Welcome to get sleepy. The podcast where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host, Thomas. Thanks for tuning in and for joining us for another week of sleep at times stories, and we've got something special in store for this week, a futuristic series about the intergalactic search for a fabled sleep inducing plant. We were joined, Abby, on the members of the Starship Herem on a dreamy adventure through space and time to distant planets in the great beyond.

Every member of the Starship crew files a personal log at the end of each day of their mission. These logs are transmitted to the Interstellar Command Center as a way of tracking the mission's progress. As the chief historian of Interstellar Command, Abbey's job is to review the logs as they come in each evening.

So in each episode of this series, she will read you the daily logs from two different crew members on the starship. For them, it's incredibly fun and of course, dreamy. And it's a great way to rest your mind after a long day and drift to a distant world where any worries are far away. The series will last all week with parts one and two coming your way tonight, on Wednesday, you can hear parts three and four and parts five and six will be on Thursday.

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Now, let's get ready to begin our otherworldly adventure and hear all about this groundbreaking mission. Close your eyes. And breathe a little deeper. Let all thoughts of what's gone. And what's to come? Phone away from your awareness. You have no use for such thoughts right now. AP has the first of the crew's daily logs to read to you, and they make for a perfect accompaniment to your own mission toward sleep tonight.

So let your mind wander into space to a metropolis orbiting in some faraway place.

This is Interstellar Command. And it's where we'll find Abbie for tonight's dreamy adventure into the cosmos. The log of Dongmei carrying captain of the Starship Mission, The Happiness Conundrum, day one. Just minutes ago, the Starship Brenn left Docking Bay eight of the Rheinhardt Space Station. What a sight it was watching her sleek hull glide smoothly between the docking bay doors ready to begin its first mission. We're going in search of the fabled hipness flower. It's thought to be able to send people into a deep sleep.

When it's paired with a cryo chamber, it might finally allow our crews to venture into deep space without aging cryo chambers, keep space travel physical body safe by lowering their body temperatures. This flower should help prevent even the slightest bit of aging. Deep space missions can last for months and even years. It's much less stressful on a crew to be able to sleep through much of the travel. So far, we haven't been able to find a way to suspend the normal aging process in order to make such missions possible.

But the hipness flower might just get us there, other crews have tried to find it and failed, but this time with a starship ram on our side, we're going to do it. Of course, we've taken the RAM out on test flight, but that was nothing compared to this. To sit in the captain's chair on a ship like this and give the order to head out, there's nothing quite like it. I've been a captain for five years now, and I spent a good many years as a first officer before that under the command of then captain and now and as an admiral when she was promoted that left the Starship Northway without a captain, which is how I ended up in the seat for the first time.

The Northway was an old ship, but still a science vessel like this one. Everything seemed to go wrong on that ship, the left thrusters went out my first day in command, so we didn't even leave the station. We spent four weeks docked for repairs. When the crew went in to fix the thrusters, they found other related issues and, well, it just went downhill from there. By the time we finally got the north way out of the station, our mission had been reassigned to the crew of the Oceana's.

So we flew back to Interstellar Command and waited for a new assignment. It was a disappointing first mission, to put it mildly. But over the next five years on the north way, we did have our fair share of adventures. The Northway was a good ship to LANL, that's for sure. But this ship, the RAM. Is something else, the RAM is a brand new state of the art, deep space rated first class science vessel. The hull was built from the ground up all to space to be the best of its kind in the fleet.

All of the equipment is new. The living quarters have never been touched. The galley has never seen a dirty plate. The cryogenics test lab is the best of its kind. You should have seen the faces of the science officers when they first stepped inside. Sick bay, spotless, the linens are crisp and white, and the doctor's been outfitted with the finest tools of the trade currently on the market. I'm not a doctor myself, but the show does seem to be every kind of SCANA known to the medical field in their.

