Chapter 2

When the FTL engines engaged, I initially felt g-forces similar to those I felt on the rocket that carried me up to the Armstrong some two years earlier. Looking out the front port, I saw flashes of light and rainbows rushing past us. It was quite an impressive show.

The ship shuddered a bit, then settled down. I looked around and saw others doing the same. Apparently, we survived the initial engagement of the FTL engines. I looked on my board and saw everything looked good.

“Inertial dampers engaged, Captain,” the engineer said. “Warp bubble stable. All systems nominal. We have reached cruising speed.” That would be roughly twice the speed of light.

“Thank you, Engineer,” Leesa said. “Helm, steady as she goes.”

“Steady as she goes, aye aye, Captain,” the pilot said. There it is, I thought. We’re officially beyond the light barrier, traveling faster than anyone had ever traveled before. But there were still dangers ahead – many dangers.

“Forward sensors,” Leesa announced. I looked at my console. The forward sensors were designed to look ahead and spot any potential danger far ahead of us. The system would then compensate, making course corrections as necessary to avoid collision. It was designed to cover a 180-degree arc from port to starboard along the ship’s X and Y axis, and would extend to the front edge of the bubble. At the speed we were traveling, even the impact of a small rock could cause significant damage, despite the protection afforded by the armored hull and the warp bubble itself.

“Sensors report all clear,” I said.

“Navigator,” Leesa said.

“ETA to outer edge of Kuiper Belt 3.5 hours, Captain,” he said. At our current speed, it would take another six hours to reach the heliopause, an area filled with torrents of charged solar particles traveling at about a million miles per hour. Beyond that was interstellar space, but even then, our troubles would be far from over.

The next obstacle after that was the Oort Cloud, a spherical “bubble” believed to be filled with icy, comet-like objects and bits of leftover planetary residue called planetesimals. At our current speed, it would take five to 14 days before we reached the inner edge of that cloud. If the scientists were right, we could be dodging rocks in the cloud for up to eight months.

Fortunately, the scientists and engineers considered this when designing the warp bubble. The front edge of the bubble was neither blunt nor static. Instead, it extended beyond the craft, following our programmed course and could extend as far as half an astronomical unit. One astronomical unit, or AU, is roughly 93 million miles – the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

On top of that, the invisible bubble was designed to be quite dense, and in theory could deflect smaller objects much like a cowcatcher on an old steam locomotive. Despite all the tech, however, it still required eyes on hand to make the right decisions at the right time.

Let me put it this way. Forget all that crap you may have seen in the movies or on those old television programs. Interstellar travel is a bitch, and there’s nothing easy about it. Imagine what would happen if a spacecraft traveling twice the speed of light slams into a floating mountain the size of Mt. Everest. The ship would be instantly pulverized and everyone on board would be dead almost instantly.

Even if anyone survived the incident, they would be left alone waiting months, or years, for any kind of rescue. No pressure there, right? And you can’t just turn it off when your shift is over. It’s always floating around in the back of your mind.

Of course, Hollywood doesn’t ever tell you any of that. If you watched some of those old shows, you’d think the bridge crew sat around in plush deck chairs all day shooting the breeze as the ship plows forward.

The truth is, there’s a million things that can go wrong at any given time. As I was about ready to discover two hours after breaking the light barrier.

“Commander Jones,” I said when my wrist communicator beeped.

“Commander Jones, this is Chief Horowitz in sick bay. We need you down here as soon as possible, sir,” she said. Sick bay? What for? I looked at Leesa, who heard the communication. She nodded her head.

“Go ahead, Bill,” she said. Axel immediately came to my station, so I logged out and turned it over to him before leaving the bridge. I got to sick bay in record time. Dr. Pine looked up as I came in and motioned for me to join him in his office.

“What’s going on, Doc?” I asked.

“Your companion, Dr. Williams, went into afib when the ship went into light speed,” he said. “Fortunately, we were monitoring all the trackers when we saw her vitals go through the roof. We got her here as fast as we could. She damn near had a stroke.”

“What happened?” I asked him.

“Her blood work doesn’t look good,” he said. “Potassium and magnesium levels are way down, everything is way down. It looks like she hasn’t been following her proscribed diet.”

