Change Of Course

Space Traveler Fargone • Episode 17

Oct 06, 2021

New to Space Traveler Fargone? Start at the beginning.

We were blasted with intense heat. Which wasn’t surprising, considering a yellow star filled our flight deck window. I spun Rustbucket around and slammed my finger on the nav panel, hitting a random location and engaged the FTL engine. We sped away.

“That was intense,” Em said.

I wiped the sweat from my brow. “A few seconds longer and we would have started melting.”

“I suspect that is one of the perils of travel to uncharted space,” Flow added calmly.

“One I hope not to repeat.”

When we reached the location I had randomly selected on the nav panel, Rustbucket came to a stop.

“Em, why don’t you show Flow how to do a habitable scan.”

“There is no need. I watched Emma do the last one. I am confident I can repeat the process.”

“Great. Have at it.”

Flow started the scan. A suitable planet came up, and we set a course for it.

We dropped into orbit around the planet to give it a visual look. The planet was divided evenly between two massive oceans that covered the north and south poles. A landmass circling the equator like a ring made up one-third of the planet. But it was not like any and mass I had ever seen before. It was all the same gray color.

We dropped out of orbit and entered the atmosphere to take a closer look. It was hard to believe. The entire landmass appeared to be a single structure. What we saw from space was the roof of a single globe-spanning building. There were vents and heating and cooling units at regular intervals. There were also access doors. Could it be possible that the entire population of the planet lived inside this building? Of course, we had to take a look.

I landed Rustbucket near one of the access door structures. We got out and walked over to the door, which I fully expected to be locked. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. I opened it slowly and was greeted by a piercingly loud alarm. Em and I both covered our ears. It didn’t seem to bother Flow. After a few seconds, the alarm shut off. Inside the structure, a set of stairs descended into darkness.

I looked at Em and said, “Are you ready?”

“You want me to hold your hand?”

“I’m not scared.”

“Oh, sorry. I was confused by the look of terror in your eyes.”

“Very funny. Turn on your com light.”

“I would be happy to take the lead. I can serve as a defensive shield if necessary,” Flow said.

“Perhaps that is a good idea,” I replied.

Flow started walking down the stairway. Em and I followed. We climbed down several flights of stairs before we came to another door. Flow opened the door, and we stepped into a hallway. The wall was completely empty. Nothing but gray walls, floor, and ceiling. No windows or doors in sight. We started walking down the hall.

“Isn’t it weird that there are no people?” Em asked.

“This may be some kind of roof maintenance access. It probably doesn’t get used much,” I replied.

“But what about the alarm? Shouldn’t someone be investigating?”

“I don’t know. But I do know we need to find a way out of this hallway.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied just as sarcastically.

We followed the hallway a long distance and finally came to a door. There was no knob or handle on the door. Just a button on the wall beside it. I pushed the button, and the door slid open sideways. It appeared to be an elevator. We went inside, and the door closed. I tried the sole button on the wall, and we started to go down.

A few moments later, the door opened again, and we were faced with another long hallway. So we started walking down another nondescript hall. Eventually, we reached the end of the hallway. I was not expecting what I saw.