hand over the welfare
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: of the ship and the crew to an android. It
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: has never been done before. It was, as the humans
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: call it, a historic moment. Perhaps I'm beginning to understand
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: why historic moments mean so much to humans. They show
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: a departure from logic at times, while at other times
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: they show people acting logically when logic has otherwise been abandoned.
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: But historic moments always indicate a departure from prior norms.
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: I have been learning how to process the information I've
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: gathered from my crew members, but now I can say
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: that I think I'm grateful. I am grateful for the
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: chance to show what I can do. I'm grateful to
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: challenge myself. I'm grateful that someone saw potential in me.
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: I would like this noted in my log. I understand
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: that I will likely return to my regular duties once
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: the crew wakes up. I would like to thank Dr.
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: Traylor for this chance to try something new. if even
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: for just a day or two. This is SLN29 signing out.
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: Good night. Today is the sixth and last day of
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: the mission. I've just received the log of First Officer
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: Doran Farrell, Now, let's begin with the final episode in
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: this series. The log of First Officer Dorian Farrell. Mission?
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: The Hypnos Conundrum. Day 6. What an adventure this has been.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: I've just returned from a personal meeting with the Interstellar
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: Command Council. The captain is still in there with them.
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: They should have a decision soon. Captain Garrick said she'd
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: ping me directly the minute they announce it. So it's
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: just wait and see for now. This decision could change
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: the future for androids on starships. I'm hoping they'll make
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: the right one. But I guess I should back up.
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: I haven't recorded a log since we all woke up.
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 1: It's been quite a day. So I should explain what's
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: been happening on the REM for the last several days.
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: It all started when we sent an away team down
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: to the surface of Dawn on a special mission to
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: locate the fabled Hypnos flower. It was the flower Interstellar
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: Command thought would hold the final key to deep space travel.
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: They thought it would allow people to fall into a
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: deep sleep. There would be no aging if the flower
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: could be combined with the use of a cryo-chamber. which
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: reduces a person's body temperature and puts them into a
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: kind of stasis. Well, it turns out they were right.
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: The hypnos flower does do that. It does it better
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: than any of us ever expected. It's the most powerful
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: sleep-inducing substance you could imagine. And let me tell you,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: the sleep it provides is like nothing I've ever experienced.
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: The away team found the flower and brought back a sample.
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: The problem was, they hadn't completely understood how the plant
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 1: exists in its natural habitat. So when they came back
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: to the ship, the flower grew like crazy. It sent
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: vines and tendrils all through the ventilation tubes and every
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: conduit on this ship. It grew down every hallway, and
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: into every set of sleeping quarters. It went into the
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: galley and onto the bridge, where it curled its vines
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: up every chair and console. And it didn't even stop there.
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: It kept growing and growing, until vines were hanging from
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: the ceiling and covering the walls. It was like a jungle.
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: But that wasn't the worst of it. Because the flower
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: outgrew its sample case, It was no longer contained. That
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: meant everyone was eventually susceptible to the incredible power of
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: the hypnos flower. One by one, over the course of
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: about a day, every single living crew member on this
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: ship fell into a deep and restful sleep. The last
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: one awake was Dr. Marius Trelor. He's the ship's doctor.
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 1: He'd been working on experiments alongside Jax, our lead science officer,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: to develop a serum from the flower that could be
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 1: used on starships for deep space travel. So he and
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: Jax knew the most about the flower, but even they
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: couldn't predict what would happen when we brought it on board.
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: Right before Dr. Traylor fell asleep, he transferred the emergency
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: command codes to the last crew member standing That was
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: our SELIC model SLN29 android. There's some history here you
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: should know. Interstellar Command didn't start allowing androids to be
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: placed on starships until about 50 years ago. At that point,
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: their use was highly regulated, and they were only allowed
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: to perform certain tasks. As Android technology has advanced over
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: the years, they've been given more and more responsibilities, but
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: they still haven't been given full crew privileges the way
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: all human, Argolian and other species are. They are still
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: in a murky category for interstellar command. Are androids beings?
