A Short Story by James A. Cox

Illustrated by Adam Frangione

Narrated by Gary Rehmeier

Chapter 1 

Journey to Abernathy

ANDY LARSON was a hardheaded Swede. He had to be, to be still alive. He hadn't been able to move anything but that hard head for what he estimated to be about three hours since he regained consciousness. And in that time he hadn't heard anything that led him to believe anyone else had survived the impact.

It was hard to believe that, only a few hours earlier, he and his three-man crew were hurtling through the vast expanse of space towards the little known planet of Abernathy. As Andy lay immobile under the wreckage, his mind slowly slipped again into unconsciousness, the cold, damp environment of the alien planet fading into the warmth of his ship, and the sounds of laughter.

“There she is!” Andy had exclaimed to his crew. All of them gazed expectantly at the small planet displayed on the monitor over their head. They were still several thousand miles away, but nothing could dampen their excitement at the chance to explore this remote world in the outer reaches of the earth’s galaxy. Suddenly they were seized with giddiness, and bounded about like children within the small confines of their ship. They were weightless, of course, and a small push of a leg or arm sent them careening from one area of the control cabin to another.

Judging by their behavior, one would think this was their first expedition, but all four were veterans of space travel. This trip, however, was the most distant voyage in their ten-year career with NASA. When they weren't laughing, each man felt the isolation press against them, like icy fingers reaching into their ship from the immense universe beyond.

There was much to do before the ship entered the orbit of the planet, and any sense of foreboding was lost in the busyness of preparation. The crew worked as a well-oiled unit, each man thoroughly trained in the multiple tasks required to operate a starship.

Every so often, Andy would stop and gaze out of the transparent portholes along the side of the ship. He never lost his awe of this vast universe, no matter how much he traveled its width and breadth. His eyes took in other distant galaxies, planets and suns. The points of light from far off stars shined steadily back at him, beckoning him to come and see. The twinkling effect so commonly seen on Earth didn’t occur in the reaches of space - there was no atmosphere to bend and refract the light rays.

NASA had finally conquered the vastness of space through the combination of standard propulsion engines for takeoff and landings and warp drives for interstellar travel. But it still took a long time to get to the planet Abernathy; they had been on their journey now for three months.

“Frank!” Andy called out. “Did you check the fuel levels on boosters one, two and three?”

“Aye, Aye, Cap’n!” Frank responded jovially. “Do you think I would forget such a thing?” He studied the digital readout. “Booster one - 70%. Booster two - 75%. Booster three - 80%. Why, we’re good to go, mate!”