The Late Afternoon Region

[Tachyon 0]

“The Late Afternoon Region”

September 2, 2157

Lieutenant Dave Grey

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Join us, if you will, for a tale that will challenge your perceptions of this world, shaking the very foundations of how you interpret the nature of reality.

 

Dave Grey, a mild-mannered madman and scientist aboard a starship known as Challenger, is experiencing something extraordinary. He has gone one day without a single drop of tea.*

 

In slightly less than a minute and twenty-nine seconds, the Universe, as you know it, will change forever. Dave Grey is about to access the sensor logs recorded by an escape pod from the ill-fated Carnival Grandeur. With this simple act he will forever alter his destiny and that of everyone else around him.

 

No. Pressure.

 

“Hmm. 'Warning: Opening this unit voids warranty. Risk of electric shock',” read Dave. He looked around. “Well I live in a big metal box myself. If I'm going to get shocked, I think it would have happened by now.” This logic seemed irrefutable to the scientist**, so he opened the back of the unit and removed the data module.

 

Once interfaced with Challenger's computer, the module chirped happily and began to spill its data. It would take some time, so Dave went to the mess hall for a cup of tea. He returned, tea in hand, just as the data dump finished.

 

The screen began to scroll through the sensor logs. Dave was about to sit down when one entry caught his eye. He blinked, read it again, spit out his tea—and fell on the floor, having missed the chair.

 

Dave pulled himself to his feet and lowered himself into the chair. He scrolled back through the logs and read the entry again, praying he had been mistaken. Then he shook his head. “I hate being the messenger. One of these days someone is going to shoot me.” He glanced downward.

 

His worst fears were confirmed: his tea cup was broken.

 

Nothing would ever be the same again.

 

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* Nothing like super-heated infusion of free-radicals and tannin to get the synapses going.

** Admittedly that was never his strong point.