55 Mount Everest

As we approached the tallest mountain on Earth, I could see why the keepers chose this location for their base. With the exception of a few access roads and one bright red tent half way up the mountain, the entire area is very isolated.

At the Eastern base of the mountain, a large boulder rose up into the air and a brightly lit tunnel was revealed. We quickly entered the tunnel and the boulder noiselessly closed the entrance behind us.

The large central vault has a rough stone ceiling lined with natural stalactites and many lights from levitating lamps. The floor has many domed buildings of different sizes and colors. There are also three large square buildings and a in the very center there is a wide open space full of equipment.

After landing inside one of the domed buildings, keeper Melissa asked me to follow her. She said we were going directly to the main archive vault, where another keeper was waiting for us.

We entered an elevator that took us fifteen levels down into the main archive vault.

I could not help feeling awestruck from the experience of being here, in this very place, for the first time. I tried to take in the view by looking all around us; the many new sights, the many new sounds, and even the new smell of crisp clean air. I guess this is what tourists feel like when they visit unknown places for the first time.

54 Keeper Archives

Keepers move around in narrow crafts that look very much like the canoes used by humans on Earth. In fact, canoe is what keepers call their transport craft. However, unlike human canoes, keeper canoes can fly at very high speeds.

When we got into the canoe, keeper Melissa told me that we were going to the central keeper archives of planet Earth. This very special place is hidden deep beneath Mount Everest.

Since I am the first of my kind to be invited inside the ancient historical archives, I told keeper Melissa that I am very grateful for the honor; but since keepers say very little, I got no reply from her. They are not impolite. It is just their way.

Once we were on our way, keeper Melissa told me to make myself comfortable and that we should arrive in less than one hour. Being a historian and passionate bookworm, I am really looking forward to pour over the records that keepers have about Earth and the history of humans on this planet.

53 Keeper Melissa

Since we are going to remain here on Earth for while, I was officially assigned to assist keeper Melissa. My job will be to sort and then archive all the historical information about the work that keepers have been doing on Earth since the beginning of time. This enormous historical archive will then be uploaded onto our drone vessel's computer.

I was told that Keepers can live for a very, very long time. So I got curious and asked Keeper Melissa what her age is. Although she refuses to tell me her exact age, keeper Melissa told me that she has been on planet Earth since before the dinosaur experiment. She also explained that in the very beginning, the Earth's atmosphere was not quite suitable for people and the oxygen levels had to be artificially increased before any humans could even begin to develop.

There are many things  that I still don't understand about the keepers and it will be hard for me to learn all there is about them. It will be hard because, as far as I know, keepers don't seem eager to answer direct questions. For example, each time I ask keeper Melissa something, she always answers with another question. Eventually, her questions end up leading me to discover the answer I originally sought. However, this tedious process always tries my patience

I suppose that the first thing I need to do is learn how to have more patience. I will need a lot more of it working with keeper Melissa. That's  for sure.

52 Scarlett's Choice

Scarlett has chosen to become a veterinarian. Keeper Melissa tells me that this choice was very wise because practicing animal medicine is very well suited to Scarlett's character and personality. Furthermore, many of the future events lined up on Scarlett's destiny do revolve around this most noble profession.

I am intrigued by the true nature of the work being done by the keepers here on Earth and in all other inhabited planets. I realize that it would be beneficial for me to learn much more about what keepers do and how they do it all.

Brrzzzzz. Through direct thought communications link, commander Sarah informed me that she received a message from Secreat, our home planet.

One of our kind has been assigned to take navigator Jake's place. His name is Phil. However, we will have to remain without a navigator for about four years because Phil is currently engaged on an expeditionary mission in another galaxy. Additionally, we were asked not to take any more cargo missions without a navigator. This almost sounds like a vacation, but we still have to find something to do while we wait for Phil.

Commander Sarah will be joining the research team working on the acceletron drive engines. She hopes to become one of the test pilots for the new ships being tested.

In the mean time, I will continue working alongside the keepers on missions here on Earth. I will update my dairy as often as possible.

51 Who on Earth is Scarlett?

It has been some time since my last journal entry. There was plenty of time to write during the 19 uneventful days that took us to traverse the 20 light years between Techtron and Earth. However, strong feelings of depression have kept me from doing so.

Right. That brings me to today. We arrived on planet Earth yesterday and delivered the acceletron cargo.

Today, commander Sarah went out to look over several potential navigators to take Jake's place (big sigh),

I, on the other hand, have been ordered to assist one of the local keepers conduct a routine visit with someone called Scarlett S.

Scarlett is a member of the 26th generation originating from one historical embryo, which was implanted on planet Earth about 500 years ago.

Each time an embryo is introduced, the keepers continue to maintain a close watch over each generation that follows. The keepers have to guide, facilitate, and sometimes cajole these offspring in order to make the right things happen. This is how the historical significance of the embryo's bloodline is able to endure the passing of time for countless generations.

Our mission is to present Scarlett with only three possible career choices. But being a humble historian, I don't really know how this keeper mission stuff works.

All I know is that Scarlett is at the right age to choose her professional career. However, it is essential that the career chosen by Scarlett is one of the three being presented by the keeper. Otherwise, Scarlett's chosen destiny will never be fulfilled and the historical significance of her bloodline will be lost.

50 Acceletron Ore

Acceletron is a rare metal with very peculiar characteristics. Being a humble historian, I won't pretend to understand how this super-dense metal is used. But I do know a few interesting things about this so called "radio-inactive" metal.

First of all, acceletron is only found near the center of planet Techtron. There is no other known source for this ore in the Milky Way. One explanation for this is that there were extraordinary gravitational forces and unknown chemical elements during the formation of the planet. Techtronians believe that the hand of their Creator is responsible for placing acceletron in the heart of their planet.

Second, the metal is used as fuel for ultraluminar engines. In theory, these engines allow spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light. I don't know exactly how, but the ultraluminar engine allows a ship to temporarily become a black hole. This means that the ship can instantly travel and show up anywhere it wants to.

Third, ultraluminar travel technology is only experimental and requires very special equipment. Our kind is currently conducting research with this technology on planet Earth. Therefore, our mission is to land on Techtron and load three containers filled with acceletron ore and bring the cargo back to Earth.

