Captain Avril was bored. Avril was dangerously, seriously, mission-threateningly bored. This was the problem with long tedious day to day operations within the grim metal world of an Icarus Class Mining Vessel. The Icarus class was especially ugly and dull. A series of beams and struts entwined, badly welded together in obscene disinterest by bored engineers who'd much rather be working on the more beautiful vessels occasionally built for a tourist company. Avril's father had once piloted a ship from Mars to the moons of Jupiter. As a young boy Avril would suck on his chocolate-smeared fingers as he looked at the sulphur volcanoes of Io or looked down on the wondrous ocean world of Europa. It must have been during one of those long hours that he decided that he should become a starship captain.

 Avril was still a young adolescent when he started pilot school. Years of stimulations, survival courses, and technical training blurred away his memories of young adulthood. It once seemed so adventurous to pilot amongst the planets and near stars. Sometime, soon after joining Spinward, it had all changed. He started gazing into mineral index reports with the same fiery fascination that he once looked at the heavens. Avril had forgotten the beauty of the gas giants, the storms that mixed the atmosphere like oceans of every color interacting, blending, creating, and seen only their usefulness as a source of raw materials. He spend even more time looking over planetary rings, not to marvel at their shimmering glint as he had done so many times whilst staring at Saturn but instead to analyze which rocks and dust might be useful minerals and ore. Still if the beauty of the heavens could only hold Avril's attention for so long than the allure of wealth and the perverse joy of rising stock figures could only exert there grasp for so long as well.

 Glancing up Avril saw a control panel steadily spouting numbers, statistics, mission data, and one very small panel which glowed crimson. Behind the streams of data he saw the debris from the Galaxion and the communications dampening field they shrouded it in. The field would remain up until Kendrick and her team could locate and disable the ship's automatic distress beacon. This was a direct aggressive action, it should have gotten the blood moving, the adrenaline racing, but it seemed so insignificant in many ways now. Sighing, Avril lifted his hands to touch the control panel, deciding to take the opportunity to scan for any salvageable material that he might be able to sell as scrap.

 As his long fingers traced the panel the images warped around them in a way that generated some minor amusement for at least a few seconds. It was then that Avril noticed the unmistakable presence of another person very close to him. Glancing over lazily he saw Mr. Kinti, the main scientific advisor. Mr. Kinti was the opposite of him - short, unimaginative, and completely out of touch with the crew.

 "Are you examining our competition sir?" Asked Mr. Kinti in and enthusiastic and therefore instantly annoying voice.

 "Competitors, can't live with them, can't kill enough to make a difference." Avril was distant and morbid.

 "I see...sir...well...perhaps..." Kinti blinked slowly, opened his mouth and then closed it again when he realised he had no retort.

 "What local little catastrophes have you to report? Has there been another adjustment to the rations? Maybe instead of eating the processed protein like substance we have on bored we should all just suck our socks for a few weeks to save on supplies."

 "Well sir, there hasn't been any ration news since they recalled all dried fruits and vegetables. I don't foresee any further changes." Kinti gave literal answers to everything, Avril would have to remember this to use against Kinti at some point for a cruel joke or to he'd dreamed up to pass the time.

 "Other than the rather uneventful destruction of the Warship Galaxion around our target planet there has been no known reported, changes in the main systems analysis for 49 Galactic Days."

 "Really? Seems like only last week it was 48 days." Avril was just then considering sending Kinti to do a nutritional analysis of the ship's socks before Kinti again bravely took the opportunity to be literal.

 "No that was just yesterday." Kinti said matter of factly.

 Avril flashed Kinti a death glare look. How could any one person be so annoying? So basically unlikeable? In response Kinti lowered his voice to a whisper.

 "May I share, a private concern with you, Captain?"

 "Please do, Mr. Kinti." A private concern? Might there be something of interest at last? Avril took an interest, but only a slight one.

 "I fear with so little change, there being no plans for any sort of shore leave until after this little dispute, and with little or no recreational activities on board, and nothing but reduced issue rations which are, quite frankly-" Kinti looked around the bridge, dropping his voice to a whisper as if afraid he'd be overheard. "- unsatisfying to the taste buds no matter how nutritious, that we may soon face a problem of low morale, and perhaps ship wide boredom and mental withdrawal from the mission." Mr. Kinti paused with concern.

 "Really, Mr. Kinti..I hadn't noticed..." Avril wondered idly how the control panel image would distort if he smashed Kinti's skull against it.

 "Well, it's not a problem as of now but I could forsee it developing." Mr. Kinti wanted to sound firm, to warn his Captain of possible impending doom from surprising sources.

 "Obviously a man such as yourself, who interacts with the crew SO much would be the FIRST to notice such trends. Do you have any suggestions for how we could rectify the situation? Should it arise of course." Avril felt the joy of sarcasm flow through his tired veins.

 "Well, thank you. I have been thinking about this very hard. I haven't come to a complete conclusion, but once I finish my study on the dimorphic flowers of the planet below I will be sure to put my full resources to a complete and totally satisfactory answer to this most perplexing dilemma." assured Mr. Kinti.

