by W.R. Edmunds
March 18, 2073
And our top story tonight. MetaNews has learned that a life-support failure on the Sorrenson Drive prototype research ship, the UNSS Rimor, has killed seven members of the research team during a live crew test. After months of glowing reports about this fantastic alien drive, which has captured the spirit of adventure in all of us, a first too-good-to-be-true tragedy has struck. With us tonight we have our UNSA analyst Khalisah al-Jilani reporting live from Houston on the fall out of this horrible event...
July 20, 2073
This is Khalisah al-Jilani coming to you live from L1 station where the UNSS Rimor has just returned from the first human expedition outside of our solar system. The crowd here is ecstatic as we wait to see L1 control display humanity’s first photographic images of planets in orbit around another star. Wow. They’ve just put up the first of the images. I...I can’t even begin to describe the feeling that is sweeping through all of us gathered here as these surreal pictures are being presented – they should be showing up on your screens now. This is a truly amazing human achievement that is just beyond words...
August 1, 2073
We now go live to the UNSA press conference with the chair of the Deep Space Exploration Council, Gilles Frontenac.
“With the successful return of the UNSS Rimor from humanity’s first trip beyond the bounds of our solar system, we are proud to announce the commissioning of six new Sorrenson Drive equipped exploration vessels. If you turn your attention to the monitors behind me you will be able to watch them as they clear their dry-docks at UNSA’s L5 construction yards...”
September 2, 2073
And an unusual report has come to MetaNews from our UNSA media correspondent on board L1 station. Two members of the crew of the UNSS Beagle were rushed to the med bay shortly after the ship returned from its exploration run to Epsilon Eridani. It is being reported that these two crew members suffered ill effects from a difficult transition to travel space as the Beagle was departing the Epsilon Eridani system...
September 25, 2073
This is Khalisah al-Jilani coming to you from L1 station. UNSA is reporting that a third explorer has lapsed into a coma during the return of the UNSS Voyager to our solar system. So far UNSA medical staff have not been able to determine the exact cause of these comas, which have affected three of Earth’s first interstellar explorers since the beginning of September...
November 12, 2073
A shocking three new cases of ‘Travel Sickness,’ as it has come to be called since the first reported cases in September, have been diagnosed with the return of the UNSS Baochuan from its most recent exploration run. So far, UNSA has released very little in terms of medical information about Travel Sickness. What we do know is that to date there have been six reported cases of this mysterious illness, which puts sufferers in a deep coma. Only two patients are known to have come out of this coma, one completely healthy, and the other suffering from state of violent psychosis. We have repeatedly tried to interview UNSA medical staff only to have all of our requests denied. Mister Hu Chan, the only person to date to have successfully recovered from Travel Sickness, is unavailable for comment...
November 22, 2073
Our top story tonight: the Order of Relativity has released tapes of UNSA staff interviews from L1 Station as the most recent salvo in the crusade against the alien drive technology. You can go to our website to watch a stream of these amateur interviews, which have crew members stating that they would occasionally see glowing beings while moving through travel space. The Order of Relativity released a statement along with these interviews, indicating that these accounts are proof that this alien drive transports the space ships to a realm where we should not tread and that UNSA has engaged in a massive cover up, possibly extending back to the deaths of the research team on the UNSS Rimor eight months ago…
January 16, 2075
Another case of Travel Sickness has been reported on the UNSS Yamato, bringing the total number of reported cases to fifteen since we first started venturing out of our solar system eighteen months ago. Of these fifteen people, only four have been known to make a full recovery, however UNSA staff have been very tight-lipped when it comes to information about the other eleven affected individuals, stating only that they are working hard to identify the cause and cure of this mysterious illness.
UNSA’s continued unwillingness to allow grieving families access to the quarantined Travel Sickness sufferers, along with the Order of Relativity’s constant campaigning against the Sorrenson Drive program have brought UNSA’s popular support to the lowest it has been since the Solar Armistice of 2065. Even staunch supporters have started to question if D-SEC’s exploration program is too aggressive in light of their inability to provide real information about Travel Sickness, leaving many to wonder why UNSA has not called for greater accountability from their Deep Space Exploration and Colonization council. One thing is certain, UNSA is going need a big image boost to justify their continued use of resources while environmental conditions around the world steadily deteriorate...