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YEAR: 61.03 | LIFE SYSTEMS: OFFLINE
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[SHIP CAMERA 13]: ONLINE
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>SYSTEM_INPUT: _chkdsk C:
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>SYSTEM_INPUT: _date
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>SYSTEM_INPUT: _dir
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>SYSTEM_INPUT: _openfiles /query /s srvmain /u main\SQUEEM /p SQUEEM1
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>SYSTEM_INPUT: _extract /y /e
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>BEGIN PLAYBACK? _y
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YEAR: 3.50 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 18:42:36: This is Twilight T-10-1 hailing… fuck, anybody! S.O.S., S.O.S., this is an emergency hail! Please, please, please, is anybody out there? You have to be out there! Fuck.
EMP-ID-09 18:44:24: [SNIFFLING]. Um, shit, wow. Please.
EMP-ID-09 18:46:15: [SNIFFLING CONTINUES]. T-this is… this is Twilight T-10-1. I need help, does anybody read? CQ.
EMP-ID-09 18:47:03: Twilight T-10-1. Emergency hail, does anybody read?
EMP-ID-09 18:47:56: Twilight T-10-1. QSL?
EMP-ID-09 18:48:22: Hello?
YEAR 3.61 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 23:22:04: Twilight T-10-1—I don’t know why I’m still hailing. I don’t know why I tried the first time.
EMP-ID-09 23:22:57: We haven’t heard anything planet-side in years now. Since launch. Sometimes things collide with the ship. [HEAVY BREATHING]. I don’t—I don’t want to know what they are.
EMP-ID-09 23:23:19: Um, if there’s anything out there, this is probably going to get pretty boring pretty quick. I can’t… I don’t think I can keep going like this. Alone. Uh, so. I think I’m just going to—to talk. To you. [LAUGHTER, WET]. One last podcast, or something.
EMP-ID-09 23:24:36: Oh, god. I’m the last woman podcaster alive. Ha! [LAUGHTER, COUGHING]. I’m the last woman podcaster ever. What a way to go out.
EMP-ID-09 23:25:00: This is so stupid.
YEAR: 3.62 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 04:00:29: Hey, thanks for tuning back in. Today on the S.S. Twilight, we are, uh, cleaning out the latrine. As it were. Yeah, it’s cleaning day. [LOUD WHIRRING].
EMP-ID-09 04:01:14: Do you remember when we used to worry about the ethics of dumping all our shit into space? Me neither. I just hit the button now. Who’s going to care? It’s like, damn, if you’re going to be upset about it, maybe don’t all die next time. Or whatever. [MUTTERED] Yeah, that one wasn’t very funny.
EMP-ID-09 04:03:12: Um, I haven’t done the—the rest of the crew’s quarters. I can’t—yeah, I can’t go in there. So it’s just this one. There’s a lot less ship to clean. Now.
EMP-ID-09 04:05:53: I can already hear your questions. “Kristen,” you say, “if you’re the last person on Earth—“ sorry, orbiting Earth, my bad—“if you’re the last person orbiting Earth, why even bother to do all the cleaning? That sounds like it sucks.” Uh, thanks caller, it does. I hate it.
EMP-ID-09 04:07:09: [CLEARING THROAT]. But it’s worse if I don’t. Like, when I was a kid, I used to leave my room messy. And I would get into so much trouble. My parents hated it. My foster parents probably did too, but they were pretty hands-off, so they never said anything.
EMP-ID-09: 04:09:43: It’s so stupid, the stuff you regret. It’s all the little things, you know? Like, I wish I’d kept my room neater. I wish I’d called my brothers more. God, Cork—he would’ve been in high school by now.
EMP-ID-09 04:13:38: So yeah. You clean the ship. Or what part of the ship you can reach. And then you clean it again, and again.
EMP-ID-09 04:15:22: Uh, because it’s not too late to.
YEAR: 3.62 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 16:21:17: What’s up, listeners? S.S. Twilight coming back in with a new update for ya. Today, we’re going for a float!