 "There are other pressing dilemmas on board this ship, you know?" Avril had a conspiratorial lilt to his voice and expected some response in return from Kinti likewise, but no such response came. "You know Mr. Kinti, the new propulsion system..."

 "Oh yes! Of course. But Captain, didn't they promise to reveal all the technical knowledge and know how to us after we completed a series of..favors..for them?"

 "Mr. Kinti, while I only have an overwhelming mixture of respect, and fear, for our new... business associates... I do think it is best if we make use of the opportunity to study their engine designs while we have them at our immediate disposal." Avril then lowered his voice. "After all if they back out on the deal after we provide them with our services than we would be out of some vital technology that will give us a unique advantage over all our competitors."

 "I understand Captain. I will begin a thorough study of all of our... friends' contributions, as soon as possible."

 "Wonderful....off to it then Kinti!" Avril said with false vigor. He got some sense of joy from seeing him speed off.

 BOREDOM, DANGERS AND ACCOUNTS OF - Boredom is a continuously reviewed and complained about element of all space travel. Gone are the days when weightlessness was an interesting enough distraction to make otherwise boring flights (see Apollo Missions, Lunar Tourism, Mars Mission Alpha) interesting enough to keep the crew and passengers from slumping into the lifeless disinterest of repetitive tasks and experiences. One breakthrough of the 21st Century was an internet VR link set which although very slow and primitive allowed some entertainment value on those rare occasions when it didn't cause addictive psychosis, Napoleon complexes (see Napoleon), delusions that blurred the boundaries between reality and fantasy, or just burn out the user's brain entirely.

 In the early 22nd century a "correction" to these errors was introduced by VirtuDyne Inc. which didn't work whatsoever. Instead the user would be instantly dropped into a total mind self-help tape (see Notorious Evil Fads) that suggested all their problems would be resolved if they just became amazingly dull people. For centuries variations of technological answers to these issues was sought largely without success. Then, starting in the 25th Century the current trend to see out entertainment by more primitive methods (see "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour", "Recreational Chemistry", "Needless Violence", "Piracy", "Popular Music", "20th Century, Horrors of") and therefore presents our modern society many undesirable conflicts (see "Rebellion", "Revolution", Needless Violence", "Addiction", "Popular Music").

 Scientists, corporations, and private individuals are encouraged to learn about previous failures and catastrophes encountered when misled, insane, or simply well-meaning but incompetent minds have put their minds to the problems of boredom during space missions. The three most important cases to review are "Daramanca The Draconian", "Tandar Finli", and the renowned experiments and ideas of "Slyven Kinti".

 The vegetation was so thick now that it was playing tricks with all his senses. He could barely see the light of the sun in the deep darkness. Disheartened the Doctor sat down on a conveniently placed pillar. Trying to make some sense of where he had come from he positioned and repositioned himself on the rough, small, pillar. After a moment he sighed and felt hopeless. How could he be so stupid? Why did he ever decide to sit on this horridly unpleasant pillar?

 The Doctor stood up and then looked in all directions before some spark of recognition flared in his worried mind. A pillar? In the middle of a forest? Looking down he examined the old yellow-brown relic. Along the sides there were markings, very unusual markings that he couldn't read. They were legible, or should be, but the language, figures, and structures were unfamiliar. His curiosity was now fully aroused. This pillar had to be thousands of years old, or made to look so. What was it doing here? Who fashioned it?

 Searching the ground the Doctor found a trail of small stones and beams which may have once been the foundation for ancient walls. He followed them intently, occasionally picking up and studying the more interesting free stones. After a walk of nearly half an hour the Doctor reached a clearing. After stepping through a ring of trees a small valley came into his view. Below there were pyramids, apartments, buildings that may have once been administrative centers.

 This was much more than one pillar a few ancient walls. What attracted the Doctor's attention the most of all was a brown dome in the heart of the ancient city. A part of the dome had crumbled away through the eons and strange moss and vines of many colors had over taken it. The Doctor felt that whatever mystery was waiting to be discovered would first make itself known in this beautiful and ancient place.

 Walking through old, cracked streets, past crumbling buildings, around sprouting trees and bushes the Doctor gazed at wall frescos amazingly preserved. Paintings of giant birds, large cat-like predators, and unknown vegetables covered the landscape.

 The Doctor could now clearly see the front entrance to the dome. Supported by columns which had the same unidentifiable writing on a much larger and more elaborate scale, the dome also bore images of what looked to be rulers and priests performing ceremonies with burning sticks, incense perhaps, and sacred stones.

 Breathing in the fresh Merdian air the Doctor had a wonderful vision of how to spend the next few centuries. He would work night and day to decipher tha ancient language, catalogue the artefacts and technologies of this lost civilization and release a definitive work "The Lost Civilizations Of Merdian, A Thorough and Complete Investigation by his Honorable --" just then the Doctor was dragged out of his sadly delusional imagination by the sound of voices.

 Slowly slipping behind a collapsed wall near the dome the Doctor could only tell three things about what he was hearing: First, it was not a recording. Second, that it was faint and familiar-sounding (although he was still unsure of what language it was). And third, whoever was speaking it was coming closer....

 To Be Continued...