You are listening to Lost Ship, a weekly podcast written and
published by Daniel Aronson, performed and produced by Bobby
Garrison, Episode 1, Not Our Stars.
Navigation error. Star pattern unrecognized.
Stellar chart unavailable. We're in the sweet Milky Way,
are we? What just happened, Turov?
I want answers. Everyone stay calm.
He's fine. Things fine.
Our beloved Starship Odysseus is perfectly OK.
No problem. Just a little NAV.
Malfunction NAV. Malfunction Turov.
We're halfway across the Galaxy. Neat.
Neat, Captain. I assure you this is only
systems glitch. Our jump was a bit rocky, yes,
but halfway across Galaxy? Impossible.
One moment. I I run diagnostic.
I don't. Need a diagnostic to know things
have gone haywire? Look up from your monitor,
Turov, and look out the window. Look man, those constellations,
those stars, nothing looks familiar.
Where are we? Diagnostic complete, Ding and
hmm. Did you just say, hmm, that's
all you got? You're my science officer.
You're the famous Doctor Pavel Turov, inventor of the Turov
Equation. I expect more from you than just
a Hmm. It's very strange, Sir, but
we're not across the Galaxy. Those stars sure say otherwise.
So it would seem, but those are not stars of Milky Way according
to a nave system we are currently flying through in
Romano Galaxy. Oh horse.
Pucky. Captain, Is that one of your
Indiana sayings, Sir? It means I don't buy it.
Well, let me explain. We passed through the portal,
Yes. Should they have been just three
light years? Hey, short hop sounds easy
enough. Yes, under normal conditions
they're easy, but well. But evacuating refugees from
Earth while under alien bombardment ain't exactly normal
conditions, huh? Not as such, no.
Those hydrogen plasma bolts, nasty things.
They damaged our sensors and scrambled our NAV systems.
But the Andromeda Galaxy? That's like taking the wrong
Turnpike and ending up on Mars Ain't gonna happen.
I don't care how bad our NAV systems were scrambled.
But we are not dealing with a Turnpike, Captain Thorne, but a
sophisticated wormhole. Such technology is expertly
calibrated according to my logs The hydrange.
Bombarded that portal. Just as we were flying through,
they twisted it out of shape like one of your American
bagels. So our systems were blind.
The portal was unstable. The result?
Well. We're here.
We tried to tap in a short putt but hit it so hard the ball flew
past the hole, over the green and into the next fairway.
Sir. It's a golf analogy.
Never been much of A player myself, but I know the lingo.
Ah, American game. Yes, in Mother Russia we have no
time for games. We are busy people.
Well, you're about to get a whole lot busier, Mr. Turov,
because your top priority right now is getting us home.
How do we rejoin the fleet? Sir, we can't.
We are stuck here forever. We should have stayed in
thought. We should have never fled Earth.
Our big, brave warrior has found his tongue.
Yes, Lieutenant Commander Ledbetter, I know you like a
good fight, but this is a science vessel.
And I am its security officer. And I say we should have fought.
Millions were dying. Earth needed us, and we flood
like cowards. That's enough.
We had our orders. We obeyed.
We might be a science vessel, but in the war we all served as
soldiers. Admiral Benaree ordered us to
escape, and so I guess that's in the past.
We must focus on our current predicament.
We've got 500 refugees in our hold, 500 lives we're
responsible for. We must find a way back home.
Home, Sir. Home, Phil.
Home means gone. We lost the war.
We lost Earth. We should have stayed, fought to
the end, and died with honor. And you would condemn 500
refugees, men, women, children to death too?
You want an honorable death, Ledbetter?
I get it. Hell, I want one too.
But we owe it to those 500 people to find our way home.
But. Captain.
Yes, Turov. I know Earth fell.
I was there. I saw it.
I saw the bombs falling. The city's burning.
It haunts me. It eats me up inside.
But Admiral Benarie is still alive.
She still commands 1000 ships. Between them, they might be
holding a million people, A million survivors of Earth
1,000,000 seeds of hope for humanity's future.
We lost our planet, but not our home.
Our home is the ragtag fleet, and I fully intend to find our
way back. We will rejoin the fleet.
I would have let them die. Huh.
The 500, The refugees in our hold.
I would have charged into the Hydrian fleet, all guns blazing,
no retreat. We'd have gone down with fire
and Thunder, and right now we'd be drinking Mead in the ancient
holes of Thalgaroc. We'd be legends, all of us.
Dead legions? No thanks.
We're already dead. Our food, water and oxygen.
How long do you think they'll last?
A month? Maybe 2 With the ragtag fleet,
perhaps we'd stand a chance. But alone, What chance do we
have? This is why my people never flee
from battle. No good can come of this.
When our crew begins to starve, when children beg for food,
wasting away with no more hope for honor in the afterlife.
Would you tell? You said that's enough, both of
you. We can't survive this if we're
constantly at each other's throats.
Turov Ledbetter, you 2 are going to have to get along.
I know we're scared. I know we're angry.
I know we all lost people. But we're still the bridge
officers of this Starship, and we're going to have to hold it
together. Is that clear, Sir?
I am sorry, I am ashamed. I lost my temper.
It was unprofessional and inappropriate.
Yes, it was. Ledbetter, I know your people
are proud warriors. I know that life on Ganymede
breeds a special sword of man. All is forgiven.
You're a damn good soldier, Brutus Ledbetter.
And a good friend. I'm glad you're here.
