First Officer's Log

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

"My head is still killing me. According to the doctors, I suffered a concussion. Well, at least, this other body I'm sitting inside suffered a concussion. No one knows how, exactly, but considering how barbaric this ISS Challenger's crew appears in the logs, I assume that the 'other Elias' had something smashed over his head by a crewmate. Hell, that's not even out of the question back home; I *was* punched in the face by the medical chief my first day on Venture. In any event, the doctors have suggested that I avoid any strenuous activity, but I can't exactly be out of the job right now.

 

"We're deep in the heart of Terran Empire space on a mission given to us by the Tholians. Now I don't even know what the hell a Tholian is, but word is they look like oversized dilithium crystals with eyes, and I find this to at least be consistent with current circumstances. Apparently, they've captured the real, genuine, no-strings-or-agony-booths-attached Challenger, and they've got our real, genuine, concussion-free bodies in some kind of stasis. The fact that I'm millions of inter-dimensional kilometers away from my body and that some walking dilithium crystal can do whatever he wants with it disturbs me. But unless we play along with their asinine mission, we'll never be returned home.

 

"The plans submitted by science look good--overload Future-Ship's warp core and hax0r Palace-of-Evil's computer. Actually getting inside Future-Ship and Palace-of-Evil are the problems the Commodore and I have to work on. Our ticket appears to be none other than 'Prime Minister' Neptune Rex, an even more pompous version of our old operations officer. I wonder if there's actually a colony on Neptune in this reality and if Mr. Rex has actually been involved in the ruthless domination of its people. Wouldn't surprise me... but that's beside the point. This Rex is expecting some sort of 'gift' from us, and if we can figure out whatever the hell it is he's talking about, we may be able to buy passage to the Palace and Future-Ship.

 

"In completely unrelated news... I'm still wondering about the being of light I witnessed while dying in Sickbay. Granted, the combination of lethal doses of radiation and a concussion of 5.3 on the Richter scale has the potential to make someone a tad delusional. But there was a sense of familiarity with this being of light, as if it was something very near to me, that made it seem more than simple hallucination. I've never believed in angels, but I never believed in God before my apparent close encounter with Him last year. Recently, I'd been starting to believe that that encounter *was* just a product of all the stress that had been built up through the Challenger construction phase. But now there's this being of light, and the familiarity I felt conjured up the very same sensations I felt when God spoke to me. The 'angel' said something to me, but I can't quite recall what it was. My subpsyche is telling me it was either 'you can't die, fool' or 'don't worry, Elias, I'm protecting you'... an angel probably would have said the latter. I'm still not sure what to believe, but considering how high the odds are stacked against us on this mission I can find some comfort in the knowledge that an angel is watching over me."