Episode 34. Life Imitates Fiction
Context
- Coordinated Universal Time
- Monday, July 22, 2024 - 12:29
- Location
-
- Space
- Lunar Orbit
- NATO Starbase
- USS Enterprise
- Captain's Quarters
- Timeline
- Unknown Timeline
- Previously
-
Aboard the Enterprise, Agnes and Angie take possession of their quarters. Between humor and mishaps, they discover a classified file sent by Admiral Michaux: since 1954, NATO has been exploiting extraterrestrial technologies recovered from the crash of a spacecraft at the North Pole. The file even mentions a Vulcan alien named T'Met, sowing doubt about the true origin of certain advances.
Characters
| Name | Affiliation / Branch | Title / Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Agnes V. Rodriguez | NATO / Special Fleet | Captain |
| Angie Chen | NATO / Special Fleet | Commander |
Manifests
| USS Mercator Out of Service | USS Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliation | NATO | NATO |
| Location | Docked at the NATO Starbase | Docked at the NATO Starbase |
| Captain | Agnes V. Rodriguez | |
| First Officer | Angie Chen | |
| Pilot | Eric Corda | |
| Communications | Emilie Flores | |
| Operations | Charlene Savea | |
| Advanced Weapons | Eros Vitos | |
| Infirmary | Victor S. Calpel | |
| Counselor/Consultant | N/A | |
| Custodian | Manu |
TL;DR
Agnes and Angie debate the revelations contained in NATO's confidential files, between conspiracy theories and references to the cult series Galaxy Patrol. While watching episodes, they realize that the UFO observed over Brussels during the evacuation strangely resembles a ship from the 1960s fiction... dangerously blurring the line between imagination and reality.
Story
In the luxurious suite of our Enterprise palace, we are deep into reading NATO's greatest secrets, recorded in a file Admiral Michaux handed over to us.
Angie is practically tearing her hair out trying to make sense of all these revelations.
Listening to her, I feel as if we have become two FBI agents investigating unclassified cases.
The theories fly, the conspiracies pile up...
In short, everything gets dragged in.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
... No, Agnes, I do not agree with you!
From a technological standpoint, we are far too advanced for our time!
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
That is illogical, Angie.
The telephone was invented long before the North Pole crash, and all advances in that field follow a linear growth curve.
Your theory does not hold water.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
And I am telling you that ship comes from the future.
And that, in that future, humans will be associated with aliens.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Oh, sure...
And are you also going to explain that they travel through time by slingshotting around the sun while doing three pirouettes in a flying DeLorean?
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Do not make fun of me, Agnes!
The method they use to travel through time does not matter!
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Lower your voice!
You are going to make the Enterprise capsize in spacedock.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
I am serious, Agnes!
None of this is clean!
Explain to me, for example, why transport does not work the way it is described in the file.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
That is simple.
The aliens are smarter than we are.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Nonsense, Agnes!
And besides, you are forgetting all the similarities with the series Galaxy Patrol.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
That has absolutely nothing to do with this!!!
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Cut it out, Agnes, and face the truth!
Our Enterprise looks exactly like Captain John V. Clark's USS Advance.
Even the bridge is identical... except, perhaps, for your perched chair sitting in the center.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
I maintain that it is pure coincidence.
The director of that series could never have gotten his hands on information that secure, then turned it into a script for a low-budget series.
And I remind you that construction of the Enterprise began ten years ago, not in the sixties.
The engineers at Area 51 may have been inspired by that series... and not the other way around.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
There are always flaws in systems.
And you know that very well, Agnes.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
We are getting carried away, my love.
Maybe we should take a break.
Silence settles in.
Our brains are smoking, hypotheses colliding.
Finally, Angie looks up from the screen, exhausted.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Good idea, Agnes.
Actually...
What if we watched that series?
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Oooh no...
You are not starting that again, Angie.
Do you have the video files with you?
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Of course.
I never part with my portable drive.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
In that case, connect it to the screen while I go get two beers and some popcorn from the kitchen.
Angie is a true fan of this series.
She knows absolutely everything about it.
For my part, I have never been excited by this little science-fiction theater...
But today, strangely, it intrigues me.
Settled comfortably on the couch, we start watching Galaxy Patrol.
After a while, Angie falls asleep against me and wraps her arms around me as if I were her teddy bear.
That is how she is.
And I love it.
After several hours of watching, a scene suddenly chills my blood.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Angie!
Angie, wake up!
Give me the remote, quick!
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Huh... Uh... What?
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
How do you rewind?
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Hmm... wait.
It is this button.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Look at that, Angie!
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Yes, I see... so what?
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
What is that ship in the series?
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
It is an Aragthonian ship, Agnes.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
That is it!!!
That is our UFO!!!
The one from Brussels!
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
I was peacefully walking down a yellow brick road...
And you woke me up for that?
Good grief...
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Wait two seconds.
I am opening my mission file.
Look at the shots we took on the Mercator.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
It is blurry, Agnes.
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Yes.
But when I overlay the two images, we can clearly make out the same shape.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Number One)
Hmm... yeah.
You may be right.
But as you said this afternoon, there is no connection between reality and fiction.
Can I go back into my dream now?
A tin man, a scarecrow, and a lion are waiting for me there...
Capt. Agnes V. Rodriguez
Yes...
Sorry I woke you, Dorothy.
I think I have become addicted to this series.
This dive into fiction feels more and more like a real investigation.
For long hours, episode after episode, I keep watching, observing every detail, every element that might have a link to reality.
Then, utterly exhausted, I finally fall asleep too...
The screen still on.