The Beginning
16 Nov 2017Ryaustal
The Test...There has always been the test...
I do not remember anything before the test. So many test were done. They seemed to go on for days on end. "Was this my birth?" I would wonder, "What does it even mean to be born" I can only hope to find that answer.
"Run faster!" I would hear, "Do not stop, push yourself... Test your LIMITS!" they would shout. Other bodies around me also testing but none ever able to keep pace with my own.
They physically looked like me, we all have two arms and legs, two hands each with five digits well, except for Altair he only has 4 on his right hand. Varying degrees of skin color, heights, weights and our eyes are different I'm told, some blue while others are green but mostly they have brown eyes. Mine however, they say are pure white, I don't know really, I cannot see them myself.
Some of them where female but most of us were males. They keep us separated most of the time, perhaps because we all stare at each other for what seems like an eternity at times. There is something about them that draws our attention, it seems we draw theirs as well. Sure wish we had more time to figure out why,
The one thing I am sure of is none of this makes any sense. Why did they always push us to our limits and what was it all for? Are they looking for something, Am I training, are we training for something.
The Event...
"Wake up! WAKE UP!" Someone shouted, "Something has happened, we need to get out of here" Altair said. Smoke everywhere, loud ear piercing alarms, flashing lights leading us down a long white corridor, through doors we have never seen before, bodies.... bodies everywhere. "They all look the same now" I thought to myself. We finally reach the end, a large dark room, lights flickering on and off all around. "It's a hanger" I thought, we could hear screams from the distance, "Probably their last" came to mind.
A few tiny vessels remained on the opposite end of the hanger. Altair and I both looked at each other with the same strange sense of familiarity to them, "how do I know this is a hanger, why do those ships feel like home" no time to wonder that now. "Altair" I said with haste, "We have to make a dash for those vessels and use them to get out through the shielded airlock at the end." He agreed, as we both started sprinting towards them.
More loud screams, the floor rumbling beneath our feet as we made our way across the the dark hanger, loud deep booms in the distance and one very strange screeching sound unlike anything I have ever heard before. Each vessel has room for one, I look to my friend "Altair quick take that vessel and get out of here, I'm right behind you!"
The small vessel came to life, the engines roar as it slowly and wobbly lifted off the ground and made it's way to the airlock. "OK, it's my turn, you can do this just another test." I thought. The controls on the small vessel seem familiar. It lifted up wobbly at first and I made my way towards the airlock. Before we could exit an explosion in the hanger, the shielded airlock went dark and with one quick movement everything was swept forcibly out the tiny opening.
Our vessels tumbled in the debris as the ships flight computer tried to correct. Communications appear to be working but I cannot hear anything. I let instinct take over, "Altair, do you see it.... It's.... It's.... HUGE! If you read me we have to jump out of here now. Pick any system and go I am right behind you!" Nothing on the comms, another loud screech coming from whatever that is! "So that is what we heard" I thought as the my muscles in my hands seemed know where I wanted to go on my navigation panel. "Altair, GO NOW! It's moving towards us!" I shouted into the comms. "Frameshift drive Charging" the system readout said. "This nightmare is almost ov..." I said, "Shields Critical" the system readout interrupted my thought. I could hear the sound of something outside the vessel and then I heard nothing as the stars raced past me in hyperspace. System read out says 20 jumps to go, I blacked out.
The new beginning...
An alarm wakes me. "Low fuel warning" as I hit the button to disable the alarm. Navigation panel says "LHS 3447." More warnings from module panel, Canopy 12% is the first one I notice, "well considering all the cracks in the glass I guess 12% is pretty good" I said aloud as if someone else could hear me. Thursters 48%, Frameshift drive 44%, Weapons 0%, Power plant 38%. "Weapons?" I thought, "Probably a good thing that I just now noticed I had weapons." I set a course for the closets station named Fairbairn Station. When I arrived I searched the ship and found 1k credits on board, "Well at least I can get a hot meal and my ship repaired. My ship? That has a nice ring to it." I started off to find Altair.
"How log was I out?"
"Did I make it all 20 jumps on the fuel I had?"
"Where was I supposed to end up"
"Where did Altair end up?"
"Will I ever see my friend again?"
All these questions came to mind as I found no logs of anyone named Altair docking at any station in the LHS 3447 system. I will need to find work and begin my journey to discover what happened, why was I there, what was that place, who was I before all this, and most importantly did Altair even make it out. A tiny memory of hope surfaced, just before my ship jumped out away from that monster, a small flash of light out the corner of the cockpit. "It must have been Altair escaping! It has to be" I thought to myself.
Time to make some friends and make some credits. At some point I will need to choose a side but for now I make more credits from helping everyone. I am going to need a better ship if I am to find the answers to my questions as I am sure they will not all come freely without some form of motivation. First stop Eravate system, I have some data to deliver there.