Chariot 3: Conception
Chapter 2 – Across the galaxy

Chariot 3 was moving fast across the galaxy – even though none of them could really feel it – while the four watched the projection of their current home become meaningless small in the dark matter behind them.

“Sissy, prepare to activate Spatial Distortion.” The Captain ordered.

“Activating SD interface in 3, 2, 1.” As the ship started the count down, the others watched the void surrounding them distort. They did not feel Chariot 3 moving, but instead, the stars, planets, asteroids, and anything else between them and their destination appeared to become distorted, compressed within the cosmos.

As the crew looked ahead, they watched the space fold in front of their eyes, an extraordinary image that almost looked like an illusion. Stars that at first seemed light years away now seemed to pass by them faster than they could count.

The surrounding space provoked a transcendent sensation on them. The cosmos seemed to be the one actually moving on their direction, whimsically bypassing the ship and not the other way around. The experience was surreal.

The vessel was quiet. No vibration, no engine noise. The crew would not dare to break the silence while they all hoped one of them would say it first. The concerns of being deployed on a classified mission with an unknown objective were many, far greater than the guts to say, but Captain Shon Shoffer knew that and so did the others.

Would it be dangerous? Would it be frightening? Would they come back? All they knew was that they would find out soon, but how soon?

They would likely be able to see all these concerns clearly printed on the Captain`s eyes, if not for the dark lenses they wore to navigate Chariot 3, the E-Lenses. Combined with the implant in their brains, those were significant advancements to space exploration that allowed them to control the ship with the power of their thoughts, providing increased maneuvering capabilities and reaction time, that in the past, could never be achieved with the obsolete hand sensors and panels full of buttons, long gone for good.

“Great work V-Nus.” The Captain silently acknowledged the responsible for reaching such an achievement of engineering. The Spatial Distortion was incredibly smooth, they could barely feel they were moving.

“Thank you.” He nodded. “I wish I had time to test the ship before the mission.”

“Did you just say test?” Flumen`s surprisingly loud thought sounded clearly concerned, but for his fortune, or perhaps misfortune, he would hear no answer.

“Sissy, any updates on the mission? I have not heard any notifications yet”. The silence was broken by the Captain`s dry voice.

“Yes Captain, the briefing amendment 1.1 of our current mission arrived 23 seconds ago. Would you like me to make it available for all?” Chariot 3`s feminine voice enquired, with a tone as innocent as an inmate from Claustrus I.

“Naturally Sissy, no secrets among the crew! Why was I not notified when it arrived? Shoffer enquired.

“Captain, you asked me to not talk until further orders”. Her cold voice replied, followed by a recording of the Captain`s previous words, ’I don`t want you talking until further orders.’ “Besides, I did not wish to disturb you while in sub-light speed. My apologies if I made you upset.”

“Chariot 3, you did not upset me! Now, let`s analyze the mission.” The captain replied shouting in a hoarse voice while his tone seemed to indicate the opposite of his words.

“Captain, readings of you heart rate, blood pressure and testosterone levels indicate you are either highly angry or about to give birth. Since my data base and a recently in-depth analyzes of your body indicate you are a male, it was logical to assume you are angry, possibly with me.”

The Captain tried to give Chariot 3 a reprehending look but he was quite unsure on where he should look at.

“Understood.” Chariot 3 replied while projecting images through their E-Lenses as they listened to the message that invaded their minds.

“Greetings! As you are aware, due to the importance of this mission and the safety of all beings in our planetary system this mission has been classified as UNKNOWN. Therefore your objectives will be updated on a need to know basis.”

“You are now about to reach coordinates 0.67408, 23.47297 which, as you must have realized by now, is where the Moon used to exist long time ago. In this same area, a mysterious black hole which we named DA-51 appeared inexplicably just over 6 cycles ago and is expanding exponentially. This leads us to believe that Earth and Nova may be in risk. The black hole could possibly even reach Mars Colony and the rest of our system if it continues to grow.”

“Your mission is to approach the black hole as close as possible in order to collect data. It is imperative that this data is immediately beamed to the Nibirian Space Agency. The future of many may depend on this mission.”

“Shall your path be safe.”

The artificial and rather unemotional voice ended with the unique Nibirian Space Agency emblem – an insignia containing the open wings of an Anzu, the bird that the Nibirians liked to refer as the personification of the southern wind and the thunder clouds – the same one featured on the back of their dark bronze colored uniforms.

“Really? So we`re crossing the galaxy to find out the reason why there is a black hole consuming Earth and Nova!” V-Nus broke the silence referring to Earth`s artificially designed moon. “You`re telling me that they`re not able to perform a full quantic analysis using their `classified` Nibirian technology that I`m aware exists, as I helped them to develop it? V-Nus broke the silence with his irreverent and archaic Martian accent.

And as usual, V-Nus continued to rant. “They talk about freedom of knowledge on every single planet, but no one ever tells us the truth! It`s been like that since the first alien learnt how to fly!”

Apart from his intellect and knowledge on physical quantic and mechanical engineering way beyond the average per inhabitant on his perished home planet, V-Nus was a typical Martian, as he liked to say. About six feet tall, with thick strong human traces on his face, medium square chin, average sized eyes, a small mouth with disproportionally bigger lips, a thick and slightly flat long nose, and small ears – “We don`t like to listen much” he would say, jokingly. His brown tanned looking skin would make his thin body look even more muscular than it already was. It would be hard to differentiate Martians from humans, if not for the singular fact that they all looked very much alike as if they were all brothers and sisters. No blondes, no gingers, no brown hair, they all had the hair as dark as charcoal, same as their eye brows – all of which would describe V-Nus if it was not for the natural hair loss caused by the eco system back in Nibiru.

Flumen could only demonstrate his indignity while scratching his vast hairless pale brown-grayish head “Tell me about secrecy! It took us just over one hundred years after the first official encounter, to hear from the Earthian government that there was life in Serpo.” He referred to the old database he accessed during his studies of Interplanetary Culture. The others at the Station always wondered if Flumen really knew how many diplomas he had earned. “Would you like me to also include the ones I`m currently taking, or only the ones I have finished”, he would answer every time with a curiously confident look on his face.

“My apologies for the interruption, but it is time to move. Sissy, deactivate Spatial Distortion.” Shoffer`s voice shut the others immediately as the same pace the ship dropped its speed.

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