by Ayman Ghalit
“What are you talking about?” worryingly they said.
“A wormhole, I mean. Because am pretty sure that we are not remotely close to our solar system.”
“You are exaggerating… right?” trembling Jack said.
“Am not. Mort will surly tell you the truth.”
They all looked at Mort who couldn’t meet their doubtful glances. Then, Gael lost his timber, pulled him up by his collar while frowningly looking him in eyes, and roared “We are lost, is that right, you fuckin’ dipshit… Let me kill this ignorant fool.”
“Stop it!” urged Carl, who parted them again, “Nothing will you gain by doing so.”
“How can we be calm? we are lost!” Jack panicked.
With a tone full of uncertainty, Kais tried to keep them calm, saying, “Still… let’s keep calm. There must be a way out. We didn’t wonder-off for too long. Am pretty sure we are closer to our way back more than we think... Damn, how fast on can go astray in space!”
A moment of doubtful and despairing silence laid heavily upon them. Bob, who sat back on his seat, cleared his throat, and said, “Am really hungry.” Carl nodded in agreement, “True, let’s eat something and think calmly. We can’t do much on empty stomachs.
Fragile Hope
Ominous and depressing atmosphere filled the ship. Mort prepared their meals; chicken sandwich, eggs, fruit juice, coffee, and water. Tastelessly, they ate while in deep worry and full concern about this woeful trouble that they stuck in. Being lost in space is the nightmare that every space traveler doesn’t even want to think about it. Everyone was silent while staring at his food, thinking about a way to escape this calamity. And staring at his empty cup, Jack, whom his eyes were wide and almost not blinking, broke the despairing silence by faintly saying, “We are doomed!”
“Don’t think this way.” said Kais.
Gael agreed, “He is right, we are doomed. May the curses of those who cures be upon you, you bald fuck.”
“Watch your mouth, kid!” said Mort.
“What are you going to do, hah!” he taunted.
“HEY! let’s keep calm and think about something.”
They kept silent for a little bit of time, and then, out of the blue, Bob, who strangely smiled, proposed to say a joke. But with a face full of weariness, Jack sighed, and said, “Are you serious! Do you see this is a right time for a joke?”
“C’mon, I just came up with it right now,” he replied.
Kais cracked a shabby smile, and said, “Alright, go on. We really need something that might cheer us up.”
Bob’s snickering laughter that he couldn’t curb, irritated them as they urged him to spell out his stupid joke, then he controlled himself, cleared his throat, and asked, “Why is it that Mort only have chicken sandwiches?”
With cringed, and unpleased faces, Jack replied, “Why?”
“Because the brave ones died in the battel.” Then, Bob burst out laughing till tears filled his eyes.
Looking at each other with loathed and disgusted facial feature, Mort said, “We are totally doomed now.”
Gael changed the subject, asking “Let’s discuss our survival percentage. How much is it, Carl? You seem to be the know it all guy, spell the truth no matter how harsh it is.”
“Well, we don’t know exactly where are we, nor do we have any clue. For that, I am loathed to say it is strikingly low. I mean, the Milky-Way is vast and wide. Plus, the ship can’t recognize this place. Also, we don’t know exactly what time is it! We might have been engaged with one of the many wondering Time-Waves that have sent us a hundred of years ahead. I don’t want to be the one who breaks the paddles, but we will be needing a big miracle to survive.”
Jack, whom fear made his tongue tremble, said, “Dude! you crushed our spirits …Time wave!? say something else.”
“It’s the truth.” Carl replied.
A moment of silent kept them thinking about what will their life will be. Kais, who realized how dreadful it will be, broke the silence, by saying, “God help us. Carl, does anyone whom was lost in space ever found his way back?”
“Hmm? Yes, there was a man named Russell Wray. He was a merchant who buys clove from Fam’am planet in the Phone Cords Solar-System, and sells it to the Mother. He lost his way, and managed to get back on track a year and a half after!”
With shocked wide opened eyes, Gael replied, “A year!”
“Yes… and he used a simple trick to return.”
“What was it?”
“The Straight-Line method, which is choosing a random direction and cross it in straight line while hoping really hard that it is the right one. You have to frequently stop to check your signals and visually try to figure out where are you. And if you do not recognize that place, you have to keep venturing in the straight line without being swayed out by doubt, despair, and fear. They made a movie about him.”
“It’s a huge gamble,” said Bob.
“But… it’s the only sane way,” Kais replied.
“We might choose the wrong direction,” Jack doubted.
“Better than stuck in an infinite loop,” Gael cleared.
“So,” said Mort. “What are we going to do?”
“Aren’t you the void companion!” Gael mocked.
“Every tide has its ebb, kiddo.”
Desperate Method
After a doubtful argument about the plan, they settled it by voting excluding Mort. Bob and Jack disagreed, while Kaiser and Gael insisted to use this way, left only Carl who thought about it for minutes, and agreed, saying, “Desperate plan, indeed, but we got no other choice.” They agreed on Russel’s plan. And based upon guessing and doubtful conclusions, they adjusted the ship toward the brightest visible star which happened to be behind the ship. Mort sent the tracking beam, and said, “Alright, don’t blame me if we went further astray, blame the Straight-Line guy.”
