The Explorer: Chapter 1
Chapter 1:** We are not alone? Awesome?**
At first, there was nothing but silence and darkness. Much like the inky black void of space, there was just oblivion. A frightening prospect and if it weren't for the sense of panic starting to rise in him, Karl would have thought he was dead. Then, noise, or the lack of noise, broken only by the creaking of a metal hull, floating powerless in space. There wasn't the hum that should be there from the ships engine and power core. No noise of movement apart from the creaking. Karl let out a sigh of relief. He was still alive.
Slowly, tired brown eyes flutter half open, then close again. His head was throbbing and opening his eyes seemed to make it worse. He lay there for many minutes, catching his breath, rubbing the sides of his head as he lay there. He was clearly on the floor. The cold metal under his back was a testament to that. After several minutes, he opens his eyes again only half way, peering about, squinting a little as he looked around the darkened cockpit.
"Hang on a second.", he thought to himself. There was a very faint glow of light coming into the cockpit from outside of the ship. Karl opens his eyes more, looking up at the canopy and out into space. Out there was the most spectacular, purple and blue coloured nebula. Faint wisps of the fog of gas just kissed the canopy, reacting with it in the most delightful way as waves of what could only be described as blue energy washed over the cockpit wherever a tendril of nebula touched. It was really quite beautiful.
But, that didn't make any sense. Real life wasn't like what you saw in video games. In space based games and in some movies, they would pretty up the background of space around Earth with things like Nebulas...when there was no such thing within thousands of light years of Earth. The space around Earth was simply devoid of such stellar phenomenon. Mores the pity. God only knows that Earth would be a damn sight more interesting if there were something like that to look at in the night sky.
The simple fact that there was a nebula outside his window as it were, meant that Karl was a long, LONG way from home. He sits up quickly, then falls straight onto his back again, his head spinning. There was something warm and sticky on his fore head. He lifts his fingers up and they come away bloody, the human rolling his eyes and letting out a slight groan. "Oh great. Just great. I'm now...god knows how far away from Earth and on top of all that...I'm bleeding! Wonderful!"
He sits up again, more slowly this time, giving his body a chance to get used to being vertical again before standing up. He had no idea how long he had been out cold or exactly what had happened after the engine...well, for lack of a better term, went up in smoke. Everything went black after that. He could be anywhere right now...within reason. Karl lifts his hand to his forehead again, it was sticky, and the fringe of his short hair was as such...pasted to his forehead.
He staggers out of the bridge, heading into what was his quarters. It was only small, no larger than 20 foot by 20. It had what he needed in there though. On the wall to the right was the Fabricator. Technically, it was like a Star Trek Replicator...though not as complicated. They had been working on them on Earth for over a decade when he had got his hands on the plans for the Nano-Fabrication designs. They just took a little bit of refining to make them usable.
The centre of the back wall was taken up by a large, double bed and to the left of the door as he walks in was a living area with a table, chairs and a sofa. There was a large LCD screen on the wall, a shelf full of DVDs and a player. Further along from the Fabricator was a door leading into the bathroom. The whole of his quarters was a mess...with stuff scattered everywhere from sudden deceleration.
Karl staggers over to the bathroom door, pulling it open and wandering inside. There is a moment of silence before he wanders back out, rooting around the mess in his room till he pulls out a flash-light. Heading back in he stares into the mirror, peeling his fringe from his forehead with a wince. The cut was deep and would quite likely need stitching, something that he couldn't do on his own. He just didn't have the manual dexterity to do it. He quickly proceeds to clean himself up, using a wet towel to clean away the blood.
"Ow...damn it! Ow....god damn it!!" He was trying not to frown too much in order to avoid opening the wound any more than it already was. A steady stream of blood was trickling down his nose and lips only to drip off of his chin. He reaches for a first-aid kit placed rather conveniently on the wall to his right, starting to put pressure on the wound with bandages and strapping up his head. After about 20 minutes of struggling with the unruly fabric...he manages a half decent job and manages to stop the bleeding.
"Thats gonna leave a scar.", he grumbled to himself. Heading back out into his quarters. The silence was starting to bother him now. There was still breathable air in the ship, so there wasn't a hull breach. Life support however was offline and it was starting to get very, VERY cold in the ship. Air wasn't really a concern, there was a good day or two in the ship itself, but he would need life support back up and running if he was gonna live even that long. He wanders back out into the corridor and looks about, heading down to where the engines and the power core were located.