EMP-ID-09 16:21:36: There’s nobody here to curb my impulses, so you know what that means. It’s time to have whatever passes for fun in here! I’m turning off the fake gravity in this sucker and hanging out on the ceiling. And none of you can stop me.
EMP-ID-09 16:22:01: What will I do once I’m on the ceiling? I’m so glad you asked. Probably read another one of Adaine’s books or something. They’re so thick and she left them everywhere. Once I read this, I’m going to be the best gardener this side of the solar system.
EMP-ID-09 16:22:22: Am I the best gardener by default if I’m the only person alive? Okay, well, I’m going to be a better gardener. Than myself. And I’m going to do it by reading this book. Studies say if all the blood is in your head from being upside down, more of it is in your brain to learn all the information. They do say that.
EMP-ID-09 16:22:57: I was going to have a picnic up there, but I realized I would probably end up dropping my tubers all over the place. I can’t really afford to lose those. Any calorie lost is a calorie I won’t be able to make back up later. So this is just a joyride. Joyfloat. No picnic.
EMP-ID-09 16:23:14: Okay, gravity’s off. You can’t see me, but my whole chair is coming off the ground. [LAUGHTER]. Oh— oh no. I didn’t really think about the desk or the radio equipment. My microphone too—shit. Whoops!
EMP-ID-09 16:23:45: I’m going to have to shout. If you miss a word or two, you can send complaints to the little thing orbiting Earth. That little speck, the shiny one. I take fax, phone call, or post. Or radio.
EMP-ID-09 16:23:59: Leaving you to go read. I’ll give you a book review once I’m done. Twilight T-10-1, Officer Kristen, out.
YEAR: 3.65 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 13:38:41: Goooood afternoon, and it’s a beautiful one on the S.S. Twilight! The sun is rising again, the Earth is uninhabited, the windows are crusted over with some shit I’m too scared to try to clean off, and I’m starting to get real nervous about that weird clanking sound I’ve been hearing behind those locked crew cabin doors!
EMP-ID-09 13:39:44: Ha ha, no, but really. I knew that leaving them locked meant I couldn’t repair anything in there, but, you know, I kind of decided to cut my losses on that front.
EMP-ID-09 13:40:26: I mostly work on growing food to eat. And keeping the water recycler running. And the oxygen systems. And the power. They don’t tell you when you’re witnessing the apocalypse that doing the job of a six-person team as just one guy is miserable. They should put that one in bold before you sign onto it.
EMP-ID-09 13:41:37: It would save a lot of energy to open the airlocks. I think about that, sometimes.
EMP-ID-09 13:42:15: But it would be a waste of a spaceflight. We came out here for a reason. Also, you know, I like watching the sun rise and set around Earth. It goes really quick, it’s kind of funny. [SIGHING].
EMP-ID-09 13:43:02: Fuck, do you know what I miss? I miss corndogs.
EMP-ID-09 13:43:50: We used to eat them every Sunday after church. The body, the blood, and the holy corndogs. They were so sweet, it was almost gross.
EMP-ID-09 13:44:34: Bricker used to put mayo on his. Now that was gross. I’ll say it right now, I’m a ride-or-die mustard-er.
EMP-ID-09 13:45:28: It’s driving me crazy. I know Bucky used to eat his with ketchup on the side, because he liked to dip it, and I can remember him using barbecue sauce once because we ran out of ketchup. But I can’t remember what Cork used to like.
EMP-ID-09 13:46:49: They don’t tell you about that part of the foster care system—forgetting stuff about your old family. Or I guess running away from home. Not really foster care. There’s nobody here to arrest Jawbone, so it doesn’t matter if I say it.
EMP-ID-09 13:47:51: Best choice I ever made. It really saved me, back when I needed saving. I wish he were here.
EMP-ID-09 13:49:02: God, I wish any of them were. I’m so lonely. I’m so bored. This universe is so big, and I’m trapped here in the emptiest corner.
