The Death of Hope

It was of course trivial for me to pass their exams. The subject of business is not my strong suit, but I worked hard to get a perfect GPA. In my spare time, I used the best of their primitive tools to experiment with anything that might have helped - biological samples to help heal Baby, mineral samples to construct a working FTL communicator, or even seemingly unrelated research in a desperate effort to raise the technological level of these primitives to the point where they could be of assistance.

But it was to no avail. By now, if Baby were still alive and receiving my radio messages, she would have found a way to respond. And I estimated it would take several centuries before these humans discovered the material science needed to produce the exotic elements I needed for a working FTL communicator.

The situation seemed hopeless. I am a space captain; I have spent the majority of my life travelling the stars. This planet will be my tomb. Already my cells have begun to degenerate; I will be lucky to live a scant few more decades due to the massive damage the corrupted environment has inflicted. Used to living centuries, I must now adapt to a human lifespan.

But I do have one more trick. My genetic enhancements include the ability to exude parasitic symbiotes - an emergency measure originally intended to allow Takisians to transfer their consciousness temporarily to another Takisian for extraction into a blank clone body later. I have experimented covertly to see if human physiology is similar enough for it to work there; my results are inconclusive. The parasites spread rapidly - far more so than in a Takisian host - but they are unable to breach the blood/brain barrier due to genetic markers.

However, any hypothetical offspring of a Takisian and a human would be a suitable host for my symbiotes. Indeed, if my tests are correct, they should even allow my own consciousness to override that of the host. The process will be incomplete and imprecise - I will keep my memories, but not specialised knowledge until a proper Takisian medical facility can extract the parasites into one of my frozen clone bodies on Takis. But it will suffice. I will have the time I need to rescue myself, for no help is coming.