Unsure if any of this was really happening, Traga stood staring in disbelief, staring at the empty room which moments before was filled with people like him. His heart rate picked up and his eyes dilated with fear. He ran as fast as he could through the the empty corridors, he had no clue as to what to do. Back to the command center, the doors wouldn't open fast enough for him as he crashed into anything that was in his way. The massive ship hummed on every deck, he hadn't noticed it before and he barely noticed it now except for the fact that the sound was setting him more on edge. Upon entering the command center the lights went on again, he sat down at the navigational computer and adjusted the course settings to take him past a planet he had seen a few days earlier. It was a planet that held a primative race of people at the height of a massive world war. They were fighting continent to continent with crude nuclear devices attached to wooden boats that would explode when they reached close proximity to the enemy. Needless to say, the environment was destroyed in all but the polar ice caps. It was shortly after surveying this planet that things began to get strange onboard the ship. Then, for a split second, it appeared that the entire crew was around him, doing their daily routines, nobody took special notice of Traga, and then they were gone again.
Traga brought the ship into a tight axial orbit at the top of the planet. Surely this world holds the key to the mystery, he had no other options anyway so this seemed as likely a place as any to start. He spent hours studying these people on this obscure world below. From what he could surmise, these people hadn't even reached their industrial age in proper, but they had crude atomic weapons. Under normal conditions, a planet like this is to be avoided and tagged for anthropologists to return to at a later date, but there was nobody to tell him not to orbit the planet, and it seemed like his best chance for survival at the moment.
After hours of study, Traga began to tire. He was slipping into sleep when he heard the communications alert behind him. He jumped up and switched the channel on. He spoke franticly into the device, "This is secondary commander Traga of the Murkwet 6, if you are on this channel I need assistance, my crew is... missing." he stared blankly at the panel before him. After a few moments of static he heard a voice address him.
"Greetings Traga. This is Kalo of the Largonian cruiser Tamalis, I appear to be in much the same situation as you are. My weapons are offline and I pose no threat. Do you have any idea what is going on?"
"No, I do not. I can't even recall when this happened." said Traga.
"May I dock with your ship? This solitude is killing me." spoke the voice of Kalo.
"Come around to port number two, I'll meet you at the hatch."
"Proceeding to port number two."
Traga ran down to port number two with a neural stunner in hand, just in case. Centuries of civil war between Atlas and the moon Largo had left it's mark in the psyche of both civilizations. Although hostilities had ended 6oo years earlier, there was still a fair amount of distrust between the two societies. Traga hid behind some crates a fair distance away from the airlock. The port door hissed open and out stepped Kalo, he was just a kid.
"Put your hands up!" Traga commanded. Kalo complied immediately.
"I'm not armed!" he said. Traga revealed himself and moved toward Kalo. After two seconds he put his weapon away.
"Welcome to the Murkwet 6"
"That's some welcome, I'd hate to see how you greet your enemies."
"I'm sorry, history is pervasive. I had to be sure you weren't a threat."
"Well, I'm not. I'm lost and alone in a part of space I know nothing about. There's no reason for us to fear each other. My people and your people have been living in peace for a long time now."
"I guess I'm just jumpy. Come with me back to the command center, I'll fill you in on what I know."
The two went back to the command center. Traga felt a little better, having someone to talk to who not only could carry on an intelligent conversation but wouldn't vanish into thin air with no warning. |