Thirty years ago. Sector G-1140.
A cargo cruiser flew carefully through the Bennett's asteroid field. It's crusty pilot grumbling under his breath as he dodged another rock.
But considering the destination of his passengers, there was no other way. Fly here or fly through the regular route and be caught and arrested by the border police.
With the exception of Bennett's field, nothing beyond it has been charted yet. But that hasn't stopped Henry from taking a small detour off his usual route.
For a price, that is.
About a week ago, a young guy came up to Henry at the eatery in the Centerpoint Juntion Station, where all the space haulers picked up or dropped off their cargo.
This was a new installation constructed to make shipping easier for all surrounding sectors. The station could accomodated thirty thousand people, and moor about a thousand ships. It was a marvel to see. Tourism here was big business too.
The young man came up to Henry, sat down, and asked if he could drop him at a designated area.
Henry ignored him, but the young man was very persistant. Especially when he pulled out and slid him a thick package. The man was so full of himself he didn't care that they were in a public place, and that the money was visable from the open envelope.
Henry was dumbfounded. That was alot of bread. And in all of the new larger dollar currency. He reached over and flipped through the stack, and sure enough, it was the newer currency. All of it.
The guy smiled at Henry, knowing that he got him. It was just going to take a little nudge in the right direction.
"My name is steve, by the way." he said, still smiling.
"Your name could be mud, for all I care. That's not exactly play money your waving around." said Henry, quietly. He looked around the eatery, but all the other patrons were into their own business.
It wasn't uncommon for shady deals to be done here at the station. Henry has seen the underside to the station that most of the tourists don't see. None of the people in the eatery looked suspicious to him. But that didn't mean he wasn't being watched.
"No, it's not." said Steve.
Henry ate his food quietly. He thought about the guy sitting across from him. Who the heck is he? Where could a guy his age get that kind of money? Steve made no move to retrieve the envelope.
"What's so special about that area?" Henry finally asked.
"Nothing really. I just want to go for some sightseeing." said Steve.
"Sightseeing, huh?" replied Henry, looking down again at the cash.
"Right. I need you to just drop me and my stuff off at the nearest point you can get me to. At Sector G-1140."
Henry looked up at Steve and frowned.
"What, are you crazy? No ones allowed access to that area of space until the government reg's says so. That's probably years from now. Decades." exclaimed Henry.
Steve just smiled.
"But that's just to long to wait, you know what I'm saying." winked Steve, as he pointed to the money.
"Sorry, kid. Not interested." said Henry, pushing the money back.
Steve didn't say anything. He also didn't pick up the stack of cash.
"Look, I know this is a bit extreme. Some guy plops down a brick of cash and offers you a job. And that's alright, you know. I just decided to come to you because of your reputation." said Steve.
"My reputation?" said Henry, playing dumb.
"Sure, It wasn't too hard to find about some of your past jobs." said Steve.
Henry continued to eat his food.
"How's Michael Dawson doing?"
Henry's face hardened a bit.
"Or Isaac, or Vincent..."
Henry's face became flushed at the sound of those names. He couldn't believe he was hearing this comming from this punk. Was he really that sloppy?
"Those were some nice jobs you pulled off. But I was impressed when you did that job for that well known and wanted terrorist." said Steve, lowering his voice.
Henry started to perspire.
"Look, I didn't know anything about that. I made a quick run and drop. Didn't even look at what was in those crates." said Henry, nervously.
"I'm not saying that you knew or not. What you did for those dudes, I'm not interested. I'm just saying, your the guy I need, and that size of your cargo ship, to pull this off. And believe me, I've looked around." said Steve.
"So, what? Your going to blackmail me into this." asked Henry.
"Nope. I'm going to do something better."
Steve reached into his coat pocket again, and dropped an even bigger stack of cash next to the first.
Henry's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Jesus." said Henry.
"And that's not all. I'm gonna pay you more when you get me to where I need to be." said Steve, smiling again.
"Who the heck are you?" said Henry, reaching over and pulling the money to him. He was hooked.
"All you need to know is that I'll take care of you if you do me this favor." said Steve.
Henry was quiet. This amount made him forget the law real fast, heck, he nearly forgot his own name.
"What do you say, Henry?" asked Steve, coyly.
"This is gonna take a little time, okay? I gotta sort through some paperwork to make the trip near that area look legit." said Henry.
"Sure, sure. Take your time, but don't take too long. I'm a busy man myself." said Steve.