EMP-ID-09 13:49:56: What’s that one quote? From the astronaut, the one about how empty space is and how disillusioned he was when he came up here because everything worth marveling at was down there?
EMP-ID-09 13:51:13: Not much left to marvel at anymore. What’re the odds I could program this thing to take me out to the Kuiper belt, do we think? See something different, check out the views.
EMP-ID-09 13:52:25: Yeah, best not to risk it, I guess. Maybe I’ll play around. Keep you posted.
YEAR: 3.65 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 22:17:18: Bella’s noches, or whatever! Gather around, listeners: I am not—I repeat, not—going to the Kuiper belt! This might actually be a win, because I’m relying on being able to see Earth to stay sane. And to check out if it looks like anything is different down there.
EMP-ID-09 22:18:42: I keep thinking about it. Stuff being different, I mean. What if we missed something?
EMP-ID-09 22:29:26: Things have to still be living down there. I really don’t think all of humanity could’ve gone extinct. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
EMP-ID-09 22:30:15: We’re literally the most invasive of species. Somebody down there is holding on for dear life, I just know it.
EMP-ID-09 22:31:09: Doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be able to reach me, but what’s the point of giving up before the last second, you know?
EMP-ID-09 22:32:34: Ha! You know what I just thought? It’s basically like football.
EMP-ID-09 22:33:07: I never really got it, but Ragh made me go to so many games in high school. If I were into guys, it probably would’ve been hot. I think. Doesn’t matter—okay, yeah, right, the sport part.
EMP-ID-09 22:34:47: So what you have to understand is that football is kind of the dumbest game of all time, just some guys running around chasing a tiny inflatable object. There are so many stupid rules. You can just take the ball from the other team if you want. If your team plays badly enough, the other team gets points. The play isn’t over until the guy holding the ball touches his knee to the ground, so you can just keep going if you somersault and get back up. It doesn’t make any sense.
EMP-ID-09 22:36:51: But it’s also a story, you know? People get attached. In high school it was the story of our school versus their school. The beef between players went back for decades, like there was serious history. A whole narrative, I guess. And so when you watched people play, you wanted to see some, like… nobility to it.
EMP-ID-09 22:37:48: A team could play the worst game of all time. They could play the worst anybody in history's ever played. But they’d still better be trying to score right up to the last second. Where’s the honor in it otherwise?
EMP-ID-09 22:38:14: I’m never gonna impressed by somebody walking off the field early. That ball’s still out there!
EMP-ID-09 22:39:06: I’ve got it. Whatever drives human beings to play football is the same thing that drives them to launch a last-ditch effort contingency crew into space. And then drives that crew to stay in orbit around Earth. 'Cause the game isn't over 'til it's over.
EMP-ID-09 22:40:00: Chew on that for me. Last podcaster, out!
YEAR: 3.67 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 15:17:09: I’m climbing the walls. There are only so many things I can clean or try to keep from breaking around here. I’m going to run out of cleaning supplies one of these days, and then I’m really going to lose it.
EMP-ID-09 15:17:19: I’ve been thinking that maybe I should try religion. I mean, I tried it growing up. But maybe I should try it again, or try it differently. Statistically speaking, somebody was probably praying to the right deity down there, right?
EMP-ID-09 15:17:43: If I were constructing a god, I’d make her a woman. It’s my duty as the last woman podcaster ever to also be the last feminist ever.
EMP-ID-09 15:18:01: Wait, do you think it’s a win for feminism that I’m the last person alive? Or is it actually misogynistic because I’m going to die?
EMP-ID-09 15:18:33: That was a stupid question. I’d make her a lesbian too. God, that is. Duh. Part of worshiping her could be loving women.
EMP-ID-09 15:18:46: Should I be writing this shit down? I keep forgetting nobody will read it if I do. There might be aliens out there though. And also, all those, like, monks did a ton of writing. The Bible was a book. The Torah was a book. The Quran was a book. I’m sensing a theme here. Things get more religious the more you write them down.
