Submitted by Additional_Twist7971 t3_y4lfee in WritingPrompts
PageNotFound23 t1_isev17t wrote
[Quick Write]
The spaceship itself was old- really old, thousands of years outdated even by conservative estimates. It had no FTL capabilities, no onboard oxygen production systems, no way of producing sustenance, and it was still using liquid propellants. It was also extremely small, only having the capacity to store six crew members, a modern ships mess hall was capable of storing the entirety of the ship thirty times over, and still having room.
None of that was truly the peak of interest though. It was its cabin that was interesting- precisely the dimensions needed for a humanoid creature. Did life evolve into humans when it reached intelligence? Were they capable of understanding us? Were they carbon based? Perhaps we truly weren't alone.
All of that was disproven.
We deciphered the faded lettering on the side of the craft: Voyager 6 in a forgotten tongue, pre-intergalactic humanities attempt to reach for the stars and make it to Alpha Centauri, only for navigation to fail, flinging the ship into the proverbial space-boonies. Long since then, humanity had already colonised and terraformed any planets within a 5 light year radius of Hub World- Earth in that same forgotten tongue.
Despair, for humanity truly is alone. Despair, for the universe is barren.
Additional_Twist7971 OP t1_isexwkb wrote
Beautiful... Simply beautiful...
PageNotFound23 t1_isf1qsz wrote
Thanks! I didn't know if it was too much of an exposition dump.
Additional_Twist7971 OP t1_isf1x7i wrote
It was also one of the scenarios I was going for so this is perfect!
steptwoandahalf t1_isi3o6l wrote
I don't get it. At the end you say there is no alien life, ONLY human life.
But then the rest of the story is from a xeno point of view, referring to humans as other. But then.. they know the full background of humanity's exploration? I don't get it. Is the POV character advanced human, xeno searching for dead humans, what?
PageNotFound23 t1_isj19rn wrote
Advanced human or completely third person. Sorry I didn't realise I worded it weirdly.
PassakornKarn t1_isj8hcc wrote
Try to think of it as an advance human seeing a modern human. Like a modern American seeing an Ancient Greek.
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