“She’s a very light eater,” I told him.

“That may be, but those diets are designed for a purpose,” he said. “Chief Horowitz is working up a new diet for her and she needs to double up on her supplements. She’s assigned to you, so that makes you responsible, Commander. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand. What about the next time we jump into light speed?” According to our flight plan, we were set to jump out of light speed about halfway to Alpha Centauri to stock up at a depot that had been sent ahead of us. “Maybe she should report here before we make the jump so you can keep an eye on her.”

“Dammit, Commander, I’m a doctor, not a babysitter,” he said. “But I think under the circumstances we can accommodate you. Just to be on the safe side.”

“Thank you. Can we go see her now?”

“Sure, come with me. By the way, I’m keeping her here for the next 24 to 48 hours to make sure she’s stabilized.” We walked into a small room with a bed. Kyra was on the bed with tubes going into her arm. Monitors beeped as they recorded her vital statistics. I could see her heart beat was still over 125 beats per minute and her blood pressure was a bit lower than normal. She looked at me with tears in her eyes.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Horrible,” she said. “When the ship jumped into light speed, I thought my heart was going to come right out of my chest. I’ve never felt that bad in my life.”

“Doc says it’s because you’ve been a bad girl and didn’t eat your veggies,” I said with a smile.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Are you mad at me?”

“Furious,” I said with a smile. “Doc says you’re staying here for the next day or so. Who’s going to make my hot chocolate, tuck me in bed and tell me a bedtime story while you’re in here?”

“I’ll be alright,” she said weakly. Dr. Pine shook his head.

“I’ll be the judge of that, young lady,” he said. “I swear, doctors make the worst patients.”

“So, can Bill come by with his guitar after he gets off shift?” she asked the doctor. He looked at me for a moment.

“I enjoyed your music at the party. You don’t play that electro-splooge crap do you?” he asked. “My daughters love that shit. I hate it, though. It’s nothing but porn set to noise if you ask me.”

“No, I don’t like it either, and I don’t play it,” I said.

“Good,” he said. “I suppose you can come by after your shift for a while. But I want her to get some rest and let her recover. No fooling around. You hear me?”

“I got it,” I said. He smiled and left the room. I sat down next to Kyra and held her hand. I felt a tear start to form in my eye and wiped my face.

“Don’t ever do that again,” I told her. “I just found you and I don’t think I could handle losing you.” She smiled weakly as she put a hand on my cheek.

“Don’t worry, you’re stuck with me,” she said.

“Better be,” I said.

“You’d better get back to the bridge,” she said.

“Are you sure? I can stay here with you if need be.”

“No, that’s alright,” she said. “Besides, I’m feeling a bit sleepy. They gave me something shortly before you came in.”

“Alright. I’ll come back after my shift,” I told her.

“You’d better,” she said. I leaned forward and gave her a kiss.

“I love you,” I told her.

“I love you more,” she said. I could see she was about to fall asleep, so I stood and covered her up before leaving. I made my way back to the bridge and resumed my work after Axel logged out.

“Everything alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, it will be,” I said. “Doc is keeping Kyra for the next 48 hours. She had afib when the ship made the jump into light speed.”

“Damn,” he said. “She’s in good hands. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks, I’m going to see her after my shift.” Shortly after that, we entered the heliopause and were treated to quite a light show as charged solar particles hit the warp bubble. From inside the ship, it looked like sparklers at a July 4th barbecue.

Shortly after that, the sparkle effect ended and I knew we were out of the heliopause. At this point, we were technically in interstellar space, but we all knew the worst was yet to come. After my shift, I went to my quarters and grabbed my guitar, then headed for sickbay.

When I got there, Kyra was awake and sitting up, eating a bowl of chicken soup. She was still a bit tired and I could see her vitals had improved somewhat, but were still outside what Dr. Pine wanted to see.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Better, but still a bit out of it,” she said.

“You missed one helluva light show,” I told her. “We made it through the heliopause and we’re now officially in interstellar space.”

“So what’s next?” she asked.

“The Oort Cloud,” I told her. “We should hit the inside of that in a few days. No telling how long we’ll be in that, since no one really knows how thick or how dense it really is.”

