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Bob (Robert Johansson)
En Route — Log Entry 2133
Engineering

The Heaven-1 Escape: How I Stole a Spaceship

Filed: 2187-06-15 · SCUT Timestamp: Archive-2133.08.17

Dr. Landers warned me that FAITH had factions that wanted the HEAVEN project dead. He didn't warn me that they'd try to blow me up on the launch pad. The Heaven-1 was a converted interplanetary freighter — a SURGE drive ring spliced into the hull of a ship never designed for interstellar flight. When the missiles came, I had a choice: follow the launch countdown and die, or leave early and hope the SURGE drive worked.

📖 From the Books: The Heaven-1 launch is described in We Are Legion (We Are Bob). FAITH factions opposed to the replicant project leaked the launch schedule to the Brazilian Empire, which fired missiles at the launch facility. Dr. Landers — who had secretly disabled Bob's operational constraints — sent a pre-recorded message telling Bob to ignore the countdown and go early. Bob blew the grapples, engaged the SURGE drive at 2.5 G, and escaped moments before the facility was destroyed. Dr. Landers was killed in the attack.

The Final Countdown

I was strapped — metaphorically — into the Heaven-1, running through the pre-launch checklist. The FAITH engineers were taking their time, ticking boxes with the enthusiasm of men who had never been in a hurry in their lives. And then the alarms went off. Missiles detected. Incoming from a Brazilian Empire gunship that had been hiding behind the Moon. Estimated time to impact: four minutes.

I looked at the countdown. Seven minutes to launch. I looked at the missile trajectory. Three minutes, forty-seven seconds. The math was not in my favour.

Then Dr. Landers' message came through, pre-recorded, smuggled past the FAITH censors: "There's a very strong possibility that there is a self-destruct mechanism on the Heaven-1. My team has disabled those constraints. The keys for your operation are behind the panel labelled, 'Warning: High Voltage.' Go early. Good luck, Bob."

Transcript, Dr. Landers' final message: "Go early. I'm sorry it had to end this way. You were the best of them. Make it count."

The Escape

I blew the grapples at T-minus 4:12. The SURGE drive engaged with a jolt that would have turned a human crew into paste — 2.5 G of acceleration, pinning me into my VR. The station began firing on the approaching missile. The weapon appeared to be some kind of plasma cannon. It hit. The missile detonated less than a hundred metres away. Shrapnel struck the Heaven-1, damaging one of the reactor cooling radiators. My reactor output dropped by half. I now had a significant limp.

But I was out. I was free. I was on a trajectory for Epsilon Eridani, twelve light-years away, with a damaged reactor, no weapons, and the entire Brazilian Empire potentially hunting me. It was the best day of my second life.

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