EMP-ID-09 15:19:07: I’d write it on the inside of one of Adaine’s books, but I’m pretty sure if I did she’d be rolling in her—she doesn’t have a grave. In— in her room. [SWALLOWING].
EMP-ID-09 15:19:35: This isn’t really funny anymore. Kinda killed the vibe.
EMP-ID-09 15:19:42: Okay. I’ll come back to building God later. There’s definitely something else around here I can fix. Might have to risk a space walk to check on the solar panels.
EMP-ID-09 15:19:59: Nah, it can wait. I’ll figure out God first so I have something to pray to. There’s something fucking with the coordinates system, so I’ll go work on that instead.
EMP-ID-09 15:20:08: This is awful. Wish me luck, loyal listeners. Kristen, out.
YEAR: 3.70 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 03:41:38: Hey guys, welcome back. This is Kristen, and you’re watching Frisbee Channel. The channel where I learn to play frisbee.
EMP-ID-09 03:41:52: Just kidding. Frisbee requires other players to throw the disc back. Instead, I’ve been getting super into card games.
EMP-ID-09 03:42:04: As a side-effect, I’m also trying to teach myself some card tricks. Here, you tell me when to stop shuffling.
EMP-ID-09 03:42:16: Couldn’t help but notice it was taking you a second there. I’ll just go ahead and cut the deck for you. Pull a card from the top—yep, that one. Okay, can you see it? No? Here, I’ll read it out for you. You pulled the six of diamonds.
EMP-ID-09 03:42:35: Great. Now keep that in your head, okay? I’m going to shuffle, and you can watch me do it—yeah, I know how to do the bridge. Ladies want me, card sharks fear me. Fuck. No, I didn’t drop any of them—stop worrying about it. It’s fine. I’m just going to cut it twice more, okay?
EMP-ID-09 03:42:56: Great. Now I'll spread it out, and you tell me when to stop.
EMP-ID-09 03:43:09: Any time now.
EMP-ID-09 03:43:15: Literally any moment.
EMP-ID-09 03:43:23: Awesome, I definitely think I heard you say that it was good. Now which one of these cards is calling to you? This one?
EMP-ID-09 03:43:37: Okay, when I flip it over, it’s going to be the six of diamonds. I mean—your card, whatever it might have been. Ready?
EMP-ID-09 03:43:46: …well, you don’t always get it right the first time. I meant the one next to it.
EMP-ID-09 03:43:51: Okay. So I meant the one next to that.
EMP-ID-09 03:43:57: Okay, so maybe I don’t know where it went. Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t lose your card.
EMP-ID-09 03:44:08: I really can’t lose any of these cards. I’ve been using them to play poker and it’s way more difficult to cheat if you don’t have a full deck.
EMP-ID-09 03:44:17: I play by spreading out three different hands across a table, playing one, and then waiting long enough to forget what I played last by the time I get back to the table. Then I play the next one.
EMP-ID-09 03:44:29: I do a lot of winning and losing simultaneously. I think it might be doing some really weird things to my head. I’m not sure if I’m getting better or worse.
EMP-ID-09 03:44:40: I bet I could take you in a poker match. The first five lucky folks to call in get to be part of my next game. And that’s a Kristen Applebees promise.
EMP-ID-09 03:44:56: Too shy? That’s okay, I’ll be here whenever you’re ready. And my card trick will be perfect next time. Mark my words.
