“Hi, everyone. Well, I guess if you’re watching this, I’m dead. Uh, I don’t really know what to say, but I hoped I died heroically.” He chuckled. “I’ve left a list of items in my holding and who I’ll leave them to. But this message concerns the ownership of the Argo. It’s my prized possession and the thing I care most about. Except for all you guys.
“Now, this is not a decision I take lightly. When I took command, I was still a teenager. I’ll never be more thankful for the help Kevin and Uncle Conrad provided so I could take care of the ship. And, Aly, you were pretty helpful, too. The Argo wouldn’t be the same without you. And I guess I have to thank Jason for the opportunity he gave me by handing her over to me when he left for the academy. I may not have become the person I did otherwise.
“And it’s because of that that I’ve changed my will since you’ve come back aboard.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Jason, I want you to take the Argo.”
Jason opened his mouth, not sure what to say, knowing it would be pointless arguing with a ghost anyway. Out the corner of his eye, he sensed Althaus’s steely glare.
“It’s your ship and your crew now. Make something of it. Cassidys all the way, right?”
Tyler disappeared, and the monitor went blank.
No one said a word.
Althaus was the first to leave, followed by Kevin who slapped Jason’s back in somber congratulations. Aly hugged him with a few more tears rolling down her cheek before leaving him alone with his own thoughts.
Hell…
Jason stared at the captain’s chair. It’d always been his father’s. Even when Tyler had sat in it, it hadn’t been right.
He parked himself down and glanced around the bridge. Kevin was at the helm, while Althaus took a seat across at the systems station. Aly and Petit did the final preparations at operations.
Through the viewport, Psi-Aion stared back at him. An Eden among the stars. Home to a people who were now free to continue as they had. Perhaps it would be them who would make contact with humanity next time.
“Are we prepared, Professor?”
Petit nodded.
“When you’re ready.”
Petit gestured at the console, and Aly ran her hands over the keys. Ahead of the Argo a flash sparked to life, and a small vortex formed. It got steadily larger until it looked exactly like the one that pulled them in at Orion V.
“It’s working!” Aly smiled with glee.
“And the trans-space corridor?” Jason asked.
Petit checked the readings. “It’s seems identical to last time and appears stable.”
Jason hoped the professor was right. It was this or take fifteen years to get back to the commonwealth. A trip the Argo would unlikely make and one that Doctor Tai certainly wouldn’t.
“Let’s do this.”
Kevin nodded and steered the Argo toward the vortex. While Jason longed for home on the other side, he realized with what they’d all seen in the last few days, things would never be the same again.
Epilogue
Unknown Planet
Thunder boomed down and the ground rumbled.
Jaliia opened her eyes and her heart raced from the sound roaring outside her window. The morning sun was up, and the sky was its natural shade of green. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. It was so clear, that two of the three moons could be seen.
She wondered where the storm was coming from, and threw her blanket off to find out. Through her door and down the stairs she went to find her father grabbing his rifle from the locker near the kitchen.
He noticed her from the corner of his eyes. “Stay inside.”
“What’s going on?” she asked, stepping toward him.
“Nothing.” He kneeled beside her. “Now go to your room.”
“But—”
“Jaliia, you’re eight years old. Do as you’re told.” He pointed back up the stairs.
She did as he asked and bounded off in a huff, back to her room. At her window, she peered out at her father hurrying across the family farm and toward a plume of smoke billowing from the wilderness beyond their fence line.
Jaliia raced back downstairs and put on her boots. She pushed the outside door open and waded into the mud around their home. Against her father’s wishes she followed his footsteps, up and over the ridge toward the boundary of their property, beyond the tree representing the edge of the wildlands—a green but dry landscape of unfarmed land, full of many wild animals. She’d been told to only enter with an adult but figured it couldn’t be too far until she caught up to her father.
With a duck of her head, Jaliia slinked under the wire fence and pushed on into the scrub. Using the tracking skills she’d been taught, she followed her father’s path and found him standing next to a large tree, blackened from top to bottom.
“Jaliia, what did I tell you!” he scowled.
“What happened?” she asked, motioning toward the charged mess around them.
He frowned and drew her close to him, pointing into the valley. More scorched trees dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. The ground was burned to a cinder, while errant flames searched for the last patches of green to envelop. Scattered chunks of metal filled the apocalyptic terrain. Jaliia’s father took her hand, and they walked toward one of the largest pieces nearest to them.
He gently touched it, ensuring it wasn’t too hot and brushed a thick layer of ash off it. “There’s writing on this.”
Jaliia studied the large bold text. It didn’t look like any letters she’d seen or of any language teachers had taught her at school.
“We better get word to the authorities.” Her father pulled a small notepad from his top pocket.
With a pencil, he wrote the same strange symbols they’d found on the chunk of metal: MAYBELLE.
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