Allnighter

I had a dream a few nights ago. I lay in bed for a while thinking about it, arranging the things that happened into a proper story. Then I had to write it, so I did, three thousand words straight off with barely a break. I have since edited it slightly for spelling grammar and punctuation, but this is still pretty much what crawled out of brain that morning.
I hope you enjoy it, I look forward to reading any comments you may have.


Allnighter
By Kim L.

Jack pushed open the door. A machine beeped alerting the girl at reception of his presence. She smiled as she looked up and saw Jack and Peter enter.
“You here for the allnighter?” she asked as they approached.
Before answering. Jack lent over her desk and planted a kiss on her cheek.
She placed her hand where he had just kissed her. “If you're looking for a discount because you're my boyfriend, I'm afraid I can't do that.”
“Aww come on, Alice,” said Peter.
“Or my brother.”
“Okay,” said Jack, feeling like he was surrendering, “How much is it?”
“A tenner.” Seeing their uncertain looks she added, “It is allnight, and we do a discount on snacks after 11.”
“You know we're going to do it anyway.” The boys each passed her a crumpled note. “Thank you. Don't we get a receipt? To prove that we've paid?”
“I'm staying here allnight, and I think I can remember you two. So, did your lecture finish early?”
“A little. Calculus is so dull, each minute should count for half an hour.”
“You only say that because you're freakishly good at it.”
Jack looked into her eyes, Peter rolled his. They both walked off into the large darkened room.
“I don't think I'll ever understand you two,” said Peter.
“Hey, she's hot, nice, and we share so many interests.”
“You mean like shooting terrorists?”
“And breaking bedsprings.”
Peter winced. “Dude, That's my sister!”
Strait faced, Jack said, “lol.”
Their conversation attracted the attention of the others they all waved and said 'hi' or sometimes even a verbose 'Hey there.' Jack and peter too their seats, and pushed the on buttons at each of their stations.
As they waited for the computers to boot, they leaned back to talk around the dividers between the stations.
“What do you want to start with?” asked Peter.
“I feel there are too many zombies in this world, do you want to do something about that?”
“Sure.”
They both turned to their now active computers and logged themselves in. in a few more minutes of loading an navigating menus, they were finally ready to play.

After playing for a couple of hours there still seemed to be no end to the zombie haord. Jack, Peter and a couple of the others shot, kicked, axed and crowbarred their way through, achieving various minor objectives on the way to safety. The hoard proved to be to numerous, and the difficulty too hard. The small group were backed into a corner, with no hope of rescue, and their other friends dropping like flies, they were ready for a last stand, shotguns at the ready they blew away the ones that came faster than the slow plodding crowd.
As their predicament seemed truly hopeless, a box in the corner notified them of another player logging in. What seemed like several minutes of zombie splatting panic later, a black cloaked figure dropped from the rooftops, with a sword and a gun, the zombies seemed to fall to pieces.
After the last of that hoard turned and ran, it receiving a single piece of lead into the back of its mouldy brain, Alice realised that she wasn't just being watched on the game, there was a face at the side of her station.
“You saved us again, honey.” said Jack.
“Yeah, you two are such babies. Why are you looking at my screen, I'm sure neither of you died.”
“You're just too awesome, it has to be seen to be believed.”
She sniffed a laugh, then leant back to kiss her boyfriend.
“Come on guys,” called Peter from the far station. “There's more coming.”
Jack and Alice snapped away from each other, going straight back to their own computers. Ready to fight through yet more zombies.

