“Will be, sir,” Mic said, and pulled out the manual controls.

Two handles with pivots where they met the wall came out of his station with a hiss. In such difficult maneuverings, Mic needed the computer-assisted manual steering, a feature Chance said would make or break the mission.

“Strength to your skill, Mic,” Corrin said. She looked like she could barely hold in her excitement as they neared the swirl of asteroids. She didn’t even buckle into her seat. All but Chance and Corrin had done so. Corrin just stood there with her arms crossed as if she was holding back the desire to dance with joy.

“Captain, will you take your seat?” Jacobson asked as she buckled in behind Chance, pulling out the folding seat from the wall below her station.

Chance waved her off. “I need to be on alert. Okay, Selms, nice and fast now. I’m taking control of speed and preparing to boost.” Chance did a little fiddling with the monitors, and he had control of ship speed and power. He needed to be constantly ready to shift to allow Mic to maneuver. The manual controls of this interplanetary ship were too complicated for even Mic to handle alone. So while Mic steered, Chance would control Bound’s speed.

Chance flipped a switch and a long, low sound came over the speakers, signaling a boost. “On my signal,” he said. “Three, two, go.”

As the ship got near the edge of the swirling cluster, Chance shifted power to the engines. Bound’s backside flared a bright red flash and the ship jumped forward into the Storm Star Cluster.

The cluster was appropriately named, and Chance had reason to fear going through it. Asteroids from the size of a child to half as big as Home’s moon orbited the neutron star in a never-ending race.

Mic dove straight forward. With a shift of direction and a side thrust from the engine, Bound turned and headed parallel with an asteroid a hundred yards across, twice Bound’s size. This was why they needed to boost. Had they gone slow and steady, an asteroid would have slammed into the ship from the side before they saw it coming. They had to get on course with the asteroids and fly alongside them for protection.

This was tricky. If they stayed too close to the outside of the swirling cluster the ship wouldn’t be able to lock on to the dead sun, unable to get a fix on Alturin without this strong relay point. But if they got too close to the thinner interior orbit, they’d get sucked into the gravity well and crash into the black star.

Bound sped alongside the shielding asteroid. Mic used a tactic he’d taught countless others back at the academy. He’d fly alongside a large asteroid and use it for cover while making the long, orbital journey. If Chance wasn’t fully concentrating on his task he’d have smiled. It was deathly exciting.

Out of nowhere, a jagged mass sped toward them. Chance had no choice but to thrust faster and hope Mic could compensate. “Boosting!” Chance yelled.

Mic took it easily. Cool and concentrated, he turned the ship and dove. In a flash, he was heading back up and Chance could see countless particles fly past and miss the ship. In the rise, Bound’s internal gravity had a delay in compensating and several of the crew members were nearly thrown from their seats. Chance used the monitors to hold him steady. As he shifted speed back to orbit pace, he saw Corrin out of the corner of his eye.

The Prophet hadn’t moved. She didn’t even readjust her footing when the gravity shifted. Chance made a note to be irritated by that later.

They made it about halfway around the neutron star and Mic found another asteroid to use for protection. But Chance was beginning to get worried by the loud crashing his monitors were picking up. Smaller asteroids bombarded the shielding one from their chaotic orbits.

“Jacobson, I need a scan,” Chance said.

“Punched in,” Commander Jacobson said as a little image around one of Chance’s monitors popped up. Smaller objects repeatedly hit the shielding asteroid. Nothing big.

All eyes stared at their stations to monitor power levels and course. Operator Myers, sweat flowing down his face but his attention steady, flowed coding into his station to plot their drive. Corrin, meanwhile, just stood there on the dense, low tan carpet of the Control Room, smiling.

“The asteroid won’t hold. Change course,” Corrin said in a motherly tone, still looking out the forward window.

“What?” Chance asked.

“Change course or we’ll die, please.” Corrin smiled at Chance.

Jacobson looked back and forth between the two, wondering if she should say something.

The captain was about to say that he didn’t need Corrin’s help when his monitors showed a large object heading toward Bound on the opposite side of the shielding asteroid. Chance didn’t hesitate. He shifted all engines to downward thrust.

With a lurch that threw all but Corrin off balance, Bound dropped straight down. Right above them a spiked asteroid collided with their former shield and shattered it to pieces. Had they been there a moment before, the ship would have been impaled.

Bound sailed around, dodging twirling bodies. Mic had been thrown off but he quickly recovered. Chance noticed a few impacts read on the power barrier, a shield of energy generated by shallow discs throughout the ship, but couldn’t pay attention to that now. Mic hurled Bound to the side as Chance shifted speed and a stadium-sized asteroid flew by, making the ship seem insignificantly small. Chance’s readings showed that rock wreaking havoc on the bodies behind them.

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“Ready drive!” Chance shouted as his monitors showed more minor impacts and Mic dodged more asteroids. They quickly approached the point where they would slingshot out of the cluster.

“Sir, I’m reading damage to the cortex shifters,” a young Dredger, Stevens, said from his control panel as he nearly hit his chin on his station, rocked by a quick maneuver. A flashing light on one of Chance’s monitors confirmed the damage.

Chance couldn’t trust any part of the ship to fail in a drive as long as the one they were about to take. “Prepare to turn back!” Chance ordered, and readied the engines. As he did, he saw Corrin turn to him with a frown. It was the first time she hadn’t been smiling the whole trip. It would have thrown Chance off balance if he hadn’t heard what was said next.

