applepie
11-27-2005, 02:18 AM
This is the first short story I have attempted to write in a long time. It is finished, but I am thinking of turning it into a moch longer piece of fiction than I originaly planned. Please le me know what you all think. This way I'll have a better idea if I really want to go through the effor of writing more.
It is only tentatively titled for now.
Jump Awry
2069
I found myself in a predicament. Do I open the door to the left? Or maybe the door to the right would be better. On second thought, what am I doing, sitting here and wondering just which door I should go through in this dank hole? Wouldn’t it be much easier to go back the way I came where I know it is relatively safe? After all, I made it through there once. I was successful, and competent. Just how did I end up in this situation…?October 2067
The entire day had sucked. How it had turned out so badly was a mystery to me. I had woken that morning to a beautiful autumn day. The sun was shining, the leaves were changing to red and gold, and it was just cold enough to wear a sweater. From that point on the day had just managed to go from bad to worse.
I was a proud employee of Galatia Engineering, and it was my responsibility to design the newest in a line of deep space aircraft. The project was right on time; all that was left was a test flight. It was one minor detail that had to be seen to before they could market my newest design. There was little chance of failure since I was the best engineer they had on staff. I had single handedly designed the 24 previous models, so we all knew this one would be a success. I had decided that as a tribute to this being my final design for Galatia this would be the best model anyone had ever seen. We’ll call it my final goodbye to the people who helped me to do so much.
I had been working for five years straight and since that was the case it was time for a change. I was leaving the company to go and explore the deepest recesses of space that I helped others get to every day. As a parting gift, as if the billions that allowed me to retire at 28 weren’t enough, Galatia was giving me my own deep space ship. Not just any ship but this particular ship. As long as the test flight went well, I would be leaving that very day for the Orion system. Life was grand…
2069
It was just a routine test flight. I knew the programming and design of the ship as if it was my child. Nothing should have happened. The test should have gone smoothly, but that is not the case. If it had gone smoothly do you think I would be worried over which door to choose? No! I would be in the Orion system as planned sipping drinks on the beach of Metrope II. I would not be in a hole, dirty and rank, and scared, worried if I should go on. Anyway, back to the point of the story. How did I get here...?
October 2067
It was just routine. A 1200 test flight and then by 1400 I was off to see the beaches of Metrope II. After that who knows where I was going to go next. Maybe I would go and see the winged beasts of Draconix Zero. That would be a nice diversion… Alright, power on… Everything looks good.
“All systems are good for flight,” I told Jinx. Jinx was not only my operator when I was flying but he was also my best friend and boyfriend. He was off to see deep space with me, well just as soon as this flight is over. He gave me thumbs up that all was good in the tower.
Pull back… hit the throttle, “And we have lift off!” I yelled into the mike.
I could hear the cheers in the command room as I pulled out of the Earth’s atmosphere. It was a short trip. I was to fly out to Saturn and back to test the navigation, auto pilot, and jump functions. It was simple, fly out as far as Mars; test the autopilot in the asteroid belt. That would take about forty-five minutes. Then, just make the jump to Saturn and then all the way back to Mars.
It was simple elementary processes. We had been jumping to planets for more than a decade and the rest of the technology had been around for hundreds of years. The only thing new about my ship was that the time needed to jump between coordinates had been decreased to one third the time needed with normal jump capabilities. We had found a new way to accelerate the stream of particles we became when we jumped that made it not only faster, but we could go further in a single jump also. Simple…
“Alright Jinx, I am just reaching Mars. I’m going to turn over to auto pilot and cruise on through the asteroid belt.”
“Sounds good Ara, you just keep her smooth and steady. We’ll be out to Metrope II before you know it!”
Ara, that’s me. That is right, just keep it all smooth and Jinx and I were off to our much needed change.
“Whew, this baby can fly. I don’t think that I could even beat out the auto pilot. This teaches me to train the computer Jinx. I should be able to teach it a trick or two still.”
I sighed and looked at the screen. I had gone above and beyond on this model. It was my last one, but I was even impressed at seeing all my hard work in action. This had more than made up for all the late nights and weekends I spent designing the ship and then training the computer.
“OK, Ara it is time to make your jump. You know we’ll be out of contact for five minutes but I will talk to you on the other side.”
“Alright baby, I’ll talk to you when I make Saturn,” I know he could hear the smile in my voice. This was the one function I was looking forward to testing. Cutting the time of a jump down had not only been my idea, but it was also my pet project. I had worked longer and harder on this single aspect of the vessel than any other component. I would be at Saturn in five minutes. My smile grew wider. Just six months ago it would have take almost a half hour.
I checked to be sure that I had the correct coordinates in the computer and started the execution sequence. Just then, I heard the computer say over the intercom, “Coordinates are inaccurate. Redirecting to alternate location.”
The world dropped out beneath me and all I could do was listen helplessly to the computer repeating the message over again. It was too late; I was already in the jump. To stop now could mean not only my death, but also the complete destruction of the ship.
Twenty minutes later the ship dropped out of the jump into a system that I had never seen before. I tried to run scans and pinpoint my location, but all that the computer could tell me was that the system was “unknown”. Since there were over 1,000 systems know to the people of Earth, this could only mean one thing. I was in a lot of trouble if I didn’t figure out how to find my way home.
2069
That was the worst day, but it is only the start of how I came to be in this hole. I have been searching for a way home for more than two years. In that time I have run into all kinds of trouble in one form or another. It turns out that the system I found myself in really was undiscovered. The people of the Ara system, as I like to call it since I’m the first one to find it, were not happy to be discovered. Who knows, maybe I wasn’t really the first to find the system. Maybe they just kill everyone who comes their way.