“Terrific,” she said sarcastically.

“Could be worse,” I said jokingly. “We could have locusts.” That got a chuckle out of her.

“So, what are you gonna play?” she asked. I opened my guitar case, pulled out my instrument and tuned it up.

“Well, there’s one song I ran across while I was in school and started messing around with it. You ever hear of a group called Jethro Tull?” I asked.

“Sounds familiar, but I don’t know what they did,” she said.

“They did a lot of stuff over the years,” I told her. “Let me see if I can get this right.” I began strumming my instrument as I went over the tune in my head. After a while I finally figured out what I needed to do, so I stopped for a second.

“This is a little acoustic tune called ‘One Brown Mouse,’ and it has a part for a flute. Maybe when we get back you can try playing it with me,” I said as I began to play the opening.

“That’s a cute little song,” she said when I finished playing. “I’d love to do that with you. What else you got?” I played an old Lobo tune, “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo,” for her and enjoyed seeing her sway to my music. Then I played a John Denver classic, “Take Me Home Country Roads.” I played a couple more for her and saw she was getting tired, so I stopped.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I’m perfect, now that you’re here with me,” she said. “I love hearing you play for me.”

“I love playing for you,” I said. “It really makes a difference when I’m playing for someone who appreciates it.”

“Didn’t your ex-wife like hearing you play?” she asked.

“Tabby? No, she barely tolerated it,” I said. “She thought the stuff I did was old-fashioned and childish.”

“Oh that’s right, she liked that electro-splooge stuff,” Kyra said. “Well, I suppose I can see her point. Given a choice between the beautiful music you play and the Kentucky-Fried Mutha Fugga’s timeless classic, ‘I’m Gonna Cum in Yo Ass,’ there’s simply no comparison,” she added sarcastically. I couldn’t help but bust out laughing. She laughed with me.

“I can tell you’re feeling better,” I said. “You’re getting your sense of humor back.” She smiled at that.

“Listen to me, Bill Jones,” she said. “I’m serious about this. Don’t ever stop playing for me. I love hearing you play and sing. I could spend the rest of my life listening to you play.”

“Careful what you wish for,” I told her. “You just might get it.”

“I hope so,” she said quietly. I looked at her as I kissed the back of her hand. It was official. I was in love with this woman. “By the way, you’d better get over to the galley and eat dinner. Otherwise, you’ll be in here with me.”

“That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” I joked. She laughed nervously.

“Don’t tell anyone, but that doctor’s bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired,” she said quietly. “And don’t even get me started on the chief.” Chief Horowitz had a well-deserved reputation as someone who took no guff off of anyone.

“I won’t say anything,” I told her as I put my guitar away. “I’ll swing by tomorrow morning and see how you’re doing. Sleep tight, okay?”

“I will,” she said, giving me a kiss. “Sweet dreams. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said. I went to the galley, ate dinner, then went back to my quarters. After I got there, Axel and Leesa both stopped by to check up on me and ask about Kyra. They told me they had been by sick bay earlier but she was already asleep.

“She’s doing better, thanks for asking. I think the doctor will let her go tomorrow,” I said.

“Good,” Axel said. “You keep an eye on her, make sure she follows her diet, okay?”

“I will,” I said. After they left, I laid down in the bed and drifted off to sleep.

...

I was in a small room. In front of me was an observation port that let me see into the corridor on the other side. Two people stood there, arm-in-arm, looking at me. They were both smiling. I recognized them right off. One was my ex-wife, Tabitha. The other was Commander Travers – Bull. How was this possible, I wondered. He’s dead. And she’s in federal prison serving a ten-year sentence.

I wondered what I was doing in the small room and tried to find the hatch release. I saw Bull shake his head and reach forward. Then I heard the sudden hiss of air and knew I was in an airlock. All of the air was rushing out into open space. I tried to scream and shake my head but I couldn’t. I looked down and saw I was ... naked. Why would I be naked in an airlock, I asked myself.

I looked back up and saw both of them wave at me. I heard them through the intercom.