Henry pocketed the money and looked around the eatery.
"What are you bringing with you." asked Henry.
"Me, my android, and my Prowler class shuttle. It'll fit just fine in your ships cargobay." said Steve.
Prowler class shuttle? Henry knew of that make and model. It cost a pretty penny to own. This was no ordinary young man, that's for sure.
"That's it?"
"Yep."
"Your going to fly back alone?"
"That's right. I need to stow away my shuttle on your ship and then, you go your way, I go mine." said Steve.
"But what if you get into some trouble out there." asked Henry.
"I'll be fine. My Prowler can out run other ships. I don't want to be noticed going to my destination. Coming back will be no problem."
The whole thing was making Henry's head spin. He could do it. He knew he could. For this kind of money he would practically do anything.
"Okay." said Henry, finally.
"Excellent." replied Steve.
Fast forward one week and Henry and company were deep into the Bennett's asteroid field.
Henry made all the necessary arrangements in record time. He paid off the usual people and met up with Steve at the selected rondeveu point. He didn't have to wait long. The Prowler was sitting there, waiting.
The scanners chimed again and Henry ducked around another large asteroid. His ship was nearly out of the Bennett's field, and the shields were being pelted by mini rocks and dust.
"We're almost there." said Henry turning on his comlink.
"Sounds good. We'll be ready." replied Steve, down in the cramped crew quarters.
Steve got up and changed into his space jumpsuit. In a flash, he was down the lift and into the cargobay, where his ship was docked.
And what a ship. The Prowler was the newest and sleakest shuttle out now. Nothing would be able to touch them.
He climbed up the back ramp and into the cockpit where Mel his trusty android sat motionless with his eyes closed. Steve sat at his seat and turned on the systems. The cockpit hummed to life as it's lights and onboard systems turned on.
Steve woke Mel up by pressing a button on his wristmonitor.
Mels eyes fluttered open and he looked around.
"Are we there yet?" asked Mel.
"Soon." said Steve, smiling, as he tapped the consol, and made the Prowler's door seal shut.
The Prowler shook for a moment. Mel and Steve looked at each other. Steve then tapped his comlink.
"Everything alright up there." asked Steve.
"Just peachy." came a reply.
But things were far from peachy at the moment for Henry as he made a sharp bank to the left, just missing another asteroid. His ship got tapped and Henry cursed himself for being sloppy, but he kept on.
He made a quick look to the monitor on the right. The computer told him the Prowler was ready to make it's run.
"Just a few more seconds." said Henry, quietly to himself.
The sea of asteroids began to diminish, to Henry's relief, and he continued into the emptyness of space. Now he could catch his breath.
"I'm opening up the bay doors." said Henry into his commlink. He tapped in a series of numbers on the consol.
"Roger that." replied Steve.
The doors to Henry's cargo ship opened and a second later, the Prowler charged out. It swooped up next to the larger ships starboard side.
"Well, Henry, this is where we part ways." said Steve.
"I copy. You fellas have a safe trip." replied Henry.
Steve gently pushed the throttle forward and the Prowler roared ahead.
From his viewscreen, Henry watched the Prowler go. He turned his chair around, and reached over to a duffle bag securly strapped to a sidepanel. Opening it up, he feverously counted the large stack of cash. It was the fourth time he did.
Chapter 2
Thirty years ago. Sector G-1140.
Outside in deep space, walked Henry in his spacesuit, on the surface of his cargo ship. His magnetic boots kept him grounded on the hull. Henry was on his way to inspect any damage to his beloved ship.
It's been a day since Steve and his android parted ways with him. Even though they were gone, Henry had that prickly feeling on the back of his neck.
It was too damn easy, this job. He had a feeling something bad was going to happen. He was never wrong.
Henry huffed in his space suit. It took alot of energy to move around in these spacesuits. He never figured he was that out of shape. Or that old.
You have to grow old someday. He smiled at that thought.
As he continued his labored spacewalk, he saw the Bennett's asteroid field come into view. His ship was safely far away. to avoid getting hit by small rocks.
The view took his breath away. The asteroid field seemed to go on forever. It was illuminated slightly by a few nearby stars.
A light blinked in his helmet and he stopped walking and looked on his helmet visor.
The cargo ships computer beamed the coordinates of the area of the ship he had to check out. It was another forty feet ahead.
So much for sticking around and injoying the view.
The area he was going to was on the dark side of the cargo ship. Henry turned on his space suits strobe lights and continued on his way.
