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// Dr. Chesterfield's Log: Entry 9.9.62 
// Story: TCB: Among the Stars (Part 1: Absquatulate) 
// by Herr Director 
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Science division 1188, Otto Chesterfield, Date, nine, nine, twenty sixty-two

The evacuation process is not going well. It appears that, somehow, the barrier is increasing its speed. This increase was first noticed yesterday, approximately nineteen hours after the first ETCI announcement was given. It also seems that Princess Celestia has issued a decree that says that any human within thirty kilometers of Equestrian land must be taken to a bureau for a mandatory conversion. As the land surrounding a Conversion Bureau is technically Equestrian soil, this means that entire cities have been locked down by Equestria, and have been classified as Conversion Zones. The President has attempted to contact Celestia, but she has refused all communications. Given the close timing of this with the increase in speed of the barrier, perhaps her actions can be justified. Or that she has more power over the barrier than she lets on and is trying to thwart the launch for reasons unknown. Maybe her purposes here are darker than we originally anticipated.
I fear that we will have to hasten our launch program. Due to the acceleration of the barrier, the CSS Columbus at Anchorage space center will be overtaken before the one week deadline ends in five days. This is a difficult task. If Celestia really does have control of the barrier, then she will be sure to act should we broadcast the new date to the public. The evidence is mounting against Celestia, as she still refuses to disclose the Conversion process with us. She has not responded to any communication attempts on our behalf. I am very suspicious of her now, as are many other scientists and leaders. There has been an increase of violence in the Conversion Zones that we can gather. I can only hope that the people will be able to escape and come to the spaceports so we can fill the rockets to capacity and leave before the barrier consumes them. Unfortunately, the chances of this are very slim. If worse comes to worse, I can ask the President to send out liberation forces to free the people in the cities. 
However, I must be thankful. If it weren't for our informant, we would still be in the dark about the exact radius of the Conversion Zones as well as other classified information. Her name cannot be disclosed here for security reasons, but she has shown great interest in coming with us on the ETCI expedition. She says that she is trying to obtain a sample of the Conversion Serum, but that is extremely top secret and difficult to get, even with her high status. We all hope that she will be successful. It pains me to burden her with more work, but I must ask her to get conformation that Celestia is controlling the barrier. If she is, then we have a better chance of getting the people of Earth to revolt and fight back. Without this conformation, however, there is nothing we can do. One thing is for sure, no matter what happens, we must get at least some people on GSC-935b. Hopefully, we can begin anew there. For now, we must inform the public about the Conversion Zones, so that they can do what they must to get to the colony ships. I can only pray that I do not have to face this uncertain future alone. 

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