Lt. Jason Smegg - "Let there be light"
Chief engineer's quarters
Presumably near the end of the away mission (assuming no further
complications)
The chief engineer picked up an old book and sat down at his desk. He'd
received it from a crazy great-uncle many years back when said
great-uncle had died. Well, at least that's what his family had said.
He'd never actually met the uncle, his family had said the old man was "a
bad influence."
Jason brushed the dust off the cover of the tome. "HOLY BIBLE", it read.
Lt. Smegg came from a long line of devout atheists. They hated all forms
of religion. But when he was 13 and he'd received the book from his Uncle
Matthew, he'd decided to become an agnostic. This had infuriated his
parents, who were proud of their God-less upbringing, which stretched
back for generations with only one exception, old Uncle Matthew. They had
forced him to study science even harder than he already was, in the hopes
of purging all traces of religion from his - uh, well, not "soul", but,
well, something with less spiritual connotation. Finally when Jason was
16, he'd given up on his aspirations to indecision, and settled for
conformity with his parents, as well as with a growing portion of
society. But now, 3 years later, he decided to take one more look at the
old book.
Not to be spiritual, though. He just hadn't read from the book in so long
that he thought it would be fun to look at the silly old belief systems
that people actually used to adhere to. He opened to the first page.
There it read, in boldface letters:
"THE BOOK OF GENESIS"
Immediately Smegg laughed. Genesis! That was the name of the video game
system he so loved. Also of a secret project to develop some sort of
device to instantly terraform a toxic planet; it couldn't possibly work.
But the video-game connection was funnier. Imagine that, people
worshiping a game console!
He continued to read:
"Chapter I. (1) In the beginning, the earth was without form and void,
(2) and chaos ruled the face of the waters. (3) Then God (q.v.) said,
"(4) Let there be light!"
And there was light.
The huge spiny ship that was blocking the viewport suddenly vanished. The
light from the Ffion star burst in through the window, startling Lt.
Smegg, who had become accustomed to the dim electric lights of the room.
Somehow, the threat to the ship had been averted!
Was there a God after all?
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