INTRODUCTION - PHASE THREE

Tim: The Red Knight's AI

“So, who’s been running things while I’ve been asleep?” you ask Tim, the ship’s Artificial Intelligence computer (i.e. the floating head on the computer screen).

“Well, initially the off-spring of your pet. The one you smuggled on board and thought no-one knew about.”

“Huh?”

“Once the crew had been reduced to a bunch of mindless, plague-carrying zombies destined for an early grave, maintenance became rather a low priority round here and eventually there was a radiation leak which not only finished off any stragglers but gave some kind of genetic boost to your pregnant pet. Over the millennia, her children evolved, developed a civilisation and started cleaning up round here … until they realised there was a great ‘out there’ out there, jumped into the mothballed Starbugs and headed into the black.

“Meanwhile, if Hollywood has taught us anything, it’s that (a) violence is cooler when carried out in slow motion and (b) all alien life forms are man-made.

“Mankind wasn’t just sitting around while you were napping, me laddy. It was developing genetic slave races to help in its conquest of deep space - remember, back in the 23rd Century, man had only colonised as far out as Pluto. 

“These genetically engineered life forms - or GELFs as I like to call them - have seemingly outlasted their creators and every so often some get on board, have a poke around, steal a nozzle or widget then bugger off again … even by their primitive standards, I guess the Red Knight is pretty low-tech.”

Now go to Phase Four