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: Are they lifeforms? Are they machines? Should they be given
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: autonomy and privileges? There hadn't been a consensus. And most importantly,
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: should they be allowed to ascend the ranks of Starship
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: crews the way any other crew member can? Right now,
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: they can be listed as crew, but they're not given
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: any official ranking. They can't be commissioned officers. That means
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: they're also limited in what they can actually do aboard
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: a Starship. They can clean maintenance bays and help out
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: with experiments in the science labs, for example. but they
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: can't make command decisions, pilot the ship, or lead away teams. Now,
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: because of the heroic efforts of our very own SLN-29,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping that will change. When Dr. Trelor gave our
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: android the command codes, it did what any other crew
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: member would do. It went above and beyond the call
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 1: of duty. and not only protected everyone on the ship,
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: but found a cure for all of us. SLN-29 took
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: a shuttle back down to the surface of Dawn and
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: discovered that the hypnos flower has a natural predator, if
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: you will. There's a small caterpillar that lives in a
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: symbiotic relationship with it. It eats the vines and keeps
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: them from growing wildly. but also provides the flower with
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: the nutrients it needs to survive. SLN 29 brought the
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: caterpillars back up to the ship and let them loose
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: to eat the vines on board. Within a day they'd
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: done what they do in the wild, and as a result,
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: everyone on the ship woke up from their sleep. I
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: was one of the first to awaken. I remember opening
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: my eyes. Very slowly, I saw light begin to creep
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: in around the edges of my vision. I remember blinking
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 1: gently and watching the pictures in front of me adjust
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: and come into focus. It was an extremely slow awakening.
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: I saw the light beside my bed first. Then I
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: saw the book I had been reading however many days before.
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: I had placed a bookmark in it to mark the
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: spot where I'd stopped. Then I saw a shirt hanging
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: over the back of my chair and behind it the
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: door to my quarters, which was shut. It wasn't groggy, exactly,
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: but I didn't know how much time had passed. It
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: could have been hours or days or weeks or months.
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: It was as though I had fallen out of time.
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: or slept in a space where time was meaningless. I
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: felt completely rested. I wasn't tired in the slightest. It
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: was as though I'd gone to bed for a nap
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: and woke up feeling like I'd had the best night's
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: sleep of my life. But then I realised I'd never
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: intended to fall asleep. I remembered what we'd been doing
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: just before. I'd been walking to the bridge to tell
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: the captain that the science officers hadn't made any progress
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: on finding a remedy for the hypnos flower. I remember
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: getting to the waiting area just outside the bridge when
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: I became overwhelmingly tired. I felt my eyelids begin to
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: droop and my muscles grow heavy. I needed to sit
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: down right away. So I did. I remembered sitting down
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: in a chair just outside the door to the bridge.
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: And then I was out like a light. That's where
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: my memory ends. I didn't remember getting to my quarters
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: or tucking the sheets up to my chin. I didn't
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: remember dimming the lights or closing the door. I didn't
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: remember falling asleep. When I realised all this, I got
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: up as quickly as I could and found I was
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: still dressed in my uniform. So, clearly my memory was
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: correct that I hadn't meant to go to sleep. I
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: left my quarters and headed for the bridge. The hallways
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: were eerily silent. Usually they're bustling with activity as crew
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: members walk from the engine room to the mess hall
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: and back, or work on control panels in the corridors.
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: But this time, there was nothing. I didn't pass a
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: single person on my way to the bridge. When I
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: got there, I found one lonely ensign working at the helm.
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: She seemed very relieved to have a senior officer arrive.
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: I remember back when I was an ensign. It would
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: have been exciting at first to be the only one
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: on the bridge, until realizing you have no idea what
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: to do. I immediately asked where the captain was. The
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: unsigned said she didn't know and hadn't seen her since
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: she woke up and came to the bridge. That's when
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: I realized what must have happened. Now, you might think
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: it's strange that I hadn't figured it out sooner, but
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: that's because the ship looked normal. Remember, it had been
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: covered in vines and flowers before I'd fallen asleep. Now,
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: it just looked, mostly, like a normal ship. There were
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: a few stray leaves here and there on the ground,
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: but the jungle that had previously covered everything was now gone.
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: I realized at that moment that something must have happened
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: while all of us were asleep. Someone, or something, must
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: have solved our hypnos conundrum. I tapped into the communication
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: systems and made a ship-wide call to any and all
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: crew members who might be awake. There was no telling
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: how many of us were still asleep, so I had
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: to find out for myself. The only response I got
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 1: was from our very own SLN-29. It answered my call
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 1: and just said simply, SLN-29 is here and ready for orders.
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: was down in the engine room doing routine maintenance that
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: would usually have been handled by the engine room crew
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: under the orders of Ronez but they were all still asleep.
