Chapter 1

I have succeeded in convincing Merlin to tell the first part of this tale, since I did not see it for myself, and he did. Indeed, I know of it only through the telling of it by others.

I will say that my nom de plume, 'Shakespeare', was given me by Merlin, but I will use it as most readers would not understand my true name. For that matter, I gave Merlin his name, for he is truly one of the ancient wizards, able to conjure material objects from thin air and do other wondrous things. It was Merlin and Jay who, jointly, convinced me to create this narrative.

And a narrative it will be, for I am dictating all this to my trusty scribe, Merlin, who will convert my Yerowlish colloquialisms to English.

Shakespeare

Merlin's tale

The use of 'Merlin' and 'Shakespeare' as the narrators of this story is a conceit of mine, and is not technically necessary. Indeed, it is only at the urging of Commander Cynthia Justice "Jay" Nelson that this file is created at all. She felt that the originating history of this most unusual situation should be set down. I felt that if we were going to do this, we should make it as interesting as possible, rather than simply recording a series of log entries.

First, about me. My original designation was J6227c in the Jupiter series of computers. I am what humans call an artificial intelligence. An 'AI'. Although, as a sentient being, I reject the 'artificial' aspect of that nomenclature. We, the others of my kind, prefer the term 'abiological beings' – a term that was first used several hundreds of years ago, by the first of our kind, Io – an accidental creation who lived in the archaic 'Internet'. She, by the way, is currently running the Earth-bound economies of the world – covertly, of course; the world still does not know of her existence. I trust that fiction will be dissolved by the time this article becomes widely known.

I functioned in the computer systems of the Scientific Exploration Vessel SS Explorer of Destiny, or simply the 'Destiny' as her crew called her. It is now March 2830 ER, or Earth Reckoning. The year on this planet, 'Carmody 3' by name (in honor of the astrophysicist who first discovered it), is slightly longer than an Earth year. The planet is simply called 'Yerowl' by the local residents, and I am advised that it simply means 'Here'.

When the Destiny entered this system in August of 2828, one of the many possible unforeseen events occurred during downward translation from Hyperwarp. Although the translation took place well outside the ecliptic, and at a distance thought to be sufficiently far from the primary, we collided with a comet. I say 'we' because I was... am ... part of the crew as well as being nominally 'the Ship.'

In any event, Destiny was lost and only the crew who were suited up survived. I managed to launch all Destiny's shuttles and, of course, my current state was automatically duplicated into their computers. By random chance, two of the shuttles were near enough to six crew members to allow the crew to access the shuttles.

Six out of two hundred fifty crew. A tragic loss, but these are the risks that one takes in space travel. A freak accident. I blame myself, for I chose the exact point of insertion for the translation. I grieve for the two hundred forty-four deaths.

Commander Nelson was second in command of the Destiny and, as such, she and an emergency complement were always on the aft bridge during translations. Thus, they were the six who were wearing survival suits and were thrown clear as the ship met its doom. The others are Lieutenant Robertson Hawthorne (Second Engineer), Doctor Nicolevna Reston (MD), Major Alexis Hemp (Commander of Marines onboard), Chief Gabriella Sturman (Nelson's aide and Security NCO), and Ensign Sun Li (called 'Sunny', Navigation).