I am not glad, I should have joined a warship and died in
glorious battle. But yes Sir, I consider us
friends and brothers in arms. I will remain at your side door,
defender. And maybe you will find some new
aliens here to shoot whole new Galaxy, whole new menage array
of things for you to fight. Captain Thorn, if our big friend
here doesn't find something to kill soon, I fear he will punch
a hole through a bulkhead. Or your head.
Let's start looking for local aliens, yes?
Turov, you focus less on aliens, more on finding a way back to
the Milky Way. And yes, I heard you earlier.
You said it's impossible. Well, there's one thing I've
learned in this job. It's when an esteemed scientist
tells you something is impossible, there's almost
certainly some way to do it. That twisted portal brought us
here. It scooped up our beloved
Odysseus and hurled us into another Galaxy.
So there is a way to travel between galaxies.
We are living proof of that. We just need to figure out
exactly how it happened and then replicate it.
Captain, that portal used immense energy, not to mention
the additional energy of Hydrian bolts bombarding it.
Even if I did unravel the physics of an intergalactic jump
to recreate it, where would we get such energy?
Look out the viewport, my friend.
There's an entire Galaxy out there teeming with energy.
You'll find a way to harness it. And if I don't, if I can't?
Well. Slow starvation, a coward's
death. Unless we meet and Dromena
aliens and die in battle, we could redeem our honor.
Nobody's dying under my watch. But gentlemen, there's one more
thing I want you both to look into.
Sabotage. Captain, you're not suggesting
that someone deliberately sent the stondrama, huh?
Why would anyone, if anyone? Aboard did this.
I will crush their bones. Look, I'm not suggesting
anything, but I do want all possibilities explored.
I want to know exactly how this happened and how we reverse it.
Ledbetter, you launched an investigation into potential
saboteurs. Turov, you get to work on the
physics pull Frankie into this one.
I want. You 2.
Collaborating on this. Petty.
Well, Captain, I'll call the kid.
He's a pain in my backside but he's got a good enough brain we
don't get to. Work good, now I've got a ship
full of refugees to address. Frankie.
Oh, Frankie, where are you the captain?
Wants us to play together. Computer open up a ship wide
call Civilian quarters 2. I want everyone aboard to hear
me. Ship wide channel open on the
beat, Sir, to all. The crew of the HSS Odysseus.
This is Captain Jack Thorne speaking from the bridge.
Several hours ago, Admiral Anav Ben Arie ordered a complete
evacuation of Earth. We got out.
So did 1000 other starships, all with refugees aboard.
But not everyone made it out. Millions remained on Earth.
What happened to them, to those we left behind, we don't know.
All communication with Earth has been lost.
It is possible that we spacefaring refugees are the
only human still alive. Look, we fought hard, we fought
well, and we lost. Earth fell to the enemy.
But we do have hope. Earth's refugees will find a new
planet, a place to hunker down and rebuild.
We will keep humanity alive until we go home.
Till we go. Home until we go home.
I have more news to share. During the evacuation, we got
separated from the fleet. Our ship got caught in a
space-time anomaly, the result of a collapsing wormhole.
You may have noticed strange stars outside your portholes.
My friends. We've been flung across
intergalactic space to the Andromeda Galaxy.
We're alone out here. It's just us, just the Odysseus.
My top priority now is bringing us back to the Milky Way and
reuniting us with the fleet. They won't be happy.
Sir. Many have families on those
other sheeps. Look, I know this is hard to
hear. Many of us have the loved ones
back home, some on Earth, some in other ships of the ragtag
fleet. My own I, my own wife and son
are back home. All of you, crew and refugees
alike, are under my protection and I promise you, I will bring
us back. Captain out.
A bit grim, Captain. All that talk of being alone, of
earthen ruin. Have you never?
Heard of sugar coating it? No use sugar coating anything.
We're in deep trouble and they deserve to hear it.
Hunt Now. Proximity alert.
What the hell?
What's out there, Ledbetter? What do you see?
Standing Captain Bear movement. Something big, bigger than us.
Show me stream an image to the central viewport.
That's the best image I can produce at this distance.
Sir. The object is still 2 megameters
away. It's a vasal.
Another vasal I'm. Detecting engines, Captain, That
is a vessel. Human Hydrian.
Neither, captain. Look at its shape, you can see.
Even from here. Like some big bug that is not
the human sheep, Sir, or or. Hydrian bet these I need
something else, something we've never seen before.
I'm ready to arm ship cannons and engage in battle, Captain.
Not yet. Keep our cannons cool if it's
friendly, we don't want to spook it.
Captain, it is heading right to us.
At the very least, I suggest raising our Shields.
Hold for now. To some alien species, even
raising Shields can seem aggressive, like a cobra
inflating its hood or a cat bristling.
But if you sense an incoming attack, Ladbetter, you don't
wait for my approval. You raise those Shields right
away. My scan detects life forms,
Captain, but not life as we know it.
Look at it, Captain. Look at that ship.
The speed of that thing. What in God's name?
Raising Shields. Ladbetter.
Looks like you found your aliens to fight.
You have been listening to Lost Ship, a weekly podcast.
This has been episode 1, Not Our Stars, written and published by
Daniel Aronson, performed and produced by Bobby Garrison.
Please like or give a thumbs up to this episode and also like,
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done by Epidemic Sound and tonight's music done by Howard
Harper Barnes. Come back next week for another
episode. Hey, all you listeners.
This is Bobbi Garrison, performer and producer of
everyone's new favorite audio drama Lost Ship.
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