49 Planet Techtron

Techtron home to the most advanced human civilization in the Milky Way galaxy. In part, this is a result of the fact that, compared to the humans of Earth, Techtronians had about 3,000 years head start.

As we approach Techtron's atmosphere, the first thing we see is a shiny silvery cloud formed by thousands and thousands of electronic satellites orbiting the planet. As we get closer, we clearly recognize five space stations that also orbit the planet.

We will be landing deep beneath the grey ocean on service station TO-12 . Commander Sarah tells me that we will be loading our drone with a full cargo of Acceletron ore. This is the raw material that was purchased by our superiors on Earth.

Once again, we must enter the planet undetected. Just as it is when we land on Earth, our need for secrecy among humans is merely done to avoid confusion and chaos. I never quite understood why humans can freely accept the existence of the Eldron, but they could never understand the existence of our kind.

In our experience, it is simply impossible to explain our existence to humans. We have tried many times in the past, but they have never truly believed or managed to understand. Each time we reveal ourselves to humans, their thoughts always turn to fairy tales. Each time we try to explain something about ourselves and what our purpose is, they make up their own stories based on whatever past experience they've had.

Some humans in their fright think that we must be evil and thus want to invade their planet and take whatever we want from them. Others believe that we are supernatural all powerful beings that watch over them. The truth is that we are simply guardians. Our role is neither to take nor to give. We simply watch the natural development of all things in the universe. This includes the galaxies, constellations, individual stars, planets, and any ecosystem that supports life. We consider all existence to be precious and irreplaceable. We watch all things over time as they develop in harmony. We call this watching the synergy of all things. We also guard against chaos to ensure that all things can flourish to their maximum potential. We call this, guarding against entropy.

It is very difficult for humans to understand this concept regarding our existence. That is why we gave up trying to explain and stopped showing ourselves to them a very long time ago.

48 Prenatal Intervention Procedure

Keeper Rebecca has told us that the only way to counter the spoilers plan and remove Gora's potential threat, is to conduct a prenatal intervention procedure in at least two babies about to be born somewhere nearby. She also told us  that keepers rarely conduct prenatal intervention procedures because they are very risky to both, baby and mother.

The procedure is risky because the genetic makeup of normal biological babies is not predisposed to withstand the electromagnetic radiation used to implant the historical vectors within various region of the brain. In the past, three out of ten babies have been born with mental disabilities. In addition, one out of five women have died before reaching full term. This is why keepers prefer to produce historical embryos that can easily withstand implantation of historical vectors. But as we all know, historical embryos require 500 years to produce.

Something else I learned was that the fetal intervention procedure must be carried out during the last trimester and involves several sessions inside an enclosed chamber that has strong electromagnets within it. The electromagnets' location is set right in front of the abdominal area of the expectant mother. It is via these magnets that the coded information is inserted directly onto the fetus' developing brain.

When they manage to find at least two pregnant women volunteers, who are willing to go through the risky procedure, the keepers will begin to predispose the fetuses with specific historical vectors that will give the babies certain tendencies which will awaken as the children mature and become adults. In this particular case, the idea is to predispose the babies for growing up with the ability to offset any damage caused by the adult that Gora Cynthia Havoc is expected to become.

After performing a quick search in the drone's database, I found that there are more than 100 babies on planet Techtron who meet the criteria we need. However, keeper Rebbecca found that only two of them qualify for the prenatal intervention procedure.

So, now we are bound for planet Techtron, where keeper Rebecca will try to recruit the two pregnant ladies that qualify. The odds are not great.

Our mission is to take keeper Rebbecca to Techtron. From there, she will take care of the rest. After that, we are going back to planet Earth. Since we lost navigator Jake, our superiors have asked us to return to Earth and wait until a new navigator can be assigned to our ship.

Incidentally, our superiors on Earth purchased some raw materials from Techtron and commander Sarah already contracted with planet Techtron officials to have us bring the cargo to Earth.

47 Judge Havoc's Baby

Keeper Rebecca has returned with disturbing news.

The spoilers implanted the stolen embryo within Cynthia Havoc, one of the most prominent local females. Tragically, Cynthia had complications and died only a few days after implantation. However the spoilers may have assisted doctors at the hospital and the premature baby was saved. The infant appears to be quite healthy and stable, but will have to remain in the incubator for several months.

Cynthia's surviving husband is Martin Havoc, the local chief judge in in charge of all tribunals in Havoc. He named the baby Gora Cynthia Havoc. Gora after his own mother and Cynthia after his diseased wife.

Although little Gora is only a few days old, the local keepers used some kind of detection device to determine that the baby has one very peculiar characteristic. Little Gora has an unnaturally strong telepathic ability.

Keeper Rebecca told us that if the telepathic ability is already strong enough to detect, then this power would become much more powerful as the infant matures. She thinks that in the future to come, the spoilers in charge of Gora intend to use her adult telepathic powers for something very evil indeed.

46 My 1,006th Birthday

Losing navigator Jake and dealing with all the other things that happened recently, I forgot that yesterday was my birthday. Commander Sarah reminded me of it today. She is making me wear the lantern helmet all day long. She said, "But it looks sooooo cute."

I think our tradition of wearing the lantern helmet should be banned. Besides, I look ridiculous wearing it. I guess that is the whole point: Making you look ridiculous on your birthday. Oh, well, I will humor her and wear it all day long. After all, it is my 1,006th birthday and Commander Sarah is the boss.

This morning we landed on planed Havoc. Most of the planet surface is a jungle filled with lush green vegetation. There is only one city on this planet. The city is surrounded by many farms and some industrial areas.

We landed on a service station hidden beneath the base of a mountain near the city.

Keeper Rebecca has asked us to stay inside the drone and wait a few hours for her. She is meeting with the local keepers in order to learn all she can about the stolen embryo that was brought to this planet. After that meeting, we expect to receive further instructions from her.

45 Eldron Rendezvouz

Lord Passivar told us that only a few Eldron ships managed to survive.

It was confirmed that the murderous invaders were Motrons and Mechanos from planet Dablos. Lord Passivar also told us that the invaders have adopted the name of their own planet and now call themselves the Dablos.