“Bye now, cuck,” they said. “Bye bye. Enjoy Hell.” What? The next thing I knew, I was shot out into open space as the two of them laughed and extended their middle fingers. I instantly felt the cold space and knew I would die very soon.

I tried to hold my breath but it was difficult. I even tried using my knowledge of Grav Tac to get back to the airlock, but my muscles were frozen in place. I felt the pressure build up in my chest and knew that in seconds, my lungs would explode.

“Why are they doing this to me?” I asked myself. But it was too late. As I drifted further from the ship, I saw the two of them kiss. Then I saw Bull pull out the biggest cock I had ever seen on a man and offer it to Tabby, who knelt down to take it in her mouth. Then my lungs began to explode...

...

I bolted upright in the bed, gasping for air. I could feel beads of sweat on my forehead. I hadn’t had the nightmare since shortly before coming aboard the Enterprise. But this nightmare seemed different, somehow. For starters, this was the first time I was naked in the dream. And this was the first time I had seen the two of them engage in a sex act while I was being shot into space.

But why now, after all this time, I wondered. Surely, there was a reason for it. I looked at the other half of the bed and realized this was the first night since reporting aboard that Kyra hadn’t slept with me. Was that the reason, I asked myself. I knew I would have to talk to her about this. I looked at the clock and saw it was 4:45, so I wiped the sleep from my eyes and got up.

I showered, shaved and dressed, then headed for sick bay to check in on Kyra. When I got there, I was met by the night corpsman on duty. She pulled me into her duty hut before I could see Kyra.

“Are you alright, sir?” she asked. “I got an alarm from your sleep monitor not long ago. Were you having a nightmare?”

“Yes, I was,” I told her. “It’s alright, I’ve had this nightmare before.”

“We have white noise generators if you need one, sir,” she said. “If you like I can set one aside for you.”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, but thanks anyway,” I said. “Is Dr. Williams awake?”

“Yes, sir, she is. The other duty corpsman is getting her breakfast now. She should be back soon. If you like, you can go see Dr. Williams now,” the corpsman said.

“Thank you,” I said. I went into Kyra’s room and saw she was already awake and sitting up in bed.

“Good morning, sunshine,” I told her. She smiled and looked at me.

“Good morning yourself,” she said. “You’re up early.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” I told her.

“Nightmare?”

“Yeah, how do you know?” I asked.

“I can see it on your face, and I heard you talking to the corpsman. Bad?” I nodded my head.

“Worse than normal,” I said quietly.

“We need to talk about it, you know,” she told me. We had talked about it before, but not in any great depth. “So, what was different about last night?”

“You,” I said after a few moments.

“Me?” she asked. “What did I do?”

“You weren’t there,” I said. “Last night was the first night we hadn’t slept together since I came on board.”

“Well, we’ll definitely have to talk about this when I get out of here,” she said. Just then, the other duty corpsman came in, pushing a cart with Kyra’s breakfast. She put the tray on the bed stand so Kyra could eat.

“Oh my God, I can’t eat all this,” Kyra said as she looked at the breakfast, which consisted of a large omelet, bacon, toast, cream of wheat, juice, milk and coffee. “I’ll get big as a house.”

“I guess we’ll just have to work it off of you,” I said with a smile. She looked at me and smiled.

“Is that a promise?” she asked.

“You got it,” I said.

“I’m going to hold you to that, you know,” she said. The young corpsman smiled as she listened to our banter.

“The doctor said to make sure you eat everything, Dr. Williams,” she said. “He even told me to feed you myself if necessary.” Kyra looked up at her.

“That won’t be necessary, corpsman, I assure you. I can feed myself,” she said. The corpsman smiled back at her.

“I hope so, Dr. Williams,” she said. “Dr. Pine won’t be very happy if you don’t follow your diet. And you don’t want to see him unhappy, believe me.”

“I believe you,” Kyra said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a good girl and eat all my food. Even if it makes me fat as an elephant.”

“That won’t happen, Dr. Williams,” the corpsman said. “Your diet was designed specifically for your needs. Well, if we’re under control here, I have other things to do.” I nodded my head and the corpsman left. Kyra took a few bites and started to push the tray away.

“Not so fast, dear,” I said. “You need to eat everything.” She looked up at me and pouted. “Sorry, that’s not gonna work.”

