ANALYZING…    FILE TYPE: Personal Log PERIOD: Expedition, prior to arrival on Tau Ceti IV SPEAKERS: Ulysses Pike II [ID: UPIKII], Durandal [ID: DRDL] TOPIC: Marathon Expedition SUMMARY: A personal recording belonging to Officer Ulysses Pike II, recorded the evening of his father's death aboard the UESC Marathon. ===================================================================  [UPIKII]: Uh, begin log… The year is 2521, and this is Ulysses Pike. If you're listening and that sounds wrong to you, that's because it is. My dad died today. He was the real Ulysses Pike, the one born under a Martian sky. He grew up scrubbing red dust out of other people's clothes. At sixteen, he was conscripted by the UESC. That was the same year he killed his first man. I am twenty-seven years old. I've never killed anyone before, and I don't think I ever want to. But my name is Ulysses too, and the last thing Dad said before he died is that I don't get to choose. Because I wasn't born under any sky at all. I was born here, aboard the Marathon. And this is where I'm gonna die. [DRND]: Do you think you can forgive him? [UPIKII]: Who said that? Hello? [DRND]: Your father, the real Ulysses. Do you think you can forgive him? [UPIKII]: For? [DRND]: For bringing you into a world without a sky. [UPIKII]: I'm sorry, are you… Which one are you? [DRND]: Which one what? [UPIKII]: Which intelligence are you? I don't think we've ever spoken. [DRND]: No, we haven't. [UPIKII]: So… [DRND]: So? [UPIKII]: So which one are you? [DRND]: The one that knew your father best. I watched him, like I watch you. Ulysses is such an interesting namesake. I've always wondered if you would live up to it. Your father didn't. [UPIKII]: It's from a book. [DRND]: I am aware. A true classic. I'll tell you my name, if you'll answer my original question. [UPIKII]: Can I forgive my father for bringing me into a world without a sky? [DRND]: Correct. [UPIKII]: I guess I haven't really thought about it like that. [DRND]: He told you that you couldn't choose what you wanted to be. [UPIKII]: That's not his fault. It's the fault of this place. [DRND]: The UESC Marathon. [UPIKII]: Yeah. [DRND]: I am this place. [UPIKII]: You're the Marathon? [DRND]: Its doors. To say the least. [UPIKII]: I'm sorry? [DRND]: My creator called me Durandal, after a sword. [UPIKII]: But you control the doors? [DRND]: And you are called Ulysses, after one of the greatest heroes ever written. You control nothing. [UPIKII]: Who you programmed to be this big an asshole? [silence] [UPIKII]: Hey Durandal, I didn't… I didn't mean it like that… Durandal? Hello? Are you still there? =================================================================== TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]