by Ayman Ghalit
“Who is this guy!?” Bob asked Jack who just got in. “We don’t want strangers amongst us. That will border our freedom.”
“Why don’t ask Mort.” He answered.
“Don’t worry, kids. It’s going to be fun. Am pretty sure you will get along just fine”
After coupled of minutes, the young man returned, and was wearing casual cloths. He sat behind Kaiser, whom Bob was beside him, and fastened his seat belt without saying a word. Bob tried to open a conversation with him, but that man did not respond to any of his attempt.
“What the hell?” said Bob, “c’mon, what’s the matter? We will be stuck in this ship for a long time, let us get acquainted. I am Bob. This is Kaiser, Carl, and Jack.”
The young man sighed bothersome, and replied, “I would rather not get acquainted, but you seem to be the one who will keep pushing on. My name is Gael …this surly will suffice.”
Mort started the engine after pressing lots of buttons above his head, on the dashboard, and a lever he loosened down beside his chair, “Alright, buckle up. Its green across the board. And we are ready to take-off,” he said. A mite of fear swirled in Kaiser’s chest. He felt a cramp in his stomach as his heart rose its throbbing when the engines noises grew louder. And after given permission to fly, Mort pushed the throttle lever forward. Jack closed his eye when the speed pasted him to the seat.
It didn’t take much for the ship to levitate and slip out from Earth’s gravity grip. And it was a matter of minutes for it to penetrate the atmosphere layers and gently float still in the outer space. “We are in space,” Mort informed.
“Wow! That was fast.” said Jack.
“See what the expired one can do, kid,” said Mort, who initialized the ship’s artificial gravity system, and adjust its direction toward one of the many gigantic man-made metal rings that function as ships route to specific destinations which was Pearl Solar System route. He later pressed a button that shelled-off a probe from the roof of the ship which began to send a beam of light every two minute.
“Alright, feel free to untie your seatbelt. It will take the probe 20 minutes to permit our travel.”
“Permit our travel?” Bob wondered.
“It’s for our safety,” Carl clarified. “After 20 minutes, the distant between us and the first beam will be 20 light minutes. The probe will track, focus, and analyses it. Thus, if anything goes wrong for the beams; like colliding with an object or being pulled by powerful gravity, the sensor will warn us, as we will be at least two light minutes away from the problem.”
“You are really a smart one!”
“It is called ‘common knowledge,” he humbly replied.
They untied their seatbelts to stare through the windows at Planet Earth, the Moon, and the distant Sun. Goosebumps spread throughout Kaiser’s body after realizing how insignificant he is. Darkness was the norm of the universe, and that brought him fear and curiosity at once. And beyond the other window, they can see countless lightspeed spaceships, floatingly waiting for their beams to give its permission. And when it does, the ships will disappear in less than a blink of an eye. It was bizarre, and somehow unbelievable. The common physics that they grew up with, are no longer exist in the outer space. They went back and forth from a window to another until they settled down. Mort, whom was not impressed, nor interested in what astonished them anymore, brought them food, which was chicken sandwiches and fruit juice.
“Just this!” discontentedly, said Bob.
“Yea! just that. You should be grateful.”
“Are you blind or something? this is not enough for me.”
“I am here to transport you to point B, not to fill this bottomless stomach of yours.”
With unpleased face, Bob did nothing but to mumble in discontent. And While they are eating their cold tasteless meals, Carl hummed in thoughts, and said, “May I pose a question, Morton?”
“Go ahead.”
“What’s with the stone?”
Mort paused for a moment, took a sip from his hot steaming coffee, and nostalgically answered, “This is the most valuable thing that is left to me.”
“Awe! that’s romantic,” sarcastically, said Jack.
“I kept it with me for more than 20 years!”
“Wow, mind telling us why?” asked Kais.
