Alpha v Omega.
// log // u.n.s.polysci.div001.sci.unit00100033.log … Req.approved. Redactions.replaced. Success.DisplayToDevice (include:Metadata)
I agree with Nikolas. Our research upon the Obelisk proves that we will indeed send soldiers back in time. It does not mean that we should, but it means that, somehow, in the future, we already have. A bridge has already been crossed and there is no stopping events now.
The public has only been shown that one picture of the Obelisk… and for good reason. Working in Luna’s research labs, I’ve seen the stone myself. I can tell you… a shiver runs down your spine as you watch the names of soldiers being morphed, erased, and replaced, on a stone carved more than 300 million years ago. The past is changing. We are changing it.
Recruitment for these soldiers is beginning already… partially based upon the names appearing on the Obelisk. It’s an motley cast. The only thing certain is that this first groups of soldiers will be met with extreme hostility in our primordial past. They will hop back in time, plunge from the sky, and die in a war on our own world.. with our own world from 300 million years ago.
And the enemy, whoever they are… they are dangerous. Though it’s not publicized, we are finding cores near the Obelisk buried by our soldiers in that bygone epoch. We are rebuilding simulations now from the corrupted data… but the results, if true, are unsettling. They hint at genetic change. Some of the soldiers were… hardly human at the time of their death. As a scientist, I can read the data… this was not evolution. This was manipulation. The world of the past is trying to prevent the present from ever coming to be.
It’s… strange how existential threats simplify moral issues. Not one of the scientists here on Luna is working on academic pursuits any longer. Our species will survive only by eliminating this threat. That is our mission now. Our soldiers will only get there if my lab succeeds. And we will. The dwarves have offered to work with us to adapt our life pods with their arcane tech to jump our soldiers back. It will work. The obelisk is proof enough for me. My lab’s director returned yesterday from the peace talks above Terra between the six bipedal species. They agreed on a name for this mission. It could be worse. Alpha will be the -250mm timestamp. Obviously, we will be the Omega.
“end of entry”
Unit432000721.records.log
>>>Print{all.log}
…processing
// log // u.n.s.m.c.div432.mil.unit43200721.photo###
… Request… approved.
… Processing… image.scale.todevice
… Success.DisplayToDevice (include:Metadata)
tags [1, “hopcageshotforcherry.jpgxr”, declassified 2458:358.xxxx.xx, act.V.Adm.Griffin, sigonfile:yes, image:declassified, media:classified, imageloc:archive001.hopcorp, datestamp:-250,005,100.53; fieldempty.error: daterangeempty.error, timestamp:1846, alt:76.552, vector:(23,35,-227), unitredif:43200721]
endofentry
printnext?(y/n)
>>>y
// log // u.n.s.m.c.div432.mil unit43200721.misc.misc.transcription?qual=acceptable6&reliability=>acceptable
// date 2456:Terra272 // timecode 1015 localgrid 2315
[
Cherry, they say they’ll be sending these messages out before the hop… but I don’t exactly trust UNSMC to get the mail right. They might be wearing new uniforms, but the Neo tech still stinks of incompetence. So, I am saving a draft of this recording to my inbox too. I am sure you will find a way to get to it.
The Lunitarian old guard is telling us to keep our kit on us, quietly though, not making a fuss you know, until we are through the hop, until boots hit the dirt. I guess the lessons they learned from fighting outside the dome are getting passed on. Well. I’m listening. If it kept them alive on the gray, then it’s good enough for me. The kit will make it tight in the hop cage, but no tighter than a sleep pod. Man, you should hear those terrans complain. Big boned? Sure bud. At least this way I know I’ll have enough until I get to the supply drop or make friends with the locals. Time to put those soft skills to use.
I am thinking this wasn’t exactly my best decision ever. And I know you said it. You win this one. They have us watching the previous day’s hop as they go, ten at a time. I won’t lie… the nerves are getting to me… to all of us. Those dwarves from the asteroid, they can swear all they want to about how it works, how sitting on magic thrones and banging on their stupid anvils makes their space mountain so much better than a rocket… and how their high ups could prove that these hopcages worked just fine… but sometimes I want to take their surly beards and wrap it around their short little fat necks. Honey, I swear… if I had not seen those marks on that monolith myself, then I would swear that this time travel nonsense was some fever dream caused by a toxin, piped straight in the vents by RAM. But that damn monolith. It’s pretty hard to ignore your own handwriting. My brain is still trying to wrap itself around how I wrote that. Or when. I guess that’s something to look forward to.
When Buck was talking to us, this felt like the right thing. It felt good to be swept up in it. Going up against some ancient gits, owning them with modern tech? Sign me up. Better than the state of things before, I guess. I mean, around here, I’ve sitting next to terrans and gennies without worrying about getting a vibroblade in the back for a few measly credits, so I gets that’s a nice change of pace. But… when we were watching the Hopcages yesterday… those guys just straight up disappeared. Watching it… gives you a hollow feeling. Anyway, the needle gun they issued me… it feels good… it’s terran, but it works… I can tell it was used. Heck, maybe against us. I wish they gave us more ammo. Everyone is wishing it. You could not find enough credits around Sol to buy ammo from any one of us. I’m sure there will be more at the supply drops… but that feels like a long way from here. We watched 10 drops go out yesterday. It was nuts. Everyone was laughing and crying watching the supply drops get hopped back to who knows where… or when. Maybe to the squads from yesterday, maybe to us. Maybe some squad scheduled a hundred years after us. The dwarves running the cages won’t say. But all of us were excited to watch the drops going. Martians, venusians, us, terrans, everyone was celebrating and slapping each other on the back. Completely nuts. I should have vidded it for you.
Yep. Well. Our bunks have a view out on Terra. It is interesting to see old Europe beneath us. I never though I’d get this close. In the briefing they said we’d actually see the continents move backward during the hop. They gave us some anti-nausea tabs for motion sickness to knock us out, if we wanted it. I think I want to see it. Well. The others are headed to chow. I’ll record you another note in the morning before we hop.
K, Cherry. Love ya babe. See you soon.
]
endofentry
printnext?(y/n)
>>>y
// log // u.n.s.m.c.div432.mil unit43200721.official.dtech?qual=any6&reliability=>any
//date 2456:Terra:273 // timecode 0545 localgrid 1845
[
HopInit [2456:Terra:273:1845]
HopInsertTargDate [-250,005,100.53, “Mesozoic”, “Gryhwk”, verified]
HopInsertResultDate [+/- 0.00000412, “”, “”, unverified]
HopInsertTargLoc [1, NE_quad, “Fln”, verified]
HopInsertResultLoc [unknown, +/- 0.03111111, “”, unverified]
HopResult [1, “success”, confirmationrate:0.78]
UnitTextCommunicationCount [5, “words”, unverified, source:lithograph06610, method:classified];(refid[00432-0021.00007, tag:”artifact, unknown, priority, corruption3′])
UnitOtherCommunicationCount [61, verified, media:classified]
UnitImportance [8.3, “mission critical”, verified]
CurrentUnitStatus [1, “deceased”, unverified]
]
endofentry
endoflog
printnext?(y/n)
>>>y
Error3:Out of Range: “endoflog”
printnext?(y/n)
>>>y
Error3:Out of Range: “endoflog”
>>>