It appears that the two Eldron ships which had been seized on planet Dablos three weeks ago, were used by the Dablos to invade the Eldron home planet. The captured ships had been armed with weapons of war and used by the Dablos to travel to Cuevlar and attack all the orbiting planet Cuevlar.

Additionally, each of the ships had its ten standard cargo shuttles, which were now being used by the cunning Dablos as fighter vessels. The Dablos had also used the fighter vessel to land their invasion force on the Eldron home planet.

Commander Sarah asked how could these primitive creatures manage to navigate across the Novus system and reach Cuevlar on their own.

Lord Passivar explained that each Eldron ship has a homing beacon designed to easily bring the vessel back home in case of emergency. He believes that somehow the invaders activated the beacon and used it for their selfish malevolent purposes.

"Another major problem with the homing beacon", lord Passivar explained, "is that the exact location of every Eldron ship can be traced from the flight control center on Cuevlar. Sooner or later, the Dablos might learn how to use this tracker and then learn the whereabouts of all surviving Eldron ships."

Lord Passivar ordered his ship to continue in its flight plan towards the Novus System via black hole C-11. He also sent an emergency message ordering every remaining Eldron ship to rendezvous near planet Techtron. Once there, Lord Passivar and the other Eldron survivors will decide what to do next.

For our part, we have been asked to leave the Eldron ship as soon as possible and take keeper Rebecca to planet Havoc. We intend to do this as soon as we have entered the Novus System.

44 The Eldron Bane

"I repeat, this is an emergency transmission to all Eldron vessels: Do not try to come anywhere near Cuevlar. Our home planet has been invaded by hostile forces. Every Eldron citizen is being hunted down and killed on sight. Rescue is not possible. Invaders are too numerous to repel and they are well armed. Flee for your lives..."

This emergency transmission was being repeated over and over.

Commander Sarah and I were summoned to attend an emergency audience with Lord Passivar.

The Eldron leader told us that they received this most disturbing transmission while making preparations for the sling shot procedure with black hole C-11, en route to the Novus System.

43 Black Hole C-11

Today the Eldron ship is making preparations for the slingshot procedure around the second largest black hole in the Milky Way.

Commander Sarah and I are a bit nervous, but being mere passengers we have been asked to just sit back and enjoy the experience. Yeah, right.

If all goes well, we should enter the Novus system in just a few more days.

42 Pulvars Are No More

As I continue to read the Eldron archives, I continue to learn more about planet Dablos. However, some of this new information has shocked me and also made me very sad.

According to one of the most recent entries in the Eldron historical archive, there are no more Pulvars on planet Dablos. At least not any live ones.

The records state that Motrons and Makanos formed an alliance to massacre the Pulvars. By the end of the swift and ruthless massacre, the defenseless Pulvar had been exterminated. Every single Pulvar on planet Dablos was killed. The record filed by the local Eldron ambassador states that a very large number of the dead Pulvar had been processed and is currently being kept in several long term food storage facilities.

This is incredible. Inconceivable!

After the Pulvar massacre, the Eldron embassy was closed and all the Eldron tried to evacuate from planet Dablos. In addition, all Eldron ships were advised not to travel to Dablos. However, the warning came too late for the  two Eldron ships that were already orbiting the planet on  routine trading missions.

After the two orbiting Eldron ships begun sending cargo shuttles to the designated landing posts on Dablos, it was already too late and they were caught unaware. At that time, the Eldron embassy had been completely destroyed and, tragically, the Eldron ambassador and everyone with him had been swiftly eliminated.

The shuttles that landed were overtaken and all the Eldron crew were executed on the spot.

Surprisingly, the Motron and Makano somehow managed to learn how to operate the shuttles. After that, they used the Eldron cargo shuttles to attack and overrun the two orbiting cargo ships.

Some communication images retrieved remotely from the lost ships indicate that the Motron and Makano had installed powerful automatic weapons to the hull of the cargo shuttles, turning these peaceful vessels into makeshift fighter ships.

It is hard to believe that something like this could happen so suddenly. It is believed that the Motron and Makano had been planning this murderous action for some time. They had appeared to be far too primitive and not at all capable of carrying out such a cunning plan. Everyone underestimated the aggressive nature of these beings and never believed them capable of converting the peaceful Eldron technology into instruments of war.

This last report and images from the lost Eldron ships was recorded three weeks ago.

41 Creatures of Dablos

The Eldron historical archive is enormous. Before it can be merged into our encyclopedia, I will have to spend a long time sorting and cataloging the information.

Today I am learning many things about the three intelligent sentient species living on planet Dablos. The illustration above depicts the physical characteristics of all three of them.

First, Pulvars are peaceful vegetarian creatures who love music and art. They also reproduce in great numbers and comprise 60% of the population on planet Dablos. Unfortunately, the Pulvar are currently spending most of their time building primitive fortifications in order  to defend themselves from attack raids . It appears that they are systematically being targeted as a source of food.

Second, Motrons are driven by brute strength and have a very strict code of loyalty to their kin. They possess good skills for architecture and spend a lot of their time building fortified castles with tall towers. Additionally, Motrons are known to be insatiable carnivores. Their relentless taste for flesh has led to the extinction of many species of wildlife in planet Dablos. Worst of all, Motrons are conducting frequent killing raids on Pulvar villages whenever they need to restock their meat supply stores. Simply awful!

Finally, Makanos are very furtive and secretive in nature. They are the most intelligent sentient specie in Dablos. What stands out most about Makanos is that they are good at solving any kind of problem, regardless of complexity. Makanos are also carnivores and will hunt small animals, but they only do this in team competitions during an organized sport. Therefore, Makanos never hunt for food. Whenever they want meat on the menu, the Makano simply purchase the meat from the Motron.

40 Lord Passivar

Today we had an audience with the Eldron leader and captain of the merchant vessel. Lord Passivar greeted us and gave us the official welcome to his "travelling colony", as he called it.

Lord Passivar told us about the amenities that we could expect on board, including food and entertainment. He told us that the journey to Novus would take anywhere between 5 and 7 days.

With a ship as large as the Eldron vessel, it is impossible to control both time and space compression. If one tries to control the exact time of arrival, the ship could end up quite far from the intended destination. So it is best to be sure of the exact location and simply guess the time that it will take for the ship to get there.

