COLUMBIAD
STARDATE 04.18.21
PRE-HISTORY YEARS
Captain Dounia sat across the desk from her First Officer, who was also her Science Officer. His name was Mister Octo. Mister Octo was the product of Advanced Cloning and Evolutionary Acceleration. Basically, if you take an Octopus and look into its future a Billion Years from now, Mister Octo is the result. He was truly one of a kind. It was immediately clear to Terra Command that Mister Octo was superior to humanity.
“Welcome to the Columbiad,” Captain Dounia said with a smile on her face. “I’m excited to have you here. I know that, should anything happen to me while we are on our mission of exploration, you will take good care of the ship and the crew. I’m interested to know what you think of the Columbiad so far. I know that you have sharp attention to detail.”
Mister Octo said nothing for several moments. He only stared at Captain Dounia with his strange, alien eyes without blinking. Finally, he said in a gurgling voice, “Permission to speak freely, Captain?”
Adeena was taken aback by Mister Octo’s request. Still, she wanted each member of her Crew, including Mister Octo, to feel a sense of trust and open honesty with their Captain. As much as possible, she didn’t want them to hide things from her. The environment she wanted to create aboard the Columbiad was one where there was Freedom of Speech.
“Of course, Mister Octo. Please do.”
“While you and Terra Command may be proud of the armaments on this new vessel, they are woefully inadequate. Imagine facing a foe that has 10x more powerful weapons than our own. We would certainly be destroyed. Now imagine 100x. Now 1000x. By my calculations, these foes absolutely exist in deep space. It is only a matter of time before we encounter them. You might say that we are a simple goldfish entering a huge lake full of sharks.”
Captain Dounia understood the point that Mister Octo was making. She nodded. “Continue.”
“Our top speed is also deficient. Not only will we be unable to escape adversaries that are pursing us, but we will also be unable to effectively close on an enemy vessel from a distance. It will simply take far too long. To put it simply, Captain, we need more speed.”
A strange thing to say when referring to Warp Drive, Adeena thought to herself. “Continue.”
“While faith in a higher power can often be a source of strength, your faith, Captain, can be a detriment to this mission. It clouds your judgment and keeps you from being objective. Instead of seeing the universe as it is, you see it as you wish it to be. Instead of approaching situations from a rational, scientific viewpoint, you approach it from a religious perspective. This is extremely dangerous, especially in a Captain that leads a Crew on a Starship.”
Adeena could see that Mister Octo had no problem speaking his mind. She would be counting on that in the future. Every First Officer must be able to speak their mind, especially when those thoughts contradict the thoughts and actions of their Captain. “Continue.”
“While your Crew is full of specialists, they lack cohesion and unity. It takes time and shared experience for people to bond together and become one. As the Columbiad is first setting out, this hasn’t happened yet. This separated condition is dangerous for our mission. There is a high probability that there are those who resent having to take orders from you, who hate our Special Ops members, who hate me, who dislike Robots, and who believe that life owes them something. These negative crew members, as I call them, are like a poison slowly killing a healthy body. We do not know the true intentions of the Special Ops crew members from Inner Terra. While it is unlikely they would betray us, they most certainly may have their own agenda and reasons for being on board the Columbiad. This is something we must keep in mind at all times. Finally, stating that, Together we will Succeed, as you and Terra Command so often like to do, is therefore Hypocritical, since your Crew is most certainly not Together.”
Captain Dounia had failed to consider some of these things. “Continue.”
“That is all, Captain, although I may add more at a future date. I appreciate your willingness to allow me to speak freely.”
“Always, Mister Octo. I assume that you have remedies for each of these…areas of concern?”
“Indeed I do, Captain. You already have my full and detailed reports, along with analyses and projections, on your computer. I would appreciate a prompt response so we can begin implementation right away.”
“Already have on my computer…?”
Mister Octo’s otherworldly eyes squinted sharply. The seven foot tall humanoid Octopus moved all of his tentacles in a coordinated, singular pattern.
“I ANTICIPATED OUR CONVERSATION TWO DAYS AGO, SO I SENT YOU MY REPORTS YESTERDAY.”
