Captain Christopher Riley walked deck by deck as he surveyed his ship. The encounter with he massive planet five days ago, nearly ended the mission before it even began. Repairs were still underway, as the crew worked around the clock to seal up the hull, both outside and inside, just to get it running well enough to start moving again. But there were still other breaches and weakened structure points that needed attention afterwards. Riley was amazed the ship held together so well. Deep Contact was a tough vessel, immense in size, a smooth and sleek looking as a black submarine.
Even with all that gravitational pressure, acid clouds eating away at it, and being pummelled to death by the exploding core of the oversized jovian world, it managed to stay in one piece. Riley made sure he kissed his lucky rabbit’s foot in his desk soon after, hoping that would be the last of such a deadly encounter for him and his crew. Deep Contact was a monumental achievement in spaceship design and the crown jewel of Earth Core United. For once, Earth and the other members of the “core” worlds within, managed to set aside their differences and created a new era of space travel.
The Earth Core United moniker never seemed to sit well with Riley. He thought a unified government of Earth, and all its colonies, should have come up with something better, something less authoritarian centred on Earth, itself. But, its formation was well before his time, and probably the best name they could think of, or could agree upon. The ECU planets of the SOL system were: Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. The jovian worlds had many off-shoot colonies on their various moons, as did Neptune and Pluto, who signed on immediately after those had been established.
Earth was the centre of them all. The home world that all had to respect and pay tribute to for allowing them the privilege of colonization. With so many wars and past aggressions spawning from that arrogant attitude, it was only natural that politics would overshadow the real problems plaguing humanity and giving the people a false sense of security if Earth remained as the established authority. Riley didn’t care about any of that nonsense. He was never one to argue the whole structure of that governing body. He just didn’t care for the name of it. But, if it meant that he and other star-bound captains could go explore the stars (and get out of that dysfunctional solar system headache), then he was more than willing to bend a knee to a flag that got him there.
As he continued to pass through the labyrinth of corridors and sections of this massive ship, he occasionally stopped to talk to the random crew members passing by in their duties. This was suggested to him by his first officer, Commander Chen Lo Yang. He’d been concerned by his captain’s lack of familiarity of the ship and crew, and felt he needed to stop brooding in his quarters like a cranky hermit.
For nearly two years Christopher Riley neglected his duties as captain. Two years of the long journey out of SOL as he hid away in his cabin full of melancholy grief over the loss of his wife. His alcoholism spun out of control after that incident, it nearly cost him his career, but thankfully, he got help and was rehabilitated. He was still in mid-therapy when they pulled him out of it, and gave him this mission. But, when it was revealed that the mission was a smoke screen for another one, that only he would know about, it made him revert back into his depressive state. Earth had touted that Deep Contact was to be the first ship of an interstellar exploration initiative, but that was far from the truth that anyone back home (and on this ship), knew about.
Captain Riley was sworn to secrecy by the ECU government officials and its military brass, that they were to search and locate the missing sister vessel, Deep Explorer. It was shocking to him to know that Deep Contact was merely a decoy, a front–if you will—to that of a former mission that went horribly wrong. Deep Explorer was revealed to be the first ship. Deep Contact was actually the second vessel built soon after. A rapid response and cover up for the ECU’s loss. A way to shelter the truth from the media, the people, and keep the original project a secret. The Omega Group, a young legion of super-intelligent genetically enhanced brats, were the major think tank, and an inner branch within the ECU, that helped in this whole sorted affair.
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Why, what, or how their role was in this whole fiasco, he couldn’t put his finger on. But something deep down in his gut felt it was all due to them. That it had to have come from their twisted little minds—somehow. Even now, one of their own is on board his ship and trying to continue their mandate. Amanda Berkins, his chief engineer, and super genius teenager, was the creator of the ship’s engine.
The QMD (Quantum Magnetic Drive), was instrumental in their survival after the ship fell into the heart of a massive super-gas giant planet. Amanda Berkins managed to initiate the drive to its maximum capability, and thrusted Deep Contact, and all her crew, out of it and back into interstellar space. The result of that sudden jump had sent them instantly into every point of space-time imaginable. For the merest fraction of a zeptosecond, Deep Contact had enveloped the fabric of space-time and was interwoven though the entire universe. And, after surviving that, much to Riley’s astonishment, was that none of the crew was badly hurt or dead from this unexplainable weird trip.
However, instead of coming close to the Alpha Centauri’s solar system, their original destination, they were, instead, on course to another one that was a whole light year away from it. For whatever reason, Deep Contact was now pointed to a solar system that was further than the one they were hoping for.
Riley had conversed earlier with Jen Sakura, his science officer, and wanted to know which system they were now heading for. She wasn’t certain, even as she scanned the area multiple times. None of the star charts had this system. It was totally new and yet another bizarre mystery on this infinite voyage they were on. He wanted to turn the ship around and head back to the Alpha Centauri, but, being a curious captain (and Jen Sakura’s constant insistence to explore it), he aimed Deep Contact towards this rare opportunity.
The captain was still hesitant to use the QMD, as was most of the crew he conversed with, fearing they would relive that mind-tripping experience. However, the drive was capable of cutting travel time down to mere months or even days (depending on the percentage of power they used), and justified bringing it back online. Amanda was already ecstatic when he informed her of his decision, yet others, like his ever insubordinate helmsman Lieutenant Sarah Bringham, voiced their disapproval.
He couldn’t figure why Brigham would not want the chance to indulge testing out a super fast engine, especially for such a skilled pilot like herself. It seemed like the further away they got from Earth, the more defiant she became towards him and of the journey they were on. This would have to stop, immediately. He couldn’t deal with her constant challenge of his authority. It was bad enough that a small amount of crew tried to attempt a mutiny during the whole ordeal of massive planet crisis, he couldn’t very well have his senior ship’s pilot plotting against him as well.
Yes, this had been a rather taxing few years on him. Riley was determined to change the dynamic going on throughout the ship, not to mention his own attitude, which probably contributed to the entire dysfunctional manner going on Deep Contact. He had to snicker at the irony of that. The drama of what was going on back home, Earth Core United versus the colonies, and their own drama stirring up on this vessel. It seemed that the human need for such childish actions was indicative to no matter what the did or where they were. Well, Riley, for one, had enough of it. The time for change would be now, here, on this ship–to become a better example of where humankind should be going.
“Forward,” he thought to himself. “The past is the past, it’s where we’re going now, out there… that’s the real adventure of humankind. To become something more, something better, a future we can all live in together.”