I am very exited because Lord Passivar granted me access to their entire historical archives. I will be able to add all of the Eldron archives to the historical section of the encyclopedia on board our drone vessel.

Keeper Rebecca was asked to stay behind for a private meeting with Lord Passivar. Commander Sarah told me that the Eldron leader is most likely going to ask her questions about the stolen embryo and what the Keepers plan to do next.

39 The Novus System

Today we started our journey towards the Novus System.

Novus is a twin star planetary system. It is very unusual because, even though it only has six planets, the system hosts four planets capable of sustaining life.

The six planets planets in the Novus System are called, Techtron, Dablos, Exaron, Tempar, Cuevlar, and Havoc.

Planet Techtron is a highly evolved human planet in terms of technology and social structure. This is where the Eldron merchant vessel is headed.

Dablos is a fairly primitive place with three different non-human species that are currently battling for supremacy. I know almost nothing about this unusual planet, but the Eldron might be able to teach me a great deal about the place and its inhabitants. The Eldron must have a some recorded history of these places in their archives and I hope to get access to them during the trip.

Exaron is a mass of hot gases and boiling seas. Not much more to say about that hostile place.

Tempar is believed to be a solid rock covered in ice. I learned that that the ice is being mined by Techtron to replenish their water supply, as needed.

Cuevlar is the Eldron's home planet.

Havoc is the place where the spoilers took the stolen embryo. That is where we are taking keeper Rebecca.

38 New Flight Plan

Keeper Rebecca has negotiated passage for all of us to travel with the Eldron. However, it is not as if the Eldron are going out of their way. Fortunately, we found out that this large merchant ship is also headed for the Novus System. Serendipitously, the Eldron ship is going to planet Techtron, which is not far from planet Havoc, our intended destination.

The best news of all was very surprising to me. It turns out that the massive Eldron ship will be able to travel to the Novus system ten times faster than our drone vessel. I don't quite understand this last technical bit, but everyone seems to agree that this is how it is.

Commander Sarah tried to explain to me at some length that the Eldron ship uses the same slingshot procedures near the black holes that our drone vessel uses. However, since their ship is one hundred times more massive than ours, then the time/space compression coefficient for the Eldron ship turns out to be exactly ten times higher than that of our drone. Simply put, we will get to the Novus System ten times faster by hitching a ride inside the Eldron ship.

Well, that is easy for commander Sarah to say, but not so easy for me to understand.

Being a humble historian, I just can't wrap my mind around these technical details. So I simply nod my head.

37 Adieu Planet X-37

This is our last trip from the planet surface, back to the Eldron ship.

We have been carrying crop seeds and building supplies down to the planet.

On our way back we have been carrying cobalt, platinum, uranium, and tin. The planet has large quantities of these and the humans living on X-37 use the mined metals as payments for the supplies brought from the outside.

Keeper Rebecca is now on board with us. Our next destination is planet Havoc in the Novus System, which is located about 75,000 light years away from here, straight across the other side of the Milky Way.

It is going to be a very long and sad trip without navigator Jake. I do miss him.

36 Planet X-37 Inhabitants

Today, as we continue to carry cargo between the Eldron ship and the planet surface, we managed to learn more about the kind of work that keepers have been doing on this planet for the last 7,000 years.

Although  planet X-37 could support life over a million years ago, the keepers were not ready to begin planting "human seeds" until about 7,000 years ago.

I did not manage to get many details about what exactly these so called "human seeds" are, but I was told that the planted seeds are directly responsible for  the formation of this civilization that we see living on the planet surface today.

At present, there are only 750,000 inhabitants living on X-37. Which is a relatively small global population, compared to some other worlds. Nevertheless, the humans here have organized themselves into three separate nations.

Finally, we learned that although the three nations in X-37 have had frequent disputes in the past, there hasn't been a full scale war between them in more than 2,000 years.

Keeper Rebbecca has been monitoring the development of humans here on planet X-37 for the last 650 years. She told us the historical embryo that we were bringing was scheduled to play a major role in the development of science and technology in all three nations for the next 100 years. But now that the embryo has been lost to the spoilers, these advances in science and technology will have to wait for another 500 years.

Tomorrow we will make the last two trips between the planet surface and the Eldron ship.

35 Keeper Rebecca

Our meeting with the local keepers was not what we expected. They told us that the loss of the historical embryo was not our fault and said that we would not be held responsible for what happened.

The keepers also sympathized with us in our grief for the loss of navigator Jake.

What was most unexpected is that they have hired us to take one of their kind to... Gosh is so incredible that I can hardly say it. We will be taking one of the keepers to... Confounded, we will be going to the very place where the spoilers took the stolen historical embryo. The keepers somehow managed to trace the actual location where the spoilers will be implanting the embryo.

For security reasons, we were not told the location nor the name of the planet to which the spoilers took the embryo. However, we are instructed to rendezvous in two days time on the keeper base on X-37 to pick up our passenger. Once our passenger is on board, we would be given the proper travel plans and destination coordinates.

The passenger's name is keeper Rebecca. Her mission will be to gather intelligence on what the spoilers are planning to do with the stolen embryo. Once the embryo has been implanted, no one can interfere.  However, the keepers will be watching the development of the spoiled embryo for many years to come. We were told that this long term surveillance  must be carried out in order to plan for the best course of action.

34 Our Next Mission

The enormous size of the Eldron ship is great for transporting very large loads. But it also makes it very difficult to land the craft on the surface of a planet. Once the Eldron ship is in orbit, it will be unloaded by several cargo shuttles. Our drone will be one of those shuttles.

It turns out that what the Eldron meant by a full load of supplies is a lot more than what our small drone vessel can carry in just one trip. This means that we will have to make several trips to planet X-37 from the merchant ship. Commanders Sarah estimates that we will be making six trips, in fact.

Commander Sarah said that we have been asked to meet with the local keepers on planet X-37 for a complete debriefing of our mission and failure to deliver to them the historical embryo.

I am not looking forward to recanting all the details about how the spoilers killed Navigator Jake and took the historical embryo from us.

Deep sigh!

33 The Eldron

Eldrons have always been peaceful and hard working. They stand erect on two short stubby legs and have six long arms. In each hand they have four digits, one of which is an opposing thumb. Their dexterous hands and well articulated arms are ideal for constructing extremely complex machinery in a very, very short time.