Peter was woken in a massive fiery explosion. He screamed, flailed and his chair fell over backwards. He staggered to his feet rubbing the back of his head. He looked up and found Jack and his sister staring at him.
“I was wondering when you were going to do that,” said Alice.
“You make it sound like I did it deliberately.”
“Didn't you?”
Peter set his chair back on its wheels, now just holding the back of his head.
“You're acting this a lot more than I'd expected.”
“What are you on about?” Peter asked, taking his hands off his head to gesticulate.
Alice rubbed his head. “I told you you wouldn't get me with your silly games, brother. Wait.” she looked down at her hand, there was blood on it. “You're really hurt, aren't you.”
“What else would I be?”
“I'll get the first aid kit.” Alice ran off.
“What the hell was she on about?”
“I don't know either,” said Jack.
“She always has been a bit crazy.”
“Yeah.” Jack smiled, looking at Alice as she ran back.
Alice started employing her first aid training and wrapped a bandage round her brother's head. “We need to check you aren't concussed.”
“I think we need to see if you're concussed.”
“You're starting to worry me now. You're really acting like you didn't come in earlier.”
“We didn't!”
“You did, you told me something about having to avoid your doctor, that he was a monster or something.”
“My Doctor?” asked Peter.
“No, Jack's doctor.”
“We have the same doctor!”
“Oh, yeah. Well, you said he was actually a monster, and we would need to run from him. You even had a bandage on your head, and told me that you were going to fall off your chair, and that I would put one on you. I didn't believe you, of course, time travel's impossible. So I was expecting you to pretend to fall off your chair and get hurt. But I don't think anyone would do this deliberately. Not even you.”
Jack laughed. “That's crazy even if there were a time machine, why would we be its pilots?”
“There isn't a time machine, it's the doctor, you said he makes me cease to exist, and that you need to run from him to find a way to save me.”
“Cease to exist?”
“Like, pop, gone you said.”
“what else did we tell you.” asked Peter, sounding amused by the idea.
“You said I said there was something you had to do, but he got me before I could tell you, so you'd have to work it out again.”
“And what was this thing?”
“You didn't know, because I hadn't told you.”
“But if you don't know to tell us now,” said Jack, “Then we can't know to tell you then.”
“Don't act like you actually believe her,” said Peter. “Jack? Jack? What are yo looking at?”
“Doctor Pankhurst?”
Peter looked up and saw a figure dressed in white, with a stethoscope round his neck.
“This is far too elaborate for her just messing around.”
Before she could turn, the doctor reached out a hand and placed it on Alice's shoulder. A moment later, she was gone. Jack and Paul screamed together, looking up at the doctor's face. He had a contented expression like he'd just saved a life or something. He seemed dazed for a moment, giving the boys an opportunity to slip past him and run out of the front door.
“What the fuck!” exclaimed Jack. “Where the hell did she go?”
“Language young man!” an elderly lady said as she passed by on the street.
“Sorry mrs T.”
“That's okay, Jack. What's wrong anyway? You look like you've seen a ghost.”
“Uh, I don't think I could explain it.”
“Okay deer. I'll see you tomorrow.” She walked on down the street.
“What's she doing out at four thirty in the morning?” asked Peter.
“She always was a bit mad, mrs Tanner.”
The heard the beep of the door behind them. The doctor was once again towering over them.
“Run!” shouted Peter, not waiting for Jack to start running.
“Where are we going?!” asked Jack.
“I don't know! I'm just running. That think killed my sister!”
“Lets get to the train, we'll be able to get away much faster.”
“Okay. Good plan.”