He could see the damaged area.
Henry stood near the spot and lowered himself down to onw knee. The knee pad of the suit also was magnetic, and he flet himself securly anchored.
He looked at the damaged. The hull was mangled a bit and he could see a little of the ships interior wiring. The damage thankfully wasn't that bad.
Getting back home wouldn't be a problem as long as he shut down the nonessentials and navigated carefully thru the asteroid field.
Henry smiled again.
He couldn't wait to get back home. After all he had a big sack of money sitting in his cockpit. And it was all his to spend. Maybe he'd finally buy himself some new fishing gear.
Henry winced as he stood up. His knee's has been giving him problems for some time now. Maybe it was finally time to retire from all this crap.
Henry laughed to himself. Yeah, he'd retire alright. When all these side jobs stopped paying the big bucks.
His father used to yell at him when he was younger. all about that stuff about you having to go to college or else you'd wind up making zero money and being a bum.
Well that bag of money in the ship and all the other money he made proved he didn't have to waste time in school to make something of himself.
Why go to school when crime pays so well?
Henry turned and started to amke his way back to the airlock. He thought about that young man named Steve. How sloppy was he to be found out by a snot nose punk. And most importantly, just how long was Steve tailing him.
Maybe there were others.
That thought made him a little nervous. He would have to back off these jobs for a while and find out if any of his contacts tipped Steve off.
His illegal routine would have to change so that he wouldn't get caught. The idea of him going to jail at his old age was unapealing.
Prison food really sucked.
Henry smiled. You couldn't beat Vinnie's in Queens NY on Earth. Best damn steaks and burgers in the whole galaxy. The thought of food made his mouth water.
A warning light flashed in his helmet visor. The ships long range scanners picked up something incoming.
"Damn." said Henry, angrily, as he hustled to the airlock.
It probably wasn't anything bad. Maybe another smuggler was passing through. It wasn't the first time the scanners gave him a false alarm. Henry knew pretty much everyone who did side jobs like him. He hoped it was a friendly.
Henry cursed to himself as he nearly tripped and almost went up into the blackness of space. The warning light continued to flash in his helmet visor.
"Come on. Come on." whispered Henry, as he began to prespire from the effort. The airlock finally came into view.
Henry bent down again and ignored the pain in his knee's as he tapped the control key on his spacesuits arm and the airlock door opened.
He grabbed a handle in the airlock and pulled himself in. Once inside he placed his feet into a locking mechanism and pressed another button on his arm.
The exterior door closed and Henry felt the artificial gravity plates kick in. The suit felt very heavy on him. Henry gritted his teeth as the airlock filled with oxygen.
It was taking too damn long.
Finally a light near the door turned green and opened. Henry tore off his helmet and spacesuit as the airlock door closed and sealed itself.
Henry left the spacesuit on the floor as he rushed through the cargo ship and into the cockpit. His bag of money was still there.
The ships scanners continued to monitor the situation as Henry strapped himself into his seat. He wiped the sweat off his brow with his shirt.
Henry checked out the monitor. Two ships were closing in on his position fast. It was the border police that made their rounds watching the Bennett's asteroid field.
"It's got to be that snot nose punk, Steve. No way these clowns could have traced me here on their own." grumbled Henry.
He thought for a moment about what to do. Even if they searched the ship and didn't find his bag of money, he was still in big trouble for crossing the border.
Henry flipped a few switches and grabbed the throttle. The cargo ships thrusters roared to life and the ship took off. The border police continued to close in.
"Guess I'm going to have to wait for that fishing gear." said Henry, as he turned the ship towards the Bennett's asteroid field.
Large boulders of rock came into view and zipped pased Henry as he maintained his concentration on his flying.
A signal chimed in the cockpit. The border police were hailing him. He turned the receiver on.
"This is the border police. You are in violation of article B1185. This is a restricted area. Please turn your ship back to free space and prepare to turn off your thrusters. Your ship will be borded." said one of the border police.
Henry didn't respond to the hailing. Instead he pushed his cargoship deeper into the asteroid field. It was a risky gamble.
"I repeat, this is the border police. You are in violation. Please comply." repeated the pilot of the police ship.
Henry continued to ignore them as the shields on his ship began to be pelted with small rocks and dust.
Patrol ship one radioed his partner.
"He's ignoring us, Brandon." said Alex, dodging rocks.
