Andrew and Linnie were spending some of their last free moments walking through the park looking for a place to enjoy the late summer sun. Despite a long and lovely walk while they looked for a new spot, they ended up settling at their usual spot on the top of Linnie's favorite hill. She loved this hill in particular, as it overlooked a beautiful pond, that sparkled each time the lightest breeze rippled its surface. She also loved the ducks that always seemed to be there joyfully diving in and around the lily pads. He loved this spot because from it you could see for a mile or so in any direction, the view being a vast wilderness other than the rare house in the distance slightly marring their view. They both loved to dream that they were alone in a vast wilderness and those handful of houses and the occasional dog bark or child's protest in the distance were their only reminders that their dreams weren’t reality.

They busied themselves briefly clearing the spot of debris and the unfortunate litter left by some thoughtless previous patron. Once complete, Linnie took the blanket Andrew had been carrying and mindfully placed it near the top of the hill. She took the time to ensure its alignment was perfect. Occasionally deciding she was satisfied only to stop him from sitting so she could move it ever so slightly, before repeating the process for what Andrew felt was the millionth time. Once she was satisfied with the blanket's position, they both sat down hip to hip with their legs slightly intertwined. While Andrew always thought she took too much time with these things, he had to admit that her attention to the small details added far more than it subtracted from the experience. Never more so than when he noticed she had placed it so perfectly that the few houses that scarred the view from the hill were strategically placed behind trees and a small boulder. So, they no longer distracted them from the dream of being so remote that they were truly alone.

“You were saying?” Andrew prompted, breaking their silence.

"Oh yeah, so Jack is super excited about the modifications I made yesterday and neither one of us can wait to field test them tomorrow. When Jack reviewed the changes, he was so impressed that he even joked that maybe I should have his job. Not to brag too much, but the simulations suggest we'll see a 6-fold increase in energy efficiencies, and I was able to manage it even at half the original engine volume. " Linnie proudly beamed her smile threatening to break out from the confines of her cheeks.

"Linnie, you know, pretty much everyone agrees with him and that the only reason you don't have his job is because of who his mother is," Andrew said, annoyance slipping into his tone.

"That's not fair at all, Jack is brilliant. I mean without the way he challenges my ideas; I'd never come up with half of this stuff. You've just never liked Jack because you think he likes me."

"He does, but more importantly it was still YOU who came up with the ideas and not him. Please, just don't lose sight of that," Andrew pleaded.

" I won't. I’m just saying that while his mom is one of the 19, he didn't just ride her coattails into his position. He's a great leader in his own right and he makes the whole team better too, not just me. I'm a great scientist for sure, but nobody has ever mistaken me for a team leader."

"You don't give yourself enough credit Linnie, when Jacks gone it's not like the team just falls apart. I just want to make sure you know you're the brighter of the two and the ideas are yours, not his."

"Don't worry, I know" she said with a consoling smile while placing her hand on his. "But back to the breakthrough. These changes look like they might enable us to meet our secondary goal of fitting a unit into the Sled. Can you imagine what a ship of her size could do with a modern jump drive? I mean she’s like what only 83 meters in length? I really hope the changes prove out and we get to see just how fast such a small ship can recharge my new drive bank design. I am betting she'll be able to fully charge her banks in an hour or possibly even less! I'm pretty sure less as our calculations show that even with six times her mass the Orinasa should be able to charge in 8hrs or less! Can you imagine what being able to do three jumps a day might mean for our mission? I still get goosebumps thinking this might mean we'll be able to travel to another galaxy, millions of light-years away, in the blink of an eye, and return home before the day is done! If it fits in the Sled, we could do that 12 times in a single day!"

"That's insane! Linnie just know that regardless of how things play out, as far as I'm concerned you're a sci-fi space magician who works miracles that could quite literally save humanity," Andrew said as he hugged her, playfully wrestling her down into a light embrace. After a short while, they separated. She was lying on his arm still with a small gap between them. After a bit, she continued to tell him the details of her changes. Staring at the clouds in the beautiful blue sky as she did so.

He loved how passionate she was and was enthralled by the way her whole person animated when she talked about it. Even with that, when the details she was talking about got a bit over his head, he found himself lost in a daydream. He knew he should be paying more attention to what she was saying, yet he could not stop thinking about how lucky he was to have been able to convince such a talented and gorgeous woman to marry him. Nor could he forget how in a number of days these moments would sadly be few and far between, if ever. Then their days would be consumed with the minutia of the mission launch and then the mission itself.

His daydreaming went on for quite a while before Linnie caught him. Lost in his fantasies, oblivious to the fact that she had gone silent, and had turned to her side to stare at him. Instead, he was lost dreaming about them finally starting a family and worrying about how hard that might be if they were doing so while trapped on an alien planet.

"You ever wonder if space ducks will be our biggest issue?"

Andrew instinctually replied, "Yes they very well could be."

When Linnie sat up and gave him a look that he was all too familiar with. He knew he had missed something important, and that she had caught him zoning out again.

In a tone of a woman who's too used to something, but is still very much annoyed by it, Linnie responded, "You just agreed that SPACE DUCKS might be our biggest issue out there, Andrew."