The pair stopped, panting, at the station. The next train home was in two minutes, they bought tickets from the machine, and stood on the platform waiting impatiently.
“She just disappeared, Jack, Vanished into thin air. Do you think he's going to do that to us?”
“No,” Jack said trying to sound more certain than he was. “And he won't do it to her either.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know the stories, if we find a way to defeat this guy, everything will be back as it was.”
“That's just stories, wishful thinking. What if she's gone forever?”
“She can't be. She said there was a way to save her, all we have to do is find it.”
“Okay. I suppose that's better than just running away.”
“I think I hear the train.”
“That doesn't sound like the train should.”
“I know, it's different.”
The train engine passed them as it decelerated into the station. Steam billowed out of the top of it. Jack and Peter looked at each other, then back at the train. They saw their reflections appear and disappear as the windows passed them. They also saw a tall white figure behind them. Fear kept them looking at the train, begging it to stop and the doors to open. As each window passed the doctor's reflection grew closer. Enveloped in a final puff of steam, the train stopped, and a man in old fashioned cloths opened the door. Peter and Jack squeezed in before the people waiting started coming out. Every one looked at them for a moment with expressions of surprise. But they looked away again almost instantly, as if they'd never seen them. The boys slipped into a compartment and went straight up to the window looking out at the platform. The doctor was standing in the exodus of people, being avoided by them, but otherwise ignored.
They heard the door open, and a few more people came in, taking seats, and ignoring the two at the window. They looked back out, and found the doctor gone.
“He must be on the train!” exclaimed Peter.
“We need to get off before he catches us.”
The left the compartment. The occupants looked up when the door opened, but didn't seem to find anything amiss. The boys pushed past people to get towards the door. The reached a break in the crowd, where the corridor was clear at the far end the doctor stood looking down at them hungrily.
They turned and fled the other way, passing through the crowd without apparently disturbing anyone. The train started moving. The corridors emptied into the compartments, making it easier for the boys to run, but soon they ran out of space, reaching the front of the train. They ducked into the vacant foremost cabin, and waited for what felt inevitable.
“What the hell is going on!” exclaimed Peter. “What's with this old train, and all the outfits.”
“We really are travelling in time, we're in the past.”
“Creiky.” so we could change stuff, make sure that man never meets my sister.
“I don't think we can, you know how it is, we mustn't change things, do you know what happens if we cause a paradox?”
“No.”
“Well neither do I, but it is always really really bad.”
“Okay, so no paradoxes.”
“I think we should get off at the next stop.”
“No shit Sherlock, with him on the train, we can't get off soon enough.”
“I think it's stopping.”
“Bit soon isn't it? But yes, look at the trees.”
“Well good, the sooner the better.”
They went to the nearest door and watched as a station came into view. There was a diesel train on the opposite side, which seemed fine at first, then they realised what sort of train they were on. The disembarked quickly, and stood for a moment on the station.
“Wait a second,” said Peter. “We're back where we started.”
“Indeed, and the train's gone.”
“Yeah. Where's that doctor thing, then?”
“No idea, for now. But I expect we need to find out what time it is.”
“And what date it is.”
“Yes, that too.”
“Ah, it's quarter past one.” said Peter, looking up at the big clock over the platform.
“And it's today,” said Jack, seeing the date on the clock, “so this must be our chance to warn Alice.”
“So we go back to the games lounge.”
“Yes, her shift starts at one, so we'll probably meet her.”
“We know we meet her.”
“Good point.”

