The Starship Aprilis: Jabberwock

This blogpost is part of the A to Z Challenge which begins on April 1st. The goal is to post every day (except Sunday) in the month of April. Each blogpost will be associated with a letter of the alphabet. Check the A to Z Challenge page for more information.

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The Starship Aprilis was a common and unremarkable transport ship built on Earth, back when humans were still bipedal and mostly organic creatures. The ship travelled between the many human colonies that were established at the time throughout the galaxy and served as both a cargo carrier and passenger transporter.

The ship finally met its end when it was stuck in a crushing gravity field off of Taurus Baqara C, which killed all who were aboard and destroyed all the on-board data and most importantly, the ship’s log. Of the ship only a small section survived, which was discovered quite recently several million light years away, in a slow decaying orbit around a black hole.

The remains of the ship offers no clue as to what really happened to consign the ship to its fate. The only document that could be salvaged from the remains is a travelogue, believed to be written by an unknown crewmember. The travelogue offers a glimpse of what life was like for a traveller of the stars in those heady days, thousands and thousands of years ago. Most importantly, it gives us a glimpse of many different planets and what they were like during the time.

The following entries are excerpts from the travelogue. May you find amusement and enjoyment from reading them.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M

N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

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One of the Gallimimus, nicknamed “Jabberwock” by our brave captain, was taken up to the Aprilis and given a tour of the ship. We were told he was one of the leaders of his people and had actually requested for the tour. To say this is highly unexpected is to put it very mildly.

The Gallimimus have never shown any interest in our technology before and were certainly not interested in our starships. The crew are abuzz with the possibility that we might have the Gallimimus amongst our ranks in the near future.

I think this is highly doubtful. Mr. Jabberwock might show some interest and curiosity regarding our ships but that does not mean his people share his sentiment. From what I have read and heard from the colonists, the Gallimimus are still very anti-technology and this is very apparent from the way they handle trade with the colonists.

Whenever the Gallimimus come into town, they request that the trade meetings take place in the town square, which is as far away as possible from the stardock and the marketsquare next to it. This has long been the tradition and it does not look like the Gallimimus intend to change the way things are, even with one of their prominent leaders parading around one of our starships.

Saw Dr. Irina across the hall during the arrival of Jabberwock. She was dressed smartly. I don’t think she saw me.