Paul awoke in terror. He sat up immediately, screaming in fright. He glanced about the room in a frantic state, and wailed like a frightened child. He leapt out of his bed in a panic, shoving himself into the nearest corner of the room and cradling himself. That faceless, shadowy nightmare of a being was no where in sight. There was no one in his room (other than himself). He fell to the floor crying and curled up into a ball.

It took him a few minutes to get over the traumatic event. Once he was calm again, he stood back up, approached the wall on the opposite side and tapped on it with his thumb. A section slid open and revealed the bathroom contained within; It wasn’t very big, just a sink, a sonic shower, and toilet, an all-in-one room that no bigger than a closet. He tapped his thumb on the micro-sink’s faucet and splashed the small amount of water coming out of it onto his face. He tried to cool down, bringing his thoughts back into focus once more.

“Let it go,” He repeated over and over. “Just let it go…”

He checked the date and time on the built-in digital wall clock above and gave look of surprise. Three days had past since he took to his bed, three days of non-stop sleeping. That was far too long. He had to eat and re-hydrate. He quickly turned on the tap again, cupping the water and gulping it down. The feeling of it passing through his veins was refreshing, his body definitely absorbed it quickly, causing him to scoop up more as fast as he could.

“Three days…” He gasped while wiping his mouth clean. “Geez, that’s the most I’ve ever done. I need to increase the alarm strength. It didn’t wake me this time.”

No sooner had he stepped out of the bathroom, when a chime singled over head.

“Yes?” He responded to it, looking up.

“It’s Doctor Yazaki Yumi,” A female voice replied over the speaker. “Are you okay, Paul?”

“Yumi?” He questioned to himself. “Why is she here?”

The door to his place slid aside to the right, and the young Japanese female doctor stood there looking at him with concern. Paul took note of her youthful appearance every time they met. He still assumed she was around his age, though, he couldn’t be quite sure of that fact. Genetic manipulation and cellular regression was almost a constant in this era. Still, he knew full well not to pry about, even if he curious to know, Yumi was still the authority over him, and he had to constantly remember that fact.

“Paul?” She said, again with concern. “Where have you been?”

“Shit…” He thought. “I was supposed to meet her a day ago for my mental examination.”

He quickly apologized to her and motioned for her to step into his place. She nodded in acknowledgement and crossed the threshold. Before the door closed, Paul apologized again.

“I’m sorry, I must have over slept. Please forgive me, I hope this won’t affect my navigation licence.”

Doctor Yumi appeared displeased, at first, but then gave a slight nod, giving him assurance it was fine. She wore an all-grey and black medical smock, but sleeves of her light blue one-piece suit she wore underneath was partially visible. Yumi took a seat by his bed, and studied him carefully as he continued standing there with a bewildered look.

“I’m concerned about you.” She stated. “You’ve put in far more time than any other Mindskpper in the fleet. Sleeping longer is a side-effect of mental exhaustion. Perhaps it would be best to take you off of it for awhile…”

“No!” He snapped in reaction. That surprised her and recoiled from his abrupt voice. He apologized again for his rudeness, and sat beside her, quelling his aberrant behaviour. “What I mean to say is, I’m fine, I don’t really want to take a break. It’s not about being tired or mentally strained.” She cocked an eye brow at him. He conceded with a nod. “Okay, maybe a bit. But, I’ve been really getting better on my remote viewing destinations. I can almost touch the surfaces and smell the atmospheres of those worlds. The more I do, the greater the accuracy we’ll have in reaching those planets.”

“But your mind is not the only one transporting itself to those places.” She said, crossing her legs reflexively. “The lives of all those on-board are also with you on the journey. If you should have schism or look too far ahead… say into a supernova or a pocket of radiation you weren’t aware of, you and all of them would perish.”

He conceded again to her wisdom. He wasn’t really thinking too much about that. He has heard of some Mindskippers having wandering thoughts or distractions that lead to near disasters, but nothing to the level what she was on about. There were jumps to places that weren’t entirely accurate, or were so off-course that the Mindskipper had to return to the point of their original point of launch. It was very hard for some to keep that level of focus. But not Paul, he was always looking to perfect his RVL’s (Remote Viewing Leaps) to nearly one hundred percent accuracy. The most he or any could do was about eighty-percent, possibly ninety, which was still fairly on point, but Paul felt he could make it better, more exact.

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He gave a drawn-out sigh and rubbed his face. “That hasn’t happened to me so far. So, I think I’m doing pretty good here. I just feel the more I can do the better I’ll be.”