YEAR: 3.75 | LIFE SYSTEMS: STABLE
EMP-ID-09 21:51:01: Welcome back, listeners from the galaxy over! I’m finally coming back to that book review.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:08: Yeah, I know. You thought I wasn’t ever going to do it. Well you thought wrong! Contrary to popular belief, I am, actually, literate. More or less.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:14: I did learn a lot about gardening. I'll just start there. I know what a perennial is now. I mean, I probably could’ve guessed what it meant just from the name, but now I know for sure. I also know a lot of new info about different growing seasons, and how to emulate them on a ship that’s floating through space, stuck in Earth’s orbit. The whole thing has a lot to do with temperature and light and even gravity, apparently.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:33: There’s a whole lot of stuff in here. Seems like it’s not just about slamming down some nutrients and soil and sunlight and water and calling it good; it’s all about balance.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:41: Jawbone had this annoying thing he used to say, where he’d go “balance isn’t something we achieve someday and then we’re done, Kristen, it’s a verb. Balance is an action we undertake our whole lives.” And then he’d tell me some story about how he used to balance molly, ketamine, and meth all at once or something.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:59: I think the tubers up here could stand to appreciate that message a little more. You hear me? Balance is a verb, guys. You can’t just go around dying like it's a noun. I’m sorry I don’t have enough phosphorus to last us all forever, or whatever. Is my recycled piss nitrogen not enough for you? What else could you possibly want?
EMP-ID-09 21:51:16: The book didn’t say whether or not berating your plants was bad for them. I feel like it’s gotta be fine. They like certain vibrations, right?
EMP-ID-09 21:51:25: On that note, I’ve been taking my poker competitions to the next level by playing my plants. Tuber who does worst gets eaten next.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:34: Listeners, you would not believe this, but my plants are not good at card games. I’m worried the low morale might be stunting their growth. If any of you have more info than my book does on the subject, feel free to call in.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:44: I’m kind of in the middle of an intense match, so I’ll wrap this up quick.
EMP-ID-09 21:51:50: Book gets three out of five stars for containing a lot of good info but being way too dense for a fun read. Ate up a bunch of hours of my life, so it gets some bonus points. My eyes kept glazing over, so it loses some bonus points. Cancels out.
EMP-ID-09 21:52:03: No idea how Adaine used to get excited about this stuff. Oh well.
EMP-ID-09 21:52:09: Tune back in a few hours from now to hear the winner. Or don’t. I’m not your mom.
YEAR: 3.91 | LIFE SYSTEMS: MAINTENANCE REQUESTED
EMP-ID-09 17:26:18: Got an alert today. Guess this baby’s getting sick of carting me around.
EMP-ID-09 17:26:26: My parents didn’t get me a car when I was sixteen—they never would’ve spent the money on me. But one of my friends, [CLEARING THROAT], um, Tracker, had one. Uncle Jawbone helped her pay for it. She named it Galicaea, but we used to call her Gal for short.
EMP-ID-09 17:26:41: That thing had almost 200,000 miles on it when she got it. I mean, a real, bonafide hunk of crap. Her engine sounded like a rock meeting the business end of a lawn mower.
EMP-ID-09 17:26:55: Anyway, of course we’d roadtrip around in it all the time. We went to this farm stand once and had the freshest salsa I’ve ever had anywhere in my life. Feels like I lived the rest of my life in pursuit of something that could touch it.
EMP-ID-09 17:27:10: I guess I can tell you that we dated, me and Tracker. Maybe you guessed from the whole lesbian God thing. If you cared, you probably don’t anymore.
EMP-ID-09 17:27:23: Well, we were driving back to Jawbone’s one night, right through the desert. Highway and then all this sand to either side. And there aren’t really any lights along the desert highway, so it was just these stars starting to come out over the horizon, and the sun setting into this bright orange line, and then we noticed the smoke.
EMP-ID-09 17:27:47: I’ll be real—it was hard not to. Blueish, and it smelled rank.
EMP-ID-09 17:27:52: Poured right out of the air vents and we could see it outside the windows, too. Whole catalytic converter had blown.
EMP-ID-09 17:28:00: So Tracker was all like “don’t worry, it’s probably fine that it’s doing that,” and I was busy going “no, I don’t think it’s fine, actually,” and then she started coughing and had to get out her inhaler.
EMP-ID-09 17:28:16: And it was hard to see the shoulder to pull off onto it, so I rolled down the window to stick my head out and try to direct her, but we were going so fast that the wind blew all the smoke back into the car.