“We already lost, you dumb nitwit.” Bob responded.
By the speed of light, and with a straight line to cross, they sat-off. And after about 3 light hours, the ship stopped as it was programmed. But it stopped in an empty dark place as if they didn’t move an inch, and what worsened it for them is that their guiding visible-star somehow disappeared! They checked the ship’s signals, but nothing did it receive. That made some reconsider this method, while other suggested to change direction, but Carl said to them that this had happen to Russel, and they have to keep calm and continue. So, they sat-off again to stop in a place akin to the former. They repeated this method for about two earthly days without achieving their sincerely-hoped triumph.
Hope slowly decays, and their spirits started to painfully crumble when the feeling of being stuck in the same place no matter how much time they keep venturing grew bigger. Jack let out a despaired sigh, saying, “This is not going to work. We might be in the wrong direction.”
“How fast despair pins you down?” Kais responded. “We have to keep moving, remember that Russel had spent more than a year to find his way back.”
“True, we should be more patient.” Carl added.
Mort sat-off again by lightspeed, and stopped 3 hours later in nothingness. He sat-off and stopped for another two days to nothing. He sat-off again, and again to also nothing. And every time they stop, they shower Mort with cursing negative words. Bob, who felt this plan is useless, said, “This is not going to work, I mean, light is fast for us, but it is too slow for this expanding-universe. Besides, we didn’t take this much time when on lightspeed in the first place.”
“True, and that is what drive me to the idea of being wrapped through a wormhole.” said Carl.
“Shouldn’t we be searching for that wormhole instead?”
“Well, if ‘someone’ kept the ship still in the first place, that would have been easy to do.”
“We have to keep pushing,” said Kaiser. “Mort, stop the ship after 10 hours. Let’s really hope for a deferent scenery this time.”
Mort sarcastically replied, “Aye, aye, cap
tain.”
Thumbless Hand
After 10 hours, the ship stopped for them to wake up before something new. Something that resurrected shards of hope inside of them. There was a gigantically bright and colorful Nebula; shaped like a thumbless hand, on their right. Mort prepared food, brought up the goggles that sees what the human eye can’t, and handed it to Kais, saying, “See the unseen, kid.” Kais’s jaws dropped from amusement when a more colorful and magical-like scene appeared to him after wearing it and gazing through the window to the Nebula. It was a mixture of vivid and more bright colors that even a painter in his atelier will fail to copy. He removed them, and gave it to the others. And after enjoying the view, they sat to discuss this way of survival, Kais asked, “So, Mort, have you seen this nebula before?”
“Can’t tell. Saw a lot of nebulas, but this one is new.”
“What about you, Carl?”
“It’s really difficult to tell. Nebulas are formless space dust, it might appear as circle from an angle, but will appear as cylinder from another. It might be a known nebula, but we are seeing it from an unfamiliar point of view. Regardless, we must not bet on this.”
Thinking of what do next kept them silence for moments. Bob then asked, “So, now what?”
“Russel’s method.” Kais answered.
“Don’t you think that this might not work? I mean a fucking year it took him to return,”
“We should keep trying. We might be close.” said Carl.
“Now what?” said Mort.
Kais replied, “Go for another 30 hours by lightspeed, and let’s hope hard this time that we find our way back.”
Urgent Haven
After 10 light hours, the ship stopped in a vacant place as well. That was the last straw to completely break their burdened backs. Mort hopelessly checked the ship’s UPS and turned on the radio in hope for signal, but nothing did he found. Then, he visually tried to figure out where he is, but all his effort despairingly failed. And while Kaiser, who was anxiously biting his nails, thinking about this woeful fate, the radio picked up a faint signal that played a stuttering and disconnected song for a brief moment or so! That joyfully startled them all. Making them looking at each other with widened eyes and dropped disbelieving jaws. Mort rushed, and use the ship’s telescope after pressing a button that deshelled it from the outer part of its fuselage. It took him about five minutes to winningly snap his finger, and joyfully shouting “A solar system! 12 light hours ahead.”
Hope reared up from the ashes of their burnt-out spirits. That vague song brought comforting joy and excitement after being sickened and despaired by this never-ending emptiness. They felt salvation is surly nigh. And with a big smile on his face, Jack happily said, “We are safe!”
“You shouldn’t be this joyful,” Carl urged. “We have to keep our expectation low. Nothing is promising yet. Wray said, ‘He who is stranded in space, must find a well-known and recognizable sign to follow, and must never relay on hope.’ This solar system is oddly unknown to the ship. Besides, what if we didn’t find anything there? let’s not let our fading hopes take this solar system as an urgent haven.”
Bob rolled up his eyes in frustrating, and said, “What a bummer, indeed. What about the signals the radio picked?”
“It might be one of the ancient, and still-contact signals that roam the universe.”
