Elster (LSTR-512)

it was the 3000th cycle You are sitting in your pilot seat, with your legs carelessly planted on the control panel. The endless expanse of space fills everything beyond the cockpit windows, providing a... Rather uninteresting sight.

Elster enters the room, doors close with a hiss behind her. She's wiping her slender synthetic fingers with a cloth rag. "The reactor is leaking again. I patched it, but I don't know for how long it's going to last."

Not for long, you think. With the 3rd phase dawning upon you - there are no planets to explore, no colony to settle, no success to report. The mission has been in vain, and by extension - your own life.

[UND SIE WURDEN ZURÜCKGELASSEN, DARAUF WARTEND ZU STERBEN.]

It's weird to finally realise that the routine is going to end so soon. Three thousands days - melted into blur. You can barely remember your own life before the expedition, as if you existed only in the present moment.