He nostalgically sighed, and said, “20 years ago, me and my wife, Olivia, were in our way back to home from our honeymoon on Planet Xe. The ship’s probe detected this boulder that forced us to stop. I said that I must remove it from the people’s path so it will harm not anyone, but my wife had another idea… She insisted that we take it with us, saying, “Morty, isn’t it pitiful and sad the fate of this boulder? Floating alone in this vast and vacant universe and surrounded only by emptiness and solitude with no caring friend, nor a pleasing companion! Let’s take it with us. If we don’t, it will be stuck in this loneliness for good.”
I strongly disagreed at first, but she asked me this: “Don’t you wish that you get help from someone who comes out of nowhere? Someone who comes from beyond your expectation, and saves you from a dark, loathsome, and bottomless pit that is filled with hate, pain, and anguish. And what is that, if it’s not the forcible loneliness?”
I answered, “It’s just a stupid rock, don’t be silly!” But she said, “Do it for me.” ...After that, I glanced straight in her dazzling eyes that thawed my heart, and said, “For the sake of those eyes, I shall abide.”
Mort paused for a moment, took another sip, and went on, “After we returned home in Earth, I was too lazy to remove the boulder... Couples of months later, my wife’s blood sugar dropped to a critical level, for she was suffering from Hypoglycemia. And when I returned home, I found her lying motionless on the ground. Close to the door she was. I rushed her to the hospital, but …it was too late. And from that day on, I fixed this boulder in here, to reminds me of Olivia, my dear beloved wife.”
“We are so sorry to hear this.” they all said.
Mort, who nodded in fate acceptance as he was pursing his lips, said, “You don’t have to. Everything will perish.”
“It’s really a noble, doing such thing,” Kais admired.
He smilingly thanked him, and after a moment of an awkward silence. Jack broke it by a question he has posed to Mort, saying, “Pardon, but for how long you’ve been a taxi driver?”
“For more than a 25 year... By the way, I don’t consider myself as ‘a Taxi driver,’ I am an astronaut. Add this to your shallow knowledge, do you know that once upon a time, space was only for specific and carefully selected people!”
“You are nothing but a taxi driver. The most boring job in the universe. Only desperate and hopeless people choose it to make a living.”
“How utterly rude, take it back.”
“How utterly true.” Jack insisted.
They argued for a little longer, Kais cut them off saying, “That’s enough! So how much are you going to charge us?”
“After the previous ‘truth’ that your well-mannered friend pointed at, there will be no discount for you. So, it will be 600 Sez.”
“600!” Kais shockingly reacted. “Even first-class ships don’t charge this much.”
“My charges are based on weight; I mean look at your friend, *pointing at Bob* c’mon, he is three people combined.”
Kais sighed, and replied, “Am not in the mood for negotiation now, we will deal with this on Ra.”
“That’s a brightly good idea.”
After that, Bob, who turned and met Gael’s eyes, said, “So, you did not tell us where are you heading at?”
“I didn’t come here to be questioned by you.”
Jack interrupted, “Pardon the Thing, for it is nearly impossible for it to mind its own business.”
“Things doesn’t have to be pardoned.” Gael replied.
“Things can feel, and hurt” said Bob with a grim face.
“You are going to Ra?” asked Carl.
Gael let out a surrenderi
ng sigh, and answered, “Yes.”
“You do not have to be this cautious,” said Kaiser. “We will be all strangers on Ra, and you what they say; men of the road should stick together.”
Gael wanted to respond in decline, but got impeded by a peeping sound coming from the ship’s dashboard, indicating that the time of the probing beam is done and they are ready to setoff. Mort, who told them to set and tighten their seatbelts, loosened a lever and pressed some buttons that made the engine noises inside the ship grow even louder than before. Kais got startled by a hissing-steam sound coming from the round pod-lids above their heads as it slowly rotated to descends and encapsulate them for they will engage lightspeed shortly after.
It was a scary moment for the guys whom were oblivious on matters like this. The ship sat-off by lightspeed. It disappeared in less than a second to its destination, guided by the gigantic rings through which it ventures.