“Paul,” She said, placing a hand on his. “You need the rest. I bet if we looked at your brainwave activity, we’d see signs of mental degradations. All Mindskppers need some RnR once and awhile. You’re important to the fleet… and to me.”

Yumi recoiled her hand as she caught herself admiring that fact. It was something she hadn’t wanted to say, but, ended up putting it out there nonetheless. Paul was oblivious to it. He hadn’t picked up on her last words and ignored it. He stood up and arched his back in a stretch.

“Maybe I should take a bit of time to relax, I guess. It takes a lot to project a ship and myself to the other side of the galaxy.” He snickered lightly and grinned at her. “I”m the cosmic horse with the buggy attached to it, eh, doc?”

Yumi was still slightly flustered from her prior words, she gave a coy smile and nervously agreed. She instructed him to visit the medical bay at his earliest convenience and left the room abruptly. Once she was gone, Paul gave a confused look.

“Was it something I said?”

* * *

One hour later…

Paul changed his outfit and decided head off to the mess hall for some food. He still hadn’t eaten yet, and his stomach was constantly reminding him of it. He denied to take a short cut and go through an area that was usually light of personnel. Avoidance was best, of course, but, Paul hated staring at nothing but bulkheads day-in and day-out. He could tolerate a few random thoughts from the odd crewman, if need be, but he would have to make sure his thoughts didn’t project to their minds if he glanced up at them.

The Faraday clung to a relative close orbit to Daedalus Sigma-nine-nine-five, giving a very detailed view to those strolling along the ship’s panoramic windowed corridors. Thankfully, no one was around as Paul strolled past, just as he hoped. He eyed the planet with all of its splendour.

“Gorgeous…” He softly stated while gazing upon it.

The planet was a beauty to behold. With its infinite mountains, cliffs and canyons of green, one could see why humanity was drawn to it. The oceans parted the continents much like Earth’s, and the lakes and long rivers etched into each one like a masterful work of art. This was an untouched world. A wondrous place where life thrived and nature preserved itself in perfect harmony.

Paul had already seen it before, in his mind’s eye (of course0, prior to the jump, and felt an instant connection to it in some small way. All of his remote views had felt strangely familiar somehow, he wasn’t sure as to why that was, only that it was a feeling he got every time he used his mind to cross the space-time gap. He paused for a moment, taking in the beautiful scenery before him, and touched the glass with his right hand. He closed his eyes and began thinking about being on the surface.

* * *

Instantaneously, he was there, standing in the lush greenery and hearing the roar of the multiple waterfalls close behind. The cliffs parted in sections, resembling a coliseum with many pillars holding up the rest of the structure. The waters cascaded over it and sprayed the surrounding with a soft mist. He could almost feel those droplets caress his skin as the distant sun rose over the horizon. It was tranquil, a rest he had yearned for, perhaps the very location he wanted to be in for his time off.

High above in the sky, he could make out the faint dot that was The Faraday. The ship was soon obscured by fluffy white clouds that slowly concealed it from view. He smiled and watched a flock of bird-like creatures move swiftly over top of it. An impressive species that sported overly sized wingspans, whom playfully, and gracefully, glided through the atmosphere with relative ease. Paul viewed it all with a beaming smile. This was like coming home to him.

“You do not belong here.” A raspy voice said from behind. Paul turned around and saw the shadowy translucent figure again, with its glaring red eyes. “You… do not belong… here.”

The creature seemed to meld with the surroundings, like a phantom, it hovered and drew in closer to him as it continued to repeat its statement. Paul froze in fear. Those eyes, those glowing spotlight eyes, penetrated his very soul and caused him to scream.

* * *

Removing his hand from the ship’s window, Paul returned to his senses. He wasn’t there. He was still onboard the vessel. The vision was over. But was it a vision? Or was it more of a waking dream? He couldn’t be sure. It was becoming increasingly harder to tell each time it occurred to him. Paul began to wonder if Doctor Yumi was correct in her assessment of his state of being. He needed to take time off, indeed. He looked about and tried to regain his focus again.

“I’m on the ship.” He said, taking in long deep breaths, then exhaling them out slowly. “That was’t real, just remember, it wasn’t real.”

Paul wiped the sweat from his brow. To his horror, it wasn’t sweat… it was water. He wiped it off again to be sure. Then he felt his arms and neck, it was moist as well. His skin was covered in it.

“It can’t be…” He gawked at it. “It… it can’t be the mist from the waterfall? But, I wasn’t there… I was only thinking about it. I didn’t I couldn’t have… I…. I… oh, god… did I?”

He glanced back at the world filling the window view and continued to gawk at it in disbelief.

“What the hell is happening to me?”