Day 1

One of the things that they insisted on was our keeping a journal. I have never been a great writer and seldom can I think up the right stuff to put down, but I am getting paid and I might as well give it a go. Today is the first day of my hyper-sleep break. Turns out a human being cannot be physically sleep for more than a few weeks at a time. In that time however their need for nourishment is minimal and life support for a sleeping astronaut is very cheap.
I drew the straw of braking sleep first and here I am taking a shift while the other 5 sleep. Shifts go for a period of three days and then you crawl back into the pod, get hooked up by the waker and pass out for 15 days. This is how we conquer the galaxy I suppose. I just wish that the Alcubierre system really could go faster than light, this measly 70% will take us a while to get to the “class A” planet.
You can definitely tell that I am not as great a scientist as the others. If you read their logs it will be easy to see. I am the defense tactics and hands on mechanics man. When we get to the planet I’ll be landing this baby, and then taking out the rover to explore and collect. I am a machinery man. Air force F-15s and helicopters, baby, that was my gig on earth.
Anyway the therapy issued by the machines while in hyper-sleep seems to be working just fine. My muscles feel good and strong and the weightlessness has not really seemed to affect me much as of now. I only underwent the sleep for a few days after liftoff though so we will see how Mira is when she comes out in three days. The astronaut food is terrible by earth standards but it is edible and I haven’t had any problems digesting. All systems are a go as they say.

Day 3
Mira hasn’t woken up yet. The system was supposed to do it automatically an hour ago. Just logging it for the records, but I am sure there is simply an error in the computer schedule. I will try to override the pod computer in a few hours if it doesn’t let her out. They should have put windows on those things; I don’t like staring at that silver, faceless coffin.
The manual override is not working. I am getting a little nervous. If the damned pods don’t let them out I’ll be stuck for a few years on my own.. 5 years to Alpha Centauri. That does not appeal to me. I don’t know how these pods work. I do not know how to initiate the signals back to earth. Above all I do not know how long I can survive in zero g.
I am sure the computer will kick in though, this is a 600billion dollar project, it cannot fail. I have complete faith in the NASA people.
Day 5
Now I am worried. Mira’s pod began to make some strange noises. Not exactly mechanical either. I stood by it almost all day yesterday, its personal interface would not respond to any of my commands. I swear I could hear her. She was yelling for me. No… it was more of a scream, pleading. I could not make it out, the coffins mute everything to a muffle, it could not have been mechanical though…
The system is supposes to be automatic, I do not understand it. It was revolutionary; it was to open up the galaxy. I will keep trying to override the system.
Day 9
Joe’s pod opened today. He was dead. His fingertips were all bloody from scratching the coffin’s lid, and all his tubes were pulled out and ripped apart. His eyes still had a wild and terrorized look in them. Never have I seen eyes like that. They were not… human. I closed the pod when I was certain he was gone. There was no pulse, no breath, and he was cold and rigid.
Mira’s pod hasn’t stopped making those weird high pitched “screams.” I don’t know what it is but it must be mechanical. She can’t possibly be screaming for so long. It doesn’t stop.
I am starting to feel tired. Even when I sleep ten hours my muscles seem to ache. There are no means of exercise on the ship, the therapy in the pods was supposed to take care of that.


Day 12

I didn’t go into the pod room today. I have it locked from the outside and I blocked the door with some wire piping through the handles. I am scared.

I woke up to frenzied screaming. It would not stop. It was Mira’s scream, but it was added to by another deeper scream. Robert’s pod must have opened, and somehow Mira’s must have too. The pod room is sealed and locked automatically, only accessible from the outside for airtight purposes. They should not be able to breathe in there let alone scream.

The pod room houses all the main computer systems. The switches to control air flow, lighting, and oxygen synthesis. If something should happen to the systems… well if there is life on that planet all they will find are a few dead humans.

Day18

The muffled screams have been added to. I am certain the last two pods opened today. The computer is all out of whack. It is almost mechanical and I swear it could be, if not for the slight pauses and variations in pitch. Sleep doesn’t help anymore and even if it did I cannot.
Day 30
I have the computer systems up and running. Though with what I have found I wish I hadn’t. I need to continue my observation and get a message off to Earth if I can. Maybe I can turn this thing back… if it’s not yet too late.
The system is not that difficult, I have control of the pod monitoring system and all the life support systems, though the hardware controls are still in the pod room, which means… they can get at them. No ill let earth know, then ill figure out what to do about them.
Day 32
Earth is not responding. I have sent signals to every base I could, and with the new system they should have responded within 24 hours. Something is wrong. This whole thing has gone wrong. I think I have gone wrong…I can’t think anymore. Sleep will not come, my muscles ache… the screaming the screaming!
Day 40
Oh god. Oh god. The monitor shows five of them. But Joe died. I felt his cold skin, I saw his crazed eyes! There are five of them and they went into the ceiling. The pods are excreting their gasses. I can see the room filling with hyper gas. I can see it!

The ceiling is moving. It is moving. I have the door blocked, I have it blocked. My head reels with the noise. The guttural noise that stabs my head again and again. I have sent to earth again. I have warned them. The Gas! The Gas! I cannot stop them now, the air-ducts go all through the ship. Somehow they know I am here, they want me, why! Why! Leave me alone! I have not done anything! Leave me alone! Lea

A hundred million eyes watch the screens as the alien ship glided into orbit, smoothly navigating around satellites and orbiting space junk. The same satellites announced to the all civilizations below that something had found them and that the ultimate question was answered, they were not alone. Or were they?