When all the Stars Go Out

Date: 14th December 4016
Title: Captain's Log
Author: Charlie Lancaster

Will the universe be lonely when humanity has destroyed itself?
Or a we just one of many civilizations that is slowly crumbling to dust underneath the weight of its own actions. Or maybe the others out there were smarter than us, they made better desicions. Maybe they are thriving whilst we fall, unaware of our existance in the vast expanse that we call home.
I like to think that the universe would grieve for me, when this ship finally runs out of water and oxygen, when we all quietly choke to death on loneliness, in this hunk of metal that has carried us to the very end of human exploration. But I am nothing special, and if the universe were to grieve for me, it must also grieve for every person who is no longer living.
I do not want the universe to bear that grief; the grief of humanities self destruction...
When we finally die, which we will, because everything about this mission is hopeless, I hope that someone, anyone finds this ship and remebers us. Even if they do not understand who we are or why we are here, I need them to see us and know that they are not the only ones out here. The same way we hopelessly search for someone else like us. If we fail our mission, maybe at least we we will complete some one elses. That way we won't be forgotten, even if humanity has forgotten us.
It is quiet on this ship. Four lost souls floating through space and waiting for a sign. Every day, I sit an write and I watch the stars fly past, thousands of tiny specks of light a second. The computer tells me that no signals have been recieved, that the universe is silent around us.
Sometimes we sit an talk, the crew and I, about our lives before The Last Voyage. But mostly we go about our jobs in silence, too afraid of the future to think about the past. It is a lonely life up here, with only the stars for company, but a peacful one. It is so far removed from life on Earth, the constant business, and urgency, and uncertainty. On Earth, there is almost no knowing when the last days will come, when we will have pushed and pushed so far that the Earth collapses and takes us along with it. Here, we know exactly when everything will end; down to the last hour. There is comfort in that certainty.
We suceed, or we die.
As I write this, I can see faint signals appearing on the computer, the same signals that were recieved back on Earth. It's what began this mission in the first place, and most likey what will end it. I hold out hope that one day they will become clear and we will recieve the answer. Everyone wants us to find something, but no one seems to be worried about what we'll find.
The signal could just as easilly be the remnants of a civilization that destroyed itself many thousands of years ago as it could be a living thriving planet. But whatever it is, the only thing we can do is travel in its direction and hope. Hope that what we find will save us all.
As I sign off this message for the day, I ask only one thing. If someone out there has found us, look after yourselves, protect yourselves.
Do not let the universe be lonely when we are gone...

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