The ship seemed to be intact for the most part. A few panels had been dislodged and some wires were hanging free from the ceiling and there were some scorch marks on the walls as he got further to the back of the ship. He pries open the door to engineering and is greeted by one massive mess. Panels had been blown off of the walls, wires and cables were hanging free from the walls and ceiling, the floor was littered with debris and broken glass. He lets out a long sigh, picking through the cables till he came to the tool cabinet.
He tugs out his tool-belt and takes a look around. The core was dead at the moment, that would need restarting. But, fortunately, it seems that the backup power supply was still intact. After about 30 minutes of work, he had reconnected it and the lights slowly flicker back to life. He wanders over to one of the consoles, making sure that life support was back up and running. To his relief it was and the temperature was slowly starting to creep back up from refrigerator cold. Now...he had a lot of work to do.
After some investigation, Karl discovered that the capacitors protection the FTL drive from power surges hadn't been adequate. They simply weren't able to handle the amount of power that had been pumped through them and they had blown. And as with any capacitor that blows...it had sent a huge surge through the FTL Drive. He didn't know what effect that would have had, aside from blowing the engine completely. It could have given him a burst of speed that he wasn't expecting, sending him a lot further afield than he had anticipated. He needed to fix this...or he was gonna be stuck here...stranded.
A week passed as Karl tried frantically to get his ship working again. He had managed to get the ships core back online, but so far, there was no luck in getting his FTL Engine back online and working. He simply didn't have the parts at the moment. The materials required would take weeks to fabricate. But, on the bright side, he had just got his nav computer back up and running. He sits in the cockpit, looking out at the stunning nebula that he had become familiar with. But, it wasn't till he got a good look at his location that he realized just where he was.
"The Eagle Nebula? Are you kidding me?" He was stunned. He was...nearly 7,000 light years from Earth, nearly right across the other side of the galaxy. A trip this far would have...should have taken years. Even with the extra blast of energy to the FTL drive...he shouldn't be this far out. He couldn't explain what had happened. He double checks the computer, in case there was a mistake. His eyes crinkle up, black bags evident under them as he sits there. No...the computer confirmed it. He was a LONG way from home.
He slumps back into his seat, running a hand up through his hair as he looks out at the nebula he was stuck in. "The Pillars of Creation. I always wanted to see them...but damn man...not like this." He would have banged his head against the keyboard, but, his head was still hurting from where he had collided with the back of his pilots seat. Its amazing how quickly you become used to the unusual. The scenery outside the window wasn't nearly as striking any more. It was still beautiful, but staring at it for a week...he had started to get used to the scene.
What to do...what to do? That question keeps rolling through his mind. He could fix the engine given time, but, it would still take him months to get back to where he was. But the question then was...did he want to head back? He was further out than anyone was ever likely to get for centuries yet. Floating in deep space inside one of the most spectacular stellar objects that mankind has ever observed. And, if he wanted a chance of finding some life out here...the deeper he was in space the more likely that probability became. Decisions, decisions.
In the next four days, Karl had decided that going back now would just be counter productive. He would have been expending a great deal of effort it seemed to just go back to the start when he had already come so far. It would have been stupid to just head back now. He had already catalogued a number of stars to visit near his current location. These stars were quite likely candidates to have life supporting planets around them. They needed to be looked at. And he intended to. Just 3 more days till the materials he needed to get the new capacitors constructed. He had made sure that these ones were designed to take a far greater power capacity. So this time...they should do a great job of protecting the FTL Drive from any sudden power surges.
It was the morning of his sixth day in the nebula and the ship was back to how it had been before the total disaster. He had spent some of his spare time watching the massive collection of DVDs he had brought with him, between looking for interesting stars to explore. Karl pulls himself out of bed, stretching a little as he gets to his feet. He heads straight for the shower, coming out clean as a whistle and changing the bandage about his head. And having a shave. Clean clothes too, a white shirt and a black jumpsuit with his usual boots.