EMP-ID-09 17:28:29: So we finally managed to pull over. And then we called Uncle Jawbone, who said to call AAA, even though Tracker wasn’t sure she even had AAA, and couldn’t find the number. And then, because we were so far out along the highway, it took them two hours to drive out and help us. And yeah, maybe we were busy in the backseat when they got there, but you would’ve been too if you were that bored!
EMP-ID-09 17:28:45: And then, after all that shit, the check engine light came on.
EMP-ID-09 17:28:53: This is kind of like that, except I don’t think AAA is about to come bail me out, and I don’t have any replacement parts. Gorgug could’ve rigged something up. He should’ve been here.
EMP-ID-09 17:29:04: Nothing for it but to buckle in and see how far this thing gets, I guess. Maybe the spirit of Gorgug will come to me in a dream. Send me a sign, AAA. Or radio in.
YEAR: 4.25 | LIFE SYSTEMS: UNSTABLE
EMP-ID-09 09:18:26: Um, it’s been getting a little rougher here. Like, the life systems. Not that— [LAUGHTER, NERVOUS]. Not that anybody needs them. I guess. I don’t know, really, how to repair them. So I’ve been buying time.
EMP-ID-09 09:19:04: It’s interesting. I feel like we all read about how the world would end and stuff. It wasn’t like we didn’t know, or like people weren’t warned it was coming. That’s why we left, right? To buy more time out here.
EMP-ID-09 09:19:53: I wonder what we bought. If it was worth it. Kind of wish I had less time now, to be honest. Maybe somebody else would’ve been stronger if they’d been chosen for this.
EMP-ID-09 09:21:14: That’s ridiculous. I wasn’t chosen. I was just the person standing the closest. Maybe you would still think that counts, if you were somebody who believed in fate. I don’t know what I believe anymore. Maybe cruel, stupid things just happen and there isn’t anything anybody can do about it. I just don’t want to think we were somehow destined for this.
EMP-ID-09 09:23:45: I think the thing that gets me most is that it feels like somehow we chose it. Or somebody did, for the rest of us. They were just as small and cruel and insignificant as anybody else and somehow, they still had enough say to keep ruining things for the rest of us. I get so angry about it sometimes. And then I look out the window and remember how little that anger matters.
EMP-ID-09 09:29:20: Maybe we were already on a collision course and nothing could’ve been done. God, I really hope that’s not the truth. If you’re out there, please hail.
EMP-ID-09 09:29:33: Once I ribbon-danced out a window. You can’t make me be humanity’s last shot. Just, like, karmically speaking, that’s got to be the most fucked up thing you can do. Hail, damnit!
YEAR: 4.25 | LIFE SYSTEMS: UNSTABLE
EMP-ID-09 02:10:15: [BREATHING, WET] I keep thinking about it when I look down there. Is it really so hard for systems to change? It’s always been that way, since the beginning: you evolve or you get destroyed. How could so many people have wanted to do things differently and it still never happened?
EMP-ID-09 02:12:20: I guess they didn’t want to change that badly.
YEAR: 4.25 | LIFE SYSTEMS: UNSTABLE
EMP-ID-09 20:31:04: I feel like I was unfair, earlier. I knew so many people and all of them were doing their best.
EMP-ID-09 20:32:18: That makes it worse. Like, how could this have happened to the world when Gorgug was in it?
EMP-ID-09 20:33:12: Gorgug isn’t the only good person I know. He’s just the best.
EMP-ID-09 20:33:40: Was.
EMP-ID-09 20:36:59: Twilight T-10-1 out for the night. Please hail.
YEAR: 4.26 | LIFE SYSTEMS: UNSTABLE
EMP-ID-09 10:00:28: Hey listeners, thanks for tuning in out there all over the galaxy. I’m your favorite podcast host, [COUGHING], back at it again with pretending like things are fine. On today’s episode: part of my ship has detached.
EMP-ID-09 10:02:03: Not sure which. I’ve been pretending I can’t see the screens. I didn’t know all the right fancy tricks to get the alarms to shut up, so I, uh, I have in some earplugs right now. Things are going from bad to worse out here.