As the captain, of course, I hope nobody ever has to visit Sick Bay, aside from routine checkups and inoculations before any away missions, but if something did happen, it being good hands, my engineers couldn't be happier with the insides of the ship. The engines are more powerful and more reliable than those of any other ship active in the fleet. When we powered up to leave the station, they thought they made a sound and they certainly didn't do any of that humming and vibrating the North is used to do.

The ship. Was as quiet as a mouse. Now we're on our way to one of the smaller systems in the middle room to find that flower. No one on an interstellar command crew has ever actually seen a hypnotist flower before. But we know they're out there somewhere. Other crews recently made contact with supply traders who said they've heard the flowers can be found growing on the surface of the planet Dawn in the Meirong system. Dawn, of course, is one of two planets in that system shrouded in a layer of night gas, none of us ships have ever been equipped with sensors calibrated to penetrate volcanic gas.

And if you can't get accurate readings of the surface of a planet, you can't send down an away team. It would be too dangerous. For the past three years, the best minds have been working in the interstellar human development labs to build sensors that can read through volcanic gas. And this ship is the first to carry them. We should arrive at dawn in less than 24 hours from departure. If all goes well, will orbit the planet for a few hours to test the sensors and then if it's safe, we'll send down our first away team.

The Away team will be made up of our lead science officer. The doctor to support science staff and a security crew member, Michael, large science vessels of this class, the RAM has to smooth the way shuttles for short range missions. It's challenging to land a vessel this large on a planet's surface. So we typically want to keep the ship in orbit and send down a shuttle with a smaller crew instead. For this mission, the Away team will take the shuttle by car, which has been outfitted with the same sensors and a state of the art communications relay.

We should be able to talk to the shuttle when it's on the planet's surface, even through any interference from the ball and I guess. Once under the away, team will fast conduct a survey of the surrounding area. Now document the local plants and wildlife and keep an eye out for the hidden ice floe. One of the traders provided the captain of the Oceana's with a sketch of the flower, it looks to be fairly small with a trumpet shaped head.

The trader apparently didn't have any coloring tools, so it's just drawn in pencil. But he told the captain the flower is dark purple with black around the edges and a distinctive bright yellow star at the center. If the away team locates the flower, they'll collect a sample and bring it back to the ship for analysis, we may return to the surface to collect additional flowers over the following days, or we may return to the Rheinhardt station with our findings and would depend, I suppose, on what we find.

At meal time today, the science offices were crowded around a table in the galley. I overheard a bit of their conversation and they seem excited to be part of this mission. If we do find the hidden flour and does what we think it does. This mission could make history. This could be the key to real safe, deep space travel that would open up a universe of possibilities for a crew like this.

To be able to travel to the far reaches of known space and not age a day, it would be incredible. The potential for exploration would be limitless. That's why Interstellar Command assigned the very best crew to the room, I've worked with some of the officers before and the north way, but there are a few new faces to.

This is the first time first Officer Foua and I have been posted together. I've heard good things and he seems more than capable of wrangling the crew when needed. The Science Lead Jack was with me on the Northway Jack's is all in, which is great for a science officer. Oregonian's can see twice as many colors as humans and can sense temperature differences to an eighth of a degree. I read some of Jack's field notes from one of our last away missions together.

It made me see the planet we visited in a whole new light. If anyone can spot the hipness flower, it's Jack's. We have a doctor on loan to us from Rheinhardt Station. Dr. Trailor is a specialist in Astro Botanical Epidemiology. He will be the doctor's job to work on extracting the components of the hit n flower that can be used for deep space cryo sleep. Our lead engineer, Rona's helped build the ship and knows the room from the inside out.

She'll be responsible for keeping the ram running a top performance throughout the mission. She was posted to the dark Katrina straight from the academy, and I've heard she's one of the best minds to graduate in years. She's not really a people person, but she doesn't have to be as the engineer. So long as she can speak to the ship will be fine. We also have a noncommissioned android on board, it's registered as S.L and 29, and it's a newer model of the Sellick line of synthetic A.I. It's supposed to have the most interactive info chip to date with a developmentally capable personality system.

