//------------------------------//
// 6. Out and In 
// Story: Where Black Seas Lap the Shores of Dead Stars 
// by The Hat Man 
//------------------------------//

I am sorry. I hope this was enough.

Those words haunted Blue Dot. She sat in the Ready Room as she watched the blur of stars fly past her window.

Five thousand years, she thought. What stories could that machine have told? What had it endured?

A blip on her console indicated that someone was at the door.

“Enter!” she called.

Her First Officer, Will Power, entered at her request.

“Captain, we’re less than 48 hours away from the Medea-3 colony,” he said.

“Very good, Commander,” she muttered as she continued to look out the window.

He said nothing, but the clearing of his throat indicated that he had more to say.

She turned in her chair and beckoned him to sit.

The younger stallion nodded and obligingly took his seat.

“Captain… this might well be your last mission before retiring. You had the option to turn it down. The crew has been curious about why you chose to volunteer the Venture to accept it. I have to admit, that same question crossed my mind as well. I hope you won’t think it out of line if I ask why.”

She smirked. “Not at all, Commander,” she said, and he immediately was at ease. “You know, when I was a filly, I took an interest in the early days of interstellar exploration,” she continued. “Equus sent countless missions out to find new worlds in the wake of our various crises. From one world to the next, we had a thousand years of world-hopping. Though just as unscrupulous as the other corporations out on the frontier, AguaVita was at the very forefront of those efforts. Those outermost worlds were populated by the bravest souls, the most adventurous of ponies… and they were the first victims of the Foresters. Thank the Sisters they’re gone now.”

Will Power nodded. “So, this is a chance to discover a piece of history that has been lost?” he asked. “That is your interest?”

She nodded. “That data cube we found contained a message,” she said. “It said to access it we needed the encryption code. And that the code is back on Medea-3.”

“Pretty clever way to get us to go there,” Will Power said with a smirk.

“Clever indeed,” she said. “I wonder what the colonists might tell us about this funny little robot. She certainly came a long way just for them.”

Will Power hesitated for a moment, biting his lip. Then he said, “They have to be dead, Captain.”

She said nothing.

“Five thousand years… with the technology they had back then… we won’t find anypony left alive in the colony. All we’ll find is the ruins of their colony and whatever they chose to record. And hopefully the key to decrypt that data cube.”

Captain Blue Dot nodded. “All true, Number 1,” she said. “You know, at my age, mysteries are less and less common. The thrill of discovery or even re-discovery loses something over the years. And yet…”

Will Power waited for her to continue once again.

“...those last words: ‘I am sorry. I hope this was enough.’ To come so far, across so much time, only to say those few words before taking one’s own life… that robot thought she’d left something worth discovering, surely enough. I suppose as an old nag…”

He winced momentarily at the profanity.

“...I have to wonder what was so important to her at journey’s end. Does that make sense?”

Will Power smiled. “I think so, Ma’am,” he said.

She nodded. “Good,” she replied. “Thank you, Number 1. I hope that answers any questions you might have.”

He clicked his hooves together and gave a short bow as he exited the room. 

Blue Dot continued to stare at the blur of stars out her window.

2372 CYP… that anything on the frontier could have survived the Foresters… no, keep it together, old mare, she told herself. That colony will be a tomb. There is no point hoping for better now.