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Prologue

Having colonized and explored the Moon and Mars human kind began to

divide because of the massive distances. In order to unite the diverse societies,

a decision was made to embark on a project so massive it would yet again force

people to widen their perspectives and embrace each other as close neighbors

by comparison. This project was a massive and technologically marvelous ship

that would be sent to another solar system with the ability to colonize and

return with news of the great reach of mankind.

Many technologies were taken from Human developments across the

solar system and materials were needed from dozens of different asteroids

moons and planets. Finally, after nearly 60 years of development and

construction the ship was completed. It was filled with all of the information

available to man, from the genomes of all known living, extinct, and re-introduced beings; to the entirety of the multiple existing internets.

The ship inspired the imaginations of billions. Thousands of schools

sprouted up to train children to be the perfect inter-stellar colonizers, and even

whole cities were dedicated to bringing about these most perfect of humans.

The competition was fierce and in the end only 80 people were chosen out of

millions of applicants.

The ship was built in Earth orbit, but moved past the Moon and Mars

colonies before passing by many small orbital and asteroid colonies as it

journeyed to the asteroid belt. Regular communication was lost with any other

humans at roughly the same point that the ship became the furthest manned

object from the sun ever. Along its travels it deployed many sensors, satellites,

and rovers to explore the outer solar system, but as it passed through the

Kuiper belt it was eventually enveloped in the cold emptiness of outer space.

The ship was designed to propel itself forward at a constant rate, creating

approximately one Earth G of downward force throughout the journey. At the

half-way point the ship would turn around and decelerate at the same rate,

creating the same effect.The ships target was a star 27 light years away from

the Sol system, to a planet found to almost definitely have large oceans of

liquid water that was roughly the same size as Earth. The journey should have

taken take about 19 years onboard the ship, and the return should have taken

another 19, after a decade or so colonizing and re-fueling.

Instead, 78 years after the ship departed a small space-probe was

captured heading back into the inner solar system. The capsule was recognized

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as one of the ships probes and it carried only a few short messages, the most

important of which being this:

Upon reaching the Heliosphere, the edge of our solar system where the

solar winds die out in a turbulent fit, the ship became extremely magnetically

charged, and many systems began malfunctioning. Despite the technologiesand theories you left us with the ship could not handle the magnetic stress.

The crew at the time tried desperately to save the ship.

Thought they succeeded, the damage done was irreversible. To maintain

constant gravity without full use of the propulsion systems the crew sent the

ship into summersault, and transformed the lower cargo bays into living

quarters. Because of the speed and trajectory it was impossible to turn back to

the Sol system, but carrying on through space in this manner means it will

take us over a century to reach our target. Indeed, I am sorry to report so late

that we have not yet neared our target.

This is our history, passed down to us from the few living ancestors who

experienced it. We have been floating through space now for 62 years, my

name is Ahmad McGill, the third captain of the Suns Ship Atlas. We do not

ask for aid, we only offer an explanation for our disappearance, or more

accurately for my generations existence.Peace be with you.