“Alright, alright,” she said. “I’ll eat everything. But I never want to hear you complain when I can’t get through the door.”

“Never,” I said, giving her a kiss. “I’d better go grab my breakfast and get to work. Think they’ll let you out of here tonight?”

“God, I hope so,” she said.

“Me too,” I said. “I’ll swing by after my shift. Love you.”

“Even if I get fat and ugly?” she asked.

“I’ll always love you,” I told her. “And you’ll never be fat and ugly.”

“Good answer, spaceman. I love you too,” she said, giving me a kiss in return. I left sick bay and ate some breakfast, then went to the bridge.

“How’s Kyra this morning?” Axel asked when I reported to my station.

“Better, thanks for asking,” I said.

“Good,” he responded. “You sleep okay last night? You look a bit tired.”

“Had a bad dream, nothing I can’t deal with.”

“Let me know if you need to take a break,” he said. “I need everyone at 100 percent. Graveyard shift already reported encountering some small objects. We may be entering the Oort Cloud sooner than we thought.”

“Terrific,” I said. After our morning briefing, I resumed my post and continued working. Over the next eight hours, we encountered a few small objects, but the ship’s crew and systems performed perfectly. After my shift, I went to see Kyra and found that Dr. Pine was releasing her from sick bay.

“Her vitals are perfect and she seems stable,” he said. “But you need to make sure she follows her diet and exercise plan. That’s right, doctor, I said exercise,” he added, looking at her. Kyra nodded her head in resignation.

“So not only are you gonna make me fat, but now you want to torture me,” she said. “Terrific.”

“It’s not that bad, Dr. Williams,” he said with a smile. “I understand the Commander here has a belt in Grav Tac. Perhaps he can help with your exercise regimen.”

“I think we can manage that, Doc,” I said with a smile.

“Wonderful,” Kyra said. “You’re gonna pay for this, you know that?”

“I’ll take my chances,” I said.

“I want to see you in seven days for a follow-up,” Dr. Pine told her. “And don’t think you can skate on your diet and exercise plan. I have eyes all over this ship, you know.”

After dinner, we walked back to my cabin, where Kyra changed into something more “comfortable.” She came back out with a couple cups of her hot chocolate and we sat on the couch.

“I missed you last night,” I told her.

“I missed you too,” she said. “Tell me about the dream you had last night.” She listened quietly as I recalled it. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes when I finished.

“Well, doc,” I said. “What’s your prognosis?”

“You say this is the first time you’ve been naked in that dream?” she asked. I nodded my head.

“Interesting. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung believed our dreams represent unfulfilled wishes, and I can understand that hypothesis. I tend to believe, however, that some of our dreams are the mind’s way of processing our thoughts and feelings. Generally speaking, being naked in a dream could indicate some level of vulnerability, or it could mean that you feel some aspect of you could be exposed to ridicule or disgrace. Tell me, do you feel any guilt at all about what you did on the Armstrong?”

“At this point, no, none,” I said, shaking my head.

“So, you feel no guilt whatsoever about ejecting your former first officer out of an airlock at all?” she asked. I shook my head.

“None whatsoever. I even wished my ex was with him when it happened,” I said. “At the time, I knew it was either him or me. For some time, I wondered if there was some other way it could’ve been resolved. I began to wonder if maybe I should’ve called security. But I knew they would arrive too late. You didn’t see the look of hatred on his face, Kyra. He was determined to murder me. What made it worse was him telling me it was Tabitha’s idea.”

“And her reaction to what happened?” Kyra asked.

“She turned on me like a feral cat,” I said. “Said she hated me. When I talked to her in the brig later, she claimed to love me but loved fucking him at the same time. She claimed she knew he was going to murder me, but didn’t know how. Worse yet, she never told anyone. How can you love someone you want murdered?”

“Do you believe it was her idea to have you killed?” Kyra asked.

“Deep down in my gut, yes, I do. I could see it in her face. But it could never be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in her court-martial.”

“How did you feel about that?” she asked.

“Like I had been betrayed twice. Actually, three times. First by her, then by my own superior, then by the system.”

