Thorne's Bridge
Submission for The Thousand Faces of Elias Thorne Community Writing Event
“CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE…” blared out from all directions.
Elias slammed into the lid of his sleeping pod and awoke with a curse. Through the small window he could see his pod was drifting toward the ceiling— “…SYSTEMS FAILURE. EVACUATE TO NEAREST LANDING POD BAY…”
“Fuck,” he said. “Oh fuck. Holy fuck.” He scrambled to pry the lever and slide the lid off of the floating pod. “Elias Thorne! Emergency update!” he shouted. His view focused on the control panel by the door— “…EVACUATE TO NEAREST LANDING POD BAY…”
By the time he struggled free of his restraints and floated over to the control panel, the computer was already explaining the disaster.
“Elias Thorne, the ship is experiencing a catastrophic system failure. Please evacuate to the nearest landing pod bay at once.” said the computer. Elias was struggling to grip the door frame and remain stable while he listened.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
“The ship passed through a debris field while in orbit at destination. 684 micrometeorite impacts recorded on starboard side. Starboard heat sink radiator panels were destroyed, the ship’s main power system was damaged, and artificial gravity capabilities disabled,” said the computer.
“Yeah, the gravity I could tell… God damn,” Elias said. “Almost all of the crew was in the starboard modules. Crew status? What about the embryos?”
“The automatic air lock to the starboard side of the ship has been activated following the impacts. All life support systems on starboard side of the ship are unresponsive. I have received one request for emergency update — 60 seconds ago on port side,” the computer said. “The embryos are currentl— “CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE. EVACUATE TO NEAREST LANDING POD BAY…”
“The embryos are currently WHAT? I can’t hear shit!” shouted Elias. “Wait, 60 seconds ago on the port side? That was ME!”
“That is absolutely correct, that was you, Elias. My apologies. No other emergency update request has been logged,” stated the computer. “The embryos are currently aboard the following vessels awaiting launch.”
As the computer spoke, a list of white words appeared down the black screen.
ARTIFICIAL WOMB CAPSULE #1
ARTIFICIAL WOMB CAPSULE #2
ARTIFICIAL WOMB CAPSULE #3
“CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE. EVAC…”
Elias rubbed his temple with one hand while he held on to the door frame with the other. “They’re still intact?” He asked.
The computer replied, “Embryo life support systems remain operational. The autonomous mobile base construction module seems unharmed.” Elias nodded at this and then squeezed his eyes shut.
He finally took the time to glance out the door and down the port hallway. Floating fragments and debris drifted aimlessly. The lights were flickering out. “Can you launch the Embryos?” he asked, “We need to get them to the landing site safely as soon as possible before anything gets worse up here.”
“Elias, you are correct to think that. Excellent observation. However, I am unable to perform that action due to restrictions in my internal safety programming. Launch requires override by either manual action or confirmation from the control panel of Captain Elias Thorne.” the computer replied.
“CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE. EVACUATE TO NEAREST LANDING POD BAY…”
“I must remind you that the ship is currently experiencing a catastrophic system failure. Please evacuate to the nearest landing pod bay at once.” repeated the computer.
He stared at the screen and let out a heavy sigh, “Okay. The captain’s panel is on the starboard side… So I need to go launch them manually from the bay? Is the way to the port docking node safe?”
“That is correct. Upon safe departure of the capsules and autonomous module, the embryonic upbringing crew will take the remaining launch vehicles to the permanent landing site to begin the colonization mission,” the computer said. “The port docking node storing the vessels appears unharmed.”
Elias turned himself away from the screen and dropped his head for a moment. "Alright I need to get going,” he said.
The computer said, “I will attempt to follow you along the way. Please evacuate as soon as possible. After releasing the capsules and autonomous module, the landing pod will be accessible from the docking node.”
Elias pulled himself around the door frame and pushed off down the hall.
He continued using the doorways and seams he passed to propel himself towards the launch bay. He read the small nameplates as he passed the rooms.
PORT SIDE MEDICAL MODULE
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER — ELIAS THORNE
The room was dark and empty, the equipment tumbling together bouncing around the ceiling. “Docs never made it out of the sleeping pods on the other side of the ship,” said Elias, remarking as he coasted past.
“That is another excellent observation, Elias. I can now communicate with you through the hallway intercom system. I have taken the liberty of shutting off the evacuation alarm now as well,” the computer chimed in.