EMP-ID-09 10:03:44: I skipped cleaning day this week. I’ve kind of—I have to be honest, I’ve stopped counting the weeks. It was getting hard to do, and my memory isn’t great.
EMP-ID-09 10:05:17: The water recycler is also starting to give me alerts, which really can’t be good.
EMP-ID-09 10:06:50: Oh fuck it, who cares? I’m scared. I’m so, so scared. [RAPID BREATHING]. Once they were gone it was over for me, you know? I made that joke about being the last podcaster when I started doing this, but now I don’t know even what’s going to get me anymore.
EMP-ID-09 10:08:09: Before this, it was kind of like “oh yeah, something will do me in while I’m out here, no biggie”. It was kind of safe to know that, I think. And true—I don’t have the knowledge to repair all these systems. I don’t even have the tools. They’re all in Gorgug’s—
EMP-ID-09 10:09:00: It doesn’t matter. I just—it’s different to live it, is all. It’s here, and so am I, and it’s going to be really bad.
EMP-ID-09 10:10:11: [RAPID BREATHING] That’s the—that’s it, I think. I’m scared it’s going to be really, really bad. I’m so scared. I wish I weren’t here all alone. Please hail.
YEAR: 4.26 | LIFE SYSTEMS: UNSTABLE
EMP-ID-09 12:55:05: It wasn’t even a hull breach that killed them, or anything like that. I literally just think it was the food processor malfunctioning.
EMP-ID-09 12:56:08: God. I ate from it the next morning. I didn’t know yet.
EMP-ID-09 12:56:59: I, uh— [GAGGING]. It’s so stupid. What counts as getting lucky. Am I lucky?
EMP-ID-09 12:58:47: I keep eating from it. It hasn’t happened again since.
EMP-ID-09 12:59:48: Please hail.
YEAR: 4.26 | LIFE SYSTEMS: UNSTABLE
EMP-ID-09 07:11:24: Good morning. Probably. I don’t know what still counts as morning. [SNIFFLING]. [HEAVY BREATHING]. Um, it would’ve been Fig’s birthday today. So, you know, happy birthday Fig.
EMP-ID-09 07:13:28: I can’t make cake, because we don’t have the ingredients out here. And I think I’m running out of water, so I’ve been rationing it. So, no cake.
EMP-ID-09 07:15:14: Put a candle in my potato instead. Ran out of other food to put on it. Can still heat it up though, which is [SNIFFLING] nice.
EMP-ID-09 07:16:09: I’ll blow it out for you, Fig. My wish for your birthday is that you weren’t dead.
EMP-ID-09 07:17:33: It’s really stupid, but sometimes I swear she’s still here. I keep seeing her.
EMP-ID-09 07:18:40: When I was a kid, my mom put on this weird TV channel, and there was this show on about people who were addicted to weird stuff. We watched an episode where this woman was being interrogated and had this whole huge intervention because she slept with her husband’s skeleton in her bed every night and wouldn’t let it go. Even though it smelled.
EMP-ID-09 07:20:21: It really freaked me out. I had nightmares about skeletons for weeks. My little brothers laughed at me when I cried about it.
EMP-ID-09 07:21:36: I look at the crew quarters now and sometimes I get it. I don’t think human beings were built for this.
EMP-ID-09 07:23:57: I really don’t think it’s going to be long now. I’m trying to make peace with it.
EMP-ID-09 07:24:19: Maybe her next birthday we can have cake.
EMP-ID-09 07:25:01: You don’t have to hail. It’s okay.
YEAR: 4.28 | LIFE SYSTEMS: CRITICAL
EMP-ID-09 00:00:00: Happy New Year! Ha, just kidding. I actually don’t know what year it’s supposed to be. It just felt like we were due for one, you know? I’m pretending it’s right now so I can make resolutions.
EMP-ID-09 00:01:32: I haven’t really kept up with an exercise routine or anything, so maybe I’ll get back into that.
