Voyager 12

Captain Martin Philips volunteered for the first 'human' interstellar mission since he matched a perfect psychological profile—a loner, single, no kids, no siblings, and both of his parents deceased.

After Martin's procedure, head neuroscientist Dr. Elliot Smith met with General Conrad.

"Will he notice any difference?" asked General Conrad.

"Not at all, sir. For him, it'll seem 100% natural. He'll retain the same top-notch piloting skills and life experience but with the enhanced self-maintenance ability—basically a state of immortality. His identical appearance should remind him of his human origins, and of course, he needs to represent us."

"Excellent, Dr. Smith. We'll train Captain Philips to pilot Voyager 12."

"The galactic folding-space exploration ship, sir. It works?"

"We believe so, but no human can survive the journey. So that's why Captain Philips is our last hope before this climate crisis ends us all."

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Martin piloted Voyager 12 throughout the cosmos to fulfill his two primary goals:

Make first contact with an alien intelligence for help, as an Earth ambassador, and chart inhabitable planets for colonization.

He made pitstops on asteroids, comets, and planets for refueling and repairs.

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An alien ship hailed him—"Greetings!"

The ship docked with Voyager 12, and they interviewed Martin extensively.

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"Report," ordered the alien captain, Zure.

"He's a synthetic just like us, sir, but before our' turning point' when we once shared a similar goal of hope," said Yilt, an alien exobiologist.

"A coincidence?" asked Zure.

"No, sir. It's the inevitable evolution of all intelligent lifeforms."

"For how long has he been wandering around space?"

"I estimate roughly 30,000 years, sir, but his chronometers failed, and he seems to have lost all sense of time. A byproduct, as we know, of consciousness transference."

"What about his home planet?"

"Barren, sir. We've been there. Hence my speculating the timescale of his expedition. It looked like the aftermath of extreme neglect, and at some point, global-scale conflicts caused massive craters and radiated the atmosphere—all lifeforms were deceased."

"Right, as you mentioned, the inevitable evolution. What do you suggest we do with him?"

"Sir, I suggest erasing his memory of our encounter and placing a hidden beacon on his ship. Maybe he'll discover something for us. That way, he'll keep searching in hope."

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Voyager 12 continued surveying the cosmos ...