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Space Trip.
Space Trip.
I checked once again each of the bunks of the members of the crew. The air gauges with pressure and amount of air being fed to each member is completely automatic. I controlled each of the bunks twice a day. The alarm system telling me that one of more of the special bunks was not in order had remained quiet since take off ten weeks ago.
I was not bored there was always something to be seen to although once on course the space ship was guided by the Computer. I was virtually the Captain while the Captain and the rest of the crew were in the deep sleep phase that was standard for all crews travelling in space.
My bunk was part of the control system. Normally the Pilot and co-pilot would be alone in this control room. I as a crewmember used this room for convenience it was central and suited me. The ship made very little noise as the powerful Ionen motors hummed away, thrusting us ever deeper into space.
Each kilometre was photographed and the Computer took into its fantastic memory banks the rout and all that was to be seen. When there was not much to do instead of gazing into space I would ask the computer to show me what had happened on a certain day. I was not nosey just checking to see that the computer was really doing that for which it was programmed.
Part of the system that I controlled was the devices that prepared food and drink. One spoke into a small microphone and ordered whatever it was that one fancied. Egg, Bacon and Sausages, Tea with milk and sugar. The food although made from special powders and chemicals mixed with whatever the machines held in the way of liquids. Was very good and I tried my hardest to get it to give me something that I knew was nonsense. The machine never made mistakes all that it delivered was eatable.
One hour after my sleeping period I noticed that one of the rivets holding the ship together gave off a sudden flash. Now I was nosey, what was a rivet doing on the ship that was in some way electrically under power. I examined the rivet from all angles. Then I tried to move it. The rivet unscrewed into my hand. To my surprise this was not a rivet but a camera. A hidden camera; the idea entered my head, you are being controlled.
I went back into the control room and inspected the Computer. I found a metal plate that now that my suspicions were aroused did not belong to the computer no matter how complicated it was. I managed to take the plate from the computer. Inside was another small computer. I sat down and played around with the keyboard until I managed to hit with a little luck the right key. This second computer showed that all over the spaceship there were cameras disguised as rivets. Everywhere I went, everything that I did was stored in this second computer. Even my visits to the toilets and the shower cubicle were on film. To say that I was disgusted at the lack of trust in me would be putting it mildly.
Cutting off the electricity from this second computer I went around the ship looking for the hidden cameras. With a pot of reflecting paint I covered all of the cameras. The Captain and the rest of the crew were still in their special cocoons. The oxygen and food supplies were functioning well so I did not bother to wake anyone to tell them about the hidden cameras.
Mars came into view and for the first time the warning signal came over the ships loud speakers that it was time for the crew to be awakened and to take over the ship. I hurried to the control room and pressed the right buttons that would wake all the members of the crew.
Crewmember after crewmember sat up rubbing their eyes, some were even yawning as if they were really tired. The cocoons opened and jets of warm refreshing air swept through the whole ship. Suits were donned and one after the other the crewmembers went to their allotted places. I reported to the captain. That during my watch nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I was dismissed and took my allotted place at one of the observation windows.
Mars gradually showed its surface, The Ionen engines were now slowing the space ship down as it slowly sank to the ground; clouds of red dust blocked my view. From the crewmembers a loud cheer and congratulations were passed from man to man.
No one noticed that I had painted all of the rivets or cameras, not even the Captain. It must have been the scientists that wanted a record of what I was up to when I was alone in charge of the space ship. No one commented even when we returned to Earth some ten months later.
I have written this story to warn future crews do not trust the scientists; after all it is your lives that are at stake when going on such a dangerous mission. Be on your guard at all times inspect every part of your ship one will never know what they will come up with next