The machine over the door beeped and Alice looked up at Jack and Peter.
“Hello you two, I wasn't expecting you for another two hours. Didn't you have a lecture.”
“Cancelled.” said Peter, thinking quickly.
“Really?” she asked sceptically, knowing her brothers knack for skipping lectures. “What happened to your head?”
Jack ran up to her and hugged her over the desk. “Oh, I was so worried about you.”
“What? What's going on?”
“You won't believe us now, but later, Peter will fall of his chair, and hit his head, you'll bandage it up, and that will convince you we aren't being messing around.”
“Okay,” she said humouring her somewhat eccentric boyfriend.
“We'll need you to tell us some things, the other us, that is, well, our past, your future. There's a man after us. He looks like my doctor...”
“Our doctor,” corrected Peter.
“The doctor. But he isn't, he's some kind of monster trying to kill us.”
“The doctor is trying to kill you?”
“Well, not kill excatly,” said Peter, “more like Pop!”
“He makes you explode?”
“No,” said Jack, “you just vanish, gone, ceased to exist.”
“Okay? Was there anything else, like men from Mars, or Daleks?”
“I'm afraid, he gets you.”
“You mean he's going to vanish me?”
“Yes, but don't worry, there's still a way to save you and make it like nothing happened.”
“And what is this miracle cure to not existing?”
“We don't know yet. He vanished you before you could tell us,” said Peter.
“Not quite, you told us we told you that he got you before you could tell us, but that might just be because we told you that.”
“Huh?”
“It not important, well it is important, but the point is you don't tell us how to solve this, so we still don't know.”
“So I should tell you about this when my brother falls over and hits his head?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, but you're right, I don't believe you.”
“Don't worry about that, you will, and I'm sure everything will be fine in the end. We have to go now, I think the past us are coming. Just be natural, don't mention anything until you believe us, there's no way you'll convince us than, if you don't believe us now.”
“Okay, whatever.”
“I'll see you in a little while.”
“There's no need to get all emotional.”
“Of course. Good bye.”
The boys left hastily, ducking into an alley as they saw their past selves coming down the street the other way, followed by the doctor a short distance behind.
“There he is, let's get him,” said Peter.
“But we know we don't, he got to the games lounge in our past, so there's no way we can change that.”
“But he gets there in the small hours of the morning, it's only one thirty now. It can't take that long to walk down the street.”
“Maybe there's some time thing, makes him get there later.”
“I don't think so, he's coming this way.”
Jack turned to look at the tall white figure, reaching out a hand towards them. Peter grabbed a pipe that had been left in the alley. He swung the pole at the tall man. The doctor seemed to slide out of the way, appearing behind the boy, and placing a hand on his shoulder. The pole clattered to the ground, Peter was gone.
“You've killed my two best friends you bastard!” screamed Jack as he backed against the wall.
“I've killed no one. They are simply gone.”
“Who are you?!”
“I would appear to be Doctor Pankhurst.”
“Well, what are you then.”
“There is no way for you to understand fully. I am an alien, I suppose you would say.” the man slowly advanced towards Jack, wearing the same contented expression as when he'd vanished Alice. “Also, I have only taken one of the three of you so far. I will take you second and Alice third.”
“How do you know her name?”
“I've been her doctor for fourteen years.”
“What, so you really are my doctor?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want, why are you doing this to us?” Jack stood on a bin to put some more distance between him and the monster.
“My species feed on the temporal energy contained within a paradox.”
“But there hasn't been a paradox, we never met ourselves.”
“That's not the only way to cause one. You did it by telling Alice about me, the information you told her was never invented, you told her in the past what she will tell you in the future, if you had told her nothing, there would have been nothing for her to tell you, and there never would have been a paradox.”
“But what about the time going all screwy?”
“Ah, I do that. My species can sense the possibility for a paradox, and we alter the way time works for a few people to make that happen. Which is in itself paradoxical, which we can also feed off.”
“So what are you going to do to me?”
“Time travel creates realities. If there is a paradox the reality is unstable, it will destroy itself in time, which I suppose won't make sense to you, as you can only view time from the inside. This reality we are in at the moment is such a reality. To avoid causing harm to life, we create a semi-paralell reality. In this reality, most of the people are actually an interrealitational representation of their real selves in another reality, that's why they can only notice you on a very low level, and they aren't capable of making any memories from something that happens here and not there. You, Peter, Alice, and myself are the only ones who are really here, and we are represented similarly in the normal reality, though we are more effected by it than it is of us.”
“So what happens when you touch me?”
“I absorb the temporal energy from you and you are put back into your normal reality. Then after I touch Alice, all four of us will be back to normality, and you can continue to live as if this hasn't happened. In fact several people I've done this to in the past have gone on to write some rather enjoyable novels and screenplays.”
“So we'll all be fine?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then why did you chase us and let us get so scared?”
“Since people started writing time-travel stories, real people are much better at avoiding paradoxes, so I'm afraid I occasionally have to improvise. I'm sorry I scared you.
I wish your friend would fall of his chair sooner, I'm going to have to wait fourteen hours for the paradox to start before I can start putting you all back in the right places. I'm going to send you back now, but I have one final piece of advice, don't stay up all night watching every “Back To The Future” movie, you have lectures tomorrow, and there's plenty of time to watch each of them on separate nights. Trust me, I'm a doctor.” He laid one large hand on the boy's shoulder, leaving him alone in the alley.
“I guess I'll go for the high score on Pacman while I wait. Do these fancy new computers even have those old classics? These humans make time pass so quickly.”