“Sir, with the damage we mightn’t be able ta charge for another drive,” Mic said, still handily steering around asteroids.

“We go or go Home!” Jacobson shouted over the vibration of the ship.

Bound approached the edge of their thrust. The ship shuddered with the massive amount of momentum.

Chance was not worried about that. Bound would hold. But going back… it would take months to repair the damage. And would they trust him to try again?

“We’re going to…” Chance said, but stopped short as he spotted an asteroid half the size of Home’s moon. It was right in their path and coming on like a comet. He went with his instincts, but knew exactly what choice he wanted to make.

With a quick side-thrust, they trekked a drive course out of the cluster. Praying that Mic could adjust, Chance engaged a full thrust and Bound zoomed, barely glancing the edge of the huge asteroid. The ship darted past asteroids like lightning as Mic didn’t even flinch with his brilliant maneuvers.

They blazed to the edge. “Engage drive!” Chance ordered.

As the last asteroid cleared, Chance barely paused to appreciate the untainted beauty of the outer extremities of space. He only had a slight moment before everything froze. Space through the windows stood still. Stars quit flickering. The monitors showed the cluster behind them stopped dead. And nothing approached them.

This only lasted seconds. As the exterior of the ship looked to be frozen in time, Bound’s crew simply listened to the sound of their heavy breathing. Chance leaned on the monitors and wiped the sweat from his brow. He knew all about this. He had named the Freeze Jump Phenomena. Even so, it still made him worry that those stars would stay frozen forever.

Like the melting of ice, the image in front of him began to fade. The blackness and seemingly dead stars slowly gave way to the multitude of flowing colors and darkness that was the sign of a ship in drive. Chance sighed in relief. He welcomed the colors of light rays in varying and brilliant shades of red, yellow, blue, green and blazing white flowing past his ship and blending to form other colors.

“Drive engaged, sir,” Dredge Stevens said, and visibly relaxed. All but Corrin did the same. She looked at the window with a renewed smile.

“On steady course, Captain,” Operator Myers said, and typed in a last code for the ship to stay steady. “And holding.”

“Good,” Chance said, and straightened up. “Lieutenant Borrigs, return to the controls. Selms, give me a damage report. If there’s any reason that Bound can’t make this drive in full, I want to know five minutes ago.”

“Will be, sir,” Mic said with a smile as he ran to the door. He scratched his head as he went, a nervous twitch. Most of the crew didn’t worry about that, and were very happy Mic didn’t twitch while flying.

Chance wanted to tell Mic he’d done well. The man was the reason they’d made it through. “Keep me informed regularly on your progress,” Chance said. But he knew he had to show the crew that this was just business. They needed to do their job, and if doing the impossible was their job then that was that.

“Well done, Mic. You are truly a great pilot,” Corrin said with a slight nod of gratitude. Of course, Chance had left out what a Prophet would say.

“We’re on our way, Captain,” Jacobson said with a smile, watching the multitude of colors speed past out the glass.

“Yes, we are,” Chance said while leaning on the monitors. Bound was in good shape. Chance didn’t dare show it, but he could hardly contain his excitement.

“How long to Alturin?” Corrin asked, walking smoothly over to Chance. She took a glance at one of the monitors then looked up at the middle-aged captain.

Chance always thought it was funny that this far away planet was named after the last battle ever fought on the planet Home, Alturin. The other planets, closer to Home, all had quaint names too. Some were named for the leaders of the peace makers. One was even named after a Red Prophet.

“The damage shouldn’t affect our travel time. The drive system works on only one speed,” the captain said.

“Very, very fast,” Jacobson added with a smile.

“Good,” Corrin said, relieved.

This peeked Chance’s curiosity, wondering why Corrin was so concerned about time. The powerful woman crossed her arms and gazed out the window with anticipation.

“I’ll go get my books and lay them out for the crew, Captain, if that’s alright. This drive will take a long time and inactivity can wear down the mind,” she said.

“We might want to turn back. The drive might not make it,” Chance offered as he pretended to fiddle with his monitors. The White Prophet barely showed a response to Chance’s obvious tactics at annoyance. She only watched what Chance was doing. “Of course, you can tell that, can’t you.” Chance wondered if Corrin would even tell him if there was something wrong with Bound.

“Is the ship okay to make the full drive? Or should we turn around?” Chance asked sternly, turning to face the unshakable Prophet.

Corrin closed her eyes to concentrate. Seconds later, she flared them open and smiled. “No worries, Captain. The power barriers have already recharged. You have a little fried wiring but it didn’t burn out anything. This shouldn’t present a problem,” she said.

Chance showed no response either, and intended to make sure that was all, or if her diagnoses were even true. “Good,” he said, and turned back to his monitors, rubbing his cheek and making a brushing noise against his stubble.

“I’ll get my books, then?”

Chance waved her off and Corrin started toward the door. She stopped halfway there and turned back to the captain, her face softened with concern.

“I wonder if it would be best if you got a little sleep, Captain. We have a big day coming soon and you don’t know what’s out there,” Corrin noted.

Chance was suddenly very annoyed by Corrin’s presence. He refused to look at her as he said, “You know, Corrin, if you want to act like my caretaker you could go wash dishes. Usually we have the lower ranked crew members do it but there’s been trouble because this whole crew is officers.” He looked up and smiled at her. “Do you need a job?”

Corrin didn’t flinch. “Sure. I’ll wash some dishes. It’s been a while since I’ve put my hands to good use. That is, I’ll do them if you tell me why you’re here.”