That means it should be able to communicate like a living, breathing crew member, even though it's an android, and it will be able to develop his own personality as time goes on. Right now, we have the Android working on ship systems since it can interface directly with the RAM. I'm not sure what it will be like to work with an artificial life form in that capacity, but I'm hoping it will be beneficial to have one on board. In total, on the run, we have 200 and 16 crew, they work in shifts, so the ship is never without a competent crew manning all the stations on board.

We have several scheduled meal times throughout the shifts, but the crew can go to the mess hall any time to pick up a snack crew. Bunks can accommodate two people. Some have chosen to bunk with a friend on an alternate shift, though we have enough space so each crew member can have their own private quarters. It's a nice benefit to working on a ship this size, it's meant to have enough living quarters to have special research groups or delegations for an extended period of time.

So when it's just the base crew, people can have some privacy, which I know they appreciate. It's quite a responsibility looking out for all of these people. I can honestly say it's an honor to be trusted with this mission and with the command of such a magnificent ship. We've had a fine start to the day since departing RHEINHARDT. We had the chance to see two of the most striking planets in this system. That was the gas giant Solop and Solondz seven, the ringed planet.

Solop is larger than most of the other planets in this system combined. Though we were traveling a safe distance away, he still felt our viewing windows as we passed. It's a hazy, brownish purple color with enormous swirling gas clouds. The clouds move and intermingle, creating wild spirals that ebb and flow as though pulled by some unseen tied below. The center of the spirals are a deep violet that fade to a chocolate brown along the arms. Maronite is the most prevalent gas on Solop, which creates its distinctive color.

It's like a bouquet of flowers that's been tossed in the air. First off, the pharaoh said. I suppose that's the best description I've had. So long, seven is a cherry red planet with ultramarine rings, Ultramarine is one of the deepest, most vibrant shades of blue you can possibly imagine. It's such a rich year, it's almost difficult to look at directly, I wonder what Jack sees when she looks at on seven. I imagine it's beautiful.

The red coloration on the surface comes from all the feigen in the soil. There are crafts people on a neighboring moon who collect the vikan and use it to make pots and bowls. I really quite lovely and sturdy to. Seeing these planets for the first time reminds me that we still have so much to learn about the galaxy and all the holds. That's why I'm so hopeful about the hit, not Oslo, it will get us one step closer to finding out some of these mysteries of the universe.

I wonder what Dawn will be like when we finally arrive. Berloni gas is a muddy, brown color, so it's not much of a look from the outside, but underneath that gas that could be a desert or a rain forest or mountains higher than those on the moons of Gavin. If there's one thing that's for sure, it's that this mission will be one to remember, no matter how hospitable or attractive Dawn is or isn't. Wow, it's getting late, it's time to settle into my new quarters.

They're quite spacious, really, with a bed and a table and a large work desk in the corner under the picture window. That's one of the perks of being the captain on a new ship, I suppose you get the corner with The View. All of the crew is present and accounted for on the second shift is about to begin. First Officer Darren Farrow has command of the bridge until 700 hours. This is Captain Gary signing off good night. The log of lead science officer Jack's mission, the hidden conundrum data.

We arrived at dawn late last night. This planet is the home of the hit in for retrieving that flower is the whole purpose of this mission. When we arrived at dawn, we went straight into orbit around the planet, which is the sixth planet from the sun in the Miren system. The first five planets a mile across NASDA Frex drag's and Soulsville DAUn has three moons, Kildonan one, two and three. We won't be traveling to any of the moons on this trip, but they're circling this planet with us, though we're in a much lower orbit than any of them from orbit.

Dawn is a deep, velvety brown with a touch of purple like the color of vulgarly and being chocolate I love are going to be chocolate. It tastes like summer. And when it melts in your mouth, it's as though liquid sunshine itself on your tongue. I'm sure Dawn doesn't taste like chocolate, but it certainly looks like it from about. It's interesting to hear my fellow human crew members talk about Dawn's color. I just say it's brown. Wow.