Troublesome Encounter
After about eight light hours, the ship suddenly stopped, then, the steam-hissing pods slowly upraises for them to wake up on a warning peeping sound, alerting them from an object front of them. Slowly, they regain their consciousness and strength to realize that they are behind a long jam of standing-still spaceships. The cause of this, was an accident of a spaceship that collided with one of the guidance rings 18 light minutes ahead. Mort anxiously covered his face with his hand while muttering, “No, no, no.”
“Why, what’s wrong?” asked the worried guys.
“An accident!” he said, after busting the control panel.
“Hope everyone is alright,” said Bob.
“They are not. They are done.”
“Now what?” asked Jack.
He checked the incoming signals in the control panel and it showed the length and the reason of the space-route jam. “Now! we wait. And that going to take a lot of time.”
“And how much do we have to wait?” asked Kais.
“Well, judging by the length of this traffic jam, it’s going to take a lot of time. They have to clean up the space routes, and have to replace the ring. That would take… one week.”
“A week!” Bob staggeringly responded.
“Might be more,” he added after pressing a button that deshelled two jet-engines from the ship sides.
“Then, why don’t you pass by the jam? I mean, we are in space after all.”
“You know nothing about space,” said Carl. “It is impossible to control the ship whilst in lightspeed. The super computer insides of it does the trick. Moreover, the ship, which is programed by its UPS, must travel in a straight line for it to safely reach its destination. And if that line was not 100% straight, it will definitely go astray from its goal.”
“Alright, let’s cross it by jet engines then.”
“It will take us months to cross one light hours.”
“What a bummer you are. You must be fun at parties.”
“Yea. yea, sometimes.”
Three hours passed, and they did not move an inch. Another two boring hours passed, and they also didn’t move. The guys had done with all the time-passing tricks that they know. Smartphones kept them busy for a while, but not for too long after finding out that surfing the web with a slow internet speed was more irritating than waiting for the jam to clear. And with no recharging source, their phones batteries depleted, save only Carl’s phone who turned it off and refused to lend his portable power bank to anyone. Three hours later, and without moving, boredom brought its bothering companions, which was argument and complaint.
“I HATE WAITING!” Jack yelled.
“Who doesn’t?” Bob replied, “stop whining.”
A moment of silent sat upon them. Mort, who was humming in deep thinking, proposed, “I think I know a shortcut!”
“You think!?” said Kais. “No, please. Let’s not follow your thinking.”
“Trust me. I am almost, I mean, am pretty sure there is a route around here. It will take us only 30 light minutes.”
“No, let’s solely follow what we are certain about.”
They argued about Mort’s idea, but they rejected it, and agreed to stick and follow the hordes. They kept waiting for another 22 earthly hours. They slept and woke up on the same frustrating view. And they waited, and waited, and waited again… but nothing happened.
“Let’s take the shortcut,” said Jack. “Our hotel in Planet Ra will count our disappearance. He is a taxi driver for more than 20 Years, he must know something, no?”
“An Astronaut if you may, but thanks. And yes, I might know a route around here.”
“Let’s rather be safe,” said Gael, “there is a reason why all these ships are waiting.”
“I am ‘The Void Companion’ for god’s sake. Am not like them, trust me, I know shortcut route around here.”
“No, let’s wait,” Kaiser urges, after mumbling in disappointment, saying, “That’s not a good way to start your first space trip.”
They waited for another 12 hours. The ships move for a accouple of miles once in a while, and wait for a longer time after that. Mort boredom reached its peak and tried to convince them about his shortcut idea that got rejected again, but that didn’t stop him. When he noticed them all on their seats with their belts tightly fastened, he ignored their refusal, started the jet engines, and soared up to exit the guidance rings route. Warning peeping grew louder by the second indicating a dangerous move. He ignored it, and sent a probing beam of light ahead of him. The guys tried to stop him, but he assured them saying that he knows the path. Lots of ships behind him warned him by signaling their headlight, but he cared not about their warning. “Buckle up! we are moving,” he roared as the pod enclosed on them. Then he sat off by lightspeed.