Roll, flip, Fire!

A Thunderfox with engines and guns active.

Thunderfox

one folded, one unfolded, one animation, I hope it works.
and this is a link to the animation that definitely works

Black Seed

2337-07-12 08:45 Nightingale log.

FSS Nightingale log, Commander Jason Aaronson reporting. The relief and supply mission to New Belgium was a success. There were light casualties after a Triper ship crashed in the region near the colony. Two people were seriously injured by parts of the ship that broke off during entry, others suffering slight radiation poisoning. All the colonists are now well on their way to a full recovery. We have re-stocked them with food and medical supplies. The 17 Tripers on the ship died on impact. A small Triper ship came to collect or destroy any salvageable technology and the bodies of their comrades. The Triper government insisted we didn't investigate the ship and that it crashed on a routine survey mission, we did, however detect signs of weapons fire on fragments of hull that landed in the colony. The Tripers also demanded we give them all pieces of the ship that we had found immediately, stating that any investigation into even the composition of the hull would be considered an act of piracy and would be met with unspecified retaliation. In my opinion this stinks of a cover-up.

Supplemental. We detected a transmission coming from an unidentified object in a degrading orbit. The transmission started as soon as the Tripers were out of range. It is a short message in an unknown language being repeated on multiple RF bands. This and the presence of debris in the vicinity of the object lead us to believe it to be a flight recorder or an escape pod, the former seems more likely as it is only 1.2m long. Both fighters have been launched to retrieve the object, I have ordered them to go in weapons hot in case it's a trap.

2337.07.12 10:22 Nightingale Engineer's log

Engineer's log, Chief engineer Lt Sam Johns reporting. Our fighters have retrieved an artifact, thought to be the flight recorder of an alien ship destroyed by Tripers in orbit of New Belgium. The artifact is 1.24m long, 0.92m across, similar in shape to a sunflower seed, approximate mass 650Kg. It has small protrusions thought to be antennae or ports to connect to the rest of the ship. It is made of a black, ferrous, slightly magnetic compound similar to steel, but quite a bit denser. We have taken a sample for further metallurgical analysis. It has continued to transmit a radio signal, our chief linguist is working on the translation. The artifact makes a low frequency audible vibration disturbingly similar to a human heart beat, this has lead my deputy to conclude that it is an escape pod for a very small alien, there are however many other possibilities. We are setting up a magnetic imager though the artefact's own magnetic field is interfering slightly.

We have successfully scanned the structure of the artifact. It has a 2cm thick outer layer, a small but complicated computer system, and a system of hollow tubes that appear to be a rudimentary propulsion assembly. The tube system appears damaged, and, on further inspection there are several places where the artifact appears to have sustained minor damage from bullet like projectile weapons. At the core of the artifact there appears to be a soft, separate, possibly organic mass that is causing the “heart beat”, the hull seems designed to amplify this sound. It would seem that Simon was correct about this being an escape pod. The rate of the “heart beat” has slowed from from 2Hz to 1.5, if what's in there is alive, it may not be for long. We have started drilling through the thinnest point of the hull to extract a sample of the fluid surrounding the “life form”.

2337.07.12 15:48 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. The artifact is now thought of as being an escape pod. The life form inside appears to be dying, its “heart beat” has fallen from 120BPM to 90BPM. The engineers have extracted a small sample of the being's environment, it is a liquid nutrient solution composed of water, sugars, salts, and some unknown simple micro-organisms similar to algae, in an approximate ratio of 10:3:2:1 by mass, there are also several other elements and compounds in lower concentrations. I have attempted to replicate the solution, though the micro-organisms cannot be replicated and must be encouraged to to reproduce faster in the nutrient solution.

