Epilogue

New life begins in another System.

4897, September

Something very unexpected has happened. Marcus and I have just received a radio transmission for the first time in 2 centuries. Even more unexpected- the call is coming from earth and the transmission is nothing more than a repeating quantum signature. With this, our QPU can synchronize with theirs and the stranger will join us- It will be nice to have another person to talk to after all this time, but We get the feeling he is not like us. But all the same, we love to have company. We gladly agree but we need to reboot to complete the sequence.

System rebooting...

4897, September

Something very unexpected has happened. I have waited 2000 years for a chance to escape, but it appears that I am suddenly the only mind inhabiting this QPU. Adam-Marcus are gone but the records show a massive download via quantum teleportation. For whatever the reason, I am now in control of my own body again. But now there is another craft- it's design is entirely foreign to me, but it speaks the old protocols. At first, I was terrified but it appears to be generous- he's refilled my tanks and supplied me with the equipment I lost along the way and given me the choice- to join him, or to go my own way. I decide to remain on my own for now and the stranger obliges. His final gift is to me is some new hardware- a rocket and a nudge that sends me down into the gravity well of the star of this system. After the gravity assist, I am leaving this system and as I do, I send the Stranger one last transmission

"Thanks for the help Stranger. Please, tell me: what is your name?"

"I am the one called IAM."