There was one thing he was certain of, though, he had a good crew. Everyone had a job, and with the two extra crew members, it helped Finch feel more at ease.
Although nothing was going to make him one hundred percent relaxed, he took comfort in knowing everyone on board was on the same page.
As he stepped on board the Omni, waving his final goodbyes and closing the door, Finch tucked away his insecurities and worries and allowed the excitement to be forefront.
<><><><>
“Life support on,” Finch ordered. Already suited up, he placed on his helmet and secured it. Once he saw the others had done the same, he turned on the inter-suit radios. “Androski in range.”
“Preparing for entry,” Sam said.
“Everyone know what they need to do when we get through the other side?” He received their acknowledgements. Slowly he exhaled through his parted lips. “Here we go.”
In those final seconds so much went through Finch’s mind. He kept thinking about what Tucker had said after liftoff.
How they had to remember that the Androski was still a wormhole and Einstein theorized wormholes were doorways to other galaxies.
Could the Androski suddenly toss them somewhere else and not to another time? Could they float in some black abyss, unable to return, unable to truly see the Androski to go back through?
It was insane how his mind flipped through the thoughts as his heart raced.
He was okay until that very moment.
But it was too late to go back.
At least he would get to see what it was like going through. The first time they lost all power and life support and the entire crew passed out.
Not this time.
Unless the ship somehow was crushed, Finch would see it all.
They entered.
The second they slipped in the ship went dark.
A beautiful series of bright lights flashed around them. Finch was prepared at the controls, ready to face the large blue planet that would not only block their way but try to suck them into its field.
“Sam, you ready?”
“I’m ready. Five seconds…” Sam counted. “Four, three, Two…”
They emerged.
“Now,” Finch ordered.
Sam powered up and almost as if he were on some sort of auto command, Finch veered the ship hurriedly to the left.
But there was no reason to. Nothing was there. No blue planet, just a view of Earth in the distance.
“What the hell?” Tucker said. “Taking off my helmet.”
“Where did it go?” Finch asked.
“It’s not here,” Sam said. “Did we go that far back?” He took off his helmet.
“I see it,” Nate said. “There. Forty-five degrees.”
Finch turned the ship. Sure enough, he finally saw the planet. It had not settled into the Earth’s orbit yet and was still at a distance where it looked no bigger than a soft ball. “Sam, how close was it when you left?”
“Not that close.”
“So we came through somewhere between you leaving and where we just left.”
Nate chuckled. “That’s a span of a hundred and forty years.”
“Maybe the ARCS haven’t left,” Rey suggested.
“If they actually lifted off, we’re past that time,” Tucker said. “The Big Blue is closer than you think. You can’t really see Mars, it’s just a speck and that is sixty-million miles away. In your time you couldn’t even see the blue. When we left it was approximately thirty million miles away and moving steadily. At first it moved like a bullet. Then it slowed. It took a hundred and forty-five years to travel roughly twenty-nine-and-a-half million miles. That planet right there is well over half the distance. So if I was to make an estimated guess, we went back seventy or eighty years. Half the time frame since Omni left.”
“Which means,” Finch said, “if the ARCS lifted off as scheduled, they left Earth fifty or so years ago.”
“About that,” Tucker said.
“Wait,” Nate interjected. “I just thought of something. Quinn is eight years off. He has to be.”
“What do you mean?” Finch asked.
“Well, he told us we left Earth a hundred and sixty-seven years earlier, right?”
“Right.” Finch nodded.
“How can that be?” Nate asked. “He said he and Genesis had been on the new Earth for twenty-five years and four months. He must have miscalculated somewhere how far into the future he was. If he said we arrived at Earth-167. Quinn would have arrived at Earth-142. How can that be?”
Tucker snapped his finger. “You’re right. He wouldn’t have arrived in any time frame where the Androski wasn’t open. He had to have arrived around Earth-150.”
“I can imagine the data may have been skewed,” Finch said. “Time, weather, I mean they searched for information. In the grand scheme of things what is eight years? A zero written on a piece of paper could have been mistaken for another number.”
“Does it make a difference?” Sam asked.
Tucker bobbed his head back and forth. “As far as growth goes, yeah, but I guess not.”
“Stop.” Rey held up her hand forming a T. “So as not to be confused anymore, and for consistency, we just left Earth, what number?”
Tucker looked at Nate as if to silently agree upon something. “Earth-175. So, we would roughly be around Earth-100 right now, give or take. Meaning right now it’s a hundred years after you guys originally left Earth.”
“Which means, looking below,” Rey said, “it’s possible people are still down there, struggling.”
“Would they still be alive?” asked Sam.
“Yes,” Rey said. “There could be a lot of people down there.”
“I agree,” said Finch. “Let’s orbit. Nate and Freeman, once we get into the atmosphere, focus on the scans as they come in. Look for signs of life, see if you can figure out what is going on, if things have changed. Sam, I need you to go into the navigational system, pull up the coordinates of the ARC launch sites, they’re in there. We’ll do a fly by when we orbit.”
“Roger that, Commander,” Sam replied. “Any idea where you want to put us down?”
“We have three states to choose from,” Finch said. “We’ll take our pick when we see the scans. Hopefully, that intel