He stands at the fabricator, getting himself a coffee and some breakfast, mulling over just what he might find out here. There was a near permanent smile etched on his face now, those somewhat baby face features now untarnished by his usual stubble. Even the bags under his eyes were gone now. Or at least not as prominent as they were. He sits himself down on the sofa, pulling a table PC onto his lap and starts to work. A couple of hours pass with Karl running through numbers, looking over compiled nav charts and making coffee.
Then he hears a high pitched warble coming from the cockpit. He stops drinking, holding the cup there for a moment, before hearing the noise again. That cant be right...can it? He puts the coffee down and tosses the tablet to the side on the sofa. As fast as his legs can carry him, the human rushes up to the cockpit, jumping into the seat and spinning it around to the console. It was the proximity alarm. Something was coming up underneath him. "SHIT!! I don't have engines working yet!!" this was bad...and he knew it. But then he noticed something a little...odd, it was slowing down.
He stared at the screen in utter disbelief. This ships was massive, huge. Well, it was bigger than his anyway and that didn't bode well. He HAD to get moving. He did NOT want to find out who these people were on their terms. He quickly ran full speed to engineering, glaring at the engines, wondering what the hell he could do...they were in bits as he was trying his best to fix them. He starts to try and hook all the parts he had taken out, back up to them. Thankfully it was mostly modular parts on the floor and all he had to do was slot them back in. He did so hurriedly, darting to a nearby console to fire up the engines, but, nothing.
"FUCK!!" He was all but screaming out at the computers as he darts from station to station trying to get them working. First he simply presses buttons and taps into keyboards, but, as that...object gets closer and closer...well, it was obviously a ship. Only a ship would slow down...wouldn't it? Anyway...as it get closer, his attempts get more frantic, until finally he turns to the engines, nearly pulling the hair out of his head and proceeds to start kicking them into life. Or at least attempting to.
"COME ON!! Start damn it!!"
Over and over again his foot collides with the twin, silver, cylindrical objects that were his sub-light engines. "God...damn you Taiwan!!"
He finally just collapses on the floor. It was no use, he wasn't gonna get them working. He sits there for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do next...but, he was drawing a blank. The ship suddenly juddered and then there were a few sounds as the...ship outside latched onto his own. Awww....crap! I really, really hope they don't burn through the hull.
Ten minutes passed and nothing. Karl didn't know what was concerning him more, the fact that they were literally on his doorstep, or the fact that they weren't inside of his ship yet. He picks himself up and wanders to the airlock, tilting his head to the side as he peers at the closed doors, only his head poking around the corner. He raises an eyebrow, his face a mix of fear, excitement, denial...constipation. He stares at it, expecting it to open...he was pretty sure that they would be able to get past his lock.
Still, there was nothing. What the hell were they doing? Scanning his ship? Watching what he was doing? What was going on? He cautiously makes his way up to the door, picking his way up the corridor, stopping now and then to pin himself up against a wall all commando style...and to totally no effect. He finally makes his way up to the door, peering through the narrow glass slit. The outside door was still closed. "Huh...what the hell. What are they doing? What are they up to? They have to be doing something right? They wouldn't just latch onto my ship and do nothing but what are they doing?"
He rabbits off the sentences a mile a minute, his nerves starting to get the better of him. Its at this point that the outside door opens...and Karl back pedals down the little access corridor and back around the corner in a few short seconds. There is nothing again for a few minutes, the humans head poking back around the corner, that same expression on his face as he watches the door like a hawk. After a few minutes, it finally opens, a waft of mist and haze drifting under the door as it opens up.
Karl swallows hard, a large dark shape was standing there. It was big, easily over 9' high. Wish I had a gun was about the only thought going through the humans mind at the moment. As the mist clears, the figure could be seen clearly and Karls jaw dropped. Stood at the doorway was a toweringly tall...wolf!? "What...the...fuck!?" That...caught the canines attention. Dressed in what looked like an armoured, black chest plate with a trench coat over the top, a pair of jeans and tan brown combat boots, he looked a little like something out of the wild west. At his right hip was a god awful big pistol of some sort and a rifle was slung over the creatures shoulder. Karl just stood there, looking right at this huge, black wolf, who was in turn staring right back at him with those...rather nice grey eyes actually.
After a moment, the large canine starts walking forwards, right towards him, reaching out with a large paw, gloved in black leather with studs along the knuckles. The human just back peddled until his back came into contact with the wall behind him...no where to go.
To be continued...