"I know, Alex. There's nothing we can do for the moment. We can't fire on him unless he poses a threat to us." said Brandon.
"And what do you call dragging us into the field?" asked Alex.
"Relax. His ship can't maneuver as well as ours. He's going to have to turn back eventually or else he's toast." said Brandon.
Back on the cargoship, Henry's heart was racing. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever. Unlike the trip with Steve, he was literally flying blind into the asteroid field.
Henry gripped the throttle harder as his cargoship took a few hits from some small asteroids. The shields were begining to dip from the strain.
"This guy's got alot of heart." radioed Brandon to his partner.
"Or maybe he's just plain stupid." replied Alex as he dodged more incoming rocks. Practicing his flight skills in the virtual reality room back at the police station was one thing. But it was no picknick flying through the real thing.
An alarm chimed on Alex's consol. He frowned and looked down to see what the scanners picked up. Before he could say anything, his ship blew up.
Brandons face went white.
"Alex!" called out Brandon. But it was useless. His partner was dead.
Henry's scanners picked up the blast also. Now things really got worse for him. The death of a police officer in pursuit of him dramatically made it a whole new ball game.
He turned on the comm and hailed the remaining police ship.
"I swear I had nothing to do with that. My ship doesn't have any weapons!" said Henry, nervously.
"your in big trouble now! Turn your ship around or I'll fire!" yelled Brandon into his com.
Henry was about to reply a response when his scanners began to act crazy. Objects appeared and disappered on his monitor.
The same was happening on Brandons ship. It was the worst time for their scanners to go off line here inside the asteroid field.
"Turn your ship around!" yelled Brandon.
It would be the last thing he would utter as his ship got destroyed by an unseen force.
Henry stared at his monitor in disbelief. What the hell was going on? Both border patrol ships were far enough from incoming asteroids to be hit.
More rocks hit the cargoship and the shields began it's decline. He was about to meet his own fate real soon.
Henry finally turned his cargo ship around. There was still a chance he could make it out in one piece.
A new alarm blared and Henry looked again at the monitor. This time the scanners weren't malfuntioning.
Henry's mouth grew dry when he saw what the scanners picked up. The last thing on his mind before his ship was destroyed was the money.
Chapter 3
Thirty years ago. Sector G-1140
Mel kept an eye on the onboard systems whiel Steve slept. It's been a week since they parted ways with Henry.
They stopped briefly from time to time, making scans of new planets and stars. The data they were compiling was extensive.
Mel heard Steve coming into the cockpit, and made sure all the data was placed in the order he wanted.
"Morning." said Steve, sitting in his chair. He had a cup of coffee in hand.
"tost and turned all night." replied Steve.
"Sorry to hear that." said Mel.
"I never sleep well." said Steve, looking at the data on his monitor.
"You should cut down on the caffine." said Mel.
"Never." replied Steve, quickly.
Mel chuckled. It was always the same with Steve. Humans and their caffine fixation.
The scanners chimed and both turned their attention to the monitor. The computer detected an alien energy signature.
"Hello." replied Mel.
"Adjust course and slow down a bit." said Steve, his coffee apparently forgotten.
The Prowler turned towards that area of space. Nearby, there was a lone star with one habitable planet in it's orbit.
"The source is coming at these coordinates away from that star and planet. What do you want to do?" asked Mel. The android looked over to his boss.
"Forget the planet. We can comeback for it later. I want to know what that is." said Steve, tapping his finger on that image on the monitor.
Mel obidiently followed orders and the Prowler continued on it's way. As they got closer, the energy signal increased.
"Anything?" asked Steve, impatiently.
"Onboard systems drawing a blank." replied Mel.
"Really!" exclaimed Steve. He turned away from Mel and looked at the data being processed. Even he had to admit, didn't know what he was looking at.
"Can we get it onscreen?" asked Steve.
"I've already checked, but there's nothing to see. Whatever it is , it's invisible." said Mel.
"Get closer." said Steve.
Mel frowned and turned to his boss. This was unlike him to make such a crazy decision.
"Just do it. I want scanners to pick up everything. They'll have our heads if we cut and run now." snapped Steve.
Alarms chimed in the cockpit as soon as he finished his sentence. The scanners were picking up a surge of energy coming from up ahead.
"Damn!" yelled Steve.
"I can't pull back." yelled Mel, as he fought with the throttle. The stars on the monitor streaked weirdly and a bright white flash erupted on the screen.
And then the Prowler disappered.
