Nightfall

I took control of the Rider, as we were spat out the other end, through a black hole a billion times bigger than Atlas could ever be. It was a zillion times harder to navigate, as we skidded across the accretion disk like a frisbee. Lana scrambled, as a big chunk of debris flew inches past the nose of the Rider. Batholomew held her tightly, while Jude screamed my ears off. Was he even wearing his mouthpiece? A little to the left and we would be space debris ourselves. I sighed and shifted gears, giving the Rider everything to get us free of this monster. Little by little, we swam through the accretion disk and finally entered open space. I glanced at the front port window and saw a frightening sight. The stars around us were winking from existence.

“Alberta did say it would be different,” muttered Lana as she took off her mouthpiece, and stared out her port window.

“Different? There’s different and then there’s whatever happened here, cyborg,” jeered Jude as he gazed out at empty space.

Hmm, maybe not so empty as the beginning of a new era.

I caught the glow of an accretion disk, and if I wasn’t mistaken there probably was another farther along. I had studied this. The Degenerate Era. Where the stars stopped shining and black holes were the last scions of space. How in the hell were we in the old universe? It was thought to be impossible to travel back into the last universe.

“Communicate with NR space station and tell them we made it cuz,” said Bartholomew.

I grit my teeth. “Sure,” I muttered.

Jude whooped, while Bartholomew and Lana celebrated on the couch seats. Nice. I was never sitting there again. I tapped into the line for space control, but all I got was eerie silence as if nothing existed in this universe but us. We were on our own. I turned to face the screen. Somehow a yellow beacon was still transmitting.

Can we even return home? What if we’re trapped in a dying universe? Then what?

I shook slightly.

“Captain? Are you alright?” asked Lana her hazel eyes wide and wet.

Pull it together for her sake at least!

“Y-Yeah I’m fine,” I looked up and shook the wide-eyed daze from my face. “Space command is out of our reach. It seems we have traveled too far for a signal.”

“How far out are we ?” Bartholomew asked.

“Really far,” I muttered gazing out my port window, and watched the firefly glow of a nearby star extinguish.

“Shouldn’t we follow the blinking light? muttered Jude, pointing to the yellow pulsing beat on the screen.

“I don’t think we should…” I began.

“Right?” he insisted, grinning that half grin of mischief. I couldn’t refuse him. He had dirt on me, real nasty dirt and I saw the way he was glancing at Lana. She was the last I wanted to know about my past.

“Right,” I said grabbing the steering gear and pivoting left toward where the signal dictated.

I hope I’m not making a big mistake.

It was eerie to see quadrant 11, our quadrant, so silent. Usually, the intergalactic organization was up and at ’em checking the passports of those distant races allowed on our planet. Our question as to if we were alone in the universe had been answered a while ago. There were no space outstations, no food courts or malls, not even the little stand I loved visiting at lunch hours and was probably responsible for half my weight gain. It was a cold and empty galaxy. As I moved closer to our planet NR 1, I had to fight down chills at the fact that it might not even be there. Something else would be. Earth.

I’d learned of the boiling sun rays and the massive sun exposure. It would have dried the oceans and killed off all the plants and photosynthesis. Humans would be baked to death. The atmosphere would have been burned away. Yet when we arrived it was to a dark and murky solar system. Saturn had no rings, and Jupiter’s moons were gone. Mars had a huge ring around it and finally, Earth. Earth seemed to have a protective lining around it that glowed blue.

Jude gasped and squashed his face against the port window. “The planet is regenerating! Amazing! Nothing like this has ever been recorded, alluded to but never proven. Something must be helping it grow,” he said his breath fanning the port window. I rolled my eyes. Leave the biology geek to get excited about atmo regrowth. I was wary of what could be helping it grow back. I checked our fuel gauge and groaned. We had to land now. The two black holes had eaten up our fuel. Did I risk landing on a forgotten planet? I had no choice. I flipped the thrusters on and steered us down.