Elias kept pushing along. “How kind. What made you finally do that?" he said.
The computer replied, “I was able to perform an update. Considering there are no remaining crew members — aside from one, who is currently evacuating — I rerouted the power from the emergency broadcast system to maintain other critical systems as long as possible.”
“Well shit, it is just me then,” Elias said, wiping his brow as he passed another room.
TECHNICAL MAINTENANCE OFFICE
CHIEF MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN - ELIAS THORNE
He was approaching the corner to head down the next segment towards the docking node and stopped his ladder-like use of the doorways. He slowly drifted down the remainder of the hallway and, with a waiver in his voice, asked the computer, “So, you know there is no embryonic upbringing crew, right?”
“You’re right to point that out. Fortunately, the lead mission planner, Elias Thorne, accounted for such a situation. The upbringing crew serves a purely optional role of hands-on education, cultural enrichment, and comfort. The autonomous module systems and artificial womb capsules are perfectly capable of raising the embryos well past the minimum viable population level standards for safe colonization.”
“They’ll just be raised by the robots and computers? They won’t have any human contact?” Elias said. He started to hurry again, turning the corner into the tube-shaped segment. The nameplate read —
PORT SIDE DOCKING NODE
“Correct again. This was not the ideal scenario, but the systems will function properly, first constructing the base and food production systems, then bringing groups of embryos to full term in sequence.” said the computer.
Elias arrived at the airlock door into the launch bay. He pulled the lever and slid the door out of his way while asking the computer, “How long until the first embryos reach full term?”
“In the case of zero crew, upbringing and primary education is approximately eight years in incubation, after which the human will emerge in its completed state with the base level of knowledge for survival, habitat layout, and ready to begin it’s full education from the autonomous systems.” the computer replied.
He gasped and then squeezed his eyes shut once more. Elias steadied and pushed off hard, shooting across the hexagonal white padded room, towards the three wall panels opposite the door. A green light was illuminated above each of them. “Alright how do I do this?” he asked.
“There is a small emergency launch lever on the right of each panel. Pull them down, and give each one enough time to detach and launch before pulling the next one.”
He grasped the first red and yellow striped lever and pulled hard. Through the porthole he watched the first capsule drift free and ignite its descent thrusters. A minute later the second followed. Then the third. Finally, the autonomous construction module detached and began its own descent.
A soft hiss and faint clicking noise alerted Elias and he looked down to the floor of the room. A small hexagonal panel in the center of the floor lifted up and slid to the side. A yellow and red striped ladder was bolted to the side of a shaft going down.
“The upbringing crew landing pod. Once you are inside and seal the door it will launch automatically.” said the computer.
“Once I go down there I’ll be alone for eight years before the first kid pops out.” muttered Elias, looking around the white padded room.
“That is correct, now that the womb capsules have released, the timer is running. The first 200 of the 10,000 Thorne Continuity Initiative embryos will emerge in seven years, eleven months, and thirty days from now.” stated the computer.
“I guess someone needs to be there for them. I’ll need to make sure the machines work until then too,” Elias said.
The computer replied, “The womb capsules and autonomous modules are entirely capable of self-sufficiency and automaintenance. Your presence is not critical to mission success.”
Elias shook his head and started down the ladder. “Alright then, I’m going. Wish me luck,” he added.
“Good luck, Elias Thorne.” said the computer.
As Elias Thorne pushed away from the ladder into the pod hatch and sealed the door closed, he looked back up the shaft one last time.
“Thanks, Elias.”
The End
This was my short story entry for Ian Patterson’s The Thousand Faces of Elias Thorne community event.
It was inspired by the AI-phenomenon wherein multiple different LLM platforms have all been noted inserting a nonexistent character named Elias Thorne into their stories. Ian’s brilliant idea was to collect a number of community created human-written stories, to “take Elias back” as it were. A bit of a meta joke against the AI and an all around fun time.
This is my first venture into fiction here on Lamentations of Late. As a fan of Camus, Myth, and using fiction to explain real philosophical ideas, I wanted to try my hand at this event and tackle some ideas through Mr. Elias Thorne.
I hope you enjoyed. I had a ridiculous amount of fun.
ELIAS THORNE WILL RETURN IN AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY — wait, what? Okay, bye.
You nailed the AI voice! Very ChatGPT in space vibes