The Diary

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
Universal Star Date (USD) 1321.114.1600

Cryo-sleep awaits me. I dread it, but it’s something I must do if I’m to survive.

I finished cleaning up the blood and jettisoned Julie’s body and the body of the others a few minutes ago. I don’t know what happened to Julie, but she killed my entire crew, leaving only me, the object of whatever twisted obsession had her in its grip. She left me no choice but to kill her before she killed me.

Now I’m alone, adrift in a galaxy that is unfamiliar and vast. The search goes on for another race of being, a race I’m glad to say that I am no longer a part of. All I want to do is get back to Earth.

Of course, the chances of that happening are about ten billion to one. I’ll be in cryo-sleep for eternity I’m sure.

This is possibly my final entry, cryo-sleep awaits. This is J.M. Starlight, signing off…

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
USD 1328.169.0300

My worst fears eluded me.

I was awakened today from cryo-sleep by an angel. Just over seven years after I entered cryo-sleep, I woke at three in the morning and she was standing over me, brushing the remaining fragments of frost from my skin. The cryo-tube’s heat lamps were on, and the angel before me was surrounded by a white glow that resembled wings that gently pulsed over her shoulders. Her delicate fingers removed the electromagnetic stimulator patches from my chest and head and I noticed her hands. They were smooth and perfect in every way, just like her face. Her tresses caressed her neck and shoulders with strings of fiery red and they brushed across my lips as she leaned over me. Her emerald eyes were set perfectly within her skull, not too far apart and her lips were voluptuous and sensual.

During those first couple of minutes I truly believed she was an angel. I was instantly taken with her and I knew then that she would be the object of my desire. I had to have her…

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
USD 1328.170.1200

I just finished lunch in the dining hall and was able to meet the rest of the crew. There were twelve of them in all. Amanda Sphere (my angel) was chief medic, Joseph Black was the flight captain, and George, the flight navigator. Sam, Eddie, Sue, Elizabeth, and five others who’s names I have already forgotten make up the rest of the crew. Their jobs on the ship were insignificant too, for I automatically disliked every one of them. Every one of the looked at Amanda like she was their soul possession in the universe, and like I’ve already told you, Amanda is mine.

Why do I feel this way? I don’t know. I just feel this tremendous pull of energy coming from her that draws me to her like a magnet. Maybe it will pass with time, but I doubt it. This feeling is just too great and my desire for her too great to contain. I have to get her alone. I have to talk to her. She’ll probably think I’m crazy…

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
USD 1328.171.0500

I caught Amanda alone today in the infirmary. I didn’t mean too, but I startled her and she dropped a culture tray on the floor, glass shattered and sprayed everywhere. We picked up the pieces in silence and I couldn’t help but notice that she kept stealing wary glances at me from the corner of her eye.

I told her I thought that I loved her and she told me to get out. I was floored. I couldn’t believe it. I know that I’ve only known her for two days, but there was no denying my attraction for her. Besides, I said it before I could stop the words from coming out of my mouth.

I’ll give her a little time. Maybe she’ll come around…

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
USD 1328.175.1900

I kept away from her for four days straight, only seeing her during breakfast, lunch, and dinner or whenever Joseph called mandatory maintenance meetings when something needed fixing in the ship and it would take more than one or two people to take care of the problem. I didn’t volunteer to help on any of these occasions and kept to myself in my small cramped cabin, watching news and satellite imagery being piped in through the large rotating satellite dish connected to the outside of the star ship.

Those four days crept by so slowly and weighed on me so heavily that I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to do something, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I traversed the corridors from my cabin to the rec room where everyone gathered in the evenings to exercise. I was barefoot on the cold floor so as to make no noise when I approached.

There was a heated argument and I paused, unnoticed outside the door to listen. Amanda was going on and on about something called space dementia and I was entranced by her voice.

Then she spoke my name.

She was talking about me, behind my back.

“Haven’t you noticed the flutter in his eyes? The far away looks he gives everyone whenever he speaks to you? The way his hands shake?” Her voice was trembling. How could she be saying this about me? “He has space dementia and its getting worse. If we don’t contain him now, it’ll get worse and these cases usually end violently.”

There’s not a violent bone in my body.

“What do you want us to do?” That sounded like George, the navigator. Joseph must be manning the command deck.

I listened to them as they laid out an elaborate plan to contain me after breakfast the following morning. We’ll see about that…

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
USD 1328.176.0600

Well, they’re all dead. All but Amanda and me that is.

I woke before breakfast at 0400 hours and proceeded to the command deck. I had a long metal pipe in my hand. I found it in a maintenance closet just down from my cabin. I was hoping Joseph would be at the control deck manning the circuits and monitoring ship functions. He was the one that unnerved me most and I would have taken great pleasure in killing him personally.

I had to settle on George though. Joseph must be with the others in the dining hall, waiting for my arrival, an arrival that wouldn’t take place.