A message window appeared on the edge of his vision.

[Warning it seems you have agitated your wife. You might consider what you might have done to contribute to this situation. It is also advised that you take 4 deep breathes before responding. ]

You think so Ziggy thanks. Andrew thought

[Happy to help]

Andrew dismissed both messages, before desperately trying to weave back the tattered threads of their relaxing day.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming about us and how lucky I am to have convinced…"

"Look Andrew I get it I am talking too much about work…..as always. I just wish you could just be excited enough about my achievements to listen without zoning out."

"I'm sorry, I really do love it when you talk about this stuff. It's just over my head so it gets hard to follow and then my mind wanders."

"I get that, but this just increases my anxiety about us. It resonates too well with what was recently pointed out to me, your disinterest in my passion could be a sign that you married me out of the convenience of having someone in your life during our mission and not out of love. Since it was pointed out I have seen sign after sign that it probably is. That you like me well enough and decided to lock me down now before we're stuck in another galaxy, and you have competition," Linnie said the last part accusatorily while waging a desperate fight to choke back her emotions.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Another message window appeared on the edge of his vision.

[Warning sudden heart rate increase detected. You appear to be agitated. Warning: things said in anger can rarely be taken back.]

Oh really? I wouldn't have guessed. Thanks, Ziggy. Andrew thought before dismissing it and then jumped to defend himself, deftly avoiding the good advice from his implant.

"What?! No way, I married you because of how much I love you, not so I could get laid for the next two years. It bugs me that after all this time you still think so little of me. Let me guess it was Jack, wasn’t it?" Andrew said defensively.

"Why does it matter who it was?"

"It matters because he's been trying to get in bed with you since before we met."

"NO, he hasn't. He has a girlfriend and they have been together since before we settled here."

"A girlfriend who's not on the Orinasa and yes, Linnie, he has, and you know it. You just want to think better of him than that, so you purposefully ignore the red flags. Does he bring gifts to anyone else?"

"I stopped that Lather and you know that."

"But does he now or did he then, ever bring gifts to anyone else?"

"No, but that's because he was new and didn't realize how it looked."

"Yeah, sure Linnie that's why. I know you know he wants more, I just wished you'd admit it."

"You always do this. You've turned this around on me and made it about me and not about how you're not interested in me and are bored by my life's work," she said before she lost the fight and tears started running down her face.

"That's not true, it started because I got lost dreaming about the future with my wife and starting a family with her. You're jus…."

“Which wife is that exactly? Do you mean with me or your imaginary pornstar wife. You know the one you hope you'll find when we get back? Like the ones you used to watch before we got together. The ones who look better, aren't so career-minded, and you fantasize want to give you a baby or 10?"

"Do you seriously think that's what I want?"

"Whatever, can you honestly say it's not what you want?"

Andrew sighed knowing that this was going into very familiar territory, "Yes, I can Linnie. It's really not and it's past time you believed me about that. Look, I really was thinking about how you are the woman of my d…."

"You don't need to lie to protect my feelings I know you love me, but I am sure I am not the woman you had in mind when you used to dream of who you'd marry," she said in a softer almost defeated tone, rivulets of new tears forming before rolling down her cheeks and falling to the floor.

“It's only because I wasn't capable of imagining someone as awesome as….. "

Linnie cut him off again. Her whole demeanor had changed to seem emotionless and rigid. Even her voice sounded more like it was from a text-to-speech app, “You have experienced severe non-life-threatening damage. Attempting to wake you to allow you to potentially avoid further damage."

As she said this the landscape shifted dreamlike into the cramped bridge of the Sledovatel, aka the Sled. The bridge was impossibly bathed in sunlight. His Kata implant flashed warnings and showed a silhouette of a man with the head and left shoulder highlighted in yellow just to the right outside his normal vision. Linnie was also missing.

"LINNIE!!!!! LINNIE!!!!" He yelled even though the bridge was the size of his college dorm room, and he could see the entire thing without moving his neck. Right as he started to panic, the alarm bells squealed.

Linnie's same computer-style voice came from the comms "Consciousness restored, please make your way to a safe location before further damage is sustained."

*********

His eyes shot open as if he had touched an electric fence. Upon opening his eyes, he was more than surprised by what he found, that he was on the floor. Based on the throbbing in his head and shoulder and not knowing where he was, he assumed he had been unconscious. As he lifted his head to get his bearings, he found directly in front of him were two feet, and that a post was crammed into the left side of his neck. As his vision gained more clarity, he realized that everything was the same as the end of his dream except he had tried to tackle the main pilot’s station, and the bridge was washed in red instead of sunlight.

Working to extract himself from his odd position, he chuckled when he noticed the sheer number of warnings that floated just outside his normal vision. Two particularly caught his eye, as they were exactly what Linnie had said at the end of his dream.

[You have experienced severe non-life-threatening damage. Attempting to wake you to allow you to potentially avoid further damage.]

[Consciousness restored, please make your way to a safe location before further damage is sustained.]

I guess that’s why Linnie went all robotic. I wonder how long I have been down here.