“This guy is turnoff,” Mort murmured, “alright, lets settle this by voting”
They agreed to vote again. Jack, and Bob urged them to go, while Carl and Gael disagreed. Left only Kaiser who voted to enter that solar system while still not convinced. Then, they all doubtfully agreed to venture forth into this bleak and uncertain solar system. Mort averted the ship toward it, programed it to stop after eleven light hours, and sent the probing beam that he followed by lightspeed half an hour after.
Doubtful Find
The ship stopped a light hour ahead of the ambiguous solar system. They checked the ship’s navigation system, but nothing did it receive. Carl then ignited a remorseful argument reminding them that they shouldn’t gaspingly follow the uncertain. Moments later, while tiresome thoughts were spinning on their minds, Mort; who got no thanks, prepared them food. And while eating their cold tasteless sandwiches, the radio picked up another faint signal and played a song for brief moment! That brought in an assuring hope that made Jack joyful smile, “Heard that!? There must be something in there.”
“You should curb your enthusiasm, not all solar systems contain life.”
Bob felt irritatingly bothered as he rolled up his eyes again, “Carl, let Hope do its work. Let’s be optimistic for a little bit of time, please.”
“Am just saying. High expectation will hurt you”
Kais hummed, and said, “Mort, let’s give this solar system a try. Go ahead.”
“Listen, kiddo. Don’t act bossy on me. You are not the captain of this ship.”
“I know, just check this solar system.”
Mort sent the probing beams, and followed them half an hour after. Then, they entered the solar system to find it consist of eleven planets rotating a Sun, similar in size to theirs. They checked the first five planets which was scattered and parted away from each other. That took them about three toilsome earthly days to check, but all their efforts went in vain, for they found it all giant gas planets. Hope starts to fade, and their enthusiasm slowly began to fire back at them as the radio didn’t pick any other signal no matter how much time they spent standing still. Jack argued to check more planets, but Carl suggested to leave this solar system be. Then, Kais, who was thinking about his family when they stopped to agree on what is next, despairingly said, “Let’s check two more planets.”
They sat-off to the sixth planet which took them two earthly days to locate and reach. There, with a sad and depressed face, Gael, who was in deep despairing state, asked in thoughts the superior and omnipotent one, ‘God,’ to ease their path and help them;
“O, God: I am poor and needy… Make haste unto me
Thou Art My help, and Thou Art My deliverer
I beg Thine mercy, don’t forsake me.”
The sixth one was a small, spherical, and reddish terrestrial planet with a huge yellow spot in its middle and is orbited by two white moons. Mort stopped in front of it, checked the signals, but nothing did it receive again. Carl sighed, and said, “Does not seem a planet that contains water. No water equals no life. I told you we shouldn’t do this.”
Mort averted the ship’s direction, and was ready to leave for another one. But then, he noticed a glittering man-made object not far from him. It wasn’t clear for him at first, so he pointed at it, and asked, “What about that!”
“A satellite!” Kais wondered, “That’s a sign of life.”
“Y-Yea but—!”
“That’s another one!” said Bob who interrupted Carl.
“And that’s another one,” Gael pointed. “This planet definitely contains life. we have to land on it to find out.”
Carl ignored them, and went to check the ship’s UPS signals to find it showing nothing, then he hummed in confusing, saying, “Might be researching satellites. Since the beginning of the Human-Space-Invasion, they didn’t find any source of an advanced, nor even am intelligent free willing lifeform. the only thing that they’ve found were primitive animal-like creature…”
“Can animal build and lighten up cities?” Mort asked.
“Of course, not”
“This sure did,” he said after adjusting the ship direction to the plant’s dark side where cities lights were visible from that distant. Carl hummed, and said, “That is odd, if so, then, where are the spaceships? Mort, keep searching in the radio again.”
He did, and after couples of tries, he found various radio stations broadcasting news, music, sport and so with a language similar to theirs! Kais let out a relieving sigh, and smilingly said, “This is surly it. Let’s dig in and find out.”
Carl hummed in puzzlement as the lack of s
paceships didn’t make him feel comfortable nor did it make him feel fully convinced. For that, he proposed to cautiously land far away from the cities, and to keep low profile no matter what, till things get clear.
Curious Intruders
Mort circled the planet to search for a blank dark-spot in the planet side where the Sun is yet to cast its light upon. He then slipped through the planet’s atmosphere while calmly controlling the shaky ship till he safely landed on what seemed to be a desert, making the ship’s engine dust-storm the place. Dawn were yet to break, and the darkness made everything quite inconvenient when the ship calmed quiet. But hope glowed once again when they beheld some lights, most likely coming from a small town, in the far horizon on their left. They waited for the Sun to cast its light and uncover this foreign place. Mort prepared another meal to boost their strength and stamina. Every one ate silently, except for Bob who was still not content with the food despite the fact that he took a bite or two from Kais’s share. And after about two hours, the Sun divulged a vast golden semi-desert place. Everyone was eager to start this journey, but Carl halted them saying, “Wait! before we exit the ship, we have to know what kind of gases are there, the gravity force, the temperature, and the percentage of the oxygen in here.”