Chapter 4
Thirty years ago. Sector G-1140.
Steve raised his hands up and covered his eyes from the white flash. The computer quickly compensated the brightness from the monitors and it was safe to see again.
Or at least it was safe inside the Prowler. The cockpit shook violently as both individuals manned their stations.
"Shields?" asked Steve, nervously.
"Dropping." replied Mel. The nav systems were out of wack. He was using all his strenght to steady the Prowlers flight into this whiteout.
"Are we still scanning?" asked Steve, looking at the back of the cockpit. Loose personal items were flying all over the place.
"Not sure. Maybe." replied Mel.
"God, I hope so." replied Steve.
Mel shook his head. There was more pressing matters at the moment. Namely survival. Evan though he wasn't human, he was programmed with human thoughts. And right about now, he wasn't ready to see if there was an afterlife for his kind.
"Snap out of it!" barked Mel, and Steve came out of his funk.
"I'm okay. Let's make sure this bird doesn't fall apart on us. It cost me a fortune." said Steve.
Mel smiled at the remark. Humor under stress.
The cockpit lights and consol flickered for a moment, then came back on. A new set of alarms began to ring.
"We're starting to lose main power." said Steve, reading his data monitor.
"Cut the nonessantials, now! I don't want to evan think about the enertial dampers to go offline." said Mel, as the Prowler shook again more violently.
The alarms subsided, and for a moment there was a calm relief. But only for a moment before they began to ring again.
"How much longer can we last?" asked Steve, looking over.
"We're good." said Mel, as Steve turned his sights on the data monitor again. The whiteout turned dark and they were in normal space again.
The lights flickered off in the cockpit, and all was quiet. It was a moment before the backups came on.
"What a ride." mumbled Steve, with relief.
"Oh, we're riding alright." cut in Mel, sarcasticly.
"Huh?"
"Thrusters are offline. We're floating aimlessly." said Mel.
"Great." replied Steve.
Several hours passed onboard the Prowler. It took several tries but they finally got main power and the thrusters online. The damage was still bad. It wouldn't be safe to stay out here much longer without exstensive repairs.
They were lucky this time.
Mel sat back down into his seat again and tested the throttle again. The ship responded to his command.
But he noticed something strange. He looked closer at the data monitor again. Could it really be?
"Hey Steve. Come check this out." said Mel.
Steve came from the back and peered over Mels shoulder.
"What?" said Steve, as he looked where the android pointed on the monitor.
"Take a look." said Mel.
Steve looked at what Mel was pointing to. And then it dawned unto him. The star charts were completely wrong.
"Maybe the nav's still busted?" asked Steve, nervously.
Mel checked the computer. Then he checked again. And again. The systems were running fine. There was nothing wrong with the chart. They were lost.
"It's the truth. We went through a wormhole." said Mel, looking up at Steve.
Steve was silent. He was shaking as he sat down next to his android.
"This is incredible. No ones even detected one, much less rode through one." whispered Steve.
"Let's see how far out we are based on the computers cartograph." said Mel, as he tapped a few keys.
The onboard systems took an hour to make it's calculations. When it was done, Steve's jaw dropped. He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at the screen again.
"This can't be right, can it?"
Mel sat quietly and looked at the calculations.
"No. It's correct. We've jumped clear across the galaxy.
Steve leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair.
"The powers that be will be real happy with this one." said Mel.
Steve looked out again to the stars. The boundaries were now broken. They could go to the farthest reaches of space in so much less time. New discoveries. All their's.
"I always dreamed of this moment happening."
"Well, while you daydream, I'm going to plot a course back home. Some of us still have to work for a living." joked Mel.
Steve laughed. Then he frowned when he noticed that he spilled his morning coffee.
"Okay. Course is in the nav. You ready?" asked Mel.
"I wish we could stay out here longer." said Steve.
"Don't worry about it. This is a new begining." said Mel, as the computer chimed when they came within range of the wormhole coordinates.
Mel made a final adjustment to boost the shields strenght. This time there would be a smoother ride.
"Here we go." said Mel, as the stars streaked by and they were enveloped in a white light.
Both men, however, were unaware of a presence in deep space that was scanning them. The object was a small, rusty colored triangle whose purpose was to monitor what came out of the wormhole into it's spaceways.
The alien object ran through it's programming and concluded that this incident beared further investigation. A small section broke off from the triangled shaped object and flew off into deepspace to report it's findings.
The other part followed after the Prowler into the wormhole.
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