The guys over at Dark Sky Entertainment are doing something cool to help stir up interest for their upcoming MMORTS: Beyond Protocol. This will come out every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks as a journal-style piece, so I will accompany each post with this same header to make sure you know what’s going on! So, here’s part 3:
So, you’ve had a bit more insight into the mind of the famous Captain Halidaes Jones, have you? Can you believe the story of “Avoid”? I’m bettin that’s in the readin just to show you, when you lead a group as well as she did, those in your command will pick up on every little thing. Choose your words and actions wisely. Moving on… I managed to find the rest of these journals, even though I had to fight a rusted door to get one of em… I still want to see your reaction when you’re done with one, so come get me. I won’t be far. The next one’s about Gifford McCray and his discovery.
The last entries in the journal of the missing Gifford McCray
June 28th, 1192 TE
It looks like I am finally making my way into the scientific community. My 3 day flight, that begins tomorrow, will take me to Avoid VI, the hub of research and development in the system. I am eager to get a look at the new shuttle that will be making the trip in such a short time. Two years ago, this same trip would have taken nearly a month, but with the myriad of research projects being conducted on VI, it seems the boundaries of feasibility are being pushed back. Hopefully I will be able to take part in that!
June 29th, 1192 TE
This craft is amazing, and comfortable! I find I can refine my thesis in peace while I recline. I know the pod is for my safety, because of the high velocity, but I prefer it to the cramped and noisy setting of public transportation I have used previously! They even give you a selection of monitors to see the stars as we travel.
June 30th, 1192 TE
This is incredible! I took a short break to just sit and ponder, and as we were flying, I noticed something much brighter than a star on one of the monitors. When I checked the included “Guide to Celestial Bodies” pamphlet, there was nothing in that direction relative to our current heading. I talked to the hostess, and she said she would mention it to the pilot. I also told her that I was a scientist and why I was headed to VI. She laughed, and said “Ok….” like most women do when I tell them that, but twenty minutes later, she opened my pod and told me to come to the control room! Apparently, what I saw has not been observed to date. When the shuttle crew tried probing it with their basic sensors, they could barely get any readings. What readings they did manage to take were extremely anomalous. I had a look at them and it almost seemed as though there were a whole at that point in space. I am hoping they let me have a more detailed look when we arrive at our destination.
July 15th, 1192 TE
I had to take a break from all of the excitement, to record what has been happening over the past couple weeks! As soon as we landed on Avoid VI, I was told to report, with the crew, to the one of the largest research facilities on the planet! For the most part we just waited outside of a room while a group of scientists talked for a few hours. When they let us in, one of the first things they asked me was what I thought it was, and I could not fight the urge to blurt out, “It is a worm hole! Right?” At that point I was told I could either be part of the project, or face a life of non scientific work. That was an easy choice. There were a lot of calls made, and much more theorizing, but now the expeditionary team leaves in 2 days. This time we will have more sophisticated observation and analysis equipment, which will hopefully be able to tell us, for sure what exactly this is!
July 18th, 1192 TE
After determining the bounds of the anomaly, we have been sitting just beyond the edge of it for some time now. The readings we are receiving have brought us to the conclusion that it is indeed a tear in normal space. Tomorrow we are going to start sending objects through and see how they interact. I was told we are starting with a piece of debris, then an automated probe, and if those are successful, we’ll send in a probe with some live cultures on it to see how they handle the strain.
July 19th, 1192 TE
This is absolutely amazing. The anomaly, now undoubtedly known as a “Worm Hole”, seems to be in a constant and stable state, regardless of whether something passes through it or not, and things certainly do pass through it, just like a door. The debris, the probe, and the cultures, all reached the other side completely unchanged, and the probes were able to return without a problem. Part of the routine that the first automated probe was designed to run had it take a star map. When our astronomer plotted that against our star map, he found that the tear leads to a neighboring system that has yet to be colonized. At least we assume so. We are not able to send or receive electromagnetic signals through the worm hole, mostly due to interference, but for the short time that the probes were on the other side, neither picked up any radio chatter. The rest of the team wants to stay here and conduct more tests, but I want to get out there and see for myself where this takes us!
July 21st, 1192 TE
I can’t believe it, they docked us! Apparently the scientific counsel thinks we need months of testing and cooperation with the military to actually send people through! When I heard that, something snapped. I’ve lived my life by the book until now, but I just can’t take it anymore. Regulation, bureaucracy, and blanket procedures, they’re all just in my way. I need to do something about this now!
July 25th, 1192 TE
I’ve been talking with some of the staff here, including a few of the military guys they sent with us on the last run. In total about 15 people said they’re in. We think we can grab one of those nice new shuttles, and get off of the base before anyone notices. It’s funny the type of information you can get just by asking the right people nicely. The plan goes down tomorrow.
July 28th, 1192 TE
My group and I can now say that we’ve been through a worm hole! I was amazed at how easily we took this ship, and now we’ve confirmed that the anomaly causes no immediate side effects. However, we don’t want to risk returning with our findings just yet. We are now on the other side and we seem to be picking up some extremely intermittent and encrypted transmissions. As a whole, the team is split on what to do, but we’ve all agreed that if we go back, we’ll never get a chance like this again. I think we’re going to investigate… I’ve decided to jettison this journal for now, along with some letters from the rest of the crew, so that if we don’t make it back, someone will know what happened to us. I’ve set the pod to emit a signal beacon after 20 days. My plan is to pick it up before then, but if you’re reading this, apparently things did not go according to plan… In which case: This has been the journal of Gifford McCray. Whether you be friend or foe, I have done all of this in the pursuit of science, and, no matter the outcome, I would do it all again!
-Gifford McCray 1168 TE – ?