At first, the blue lining didn’t want to let us past, but something made it pulse and pull back a bit. I kept my eye on it as we descended. I should’ve kept my eyes on the ground instead. Everyone screamed as we crashed into a tree, a bough hitting the wing with a bang. Everything had been considered dead on this planet, and while it was darker than NR 1, it wasn’t dead by a long shot. Brown snake-like vines curled around us the deeper we went, and little black Sakura flowers were blooming on the trees. With a hiss, we landed with a jolt and a spark of electricity as the doors tried and failed to open.

“Great, how are we supposed to open the door? asked Bartholomew.

Jude snorted. “Don’t we have a mechanic?” he asked, pointing to Lana.

“I can’t be near electricity, remember idiot? Cyborg?” scoffed Lana.

I sighed and checked the survival bag all pilots were given, knowing I wouldn’t find anything useful there. I grabbed my bag and searched through the stash of goodies I kept at hand in case I was called in for a quick job by Jude. I took a small cylinder tube filled with an acidic compound that would eat through the mess of wires, and let me rebuild them to my specifications. I took out some extra electric wires, as they would be needed, and a bag of connectors. They were small round bands that stopped the flow of electricity to someplace unwanted and connected the electrical wires to one another. I checked the oxygen we had. It was enough for this job.

I stood and headed for the ship’s electrical unit. It was in the far back. I knelt and extracted the lid and picked up the electrical jam with a glance. Lana gasped when I revealed the illegal acid bottle. I winced. Sure pilots could afford the stuff and the wires and connectors but not many had the mind to buy them, relying on the space teams to fix things for them. I thought that was a stupid thing to do, and would handle my own stash of equipment. I graduated. I never thought to make pilot at nineteen still underage for the acid.

Just like you never meant to become a hotwiring piece of trash right?

I shook those thoughts out and concentrated on one of my specialties. A few drops of acid were dropped into the electrical wires. I had separated the oxygen and lights from the mess. As soon as the wires were free, I got to work peeling and clipping wire lengths, administering the connectors to hold them in place. It took me thirty minutes, and sweat was rolling down my neck as I connected the last connector in place. The doors shook, and then banged, open. I smiled sheepishly and covered the electric unit.

“Well, it worked,” I said, standing and dusting my hands. All the wire had been used up. I had loads more but was low on the acid and connectors. Hopefully, this was the last time I ever had to hotwire the Rider.

I stood on an alien planet once colonized by us. Humans. We were the first intelligent beings to be born on this planet. I looked around, flashing my small flashlight into corners and watching the Sakura ooze black substance every time the light hit it.

“Uh! That’s creepy,” said Lana as we traipsed around the ship.

“It sorta looks like blood,” said Bartholomew.

“It’s probably nectar from the flower,” stated Jude putting out a finger as if to touch the stuff. I sighed and yanked the finger back before shoving a fallen branch at him. “Here. W-We don’t know what that stuff is.”

Jude glared at me and snatched the fallen branch from my hand. He smirked and turned around, poking at the black sap. The end of the stick began to dissolve in bubbles of acidic ooze. I winced.

“To think that would have been your finger if the captain hadn’t saved it,” mocked Lana while Bartholomew turned white.

“Let’s not touch anything we come across from now on,” he muttered walking slightly ahead.

I shuffled along behind my cousin. I was fine letting him have the front. That way if anything dangerous came, the one with combat practice was safe from harm, while the linebacker more docile than Bambi, could take anything on. A perfect solution to my problems!

“C-Can you shoot a gun, Bart?” I asked damning my stutter.

“No. Why? Can you?”

“Several, “ I muttered and quickly pushed the lug behind me.

“IF we get attacked it’s my responsibility as captain to ensure everyone’s safety,” I said.

“Really? Well, you’re doing a smashing job, considering my girlfriend is ten seconds from cleaning Jude’s clock out,” he said smiling. I turned to find Lana’s fists clenched, and dark energy streaming off her in waves. Bartholomew patted my shoulder, before continuing on while I rushed to the scene. A pissed-off cyborg was not in control of its dark energy, and Jude knew that! I raced to the point of collapse. Jude was backing up, scared. A reasonable action finally! I had to get control of Lana’s framework, or bubye Jude, not that I’d cry--ever for his sake.