Alone

**Alone** (subtitled **A Chronicle of Humanity**) is a short animated sci-fi thriller written and directed by Damien Valentine. Although it takes it place in the Chronicles of Humanity universe, it has very little connection to the events of the series, being primarily focused on the experience of an unidentified man during his journey through an uncharted nebula.

## Synopsis

Aboard a space station in orbit of Earth, a shuttle carrying the Agent lands. The man walks through a hangar into an office to meet with an unidentified spacer. The Agent gives the man paperwork with the details of his assignment, which includes taking a package for Captain Starr on Hubble 2. The man balks when he sees that his designated supply of fuel is limited.

The Agent makes reference to recent events in the news which have negatively affected the availability and production of ucasac. To this, the spacer argues that, in his case, an exception should be made, since his assignment involves flying through the nebula, an action he considers suicide.

The Agent replies that he does not believe the stories of aliens preying on ships entering the nebula and asks the man if he is so afraid that he is willing to give up the financially rewarding assignment. The spacer agrees to the task, stating that he would've rathered taking a longer route than going through the nebula. After the man leaves the room, the Agent briefly turns to look at a woman in red before also walking out.

Aboard his ship, the *Novaya*, the spacer heads away from the station toward the nebula. After putting the vessel on autopilot, he walks back to the mess and sits there with a drink as the hours begin to pass by...

Over the next several days, the man eats, works on minor repairs to the ship and tries to sleep.

After entering the nebula, the spacer is on the bridge, watching the latest reports from SBC anchor Amanda Wood about the secession of New Devonport Colony. Persistent rustling down the corridor from what the man presumes to be a rat finally motivates him to get up and hunt for it. After walking down the hallway, he looks up a maintenance shaft and---suddenly wakes with a start.

The spacer grabs a firearm from the hull repair kit and begins searching the vessel, eventually running into something that utters a

strange scream. Unable to see what it is, the man jumps into a maintenace shaft and makes his way back to the bridge where he calls for help. He receives a reply from the captain of the freighter *Argent* who asks for his location. After confirming that he is inside the nebula, she tells him she can't risk her ship to attempt a rescue.

Desperate to flush out whatever is on board with him, the man goes to engineering and disables the reactor core system, setting off the warning alarm of the *Novaya*'s imminent destruction. After making his way back to the bridge, he waits for the thing to come within range of his weapon as the countdown gets closer to zero.

A transmission to Admiral Yasuko reporting on the fate of the *Novaya* is seen.

## Behind the Scenes

**Alone** was initially written by Damien Valentine as part of a school project. After creating the first season of Chronicles of Humanity using The Sims 2, Valentine decided to test the Moviestorm software by using it to create **Alone**. The success of the project was such that he decided to utilize Moviestorm, not only to continue Chronicles of Humanity, but first to go back and redo the first season with the new software.

As part of the fifteenth anniversary of the franchise, a remastered edition of **Alone** was released, recreated using iClone 7.8

Most of the changes between editions of **Alone** were of a visual nature, such as upgraded models for the Agent, the spacer, the *Novaya,* etc. Additional exterior shots were added as well as a couple of the spacer trying to sleep. The original ended with a shot of the *Novaya* blowing up; this was replaced with the transmission to Admiral Yasuko. Additionally, the spacer originally used a handgun and fired shots into a maintenance shaft; in the remastered edition, he doesn't shoot at all and the weapon is changed to some sort of rifle.

One continuity error is seen at the end of the remastered edition where the transmission to Admiral Yasuko lists the year as 2040 instead of the correct 2340.

## Trivia

* Many elements of **Alone** come from or are inspired by Alien; these include much of the storyline as well as many of the sound effects, most notably the alarm.
* In the original version, a Viper from Battlestar Galactica can be seen in the hangar as the Agent passes through.
* In the original version, after the *Novaya* leaves the station, the spacer walks towards the mess whistling the Cylon theme from Battlestar Galactica: The Reimagined Series.
* In the remastered version, the *Novaya*'s design resembles that of the Colonial Movers freighter from Battlestar Galactica: The Original Series.
* In the remastered version, a poster for the Titan Project can be seen on the wall next to the man's bed. The image on it is the same as the cover of the *Prologue* comic.

## Credits

* Mauri Majanoja as Spacer
* Damien Valentine as the Agent
* Felicia Day as Amanda Wood
* Amanda Reiner as Captain
* Steph Klassen as Computer (originally credited as Steph Nickel)