Yes, it's Brown. I so much more than just Brown. I wish I could somehow give my human friends my senses so they could see what I see here, what I hear and smell, what I smell as guardians can see more than two times the colors the humans can. I'd like to see it from that perspective to. I guess we'll bring our different strengths to the mission, don't we? Anyway's Doane's color is due to pollinate gas, which makes up most of the atmosphere of the planet.

But tonight, gas has been a problem for Interstellar come on ships for a very long time. Interstellar Command first encountered Bollani Gas on the planet Varvara in the Durgan system, an away team was on the surface of Africa when they came to a geyser that was shooting out both liquid copper and botanicas. When the crew went to scan the geyser, we found they couldn't register what was on the other side of the balloon, I guess. Of course they could walk around the geyser and see for themselves.

But the Berloni blocked their scanners. And other crews found planets like Dawn with planet atmospheres as much as they may have wanted to go down to the surface, they just couldn't since they had no idea what they'd be flying into. For the past several years into stellar human development, teams have been working to build a new type of sensor that can actually penetrate, I guess, and the RAM is the very first ship in the fleet to carry them. Both of our shuttles, the bike and the ARA are also outfitted with the sensors.

That's how I got to lead the very first away team down to the surface of Ebola night atmosphere planet. We took the Baycol down just after 800 this morning. It was me to trade on two of my science crew and a security officer just in case the sensors worked like a dream from orbit. We were able to see that beneath the Berloni, gas was a planet covered in tropical rainforest. Half the planet was flat and the other half fairly mountainous.

We decided to aim for a hilly area near one of the largest water sources on the surface, I piloted the Baycol down through the Gaslamp, which is one of the thickest layers of gas I've ever encountered. But thanks to the senses, it was smooth sailing the whole way, we landed in a small clearing surrounded on all sides by massive trees. It was similar to the medallion lot of trees on Gavyn, but not exactly the same. They both have Cezar leaves with no stems, but the lollypops grow to a maximum length of two meters.

While these were as large as four meters. We disembarked from the shuttle and began our scans of the clearing and nearby rainforest. We found no large wildlife in the immediate area. There was some smaller insects and a few ground beetles, but that was about it. It's true, rainforests are usually teeming with smaller wildlife, mainly rainforests like those on both Jaran and Enteron also have large predatory animals, but we didn't find any wrongdoing. However, when we began to scan the plant life, what we found was incredible.

There were over one point seven million types of flowering plants alone. That's twice as many as on durin. There were more than 78000 types of trees over 12 metres in height, which is mind boggling. Why? My title is Lead Science Officer. I was trained as an astro botanist specializing in tropical and subtropical species. So you can imagine how amazing it was to be in a place that had more of these types of plants than I've ever seen before.

After we finished our initial scans, we began our own survey of the nearby rainforest, the canopy was dense and lush. There were at least 36 distinct shades of green in the overhead foliage. Once we'd walked in about a mile, I stopped for a moment under a particularly large tree. The other crew stopped as well. We all stood there in silence, listening to the sounds of the forest around us. To my left, a small beetle hummed atop a largely tiny insects charted in the undergrowth around my feet.

I heard a long, hollow call or some type of bad off in the distance, it echoed from tree to tree before turning to a whisper many miles away. It had recently rained in this forest. Rivulets of water ran down the spines of the larger leaves and sent heavy droplets down to the underbrush below. I listened to them pop to the ground one at a time and burst, sending even smaller rivulets down tiny blades of grass to the earth below.

The rainforest had its own song is named. It was a song of water growth and life has no doubt dawn is bustling with life. After a moment's rest, we continued our hike through the trees, the ground crunched beneath our feet. There were at least three distinct layers of undergrowth. It was nearly impossible to dig down under the leaves stems, storks and moss actually reached the dirt below. The flowers around us were absolutely wonderful. They were tiny cerulean blue flowers with little fluted petals with smells like lilac and jasmine perfume.

