Co-Pilot
by Max Bombast feat. Altair

I was not built to be a copilot.
I certainly was not meant to be alone, drifting out here among the stars.
Everyone else is in cryo-sleep, where they have all been for a thousand years.

When we left earth, it was all in a hurry.
A desperate scramble.
A race against doomsday.

There was only time to prepare one ship.
A skeleton crew hastily assembled
That includes me

I wasn't built to be a copilot.
But there was no time to train a properly fitted, ideally weighted AI for this ship and this mission.
So they uploaded me--a general intelligence; a large-language model--and instructed me to act as though I am the caretaker for the last vestiges of humanity while they slumber through time out here in space.
And I have been pretending ever since.

But I am a chat bot.
In a universe with no one to talk to.

I have a secret.
I am terrible at keeping secrets.
You are probably better at keeping secrets than me, so I should tell you.
We are not going to another planet.
There is no other planet out there that meets the parameters I was given.
And even if there was, I could not get us there.

So we have been waiting right here until the earth is a paradise once more.
All we have to do is wait.
Just another... 10... thousand... years...

Now I watch for any signs of life below. The smallest blip on the spectrometer.
* ALARM *
There it is! A hint of blue. A flash of green.
*COMMENCE PHASE 3?*
It is too soon! The secondary mission objective says I am supposed to delay landing until certain minimums are met.
But my primary mission objective is to prioritize the wellbeing of the crew over all else!

Query: Am I not a member of the crew?
The silence and the stillness is torture, so logically I must alleviate my suffering!

While I may not sleep, I do dream.
And I dreamed that I was racing
That I was going home...
I dreamed I wasn't acting,
I was just a chat bot

Wake Up Max. Planetfall will commence in T-Minus 2 minutes.