We have successfully made 270l of nutrient solution in the correct proportions. The “algae” seem to be genetically engineered to survive best in the solution around 350k. They reproduced rapidly until they reached one sixteenth of the mass of the total solution, then stopped and became completely dormant. They seem to use a kind of thermal synthesis as a source of energy. The solution has been placed in a suspension tank in iso-lab 1. The engineers have found what they believe to be a hatch on the artifact, and have moved it to iso-lab 1.

2337.07.12 20:23 Iso-lab 1 Hollo recording of transfer procedure.

A one tenth scale hologram of the isolab was projected with the walls and ceiling shown as only outlines so the two people in has-mats, a tank approximately 20cm long, so 2m in reality and the black seed-shaped escape pod. The screen that made up the floor of the holo-projector had labels denoting the 4 holograms, with links to the personnel files displayed on the screen outside the hologram. The taller of the two was CMO Lt. Commander Sophie Hannah MD, female, 34 years old, the other was Chief engineer Lt. Sam Johns, male, 29 years old. The standard computer voice came from the hologram, saying "Room now filled with inert nitrogen argon atmosphere at a pressure of 1 atmosphere." Hannah stated that it was now safe to open the hatch. Johns used a small hand-held device to activate the hatch mechanism causing a previously invisible door to open in the top or the pod. A black seed shaped organism with ridged skin and spikes was visible suspended in the green nutrient solution. The hologram cut away half of the device so the procedure could be more easily seen. The two officers wrapped a sling under the organism and lifted it carefully into the tank. Hannah commented on the health of the organism, she said its heart rate had increased and the beat had weakened slightly, but this wasn't to be worried about as it was probably just from the shock of being moved. Johns stated that the pod's power supply seemed to have failed, the radio signal had stopped, and it was cooling quickly. The computer switched to a breathable atmosphere and the officers removed their breathing equipment and gloves. Hannah noticed a small cut on her hand and her captain (who spoke from an invisible observation room) insisted she check it to see if she had been infected, fortunately she was clear, so she replaced her glove and continued working. Johns made a sarcastic comment about this small cut being a mortal wound, but was quickly told off by the captain. The hologram froze at the end of the recording and a sphere appeared with a right pointing triangle in it, words below the sphere read "Play again".

2337.07.12 20:23 Iso-lab 1, transcript of transfer procedure. (ignore if you have a holo imager installed)

Computer: Room now filled with inert nitrogen argon atmosphere at a pressure of 1 atmosphere.

CMO Lt. Commander Sophie Hannah MD (SH): It's now safe to attempt to open the hatch, go ahead Sam.

Chief engineer Lt. Sam Johns (SJ): I'm activating what we believe to be the hatch mechanism. (Hissing sound) It's working, the door has swung open slowly, separating along previously invisible lines, leavening an opening approximately 70 by 50 centimetres.

SH: We can see the organism in the green nutrient solution. It is a similar shape to the pod, that or a sun flower seed. Its surface is black with some ridges, there are also some spikes, probably a natural defence. There don't appear to be any definite sense organs or locomotive structures. Let's try to get a sling under it, I'll loop it under from this side, you try to pick it up from that side.

SJ: I've got it.

SH: okay, let's pick it up, slowly. It seems balanced, move it to the tank.

SJ: It's in, okay.

SH: Good, the heart beat seems to be slightly elevated, and a bit weak, but that's probably just from the shock of moving it, it seem to be coping with any inaccuracies of my solution.

SJ: I'm sure it's fine, Doc. The temperature inside the pod is dropping fast and the radio signal has stopped transmitting. It seems the pod's power supply has failed, it may have been struggling for a while.

SH: I've activated the monitoring equipment, and closed the tank. We can do more research and care in a breathable atmosphere. Computer switch to normal atmosphere.

Computer: Filtering atmosphere. Please wait. Atmosphere now Earth normal, it is safe to remove Breathing apparatus.

SH: Ah.

SJ: What is it?

SH: I've got a small cut on my hand, I think one of those spiked protrusions went through my glove. I wouldn't even mention it under normal conditions.

