Life Support Synthesis

Sonic disruption frequencies, what you Earthlings call 'music', has a vital role on a SCUL mission. In the early days there was no music at all, just our bells, squeeze horns, and yelling, if you even count such a thing. Later on came the boombox on the inner tube strap, then radiobag, and finally the modular and integrated ship systems we have come to rely on today. The first dishes produced crude rock, great for fueling young engines and get the passion needed to push the new untested and unseasoned ships to – and sometimes beyond – their limits. Next came the almighty groove – now a staple in space travel. Occasionally we still alter freqs to keep things interesting and to make sure the dishes get their proper tonal paces put to.

This mission we set the disruption to near-hibernative levels so that we may enter the wormholes in a new way: rather than shining a beacon of the FUNK into the darkness, we added our own voice to the sounds deep space and the wormholes had to offer.

We love to fly our spaceships. We do this on Earth Saturnights. We hope for fair galactic winds and calm space weather, but we get what we get, and that's that for the most part.

The forecast for this mission was looking a bit grim: some call it waterblobs, some call it cats and dogs – most call it rain. We call it radiation, as it can be a little toxic to our circuits and our morale. Radioactive missions are not exactly an easy sell on a volunteer mission. Ten of us were standing on the launchpad regardless, defiant of the weather gods. Some brought heavy radiation gear, some brought lighter gear and some hope, and some brought nothing but their space pants and t-shirt out into deep space.

Speaking of space pants, getting to the launchpad did not go without incident. Due to heavy space traffic and getting pilot pants caught on the cockpit, Cloudbuster had an ungraceful smack to the space pavement. Some sonic disruptor dish alignment and a quick shakedown, and the board was green and we were ready for mission prep.

Pastry Queen had a surprise transformative ship that went from Yolo to Solo. Alas, it turned out to be a bit of a no-go so she went home to get a ship that was pro go-go. A rendezvous in Davis Constellation and snack refueling was all it took to get us back on mission schedule.

With laser arrays at full power, into the wormhole we went.

We thrusted to Brian Eno, to Harod Budd, to Biosphere and to Steve Roach. The night opened itself to us, and we opened ourselves to the night in reciprocation. As we traveled farther and farther away from our safe home base harbor, we could see the mighty storm nebulaes emitting electrical charges as we headed closer and closer. Was this the mission where one of the tall ships would become an impromtu lightning rod? Fingers' crossed!

Stopping at the last wormhole shelter-bubble within reach, we dropped anchor and began our mission objective. Eat more snacks, you say? Yes, that is a mission objective, but the one I'm referring to has come to be known as 'remote life support synthesis'.

We poured out or cargo bins and made do with what we brought, mixed with what we could find. Skunk set up the tricorder and scanned us and the space around us as we played for five minutes. We think it was pretty impressive for one take, but it's up to Starmada Command and their science plants to decide if this tech is something we will be able to decode and use later.

A Lite-Brite® took a pee in the woods.



Once we were done with our objectives it was time to fly back home. Right before it looked as if the storm was to thin out and pass over us quickly, the scanners sensed an intensification. We decided to ride in with the storm. Those who were prepared were grateful, those who weren't suffered a bit for it, but hey – eventually the storm passed and we made it home. Irradiated and tired, the closing ceremonies were brief and the airlocks were swift to open and close.

Additional log: this mission was inspired by it landing on International Drone Music Day, which happens to be the same date as Rotwang Day and, oh yeah, the day Star Wars was given to the world.