The Eldron also have very large brains and are believed to be the most intelligent species ever to live in the known universe.

About 15,000 years ago, the Eldron began to explore other planets and to trade with the many civilizations that they encountered. The Eldron trade their knowledge and skills in exchange for food, raw materials, and fuel.

The Eldron also became the first historians who studied and cataloged the local species and cultures of the planets they visited.

32 Navigator Jake's Funeral

Today we finally got to give Navigator Jake a proper funeral. According to the wishes logged in his will, the ashes were released into space. Navigator Jake wanted to drift among the stars for all eternity.

Jake's death was very hard on us. We had been together as a crew for almost 300 years. During that time, the three of us became like a family. He will be missed for a very, very long time.

The Eldron mechanics will be able to repair our drone for a modest price. As payment, we have agreed to deliver a full cargo of crop seeds and building materials to one of the planets in this sector. Ironically, the planet waiting for the crop seed and building materials is also X-37, the same planet to which we were delivering the embryo.

Although I am looking forward to a boring and uneventful mission working for the Eldron, it is going to be difficult not having Navigator Jake with us.

Commander Sarah said that with the help of her new bioelectric prosthetic arm, she will manage to navigate in Jake's stead, while piloting the drone at the same time.

In all truth, I think commander Sarah  is taking Jake's death the hardest. Even though she is acting really tough and doesn't say a word about missing Jake, I think that commander Sarah is really suffering inside.

Gartin, the chief Eldron mechanic, told us that the repairs being made to our drone will be completed in about three days.

31 Doomed

All is lost. It was impossible for me to write in this journal over the last few weeks.

Navigator Jake is dead and commander Sarah lost her left arm. I managed to survive with just a few bruises.

At first, all was going so well. Commander Sarah and I were in the cargo hull inducing latent images on the historical embryo; when all of the sudden, an entire fleet of spoiler ships surrounded us.

The spoiler fleet commanded ordered us to surrender our cargo at once or else. When we refused to give them the embyo, they fired directly at the cockpit to disable our ship. Poor navigator Jake got blown to pieces.

Commander Sarah had been making her way back to the cockpit when it happened and her arm was severed by falling debris.

I suffered no injuries because the cargo hull was not damaged. The bruises I got were courtesy of three spoilers who knocked me around when they boarded our drone to take the embryo.

We were left behind drifting in space with a disabled vessel.

Fortunately, two days later we were rescued by an Eldron merchant ship.

30 V-73 (Sling Shot #3)

We just came ouuuuuut of the third and final black hole. Only five more days and we should arrive in the Vega system safe and sound.

Commander Sarah and I will be very busy in the next few days. Todayyyyy we need to begin preparing our precious cargo for delivery.

The historical embryo needs to begin thawing out veeery slowly. This is a very delicate procedure and must be monitored carefully. One small mistake could be catastrophic.

During the procedure, weeeeee will induce many required mental images into the embryo's brain. The latent images will be awakened at different times during the child's development process. This is very important because it is the only way to ensure that the growing child plays the critical role required for the social development of planet X-37.

29 Planet L-23

Today we are passing near planet L-23.

This is a very curious celestial body because we think that it will have sentient life in another 50 million years.

L-23 is very hot and mostly gas right now. It is very much like the planet Jupiter in the Terran solar system. However, this planet has the chemical soup makeup that should end up becoming genetic DNA material.

Tomorrow we will arrive at V-73, the last black hole in our flight plan.

28 Mission Dilemma

Commander Sarah has been troubled since we were attacked by the spoilers. After losing the guardian escort we became completely vulnerable to further attacks. On top of that, the spoilers are hunting for us and have placed a handsome reward for information on our whereabouts.

Another guardian squad has been sent from Luna Base, but being unprotected, we cannot sit and wait for them.

Commander Sarah has also considered traveling in circles until the new guardian escort arrives. But she said the problem is that this will make it easier for the spoilers to find us.

We just have to keep moving towards our destination and hope not to be noticed.

27 Birth of Stars

Today we are passing near the Dumbbell Nebula. This magnificent nebula has been around since the red giant star in its center spewed interstellar gas, about two million years ago. Since then, the red giant has changed into a white dwarf star and still sits in the middle of the nebula.

I like to take measurements and make close observations of this beautiful nebula each chance I get. I am fascinated by the way it changes in shape and color.

The Dumbbell Nebula is expected to become a group of stars in another million years or so. More importantly, my most recent measurements detect three distinct areas where a hand full of planets are beginning to form.

26 Chess Game

We have  four more days to go before reaching V-73, the next black hole in our flight plan.

After so much excitement, I have no idea how commander Sarah manages to keep her concentration on the chess game. I thought that she would be shaken after all the danger we experienced. I was wrong.

Commander Sarah and I continued our chess game at the same place we stopped before being so rudely interrupted by the spoilers. I was so sure I could beat her this time because I had already taken the queen, one bishop, one rook, and both knights.

I carefully placed my pieces to make sure that they would be protected while I moved to place her king in Check. Bu I just fell into her trap. What else can I say.

I still don't know how she was able to beat me, but she did. Somehow she knew all the moves I was going to make way in advance and she played me like a sucker.

25 Planet P-35

Today we are passing near planet P-35. The planet itself is much too cold to sustain life, but its surface is abundant with copper, nickel, platinum, and silver. As a result, this whole area is always filled with many cargo vessels, personnel transports, and foreign merchant ships.

This is also the place were one can get the creamiest stardust smoothies in the Milky Way. Unfortunately, we are not going to stop here today.

Commander Sarah said we don't need to call unwanted attention to ourselves.

Too bad. I was hopping to savor the sweet goodness of one large stardust smoothie. Bummer!

24 Getting Away

As we got further away from the enemy, we saw how the guardians were able to cripple five of the seven spoiler fighters before both of them were completely destroyed.

The two remaining enemy fighters searched for us and foolishly chased after our decoys. A short time later we drifted out of their range.

So far we managed to escape detection by the spoiler mother ship. Commander Sarah told us that we were very lucky that she had chosen the right escape route.

We are hoping to miss the mother ship altogether by taking a somewhat longer route towards black hole V-73.