It is only tentatively titled for now.
Jump Awry
2069
I found myself in a predicament. Do I open the door to the left? Or maybe the door to the right would be better. On second thought, what am I doing, sitting here and wondering just which door I should go through in this dank hole? Wouldn’t it be much easier to go back the way I came where I know it is relatively safe? After all, I made it through there once. I was successful, and competent. Just how did I end up in this situation…?October 2067
The entire day had sucked. How it had turned out so badly was a mystery to me. I had woken that morning to a beautiful autumn day. The sun was shining, the leaves were changing to red and gold, and it was just cold enough to wear a sweater. From that point on the day had just managed to go from bad to worse.
I was a proud employee of Galatia Engineering, and it was my responsibility to design the newest in a line of deep space aircraft. The project was right on time; all that was left was a test flight. It was one minor detail that had to be seen to before they could market my newest design. There was little chance of failure since I was the best engineer they had on staff. I had single handedly designed the 24 previous models, so we all knew this one would be a success. I had decided that as a tribute to this being my final design for Galatia this would be the best model anyone had ever seen. We’ll call it my final goodbye to the people who helped me to do so much.
I had been working for five years straight and since that was the case it was time for a change. I was leaving the company to go and explore the deepest recesses of space that I helped others get to every day. As a parting gift, as if the billions that allowed me to retire at 28 weren’t enough, Galatia was giving me my own deep space ship. Not just any ship but this particular ship. As long as the test flight went well, I would be leaving that very day for the Orion system. Life was grand…
2069
It was just a routine test flight. I knew the programming and design of the ship as if it was my child. Nothing should have happened. The test should have gone smoothly, but that is not the case. If it had gone smoothly do you think I would be worried over which door to choose? No! I would be in the Orion system as planned sipping drinks on the beach of Metrope II. I would not be in a hole, dirty and rank, and scared, worried if I should go on. Anyway, back to the point of the story. How did I get here...?
October 2067
It was just routine. A 1200 test flight and then by 1400 I was off to see the beaches of Metrope II. After that who knows where I was going to go next. Maybe I would go and see the winged beasts of Draconix Zero. That would be a nice diversion… Alright, power on… Everything looks good.
“All systems are good for flight,” I told Jinx. Jinx was not only my operator when I was flying but he was also my best friend and boyfriend. He was off to see deep space with me, well just as soon as this flight is over. He gave me thumbs up that all was good in the tower.
Pull back… hit the throttle, “And we have lift off!” I yelled into the mike.
I could hear the cheers in the command room as I pulled out of the Earth’s atmosphere. It was a short trip. I was to fly out to Saturn and back to test the navigation, auto pilot, and jump functions. It was simple, fly out as far as Mars; test the autopilot in the asteroid belt. That would take about forty-five minutes. Then, just make the jump to Saturn and then all the way back to Mars.
It was simple elementary processes. We had been jumping to planets for more than a decade and the rest of the technology had been around for hundreds of years. The only thing new about my ship was that the time needed to jump between coordinates had been decreased to one third the time needed with normal jump capabilities. We had found a new way to accelerate the stream of particles we became when we jumped that made it not only faster, but we could go further in a single jump also. Simple…
“Alright Jinx, I am just reaching Mars. I’m going to turn over to auto pilot and cruise on through the asteroid belt.”
“Sounds good Ara, you just keep her smooth and steady. We’ll be out to Metrope II before you know it!”
Ara, that’s me. That is right, just keep it all smooth and Jinx and I were off to our much needed change.
“Whew, this baby can fly. I don’t think that I could even beat out the auto pilot. This teaches me to train the computer Jinx. I should be able to teach it a trick or two still.”
I sighed and looked at the screen. I had gone above and beyond on this model. It was my last one, but I was even impressed at seeing all my hard work in action. This had more than made up for all the late nights and weekends I spent designing the ship and then training the computer.
“OK, Ara it is time to make your jump. You know we’ll be out of contact for five minutes but I will talk to you on the other side.”
“Alright baby, I’ll talk to you when I make Saturn,” I know he could hear the smile in my voice. This was the one function I was looking forward to testing. Cutting the time of a jump down had not only been my idea, but it was also my pet project. I had worked longer and harder on this single aspect of the vessel than any other component. I would be at Saturn in five minutes. My smile grew wider. Just six months ago it would have take almost a half hour.
I checked to be sure that I had the correct coordinates in the computer and started the execution sequence. Just then, I heard the computer say over the intercom, “Coordinates are inaccurate. Redirecting to alternate location.”
The world dropped out beneath me and all I could do was listen helplessly to the computer repeating the message over again. It was too late; I was already in the jump. To stop now could mean not only my death, but also the complete destruction of the ship.
Twenty minutes later the ship dropped out of the jump into a system that I had never seen before. I tried to run scans and pinpoint my location, but all that the computer could tell me was that the system was “unknown”. Since there were over 1,000 systems know to the people of Earth, this could only mean one thing. I was in a lot of trouble if I didn’t figure out how to find my way home.
2069
That was the worst day, but it is only the start of how I came to be in this hole. I have been searching for a way home for more than two years. In that time I have run into all kinds of trouble in one form or another. It turns out that the system I found myself in really was undiscovered. The people of the Ara system, as I like to call it since I’m the first one to find it, were not happy to be discovered. Who knows, maybe I wasn’t really the first to find the system. Maybe they just kill everyone who comes their way.