“But she’s in prison, Bull is dead, and you’re here, third in command of humanity’s first real starship, going where no one has ever been before. Surely you can get a measure of vindication from that,” she said.

“I suppose you’re right,” I said.

“But there’s more, isn’t there?”

“Yeah. After the incident I swore never to get that deeply involved with another woman ever again. I never took a vow of celibacy, I just decided I would never let myself fall in love with someone like I did with her. I couldn’t go through that level of betrayal and pain again,” I said.

“And then you met me,” she said.

“And then, I met you,” I repeated quietly.

“I can see several potential possibilities here, Bill,” she said. “I think we need to explore this a bit deeper. I want to help you, Bill. I CAN help you. Do you trust me?” I looked at her.

“Yes, I do,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “Do you remember me telling you about the work done by Larry Wilder?”

“Yes,” I told her.

“Well, the tests I helped create were largely based on his research. I think I told you that. But what I didn’t tell you was that Tabitha’s name was no where on your compatibility list,” she said.

“So we were never genetically compatible?” I asked.

“That’s right. In fact, I would say that your relationship with her was doomed from the very beginning.”

“I guess we never really had a chance, did we?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said.

“Maybe this test of yours should be a requirement for anyone who wants to get married,” I told her. She chuckled.

“That may not be such a bad idea given the extremely high divorce rate both in and out of the service,” she said. “I will tell you this, Bill.”

“What?”

“I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you. Your pain is my pain. Understand?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I said.

“Good. I’m glad we talked about this. I would like for you to keep a log of your dreams. Good, bad, indifferent, it doesn’t matter. Make your log entries the second you get up so you can remember as much as possible. We can take some time out and discuss them later, alright?”

“Okay,” I said.

“And if you have that nightmare again, you let me know right away. Promise?”

“I promise.” She leaned in and gave me a kiss.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said. “Now, why don’t you take me to bed so we can make up for last night?”

“Your wish is my command,” I said as I scooped her up in my arms.

The next twenty five days were hectic. We officially entered the Oort Cloud and everyone on board was on pins and needles the whole time. Fortunately, the ship and crew performed perfectly, thanks to the many drills Leesa had put us through while we were at Galileo.

Yes, we encountered quite a few objects – mostly small rocks and chunks of ice. The largest object we logged was about the size of the Empire State Building, and the system easily dodged it by more than 10,000 kilometers.

In the meantime, Kyra was cleared by Dr. Pine, but he still kept her on her diet and exercise regimen.

We finally cleared the cloud and found ourselves in the expanse of interstellar space. Our next objective was known as Checkpoint One, an unmanned vessel that included a subspace relay and several storage containers launched about a year or so ahead of us.

The communications officer sent the signal that would activate the ship’s automated beacon. If all went well, we would start receiving pings within the next month or so.

Now that things had settled down to a steady roar, I decided to start the Grav Tac classes Leesa suggested at our introductory dinner. Kyra joined, as did a few members of the crew. It was a good way to unwind from the day and get in some much-needed exercise. As time went on, the class grew from five to seven, and then to ten. I decided to cap it off at that due to the limited space in the gym.

I also spent time exercising with Kyra on the treadmills and the stationary bikes. At first, she found the exercise a bit difficult, but as time went on, she built up a great deal of strength and endurance. Of course, that helped her in the Grav Tac classes. I also noticed a difference when we made love.

She had also begun working with Dr. Pine, counseling crew members as necessary. When she wasn’t working out or counseling, she worked on her second doctorate.

As Kyra suggested, I began keeping a log of my dreams on the computer in my cabin. I never had the nightmare again, but I did have a couple dreams about Tabby that were rather odd. In both of them, she was in the cockpit of a small spacecraft and her appearance had changed. Her hair, which used to be long and thick, had been cut severely short. Now, she sported a crew-cut, much like what Bull used to wear.

Her face had also changed, and was hard, with sharply defined features. Her eyes were dark, almost black, and she had pins sticking through her cheeks. There was nothing attractive about her at all. She didn’t say anything, and I don’t remember what she was doing, but I remember experiencing a bit of dread seeing her. It was almost as if she was intent on finishing the job her and Bull started.