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: I went down to the engine room and found SLN
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: 29 there just about to put the panel back on
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 1: one of the control boards. I asked how it ended
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: up working here as I'd only seen it before in
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: the cargo bays And that's when it told me its story.
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: SLN-29 had been the only crew member to remain awake
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: throughout the whole ordeal. That makes sense for an android.
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: But here's the surprise. Nobody on the crew had ever
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: considered that to be a possibility. We'd all overlooked the
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: fact that no matter what happened to the rest of us,
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: there would be one crew member who would always remain unaffected.
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: And that was our android, SLN29. It told me about
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: receiving the command codes from Dr. Trelor. Well done, Doctor.
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: Let me commend that decision of yours here in my log.
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: Then it made command decisions. I noticed it was nervous
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: to tell me that. I wouldn't normally describe an android
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: as being capable of feeling nervous. But SLN29 definitely seemed
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 1: to hesitate before telling the full tale. It's clearly learning
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: human mannerisms. It had replayed all our logs and put
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: together the pieces of the puzzle to find a solution.
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: And on top of that, it had gone out of
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: its way to ensure the entire living crew was taken
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 1: care of as we slept. Then it said something I'll
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: always remember. SLN29 said, I hope I've done what you
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: expected of me. And in that moment, I realized this
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: android deserved an award. SLN29 had done what we'd expected
• 1:47:52
  Speaker 1: and so much more. We'd never raised our expectations of
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: this crew member as high as we should have. SLN
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: 29 has shown itself capable of understanding and compassion, of
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: clear-headed thinking and excellent decision-making. It's proven beyond a shadow
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: of a doubt that it deserves to be a full
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 1: member of this crew. And that's what I and the
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: captain now hope to do. Once the whole crew had
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: returned from their slumber, we set our course back to
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: Rynad Station and immediately scheduled a meeting with the Interstellar
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: Command Council. They're the body that makes all of the
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: highest level decisions for the Starship fleet. In our meeting,
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: Captain Garrick and I told the Council everything that SLN-29
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: had done while we'd all been asleep. We told them
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: that these new androids were clearly capable of feeling empathy
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the living crew. Even if they
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: still have more to learn, which they do, they will
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: do it with ease. And their ability to understand logic
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 1: and make rational decisions often surpasses that of other species,
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: I believe. The council listened attentively. Some had questions that
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: we tried our best to answer. Others seemed to be
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: on board with our suggestion instantly. I think the question
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: of androids and their place in our starship society has
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: been something many people have thought about for a long time.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: Perhaps now, it's just coming into focus in a new way,
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: with actual proof of their capabilities. Now, I've just received
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: word from Captain Garrick. The decision is in. From this
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: day on, Androids will be allowed to be commissioned officers
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: on starships in interstellar command. It was a unanimous decision,
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: the captain said. SLN-29 had acted with valour and honour
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: and should be commended. How fantastic. On our way back
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: to Reinhardt Station from Dorne, I spoke with SLN-29 about
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: the meeting Captain Garrick and I scheduled, and our hope
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: to have it recognised as a crew member by the ICC.
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: It said something quite unexpected in response. If it was
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: to become a full-fledged member of the crew, it should
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: have a proper name. After all, there are dozens of
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: SELIC model SLN-29s out there in the galaxies. But it
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: was the one who handled the hypnos flower problem. It
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 1: was the one who, for many hours, commanded the Starship Rem.
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: It was the one who saw its crew home safely.
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: I said, sure, if ICC grants our request, we can
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: give you a proper name. And I asked it what
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: it would want to be called. It thought about my
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: question for a few minutes and then responded. It's an
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: SLN model. So how about the name Sloan? It's the
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: closest thing to SLN, but with an individual flair. Sloan
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: it is. But there's more. Not only will crew member
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: Sloan be on par with the others on board, But
• 1:52:00
  Speaker 1: the Council also decided to give Sloan a rank. So
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Starship Rem, Ensign Sloan. What a historic
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: moment for androids. And thanks to Ensign Sloan, it's also
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: a historic moment for space travel. On our ride back
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: from Dawn, Jax and Dr. Trelor were able to prepare
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: a serum from the hypnos flower. It will need proper
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: testing and perhaps some adjustments before it's ready for interstellar use.
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: But without a doubt, it's fair to say mission accomplished.
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: And what a mission it's been. This is First Officer
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 1: Doran Farrell signing off. Good night. Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you.