“Ladies and Gentlemen, Fleet Com has given us a mission as unique as our ship’s abilities. We have been given the task of finding out what happened to the EGS Lethe.”
A holographic image appeared on the display of an extremely large, domed vessel, gray in color. It had a square base that was 4-5 kilometer on a side, and a dome that arched up to a maximum height of over 500 meters. It looked not dissimilar to the ancient snow globe baubles that Dobbins remembered his grandmother being so found of, only on a scale more massive than anyone had ever seen. A look of amazement erupted from the faces of the entire staff, except Skylar, who nodded in the way that people nod when they want to look like they understand, even though they don’t.
“For those of you who didn’t pay attention in History class at the academy, let me give you some details about the Lethe,” Dobbins continued. Marquél gave Skylar a sharp elbow to the ribs, prompting a quiet protestation from Skylar.
“Problem, Mr. Skylar?” Dobbins demanded, looking at the young man the way a teacher looks at miscreant student.
“No, sir.” Skylar said, attempting to talk smoothly out of the situation and failing, “I merely couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The Lethe? We lost contact with her about 15 years ago, and now we get the chance to find out what happened to her.”
“Actually, it’s been closer to 30, Mr. Skylar. The Lethe was one of the last generational colony ships to be sent out. Its destination, the third moon in orbit around the planet 47 Ursae Majoris b.” A schematic of the system of 47 Ursae Majoris appeared on the visual display and after a flyby, zoomed in on the planet and its moon. “As you know, this star system is 14.1 parsecs from our own system, so using Ion Drive, the trip would require about 70 years. To make such a long trip, the ship was designed to allow the second generation of those on board to become the first settlers on the new moon, which was to be re-designated Elysion upon establishment of the colony.
“The Lethe, then, like most generational ships carried about 500 people, even though it had room for nearly 2000. The remainder of the space was left for supplies and for room for the next generation to be able to live. Because of the vast distances that the Lethe would have to cover, the designers of the ship used the best holographic and construction technology available to create a ship that would seem to its inhabitants like it was Earth instead of a spaceship. The idea was that, if the passengers felt as much as possible like they still were on Earth instead of many light years from home, then they could avoid some of the deep-space psychoses that afflicted the other generational ships.”
Commander Ella spoke up, “The Lethe wasn’t the only ship to use such an approach, Captain. It had already been successfully used on a couple of other generational ships.”
“True, Commander,” Dobbins replied, “but the Lethe took the approach and refined it further. Not only was each individual’s quarters designed in such a way as to simulate an Earth-like home, the entire ship was built to be a giant Earth simulator. Only in the decks below the main level and in the Town Hall (the Control Center, really) could any hint be found that the ship was indeed a ship. The holographic technology, the climate control, and the unique design of the ship all contributed to making the illusion nearly perfect, at least from what I’ve been able to read of contemporary accounts. And since only the crew who ran the ship, all 20 of them, ever needed to access either of those areas, I have to imagine that illusion would function pretty well, as long as you wanted it to.”
“Twenty people couldn’t manage a starship of that size!” Zhang exclaimed in amazement.
“You’re correct, Mr. Zhang,” Dobbins said, “but if you remember your history, you’ll remember that the designers equipped the ship with a staff of nearly 200 androids to handle the majority of the tasks and serve the passengers needs. The androids were the ones who did the majority of the spaceship work. In this way, the passengers did not have to give up the illusion of idyllic, small town life on Earth. In fact, the ship’s designers even went so far in creating the illusion that they made the androids entirely human in appearance and mannerisms, with one exception: all the androids had unusually-colored purple eyes in order to help the humans recognize them as automatons.
“The ship set out 30 years ago from this very dry dock to a tremendous fanfare. Plans to build a second one just like her were already underway, with another, even more-distant star system to the target. The funds and personnel took a while to get approved, but construction on the second Lethe-class vessel had just barely gotten underway when hyperwave communication with the Lethe suddenly was lost. No indications of the exact cause of the loss of communication could ever be determined. Fleet Comm attempted several times over the course of the first year or two to re-establish contact and gain remote access to the ship, but no signal ever received a response. The Lethe simply had vanished into the depths of space, and to this day, no one knows what became of her or her passengers.”
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