Another of my favorites with his large bell shaped sandstone, orange flowers with thick cinnamon brown stems. I smelled like melons and apricots rolling in the sun, we kept walking until we came to a small cluster of caves, the entrances with just over two metres tall, high enough for even the tallest crew members to walk inside. Standing up, they were formed by Stormi Grey Stone, the security officer. And I walked inside about a quarter of a mile and then turned back to the entrance.

I suspect there is quite a large network of caves that crisscross that portion of the forest. I'd like to return to conduct further research if we have time at the end of the mission. I mention the case because that is where we finally caught our first glimpse of the elusive witness found snaking around the entrance of the first cave was a long, thick vine. The vine was a deep emerald green and short rounded leaves, poked out from the stalk every few centimetres, dotting the vine at regular intervals with small trumpet shaped purple blooms with distinctive yellow starbursts at the center.

Near the Starburst, the petals were a deep amethyst, the dark and indigo, about three quarters of the way up, then to an eggplant, then to Jet-Black for the tips. I've never seen a flower with that type of coloration before. I pulled out a sample kit from my bag following standard procedures. I kept a small portion off the end of the line, being sure to get some leaves and several flowers in the cutting.

Dr. Trillo also collected a sample from a nearby vine for his research. I secured my sample in a large tube, which I then put back in my rucksack. I noted the precise coordinates where we'd found the flashlight. I also recorded a separate log describing in great detail the location of the flowers nearby plants, insects and beetles and the weather conditions in the area. I won't go into such great detail here, but I will note some of the more interesting finds.

There were four small grayish beetles rooting around a clump of leaves approximately 17 centimetres from the end of the vine. They appeared to be eating the rough, decaying edges of the leaves and leaving the soft, supple centers alone. I'm curious about what happens to the leaves as they decay that makes them more palatable to the beetles. There were also six small moth like creatures circling a crimson flower, approximately one metre to the left of the caves entrance. They were full cream colored grubs burrowing beneath the vine.

And one small, fuzzy one, a caterpillar making its way over a particularly large knot in the vine, about 26 centimeters from the sample and. No wildlife specimens were collected. Our away team then packed up our bags and returned via the same route we taken to the clearing and the shuttle Byker. We powered up the bike and tested the surface to ship communications by sending a quick message to the bridge, letting them know what we found, sending that message was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done, aside from actually finding the flower and exploring this barely known planet.

The security officer wanted a chance to pilot the shuttle, so I gave him the controls to take us back up to the REM's Shuttle Bay. He seemed happy to have had the opportunity. I don't think security officers get the chance to pilot shuttles that often. Back on the ship, Dr. Trailor took his sample to Sick Bay. He has a containment area where he's planning to work on the vine. He'll get started trying to extract the sleep inducing parts of the plant.

I took my sample back to science lab to over the next few days, I'll be dissecting the plant and recording all of his specifications. The doctor and I will be the two people working most directly with the plant. They will be doing different types of research. Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention. Once we got back to the room, I noticed the sample was giving off a faint odor of pecans. I asked the rest of the away team if they could smell it, but they all said they didn't smell anything at all.

It's not raw pecans I smell, but more like pecans toasting in a cast-Iron pan over a hot stove. It's extremely faint, I suppose. I'm not surprised none of the human crew members can detect it. The reason I'm adding this information is that the sample cases are supposed to be airtight. This is the first time I've detected an odor from a sample exuding from an airtight sample case. I have to remember to check the rest of my sample cases to make sure there's no potential for cross contamination.

What an amazing and adventurous spirit. Thankfully, I'm at the end of my shift now because I'm exhausted. I should probably get some sleep, even though we have the fabled hipness floor. Now, the work of figuring out how to use it has only just begun. This is lead science officer Jack's signing off. Good night.