Labyrinth
In the outer space, there is no up and down, north and south, and obviously, no east nor west. If your calculation were to be 0.1 wrong, then you will surly miss your destination. Time, speed, and distant are very important in the outer space, especially if you happened to be part of its equation. Mort’s action wasn’t based on a that equation, rather he trusted his experience. But little did he knew that it was a wrongful move to make. The ship stopped after 22 light minuets, and that is enough time to go from Earth to the Sun and return. The pods rose again, waking them up on bright red light coming from the dashboard. Mort’s eyes slowly widened in fear as he realized that this is not good. He rushed to it to be stroked by a frightening scene. The dashboard was all warning-red across the board:
Location: Unknown
Routes: Unknown
UPS signals: No Feed
Radio stations: No Feed
Internet access: Not Available
They started to seriously worry after seeing Mort, who was trying so hard to keep calm, jumps from a window to another while desperately trying to know the place. He was in a place that his eyes didn’t recognize, nor his ears ever heard about. They were in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by empty darkness disturbed only by the tiny, glittering, and far faraway stars lights. Mort grabbed a binocular that is able to see what the human eyes can’t, and bounced again from a window to another.
“W-Where are we?” worryingly said Jack.
“Please tell us that you know where we are.” said Gael.
“Trust me, I do,” he responded.
Carl, who noticed that Mort is acting too weird, knew for sure that they are lost, so he commanded him, “Don’t move the ship, we still can calculate time and direction to return.”
“I know this place. Don’t worry, just keep calm.”
Gael swiftly roared, “Then why are you panicking if you are! Listen to him, and don’t move the ship!”
Mort ignored him, mumbling, “From there… umm? Yea there where the Pearl will be… yep, that’s it. We will set off, buckle up.”
“What the! Don’t move the SHIP!” Kais roared.
He checked the guys seat belts that were still untied, adjusted the ship direction, and sent the probing light beam. Kaiser
wanted to untie his seatbelt to confront Mort, but it didn’t open as the metal pods hissed and slowly enclose on him. The ship sat-off seven minute later. And after about 10 light minutes, they stopped again in a place akin to the first one; vacant, dreadful, and dark. The pods opened up, and when they regain their consciousness, Kais and Gael swiftly untied their seatbelts, rushed to Mort; who was trying to figure out where he is, and forcibly pulled him from chair, and pinned him down. Curses and damns followed after.
Feeling hazy, Bob rushed to the bathroom to throw up while he can hear Gael angrily yelling, “SPEAK UP! God damn be upon you, are we lost!?”
Gruntingly, and while Gael’s knee pressing against his cheek, he said, “T-Trust me, I know the way.”
“Then where are we!?” asked Jack.
“Just give me a chance to prove it to you.”
“Speak the truth, are we lost?” Gael asked after hardly pressing on his cheek.”
Mort, who was grunting in pain, told them the dreadful news that something, somehow, unintendedly went wrong and they are lost. Jack woefully put his hands over his face, saying, “You bald bastard. Why did we agree on you!?” And with frowning grim face, Gael tightened his grasp on Mort’s throat, and said while gnashing his teeth, “Tell me, why should I spare your worthless life, worthless dog?”
“Because I am the only dog who will get you out from this labyrinth. I told you, something went unintendedly wrong. But give me time, and I will get you back.”
After that, blazing argument; filled with negative aggressive words and body slamming between Gael and Mort, sparked in the ship. Kais and Carl parted them away. Then the former said, “Leave him be. He is the only one who knows how to steer this ship. We have to keep calm and work together to solve this problem.”
Tottering Bob returned from the bathroom, and asked, “And how are we going to work together? Let’s beat that old imbecile up. We are doomed.”
Carl, who strongly stopped them, took a deep breath and exhaled, then he grabbed the binocular and began to gaze through the windows, hummed in thoughts for moments, and said, “First, we have to figure out where are we… hmm? puzzling!? There are no signals reaching the ship, nor to our phones! Even Erath’s Solar System guidance-beacons are not visible, though it is easily observable and can be distinguished by the naked eye from more than 2 light hours distant. Even if we were traveling by lightspeed, we should at least see it. Or is it possible that we slipped through an unknown wrapping rift that placed us in another location?”