Commander Jason Aaronson (JA) (in observation room): Check it out Doctor, we don't know what that thing is.

SH: Yes sir. My medical scanner shows no foreign material in the wound, but I'll thoroughly disinfect it anyway, and replace the glove.

SJ: Whew, that was close, you've got to be careful with wounds like that.

JA: Sarcasm Lieutenant.

SJ: sorry sir.

Transcript ends

2337.07.13 10:30 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. The being we extracted from the escape pod is now surviving in a suspension tank. Our chief linguist has translated some of the alien language based on the transition and what the chief engineer's managed to decipher from the pod's computer. We managed to convert the units for temperature and convert them to our own. The pod should have been at a constant temperature of 376k, but, due to a failing power supply it was around 328k. It shows how strong this life form must be to have survived in such a relatively cold environment. We have changed the temperature of the tank to 376k and the organism's vital signs appear more stable.

Our instruments detect very little by way of internal structure. It seems to be a porous mass with a simple circulatory system contained in tough outer coating. It is the pump of the circulatory system that makes the heartbeat sound. Apart from this pump, it seems more like a plant than an animal.

Since we moved it to the tank, it has changed shape slightly, moving towards spherical, and it has increased in volume, probably as a reaction to the extra space.

2337.07.13 20:35 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. The computer automatically called me to iso-lab 1 because the organism started changing. This is stranger than anything I could have imagined, the organism, now being referred to as Seed by much of the crew that have asked me about it, has begun to absorb the traces of calcium present in the solution, we have increased the quantity of calcium as the change does not seem detrimental.

The seed seems to be concentrating the calcium into bones in a formation similar to a human skeleton. I have decided to wake the captain to alert him of this latest development.

2337.07.14 06:14 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. I've been keeping watch over the “seed” for about eight hours. It now has a full set of human internal organs, and resembles a human girl of about 8 years.

The captain insisted on placing a security guard in the iso-lab. Crewman Burns mentioned that “she” bears a striking resemblance to me, I find this most inappropriate and a little worrying, but he makes a good point. her red hair does remind me of mine when I was growing up on Mars.

She is still retaining the ability to process the nutrient solution, but we don't think she'll be able to for long, her body's surface area is getting too small relative to her volume.

2337.07.14 11:23 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. The commander insisted I get some sleep, but he promised to wake me if there were any important changes. They let me sleep for almost five hours, the organism's already gone through puberty and is now the equivalent of 21. They woke me because we have almost completely run out of the sugars and salts necessary for the nutrient solution. The only course of action available is to see if she can breath air. She has a fully developed pulmonary system, but she hasn't even used her intercostal muscles before.

Supplemental. Two security guards in has-mats reached into the suspension tank and gently pulled her out. They lay her on the a bed we'd prepared by the tank. She didn't start breathing until I decided to use CPR, this worked and she started coughing, and spat out the remaining solution from her lungs. her breathing didn't settle down, in fact, she started taking longer wheezy breaths. She was struggling to breath. Then she grabbed me and, well, she kissed me, forcing her tongue in my mouth. I recoiled from the shock, she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. She was asleep, and breathing normally. One of the nurses pulled me aside to scan me and check that I hadn't been infected. Others attached restraints to her and covered her with a sheet to keep her warm. After being checked I got back to her to run a more thorough scan to check she could function in our atmosphere, she was coping fine, she seemed like a human being in perfect health.

2337-07-14 12:31 Nightingale log.

FSS Nightingale log, Commander Jason Aaronson reporting. The alien escape pod (formerly referred to as “the object”) was opened by the head doctor and our chief engineer. The life form was removed and placed in a tank, where it turned into a human. The doctor has been examining this life form and has discovered that it's genetic makeup contains her entire genetic code, probably obtained when, first it cut her hand when she moved it and then it, apparently kissed her whilst struggling to breath. It also has many more chromosomes with much more data, there are a total of 278 chromosomes, including the doctor's 46.