23 Surrounded

Commander Sarah and I just sat to continue our chess game when navigator Jake shouted, "We are completely surrounded."

What the..? I turned around and counted seven dangerous looking ships closing in on us.

Commander Sarah said, "Oh no, we are all in deep," something or other. She also said these ships were spoiler fighters and that there must be a mother ship somewhere nearby.

The two guardians escort ships quickly began their attack formation. At that same instant, as planned, we begun to execute cloak and vanishing maneuvers.

Using the cloak and vanishing maneuvers, we can disappear from the area and make several decoys reappear in two or three different spots nearby. We can repeat this sequence long enough to stall and confuse our pursuers. The idea is for our almost invisible drone to swiftly move far out of range while the enemy is busy tracking the decoys. It works; most of the time.

The main problem this time is that we don't know the location of the spoiler mother ship. We hope that we are flying further away from it, rather than getting nearer.

Commander Sarah tells us that if we decloak close enough to the spoiler mother ship, we could be trapped by a tractor beam. If that happens, we would most definitely be in deep something or other.

22 Gastric Blues

That laaaast jump was so rough that my stooooomach walls actually touched each other. I don't know why, but I always feel very saaaaaad when that happens. The good news is that I will not be huuuuungry for a long while.

Navigator Jake tells me that weeeeee are about eight days away from the last black hole, V-73. After thaaaaat, we should get to planet X-37 in another five days. We are all hoping to have a very booooring and uneventful time for the rest of the journey.

I have better open the archives and begin recording all of the deeeeeetails of the last few days, while these are still fresh on my mind. After I had done that, I will go back to the chess game with commander Sarah. I am determined to beat her this time.

21 O-103 (Sling Shot #2)

Today we will reach O-103. This is the largest and most dangerous black holes that we've ever used in any of our missions.

Not counting the massive black hole in the center of the galaxy, some black holes in the Milky Way are much larger than O-103. The larger the black hole, the faster and farther a ship can travel. However, the bigger black holes require much faster escape velocity and power than our humble engines can manage. So we never use any of them.

Even after the loss of one of the guardian escort vessels, commander Sarah has decided that we must press on and continue our mission.

I am glad that there are no living beings inside the guardian ships. These marvelous machines are like avatars guided by telepathic messages originating from guardian entities in Luna Base. I asked navigator Jake how the guardians manage to control the vessels from so far away and he simply said, "It's magic." Which normally means that it is too hard to explain in simple terms that a historian like me can understand.

Navigator Jake also said that the guardian who was linked with the destroyed escort ship must now be having one serious headache that will last for a while.

20 Narrow Escape

Kaboom. We felt more than heard the explosion. One single shot from the battleship's cannon was enough to disintegrate the guardian vessel right above us.

With all happening so fast, we had no time to cloak the drone and evade the battleship's attack.

The other two guardian ships continued to move left and right, quickly closing their distance in order to fire at point blank.

First, the battleship's main cannons exploded spewing a large cloud of thick and dark smoke. Then the two guardians moved along each side of the large vessel, destroying all the short range defensive gun turrets as they moved.

After destroying all the battleship weapons, the two guardians proceeded to disable the engines of the large vessel. What they left behind was a large shell with barely enough life support to keep the pirates alive.

Commander Sarah informed us that border patrol officers had been alerted and that they would arrive soon to clean out this pirate garbage.

We manage to escape, but lost one of the guardian escort ships in the process.

19 Pirate Battleship

The only warning we got was: "Surrender your cargo at once. Otherwise you will suffer a slow and painful death."

The pirate battleship hailed the short threatening message and waited.

Commander Sarah stood up and rushed back to the control console. She was advised by the guardian vessels to stay on the present course while they executed some kind of tactical evasion maneuver.

Navigator Jake shouted that the battleship was preparing to fire and its three main cannons were pointed directly at us.

Abruptly, two of the guardian vessels split right and left, moving rapidly towards the pirate battleship in attack formation. The third guardian vessel remained just above us.

18 Three Days to O-103

We have three more days before reaching black hole O-103.

All systems have been checked and are running well. Things have been quiet and there have been no more signs of trouble since our last encounter with the pirates.

I am now in the middle of a grueling chess game with commander Sarah. I might be able to beat her this time if I manage to keep my head.

As a precaution, the guardian escort is attempting to jam any suspicious scan signals. They have also combined their sensors with the ones in our ship in order to increase the range of detection for all oncoming vessels.

Commander Sarah assures me that our ship and cargo are quite safe for the moment. However, she also said, "You are the only one who is not safe here, Historian. A few more moves and you are toast."

Keep your head. Keep your head. I know I can beat her this time. Just keep it together.

17 Officer Daniel

As we leave S-57 behind, we approach the border of one spiral arm in the Milky Way. Most of these boundaries are patrolled by border control officers. These officers roam the perimeter and keep detailed records of each vessel found crossing between the different constellations.

"Drone vessel and guardian escort, this is officer Daniel speaking. You are now leaving sector Alpha Centauri. Please identify yourselves and the nature of your mission. Over."

Commander Sarah responded in turn and followed all the necessary protocol procedures to clear the border. However, I thought I heard her mutter something like, "These border control guys keep getting younger and younger."

Officer Daniel finally said, "All clear. You may proceed. But keep your eyes and ears opened. I hope you have a safe and swift journey to the Vega System."

16 Sentinel Mateo

One day after swinging out of S-57, we received a warning message from sentinel Mateo.

There are many sentinels scouting open space, looking out for troublemakers, and making sure that no one is breaking the law.

Mateo told us that he intercepted several transmissions describing our drone vessel and the precious cargo that we carry. Two of the transmissions were from a group of Spoilers located in our immediate sector. These spoilers are offering a very handsome reward to anyone with information on our whereabouts.

Fortunately, it appears that our flight plan and final destination is not yet known.

15 Flight Plan

Navigator Jake explained to me in simple terms how the black hole slingshot acceleration procedure works.

This illustration of our flight plan shows how the 25 light year distance between the Solar System and the Vega System can be travelled in only 23 days.

S-57, being a small black hole, reduced 3 light years to 5 minutes. O-103 being the largest in our route, will reduce 17 light years to 15 minutes. The last black hole, V-73, will cut 5 light years to 10 minutes.

