First April Fools

Ship log for the ESS Star Jumper of the Eastern galactic trading company, recorded on April first, 2710.

Captain's entry: Today was a very eventful day. It all started while in orbit of a gas giant that was in the process of being terraformed, but the interesting thing about this was, It would be the first time testing the terraforming process on a gas giant. If successful, it would be the first gas giant to ever be terraformed without exploding. We were orbiting the planet, waiting for the engines to cool down so we could finish our six-month expedition across the galaxy. I was sitting at the helm looking out at the planet, thinking about what I would do when I got back to my homeworld. We were so close to being done, I could feel it. All we had left was one jump, then we had to unload the cargo, and we were done.

I was daydreaming about my homecoming looking off at the planet, watching as the colors swirl around on the surface, then the screen flicked. I jumped out of my daydream. "Oh no, don't tell me… we are only one jump out and the ship has a problem." I thought as I turned to my navigator, asking him if he saw what I did, but he didn't see anything. It must be my imagination playing tricks on me.

As I sat back in my chair, the screen flickered and went dark, I looked around to my crew, and they looked at me as if nothing was wrong. I turned to my copilot and asked her if she thought that anything was wrong. She just started to tell me about how she thought the terraforming process looked beautiful on planets with colored atmospheres while she looked at the black screen as if it were the most exciting thing in the world. It was the same with everyone on the deck. They all looked at the blank screens in front of them and told me about the beautiful colors they saw were. It wasn't long before I knew something was wrong; the crew must be under the effects of something, but as I thought that, I wondered. Why the whole crew would be affected the same way. Not just that, but why was I the only one not affected.

Then it hit me, I must be the one who is sick. It makes much more sense than everyone being affected except me. With that consolation, I headed to the ship's medical bay; I had the doctor do a full workup on me. I knew he would find whatever was wrong with me. I'm sure. However, his test showed nothing, and when I explained to him what was going on, he said I was under too much stress.

That couldn't be right. This whole mission had been very calm, we were attacked by raiders once, but that had been four months ago. So there was no way I was still worried about that, plus we were in protected space right now; there was no way we would be attacked. No one is dumb enough to attack a ship during an experiment that was being carried out by The Brother Will.

I spoke to the ship's consular, she just laughed and said I was looking too far into it. Nevertheless, after I insisted, she told me I needed to rest. Maybe it was the lack of incidents that has my nerves on edge. She then recommended that I take a break and go to the mess hall. Look out at some stars and let my mind relax while the engines cooled down. The mess hall was on the ship's side, facing away from the planet, giving me a perfect uninterrupted view of the stars.

Well, I did just what she said. I went to the mess hall and looked out into the darkness of space and the stars that lit it up. As I did, I wondered if I could see the star of Alpha Primeous, my homeworld. However, as I searched for the blue star Alpha Primeous circled around, there was nothing. I knew I should be able to see it from here though. I kept looking everywhere but no blue stars then I noticed something was wrong. There weren't enough stars in the viewport, what was happening, were we in the right place? As I started to panic, I saw one of the stars just go out, then another. I froze, was I dreaming? Did the star just go out? I thought, but as I looked again, I saw them all go out one after the next. I grabbed the closest person to me and asked if they could see the stars. They looked at me as if I was delusional, asking if I was okay. The stars were right there, they insisted pointing at the blank viewport.

Everyone I turned to said the same thing I couldn't handle, I was going to snap. I was running from crewmember to crewmember, hoping one of them would see what I saw. However, none of them did, and I snapped. I fell to the ground, my hands grabbing my head on the brink of screaming.

Then it happened, the screens all lit up. There across every screen were two words printed in bright blue bold letters. APRIL FOOLS As I read the words, I knew I had lost my mind, then my crew all started laughing as my copilot came over to me and explained that it was a joke. She had set up the whole thing to teach me a little cultural lesson; maybe then I would stop acting as if I knew everything about Earth, she told me as she laughed.

Well, it was one lesson I won't be forgetting anytime soon. I learned my lesson, I didn't know everything, and it was a pretty good joke that I fell for hook, line, and sinker. I just wondered what could be done with the captain's codes instead.

End long entry. File under personal captain's log.