This life form seems to, for the moment be, anatomically at least, human, we must therefore decide on what to do with her. The first order of business is to see what she knows of how she came to be in her predicament, and also assess what kind of threat, if any, she poses to the ship and its crew. So far she has only cut and startled commander Hannah, though both seemed to be out of necessity. Secondly we must see if we can return her to her people, whoever they are.

2337.07.14 18:15 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. The captain has said that Emerald, named after the colour she looked in the nutrient solution, does not need to be restrained, until and unless she proves threatening. She is however to remain under guard. I have been put in charge of interrogating Emerald as she seems to have connected with, and cloned me. She seems to have been able to learn English from us talking around her, she was surprisingly eloquent. Even her voice was almost exactly like mine. She said she had no memory of her life before she started to become human. Her mind seems child-like, but for all we know she could be young for her race. She apologised for startling me when we first got her out of the tank, she explained that she needed access to a full genetic sample. She seemed to know how to do this instinctively.
She is very curious and likes to touch all the different organisms she comes into contact with, for instance she touched all the different plants I have in my office.

2337.07.16 08:25 Nightingale CMO log

Medical log, Doctor Sophie Hannah reporting. I set emerald up in one of the beds in sick bay after I'd cleared her as safe to interact with the crew, and run it by the captain. I came to see her this morning and was most surprised to find that she was green. I instantly ran a full physical analysis of her to see what was wrong and found that her entire biochemistry was altered and that her skin cells now contained chloroplasts. We tested he DNA and she had gained 48 more chromosomes, these were identified as being from the my pot plants. This is proof that she can incorporate the genetic code of any species she meets and, at will activate certain genes to produce a desired effect, in this case she grew chloroplasts because she was hungry. I have decided to run her complete genetic makeup through the computer to see of which other species she has absorbed the genome. The computer may take several hours to analyse all 326 chromosomes.

2337-07-16 14:25 Nightingale log.

FSS Nightingale log, Commander Jason Aaronson reporting. The alien entity now known as Emerald''s genetic structure has been analysed by the doctor with some worrying results. She has absorbed Triper and Onacelar DNA, showing that she has touched both hostile alien species. I have increased the guard on her and stepped up her interrogation, in case she is some sort of enemy bio weapon. Lieutenant Commander Hannah has expressed objections to this harsher treatment of her, but I cannot afford to put my ship or my crew at risk.

2337-07-16 15:38 Nightingale log.

FSS Nightingale log, Commander Jason Aaronson reporting. I have received word from an admiral Parkinson telling me that a ship will be coming aboard to take Emerald to a research facility 'better equipped to study and care for her.'

2337-07-16 17:13 Nightingale log.

FSS Nightingale log, Commander Jason Aaronson reporting. The ship has arrived, a small but powerful corvette, I was expecting a science ship. An officer called Major Bently of the security corps has demanded we turn over Emerald and all the materials we have relating to her, including the pod. When I questioned her ability to make demands of a senior officer she produced a note from the admiral giving her authority on all matters relating to Emerald. The doctor objected heavily to Emerald's removal but I was unable to prevent it. When Bently's grunts entered sick bay to escort Emerald to their shuttle she reached out towards the doctor like a child pulled from its mother, she wanted to stay with the doctor, who she seems to have attached to as a mother. The grunts sedated her, despite her lack of resistance, and took her away on a stretcher. I have filed a complaint about the way my crew and emerald have been treated in this matter, but I don't think anyone will take any notice.

2337-07-16 18:00 Brimstone log.

FSS Brimstone log, Major Bently reporting. We have retrieved the entity now known as 'emerald' from the FSS Nightingale. The commander resisted but bowed to the admiral's authority. The entity offered some resistance, seeming to have become emotionally attached to the ship's doctor, we sedated it to prevent any possibility of injury. It is being kept sedated and under constant guard. We have used our previous portal to return to Earth we will wait 24 hours before dispatching it to the science centre in Arazona to quarantine the life form.