There's been a scenario which has been bobbling around my head for a while and I thought I'd share it with my fellow Escapists to see what they'd do with it:
One day you are abducted by Aliens and given a starship. The aliens have their own reasons for this, they may or may not explain them convincingly. The aliens then go away and leave you alone with this starship which is under your control, again they have logical reasons for this which may or may not be convincing (one variant of this is that the aliens died out and the starship is wandering the cosmos looking for a new captain, it picks you)
The starship is powerful and is made with technology vastly superior to the current Human race, let's say it's something along the lines of the Enterprise-D for sake of setting a power level. The ship is sufficiently self-maintaining, more crew might make the ship more versatile but it won't unlock any special powers and the ship won't fall or fail apart without regular maintenance. Fuel is not an issue, either you can replenish it quickly from a nearby star or you have some sort of singularity-based generator which doesn't need refueling.
The starship answers only to you, command is not transferable. You can give limited access to the ship's systems to some other crew, but things like interplanetary travel, weapons systems and self destruct are under your sole control and cannot be transferred or delegated. You can withdraw access granted to others as you see fit. The on-board computer is capable of interpreting simple commands in a safe and expert manner (e.g. "assume standard orbit about that planet", "Beam me up") but it is not intelligent enough to innovate and needs to be told what to do in a step-by-step manner.
The entire world knows you have this ship, your gaining it was not subtle and your identity was not disguised, the world's media have managed to track down and trace who you are, where you live and who your family and friends are. While many may have heard the aliens' explanation for giving you this ship, not everyone (and possibly no-one) will find it convincing.
What do you do with your new-found power and infamy?
One day you are abducted by Aliens and given a starship. The aliens have their own reasons for this, they may or may not explain them convincingly. The aliens then go away and leave you alone with this starship which is under your control, again they have logical reasons for this which may or may not be convincing (one variant of this is that the aliens died out and the starship is wandering the cosmos looking for a new captain, it picks you)
The starship is powerful and is made with technology vastly superior to the current Human race, let's say it's something along the lines of the Enterprise-D for sake of setting a power level. The ship is sufficiently self-maintaining, more crew might make the ship more versatile but it won't unlock any special powers and the ship won't fall or fail apart without regular maintenance. Fuel is not an issue, either you can replenish it quickly from a nearby star or you have some sort of singularity-based generator which doesn't need refueling.
The starship answers only to you, command is not transferable. You can give limited access to the ship's systems to some other crew, but things like interplanetary travel, weapons systems and self destruct are under your sole control and cannot be transferred or delegated. You can withdraw access granted to others as you see fit. The on-board computer is capable of interpreting simple commands in a safe and expert manner (e.g. "assume standard orbit about that planet", "Beam me up") but it is not intelligent enough to innovate and needs to be told what to do in a step-by-step manner.
The entire world knows you have this ship, your gaining it was not subtle and your identity was not disguised, the world's media have managed to track down and trace who you are, where you live and who your family and friends are. While many may have heard the aliens' explanation for giving you this ship, not everyone (and possibly no-one) will find it convincing.
What do you do with your new-found power and infamy?