“Hey, Jon.” he said, turning toward me as I slapped the pipe against his temple. He wore glasses and they made an ungodly crunching sound as they shattered against his face…although, the sound could have been his skull.

I pushed him out of the chair and dragged him away from the control panels, I didn’t want his blood seeping through the cracks in the metal plating and ruining the circuitry within. The controls and monitors were much like that of my own ship and it didn’t take me long to familiarize myself with the function of each knob, lever and toggle switch. Locating a key board, I hacked into the mainframe computer and changed the captains passwords for every locking mechanism throughout the ship. This is easier than it sounds if you know how to do it. Most of the computers on these ships ran on the same programming and it was simple to gain access to the most sensitive parts of the programming in you knew what you were doing. It took me mere minutes to gain the captains access codes and change them.

I found the ships intercom beside the keyboard and activated it. My voice echoed through the chambers of the ship as I spoke, “Amanda! Amanda! Will you please come to the infirmary? I’ve cut my hand! I’m bleeding everywhere!” There was just enough tension and fright in my voice to sound convincing. I watched the monitors and clicked on the internal speakers for the mess hall.

“—think I can handle this on my own. You just finish your breakfast and I’ll bring him back here.” She looked like she had been talking to Eddie, convincing him to stay seated with a wave of her hand as she exited the dining hall.

Good girl, I thought, knowing that she would come alone, but afraid that she wouldn’t after the panic she had displayed the night before.

I gave her time to get around the corner of one corridor and into the next corridor when I flipped the emergency lock down switches for the mess hall. I watched on the monitor as the two doors hissed shut with a metallic click that sounded foreign through the speakers of the control deck. Everyone at the table jumped up, alarmed at what was happening.

I found another knob and turned it counter-clockwise until it clicked. A digital readout above it showed a green bar that shrank to nothing as I turned the knob. The name above the display read “O2-dining area”.

As the ten remaining crew members in the dining hall began to gasp for breath, Amanda was just entering the infirmary. I locked her in there as well.

I watched the crew die on the monitor. The audio to the infirmary was turned off, but I could see Amanda on the monitor pounding and screaming at the door, trying to get out.

I couldn’t watch her though. Something kept drawing my eye back to the other monitor where the captain and his crew lay in crumpled heaps on the floor. All the oxygen was gone from the room and they were dead.

What have I done? I couldn’t believe what I was seeing? I killed them! I killed them!

I remember jumping up from the control deck and streaking to my cabin. I went into my bathroom and splashed water in my face, trying desperately to clear my head. The image in the mirror over the basin wasn’t anyone I recognized. The stubble on my face had grown to proportions that I had never allowed before. And my eyes, oh God, my eyes!

They were fluttering.

I looked down at my hands and they were shaking uncontrollably.

Space dementia.

I ran to my computer console and wrote the words you see now. In just a few minutes, crying, I’ll go to Amanda and beg forgiveness. I don’t know what has been wrong with me these last few days but I realize my mistakes now. I am in the wrong and I must make some sort of restitution. I only hope that Amanda will hear my pleas…

Personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight
Updated by Amanda Kay Sphere
USD 1328.176.0900

My name is Amanda Sphere, and this is the personal log for Jonathan Morgan Starlight. Jonathan is dead now, killed by an administration of a drug cocktail by my own hand. You can read his words in earlier entries and realize for yourself why I killed him. The only thing that bothers me now is that when he entered the infirmary, I didn’t give him the time to apologize like he said he would do. At the time of his death, I had no idea that he was repenting. The only thing I knew was that I was trapped by a madman and I had to do anything in my power to escape with my life.

Cryo-sleep awaits me now, and I dread it. But it’s something I must do if I’m to survive.

I cleaned up the blood on the control deck and jettisoned the Jonathan’s body and the bodies of my shipmates a few minutes ago. I don’t know what happened to Jonathan, but he killed my entire crew, leaving only me, the object of whatever twisted obsession had him in its grip. In the end he left me no choice but to kill him before he killed me.

Now I’m alone, adrift in a galaxy that is unfamiliar and vast. The search goes on for another race of being, a race I’m glad to say that I am no longer a part of. All I want to do is get back to Earth.

Of course, the chances of that happening are about ten billion to one. I’ll be in cryo-sleep for eternity I’m sure.

This is possibly my final entry, cryo-sleep awaits. This is Amanda Kay Sphere, signing off…

Personal log for Amanda Kay Sphere
USD 1425.314.2200

I was glad to have been awakened from cryo-sleep by an angel. His face was strong and the olive skin stretched tightly over his features, amplifying the chiseled bone structure of his jaw and cheeks. He brushed the remaining flakes of frost off of my skin as the cryo-heaters kicked in, warming my body. The lights behind him cast a soft yellow halo over his head of jet-black hair.

During those first couple of minutes I truly believed he was an angel. I was instantly taken with him and I knew then that he would be the object of my desire. I had to have him…

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