Believe it or not, most of the 23 day journey is taken up by the distance between each of the black holes. It will take us about 6 days to get from here to the O-103 location.

14 Successful Jump

Our droooone and the guardian squad just finished the first slingshot manueeever successfully. Navigator Jake tells me that O-103, the next black hole in the flight plan, is about 6 days awayyy from here. I will use part of that time to learn more about the nature of time/space bending around black holes and how weee use this natural phenomena to traaaavel.

One disadvantage for our kind is that the fluids in our bodies get highly compressssed during the slingshot procedure. This fluid compression occccurs, even though we are inside our pressurized suit and within the pressurized hull of the ship. Fortunately, our safety procedures keep the body fluids compressed well underrrrrr hazardous levels.

However, one side effect is that the fluid compression in our body does affect ourrr communication ability somewhat. Fortunately, we manage to decompressssssss in about ten minutes time.

BURP!

13 S-57 (Slingshot #1)

I am very glad that the guardian squad will be making the rest of the journey escorting us. Since the true nature of our mission has been revealed, we are expecting more trouble ahead.

We are currently approaching black hole S-57. This is the first black hole that we will use to accelerate our travel velocity in our journey to the Vega system.

Navigator Jake tells me that S-57 will allow us to travel a distance of 3 light years in just about 5 minutes.

Once again, this humble historian is not technical enough to understand how the slingshot acceleration procedure works. So I simply call it  magic.

Learning more about the concept of time/space bending near black holes is one of the things on my list.

12 Guardian Squad

Three military vessels from Luna base arrived in short order. This armed escort was omitted earlier to avoid calling attention to our mission. The thought was that a drone with an armed escort was a clear signal that some kind of very valuable cargo was on board.

Commander Sarah suspects that the pirates somehow managed to receive detailed information about our cargo. She thinks that either the pirates infiltrated the internal logs of our mission; or, more likely, that there is someone inside Luna Base who sold the intelligence information to the pirates. Either way, we realize now that the nature of our mission is no longer a secret.

Aborting the mission is definitely not an option. Once a historical embryo's destination has been designated, its implantation process must proceed at all cost. Otherwise, another 500 years would have to elapse before the next embryo can be produced.

At any rate, we must be very cautious from now on.

11 Bounty Hunter

Help came swiftly and unexpected. After three powerful explosions, one of the pirate ships was disabled and floated adrift. The other ten pirate vessels quickly fled in different directions and vanished.

A voice over the intercom said, "We were tracking this here pirate scum and intercepted a transmission about you and your precious cargo. The encoded message requested all the pirates in this sector to converge on your coordinates.

"One official guardian squad is on its way here from Luna Base. They will escort your vessel safely out of this sector. I urge you to stay here with us until they arrive."

The voice identified herself as commander Isabel Linsky, a licensed bounty hunter traveling on a combat class vessel named Javelin.

After thanking Isabel Linsky, we stayed put and watched as the bounty hunter secured the disabled pirate vessel and placed the two surviving pirates in the brig on board Javelin.

The bounty hunter told us that the pirate vessel would be destroyed after we left and were far enough away from the blast area. She said this would keep the pirates from recovering their lost ship.

10 Pirate Snare

This could be my last journal entry.

Besides the two pirate ships that were now chasing us, commander Sarah just detected nine more pirate vessels closing in on us.

Our drone could outmaneuver three of them at most. Eleven of them would be impossible.

Under normal circumstances, pirates are not known to attack in such large numbers. These pirates must know what we are carrying. Somehow they must have found out we have a precious cryogenic embryo on board.

And now they are closing in on us from all directions.

The pirates are not using weapons on us, but the situation is hopeless. They are simply closing in on us from all directions with intentions of boarding our vessel.

Once they board our ship, they will take the cargo, disembowel our ship, and expel all three of us into space.

I never thought it would end like this.

9 Unscheduled Detour

"Two pirate vessels blocking our path" was the warning yelled by navigator Jake.

Commander Sarah asked us to strap ourselves securely while she performed cloak and vanishing maneuvers.

Most pirates work in small groups so that they can block their prey. Our commander can easily evade two and even three pirate ships. She has done so many times in the past. However, the main problem is to prevent the pirates from scanning the content of our cargo hull.

If the pirates were ever able to find out we are carrying a precious cryogenic embryo, every pirate ship within range will surely be on our tail. Spoilers will pay a high price for this specific cargo. In fact, this is how most historic embryos are lost to the spoilers.

Navigator Jake thinks that the pirate scanners won't discern the difference between frozen vegetable matter and a cryogenic embryo. I, on the other hand, am not so sure. I wish I could share his optimism.

8 Beating Boredom

Besides updating the vessel's encyclopedia, I won't have much to do during the journey to planet X-37.

Sitting still is not something that our kind can do very well. Therefore, I wrote this list of things to do to keep me from getting bored during our trip to planet X-37:

1. Update vessel's encyclopedia with the last measured temperature variations of Earth's atmosphere.

2. Learn more about time/space bending near black holes.

3. Play chess with commander Sarah (she beat me last time)

4. Update vessel's encyclopedia with the last observed positions of local constellations.

5. Play chess with navigator Jake (I beat him last time).

7 Bound for Alpha Lyrae

Our precious cargo is on board and we are ready to start our journey to planet X-37 in the Vega system. Navigator Jake has completed the flight pattern calculations and we will depart as soon as we get clearance from the Luna Base authority.

The 25 light years of distance to planet X-37 requires our vessel to execute gravitational slingshot procedures around three black holes along the way.

As the humble historian of our drone, I don't understand the complex scientific procedure involved in black hole gravitational slingshots. However, I do know that time and space shrink into smaller and smaller pieces as we approach the event horizon of a black hole. Since both time and space get quite small, it makes it very easy for our vessel to jump from place to place in a very short time. The most difficult part is to escape from the gravitational pull of the black hole.

Navigator Jake assures me that, if all goes well and our navigation system works the way it is supposed to, we should be able to complete our journey in less than a month.

6 Cryogenic Cargo

Today we are loading our cargo at the Luna Base depot. I never would have guessed the significance of this mission to the Vega system. We will be transporting a historical embryo to planet X-37. This is indeed a very rare occasion. How rare? It only happens once or twice every 500 years.