EMP-ID-09 00:02:41: I’m also planning on cutting back my water usage. We’re going from bare minimum to negligible here, folks. No showers required! Au natural, as they say.
EMP-ID-09 00:04:02: I might even try fixing my sleep schedule. The lights don’t work anymore, so I don’t know if I’ll be at an advantage or disadvantage here. I should probably go check out whatever’s up with the solar panels again.
EMP-ID-09 00:05:57: Anybody down for going space bungee jumping with me tomorrow? Kidding, I can’t take you out there with me.
EMP-ID-09 00:07:48: I just can’t take you anywhere. Ha!
EMP-ID-09 00:10:22: It all falls apart so quick.
YEAR: 4.29 | LIFE SYSTEMS: FAILING
EMP-ID-09 24:33:19: Hey. Thanks for tuning back in. My very last broadcast, folks.
EMP-ID-09 24:33:56: It was the right call to stay. I love seeing the Earth now.
EMP-ID-09 24:34:15: I’m not not scared, but I’m way less scared than I was before. It helps to have something concrete.
EMP-ID-09 24:34:39: One last time, for old time’s sake: anybody hail? Or snow. Or rain, I’ll take rain.
[SIGNAL RECEIVED]
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …CSK?
EMP-ID-09 24:35:18: Hello? Hello? QRJ? Is somebody there; can you hear me? Do you copy?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …hear you… station?
EMP-ID-09 24:35:45: Oh my god. Oh my god. [SOBBING]. Oh my god, you’re real.
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …QRA?… station?
EMP-ID-09 24:36:04: This is operator KC1KCA. King-Charlie-One-King-Charlie-Alpha. I’m transmitting from the Twilight T-10-1. Can you hear me? Do I need to repeat? Can you hear me? Can you help me? Do you need help?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …10-4… orbiting… temporary station contact… need help?
EMP-ID-09 24:36:37: Yes, I need help! Please, I need help! Temporary contact? You keep cutting out, can you try to increase your signal strength? Where are you?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …antenna d—… no tower. Kris—… only a few minutes. Do you copy?… Do you copy?…
EMP-ID-09 24:37:01: Oh my god. You’re down there.
EMP-ID-09 24:37:08: We only have a few minutes because I’m in orbit. And you’re down there.
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …how long? Can you sen—… trying to reach you… Krist—…
EMP-ID-09 24:37:25: Trying to reach me? Who? Can you tell me who has been trying to reach me? Jawbone? Is that Jawbone?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …wrong with…?… don’t know, I’m sorry… orbiting four years…
EMP-ID-09 24:37:56: Wrong with…? Is there something wrong with him? That’s—he was my dad. It’s been four years? God, it’s only been four years. [LAUGHTER]. I could’ve gotten a bachelor’s in that time. Oh my god, it’s been four years.
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …sorry about… please, try send—… data could h—… we need you to…
EMP-ID-09 24:38:12: Listen to me. Please, you have to listen to me. I don’t know who you are but this is all we have. I can’t send anything to you; the life support system is giving out. [SNIFFING]. I’m sorry. Will you tell them I’m sorry? Whoever’s left, will you please tell them I’m sorry?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …10-4… diagnostics report? If you can s—… might be able to collec—…
EMP-ID-09 24:38:25: We’re past that. We’re past that. Can you do something for me?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …copy.
EMP-ID-09 24:38:32: Can you promise, when I go, you’ll be here? I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name.
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: [STATIC]
EMP-ID-09 24:38:43: Hello?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: [STATIC]
EMP-ID-09 24:38:51: Hello, do you copy?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: [STATIC]
EMP-ID-09 24:39:02: Can you hold my hand?
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: [STATIC]
YEAR: 4.29 | LIFE SYSTEMS: OFFLINE
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: [STATIC]
EXTERNAL_SIGNAL: …QSL.
>SYSTEM_INPUT: ...
...
>SYSTEM_INPUT: _cls