Chapter 5

Time passed, but the crew of the Nutmeg never forgot their missing shipmate. Each time they passed by the nebula they would stop and hold a small ceremony for her.

Twenty years later, the Nutmeg was moving slowly towards the marker buoy when Brahms, who was idly fiddling with her view screen suddenly yelled, "What the fuck?!" startling everyone.

Captain Cook let his legs fall off the railing and sat up in his chair. "What is it, Louise?"

"I thought I saw a hole in the nebula, Sir."

"A what?"

"A hole, Sir. It was there for a second, and then it vanished."

Captain Cook got out of his chair and put his hand on her shoulder, while a couple of the other bridge crew made whispered comments. "Louise we all miss her, but..."

"I'm not making it up, sir. Please, sir, I wouldn't do that — not about this."

Captain Cook sighed. He believed her, but they'd searched and searched, and found nothing. "Alright, Louise, let's take a look. Helm, reverse course, maneuvering thrusters only."

For several minutes, they waited silently while the main view screen showed the view that Louise had been looking at. It felt like hours while the ship slowly backed up. While it did, the bridge filled with crew-members, all wanting to know what was going on.

They continued to wait in silence, until Louise Brahms stood up with a yell, "There, there it is!"

On the view screen was what looked like a small narrow tunnel going through the nebula.

"Full stop!" the Captain ordered.

Collectively, they stood in shock at the sight, until Louise's computer beeped. Louise looked at it and then dropped into her seat.

"What is it, Lou?" the Captain asked.

"The sensors are detecting a habitable planet, sir."

"What? Confirm!"

Louise re-checked her system again, and said, "Confirmed, sir, habitable planet course xx by xx."

The Captain also sat down in shock. They were so surprised by the finding of the channel and a planet that no one said or did anything for several minutes. Then MacGregor said softly, "She went down a bloomin' rabbit hole."

That statement seemed to energize the crew in a way they hadn't felt since the accident.

The Captain shook his head as he covered his eyes with his hand. "I should have known," He said with a groan.

"The Lass does ave tha' kinda knack, sir," MacGregor said with a grin.

The Captain reached out and grabbed Lou's face. He gave her a big kiss and let her go, saying, "Good job, Lou! You just earned your bonus!"

The others on the bridge laughed and cheered.

Lou was smiling as she blushed.

"Alright, people! We've got a crewman to pick up. Christine, get a message to Anteater and Pog. Tell them what Lou has found. Then leave a marker buoy for them. And tell Pternon we're going to be late. Chris, set course for that planet, best speed. Martha, get volunteers for search parties. Stiv, Angie, make sure the shuttles are ready to launch as soon as we're in orbit. Let's be about it people! We've got a shipmate to find."

"AYE, SIR!" they crew replied excitedly as they ran to fulfill their orders.