We were just told that the keepers in planet X-37 will be implanting the precious embryo on a local female so that the expected chain of evolution and historical events can begin to take place.

Once or twice every 500 years, keepers choose a critical historical turning point in the development of the human species under their care. Once the turning point is chosen, the historical embryo must be introduced precisely at the right time in order to ensure the proper development of that particular civilization.

The embryo is intentionally prepared so that it can be implanted within the first eight weeks of gestation. This allows for the future mother to adjust to her pregnancy with minimum discomfort. The early implantation also gives the fetus the best chances of survival.

After the embryo is implanted, through the entire pregnancy and after the baby is born, the keepers will continue to assist and ensure that the child develops to its full potential and at the right pace. The idea is to maximize the historical effect and resulting consequences caused by the child as he or she becomes an adult.

On the other hand, even the assiduous care of the keepers cannot ensure the proper result every time. In some cases the outcome is quite the opposite as the one intended. This is always the case when the spoilers manage to steal the historical embryo.

Spoilers cannot produce historical embryos of their own, but if they manage to steal one from the keepers, the embryo is always reprogrammed with different historical vectors that change its predisposition parameters to serve their purpose in the intended environment and location.

Keepers and spoilers are always at odds when influencing the development of species. Keepers labor to introduce compassion, humility, honesty, trust, love, and kindness. In stark contrast, spoilers always strive to spread hate, envy, deceit, anger, brutality, and perversion. It has been this way since time begun.

5 Luna Base

With the navigation system repaired, we are now ready for the short trip to the subterranean Luna Base.

The small entrance to Luna Base is hidden behind one of the largest craters on the dark side of the Moon. Our kind learned long ago that subterranean structures are more difficult to detect by our enemies and, in case of threat, much more easily defended.

We still have not received a lot of details about the cargo we will be carrying to the Vega system. We were only told that the cargo is of a "confidential" nature. All we know is that this cargo is bound for planet X-37 in the Vega system and that a cryogenic chamber is needed for transporting the package.

4 Back from Easter Island

The beach was fabulous and almost desolated. I did not have to worry about been seen by humans. This was great because I did not have to use the cloaking device to hide my presence there.

Humans find it hard to understand our presence on Earth. They always need to have an explanation at their level of understanding. And the stories that they spin can become interminable. Our kind always has to be careful not to show ourselves to humans, unless it is absolutely necessary.

The water was a bit too cold to swim, so I spent most of the time walking along the beach. The best part was that I was able to stay out in the open without getting sunburned. It was very relaxing.

3 Repair Delay

We could not leave the service station today because our navigation system failed the escape velocity diagnostic. Our drone vessel uses this essential navigation component to escape from a black hole event horizon during the complex gravitational slingshot acceleration procedure.

Although it is possible to manually escape the strong gravitational pull of a black hole, navigator Jake tells me that the provability for success would be less than 5% without the navigation system assistance. On the other hand, when the navigation system is working properly, the vessel can automatically accelerate up to the escape velocity and yield a success provability of 97.5% at worst.

Since the cargo for our next mission is bound for the colonized planet X-37 in the Vega system, we will have to use the gravitational slingshot procedure near the event horizon of three black holes along the way there. It can't be helped. We must remain on Earth for at least another day in order to repair the navigation system.

I got permission to use the downtime and take a transport shuttle to Easter Island. Once there, I will be able to sunbathe on the isolated white sand beach at the southern shore of the island.

Even historians like me need to relax from time to time.

2 Terra 4 Service Station

Earth is one of my favorite places to visit. Its close proximity to the Sun star makes the Earth a most hospitable environment for creating and sustaining life. Earth is also the only place in the Solar system where we can refuel our four plasma containment units.

The engines of our drone vessel require plasma fuel to operate at full power. This bottom view shows how the primary engine (center) and the seven satellite boosters are arranged. The plasma fuel enables our vessel to soundlessly levitate free from the pull of gravitational fields and to travel great distances in a very short time.

The plasma we get from the Terra 4 service station is mined directly from the Earth's Outer Core. Although the fueling operation is simple and statistically safe, the procedure required to refuel our four plasma containers requires 24 hours.

While I write this, our cargo area is being reconfigured with a cryogenic support chamber. We will need this chamber during our next assigned mission. Once the chamber is installed, we will proceed to pick up the cargo at the Moon base.

We should be ready to go to the Moon base sometime tomorrow.

1 Bound for Earth

Humans are very interesting creatures. In fact, I consider each and every human to be a self contained paradox. Whenever I see a human, I see a walking, breathing, talking, thinking, living paradox. By this I mean that, on the surface, human beings and human nature appear to be full of conflict and contradictions. But once you get to know them, you begin to learn the truth. There are no real conflicts nor contradictions. The truth is that there is a large number of opposing ideas and concepts that coexist within the same human mind. The most interesting thing is that, all of these ideas and concepts are manifested through the behavior of a single individual, from the time of birth until the time time of death.

As the historian entity of our small cargo vessel, I am responsible for recording and compiling all significant events. I am also responsible for documenting our cargo, cataloging the details of every mission, and processing all relevant licensing permits.

During my spare time, I choose to write in this personal journal because it provides me with an entertaining hobby. It also helps me to improve my psychological disposition.

Our UFO, as it is called by humans, is a humble cargo vessel, also known as a drone vessel. This drone is operated by a crew of three entities, including myself. The tree of us can transport cargo, run errands, distribute supplies, and even transport refugees.

Today, we are bound for the refueling station Terra 4, which is located nearly 3,000 Km towards the center of the planet. The necessary location for this refueling station is exactly where the Mantle and the Outer Core of the Earth meet. That is where we the molten raw material rich in iron and nickel is mined to produce the plasma fuel that we need for our ship.

The location of Terra 4 may sound dangerous, but our kind has managed to keep this base quite safe for a very long time. The last recorded accident there was more than 15,000 Earth years ago, when one plasma reservoir tank exploded and almost caused a major disaster for us.

Our estimated time of arrival at Terra 4 is tomorrow at dawn. Besides getting the fuel we need, we will make a few minor repairs and reconfigure the cargo area to fit the requirements of our next mission.