Sitting there, talking to Eli like no time had passed was refreshing but also terrifying. For me it had been years since we last spoke, still fresh in my mind, but for him it had been decades. He was an old man and had spent more time in the Atlantis system going between the space station and its home planet than what he spent living on Earth.
There were many moments we just sat in silence sipping our drinks where he’d just stare at me — a relic of an old life. I guess we were both trying to figure out what questions were the most important to ask each other after such a warped period of time had lapsed.
I eventually began to recount the story of how I came to end up on the last ferry to depart Earth and the string of events that followed to lead me to that point of time with Eli in his office.
“So Salvation started it all,” muttered Eli as he started to flick through his notebooks in search of something.
“Started what?”
He kept rambling under his breath, flicking through all those pages until he registered what I said.
“You were the first Transporter to jump. The first to meet the Solari species. The first—“ He trailed off.
“To start war.”
“A war?” I scoffed.
Flustered in frustration at my questioning he scoffed back and mimicked me. Yep, he was still the same guy, just older.
“That’s not a very good argument Dr Wilson,” I said mockingly.
Eli took a few deep breaths, gaining his composure before choosing his next argument point.
“You had a battle around your new home planet in front of an audience of unknown craft and then started a bloody war with the Solari.
“Salvation is the reason we have to defend our system from —”
“Oh fuck off Eli,” I interrupted.
“A war with Solari would have happened eventually. They are too similar to us, besides, I saw a Solari woman on my way here.”
“Who, Sahara? The only one of them aboard this station?”
“Sahara?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the name.
“Yes yes it was a name we gave her when she arrived. It Seemed fitting considering, well you know.. hot desert planet”
“Hmm sure. Anyway, you can’t blame us for the other, uh aliens? Humanoids? Whatever. I haven’t even seen or met any so that’s not on us.”
After some back and forth bickering like the good ole’ days we decided to agree to disagree on the subject and I was happy to move the conversation forward to find out about Eli’s journey and what he knew.
Transporter Atlantis spent several years travelling through interstellar space before hitting the anomalies and jumped to the system now named after it.
They jumped right into orbit around the only habitable planet in the system, just like Salvation did except they didn’t have to deal with psychopath Fletcher and the Dominus like we did. Instead, they dropped their Civ-pods to the surface and then left to continue their research and mapping of the Atlantis system.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Being the primary scientific Transporter that it was they didn’t want to jump through the anomalies but instead wanted to study them while protecting their new home planet, amplified by the frequent unfriendly incursions into their system by the Solari and other species.
“Can we visit Atlantis?” I asked, curious to see what the planet was like and also wanting to veer the conversation away from war blame again.
“I believe that can be arranged. But there are strict protocols you have to adhere to Alex. Shenanigans are off the table.”
“Shenanigans?” I laughed.
“Your fighter craft contained data from Mortifera which was updated to our systems. I did my research once I heard one space-crazy Alex Carter was requesting a meeting. Curious and suspicious mind remember,” he said, tapping his finger against his temple.
He let out a yawn and pushed himself out of his old squeaky chair.
“For now, this old man needs a rest. Meet me back here in the morning and don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. Not even Layla your ‘guide’, it’s always hard to tell who she’s spying for these days.”
With that he motioned me out.
Waiting for me, and standing way too close to the door when it hissed open was Layla.
“Do you always creep so close to doorways?”
“Funny, I could ask you the same question,” she quipped.
She spent the next painful twenty minutes trying to pry the goss out of me about the conversation I had with Eli, which I kept shutting down much to her disappointment before her last ditch effort as we arrived at my temporary quarters.
“Want to invite me in for a drink?” She boldly asked.
I could only do what seemed fitting for the situation. I pressed the button to shut the door where it hissed to a slow close — the space equivalent of slamming a door in someone’s face.
…
After three hours of terrible sleep I made my way back to the Research District to meet with Eli where he then led the way to their own dedicated dock area. I guessed that it was for their research exhibitions to slip in and out of Atlantis with ease.
Entering through the airlock, we walked into what I could only describe as a small plane, though in reality it was much larger than just the area in which we entered. It had two rows of seats with a walkway in the middle that stretched down to the cockpit of the craft where ladders leading both up and down sat.
The bottom level was filled with gear. Scientific and military. While the top most level was entirely a research lab within the medium sized craft.
“A lot of firepower for a research vessel,” I said as I sat next to Eli in the copilot seat, a luxury afforded to me being the only passenger on today's journey.
“Well you know we wouldn’t have to have this if you didn’t start that war.”
“God let it go would ya.”
We both laughed and continued the banter as he ran through his undocking checklist and before I knew it we were leaving the station.
Excitement consumed me like a child as in just four short hours we would be coming close to Atlantis.
…
“So. Layla, my guide. She referred to me as a traveller and it seemed like a bad thing?” I asked.
“Those that are in a continual motion aren’t bound by the same laws as the rest who stay still.
“The perception of travellers is a bad one. Like they’re cheating life — skipping lifetimes — appearing immortal.”
What the fuck is he talking about, it’s making my head hurt.
“How long has this been going on? How many travellers are there?”
“That I don’t know. You’re only the fourth unexpected ‘traveller’ that has jumped to this system.”
A fresh breath of hope waved over me at the thought that Lilly had inadvertently become one of these travellers. As long as she kept searching and travelling I could find her without much time disturbance between us.
…
“Alex…”
“Alex. Wake up.”
“Wha— what is it,” I groaned.
I had drifted off to sleep as our conversation slowed down thanks to my shitty sleep prior to leaving the station, and we had just arrived in orbit around Atlantis.
Holy fuck.
“This looks almost identical to Earth.”
“It’s something else isn’t it,” replied Eli.
It sure was. While it was no Earth it held more similarities to it than Biterra or Nuvora. Its land was spread across vast areas of the, a mix of familiar colours and weather systems dotted across it, as well as prominent ice caps on either pole.
“Now before we go down there… the protocol—“
“Yes Alex it’s important,” he added as I mushed up my face in disgust at having to hear a bunch of rules.