Transcript of last entry
in ship's log by crew of

A.N.S.A. Spacecraft Icarus

Recorded 7/14/72 (ship's time)
by Commander George Taylor




"...and that completes my final report until we reach touchdown. We're now on full automatic in the hands of the computers. I've tucked my crew in for the long sleep, and I'll be joining them... soon. In less than an hour, we'll finish our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy...six months in deep space...by our time, that is. According to Dr. Hasslein's theory of time in a vehicle traveling nearly the speed of light, the earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it...while we've aged hardly at all. Maybe so. This much is probably true: the men who sent us on this journey are long since dead and gone. You who are reading me now are a different breed... I hope a better one. I leave the 20th century with no regrets, but one more thing... if anybody's listening, that is...nothing scientific, it's purely personal...the scene from out here...everything seems different. Time bends, space is boundless. It squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely."

(Long pause)

"That's about it. Tell me, though...does Man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother?...keep his neighbor's children starving?..."

"That reminds me... where are those snack crackers...?"


End of transcript.

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