To remove the distractions, while he tried to gain his bearings, he dismissed all the warnings with a thought. He knew he could get back to them when he wasn't staring at women's shoes and his damage silhouette wasn't lit up like a Christmas tree.

Just as the last of the warnings disappeared, the red emergency lights dimmed and his Kata implant, Ziggy, gave him the most unusual error he had ever seen from it.

[Unexpected Error: Battery malfunction. Charge extremely low]]

WTH, that's not possible? I don't feel hypothermic.

Andrew thought just as the bridge lit up in a painfully bright green light and the ship rocked as if it was in an earthquake.

[Battery function restored. Charge 100%. Please see an implant specialist immediately]

"That's me, I’m the implant specialist" he muttered to himself as he tried to get to his feet.

It was then that it dawned on him whose feet he had been laying in front of staring at. It was obvious as only one person on the bridge crew wore women's shoes. His suspicion was comically confirmed as Ziggy chose that moment to highlight both feet in identification brackets.

[Zoya Chaturvedi, Chief Pilot, Sledovatel. (Would you like to know more?)]

A wave of horror hit him when he realized exactly what she must have thought he was looking at. Hoping to save himself from as much awkwardness as possible, he wasted little time trying to extract himself from under her pilot's station, bumping his head twice on the way out.

[Minor cranial contusion detected. Skull fracture danger: High. Please avoid any further damage to this area]

[Minor cranial contusion detected. Skull fracture danger: High. To avoid permanent brain damage, it is advised that you find safety. It may be advisable in the future to wear a helmet when performing this duty.]

"Get OUT OF MY WAY!!!" yelled Zoya as she desperately tried to look around him.

Without thinking, Andrew almost jumped to move out of her way and closer to the wall. His reward for complying so quickly was a feeling akin to needles stabbing his ocular nerves.

"You know Lather I never took you for a perv. Nest trying that move, sure; but not you. I'm really disappointed in you. " Zoya’s face a mask of concentration, though a slight hint of a smile could be seen peeking through.

"Oh, shut it! Zoya, you wished I liked you like that," said Vladimir Nesterov, the burly co-pilot.

"Oh, sure Nest. Lather, I have to say, I've never been so happy they didn’t opt for the original Star Trek uniforms as some stupid people suggested. " Zoya continued, her voice calm and her eyes locked on the front view window. All the while, she deftly steered the ship.

"I would take it as a personal favor if both of you kindly turned your attention to getting us out of here and less on the banter. Unless you think the giant space whale assaulting us with its eyes is not worth your concern. Lather, good show not dying. Kindly report to medical and get off my bridge before you distract the crew further," said the calm British voice of Captain Rostron.

Ziggy, bracketing the captain as Andrew hazily glanced at him.

[Captain Arthur C. Rostron, commanding officer, Sledovatel. (Would you like to know more?)]

Wait, did he say a giant space whale with assault eyes? How hard did I hit my head?

[Yes, the Captain said that a giant space whale was utilizing its eyes to attack the ship.]

[You hit your head hard enough to suffer numerous injuries, please see Damage Silhouette in the top right side of your vision for more details.]

Andrew, ignoring the captain, spun on his feet to look at the view screen. Where he was greeted by the sight of a giant finless green whale. It was massive, dwarfing the Sled at least 3 to 1 and its six spider-like eyes, each set a different primary color, stared angrily at him as if he had said something bad about its mother. His focus on the monster outside was broken by the comical grease smudge in the shape of his smushed face on the window between him and the beast. He started to wonder how it got there, but before his mind wandered too far, Ziggy highlighted the whale-like creature outside with brackets and the message:

[Unknown life form, proceed with caution.]

Seriously, that's not helpful Ziggy. I would be more worried if you knew what it was.

Andrew thought before cutting himself off as the yellow and blue sets of the beast's eyes began to glow. Their light bathed the deck in a sickly green glow. In sync with the rise of that glow, the warning lights on the bridge dimmed again, this time so far that the glow from the creature's eyes combined into a green glow shade. Leaving the bridge bathed in a sickly green light.

"LATHER BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!" Capt. Rostron yelled right before all lights and displays winked out.

[Unexpected error: Battery malfunction. Charge extremely low]

The glow around the creature’s eyes coalesced into beams of pulsing yellow and blue energy. The light combined to make any retina that beheld them burn green for a few moments. He heard a deafening boom echo up from the aft of the ship when the beam connected with the ship.

The ship listed violently to starboard from the impact. The motion caused Andrew to be thrown off his feet and launched towards the open bulkhead which separated the bridge from the rest of the ship in the back of the room. Besides the surprised and disappointed face of Captain Rostron, as Andrew sailed over his head, Ziggy provided him with some boring in-flight entertainment in the form of three messages as he traveled from the front of the bridge to the back.

[Battery function restored. Charge 100%. Please see an implant specialist immediately]

[Main reactor breached, radiation risk high]

[Aft section breached. Bridge bulkhead door sealed]

The last one came almost comically moments before the sturdy bulkhead door slammed shut just before he would have flown, unharmed, through the opening. The last thing he remembered seeing was the word "CAUTION" written on the door before experiencing the bliss of unconsciousness for the second time that day.