To Andromeda

[Myroria]

Low Orbit, Sun III (Earth)
September 13, 2057

The Hupprecht Patrick was ready to make history once again. The 1007 meter ship hovered in Low Earth Orbit, ready for the crew that would fly it to the Andromeda Galaxy. Well, the real crew was already on there: The Heuristically and Psychologically Humanesque Artificially Intelligent Computer, or HPHAI, was already there.

The first of the coveted X5 series, the Hanso Corporation, having ditched its "Myroria" prefix years ago, designed and built HPHAI. The director of the project was Arnold Oswiecim V, the great-great-grandson of the second-in-command to Alvar Hanso himself. HPHAI was at the top of its game: an Earthling comedian once said that "HAL must rolling in it's grave.". The only things not programmed into it were negative emotions like envy and hate. It was completely obediant.

But even without the negative emotions of humanity, HPHAI proved itself a formidable foe at the six words the Earth Governor radioed to it:

"Blow it out of the sky.".

The pinnacle of human achievement - The International Space Station - is now somewhere near Hawaii.

Now the astronauts that were trained to man the ship to the Andromeda Galaxy were boarding a shuttle near the Eiffel Tower. Rather, the "Tower of His Majesty on Earth" as it was called officially.

When the shuttle arrived at the Hupprecht Patrick about one hour after takeoff, the astronauts entered the ship. The trip to Andromeda would begin in one day.

[Myroria]

Mission Profile

Ship

Hupprecht Patrick (Blueprint)

Official Name: Pelagian Space Craft Hupprecht Patrick

Registration Number: EX-1257

Overall Length: 1007 m

Overall Beam: 17 m

Overall Draft: 15 m

Mass: 50,440 tonnes

Life Support: (twelve men, out of hibernation for 5 months): 10 months

Engine Type: Hanso Propulsion Drive (Six Engines) - Liquid Ammonia Fuel - Thrust Deflector Plates- Maximum Speed 149,896,229 meters per second

Computer: HPHAI System, HPHAI Medical Drones

Suspended Animation System: 12 Meditech 386-F Hibernacula capable of increasing a Pelagian's life span from 150 years to ~7750 years (1 in each crew compartment)

Cockpit: Two seats for Mission Commander and Deputy Commander. For this mission the Hupprecht Patrick will have all control in HPHAI.

HPHAI systems: HPHAI core, auxiliary power unit, climate regulation system, auto pilot system, medical droid core, life monitoring system, wormhole driller, thruster control system, recreation system.

Crew:

HPHAI "Hip-hay" System (Commander-in-chief)
Kai Johannes (Human Commander)
Engel Albrecht (Deputy Human Commander)
Raphael Rolf (Human Surgeon and Physician)
Orel Thorben (Astrophysicist)
Henning Gisbert (Cosmologist)
Radulf Vester (Astronomer)
Helmut Heinz (Geophysicist)

Objective

Drill a wormhole through space and reach the Andromeda Galaxy in less than 5,000 Pelagis years.

[Myroria]

HPHAI steered the Hupprecht Patrick toward the wormhole it had just drilled. As the kilometer long ship passed the event horizon, space and time began to curve and contort. The computer's internal clock sped past years as if they were seconds. By the time the psychadelic experience was through, the clock in the cockpit began to flash:

1:39 PM, December 5, 8936. 1:39 PM, December 5, 8936. 1:40 PM, December 5, 8936.

The humans that sent this ship were long dead; the Earthlings long assimilated completely into Pelagian culture; who knows, maybe Pelagis didn't even exist anymore. (OOC: It does, don't get any wrong ideas)

HPHAI's clock's flashing was replaced with the flashing of "Medical Droids Deployed". In a couple of hours, the crew was awakened from their long sleep, and they hardly aged one week.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." The monotonous, but pleasant voice said.

"You have made history. A few hours ago we exited the wormhole and entered the Andromeda Galaxy. Congratulations."

The men clapped furiously.

"However, communications are out of the question. Any attempt to reach home with a message would take over 180,000 years to get there."

"In about 3 months, the homeland's second ship, the Roosdan, will rendezvous with us. In the meantime I have been ordered to find worlds habitable to us." HPHAI always refered to human qualities as "us", as if he needed oxygen to live.

"The Roosdan is everything this ship is not: Short and stout, lacking a single, overriding computer such as myself, and packed with people: colonists, for the first truely intergalactic empire. Good afternoon gentleman, I will handle controls from here. Relax, you deserve it."

HPHAI went silent, and the clock began to flash once more.