"500 Light Years From Home" Part 2

[candygramme]

Lift off the following morning was almost an anti-climax. The lunar day was in full force, and the heat on the surface was such that Jared was relieved to close the airlock behind him and step into the comfortable environmentally controlled atmosphere of his little ship.

Sandy had been there overnight, programming in the parameters for the course they would take out of the solar system and checking the communication equipment over one last time. When the other two arrived she was happily replacing the cover plate to the comm deck, looking up briefly and smiling as Jared entered the cockpit to do his own final checks. Her hair had begun to grow in, and now covered her shapely cranium with a feathery cap of brownish black. She had a smudge of dark grease on her nose, and her coveralls were streaked and smeared with the evidence of her labors.

"She's ready to go, Captain Sasquatch, sir!" she said, bouncing in her seat. "Everything's in order, all systems are A-OK, FAB, Go!

"What the fuck have you been drinking?" Chad aimed a punch at her biceps as he passed her, and, snake-fast, she grabbed at his hand, twisting easily to put him in a wrist-lock that had him howling for mercy.

"Want me to throw him in a storage locker, Jay?" she asked, her smile fierce as she applied enough pressure to take Chad down to his knees.

"Nah! I'm gonna need him at least 'til we get out far enough to twist. Take it up with him later." Jared turned away to make for the console, leaving Sandy to release the hapless engineer as and when she saw fit.

Taking his seat, Jared busied himself with the read-outs from Sandy's endeavors, carefully checking through her programming and finally giving an approving nod. "Okay, San, you done good. Wanna call up Chris and see how close he is to getting off the ground, and then flag Space Traffic Control to notify them of departure?"

"You got it, Jay." The little brunette reached for her communicator jackplug and inserted it into the port behind her ear, then fell into the brief, trance-like state that communicators used when actually locking onto their target. Seconds later, the face of Chris Kane appeared on the viewscreen.

"We're ready when you are, Chewie," he said.

Too excited to complain, Jared merely nodded, eyes on the console where Space Traffic Control had just locked in a countdown for him. "Okay, Christian. We've got T minus 5. See you on the flip side."

"T minus 4.46 and mark," repeated Chris, relaying the information to Collins, who murmured a soft acknowledgement.

"I have the clearance." Sandy's soft voice sounded in the background, and Chad's response was immediate.

"Engines are good to go."

"T minus 4." The computerized readout announced the countdown as Space Traffic Control took over the timing to synchronize it with the Kane ship.

The countdown progressed. At Jared's command, Chad brought the anti-grav field online, and the little ship trembled, poised on the brink of flight.

As the computer began its final countdown, checking off each second as it faded away, Jared felt a tingle of excitement shiver through him. Sure, he wasn't new to space, but this was different. This was adventure, pure and simple. This, to quote the words of the long-dead Captain Kirk as he often did, was 'boldly going where no man had gone before.' He and his companions were heading for an unknown, unexplored quadrant of space, which, until now, had only known an alien presence. This was exciting, and he couldn't wait!

As the computer called out the five second mark, Sandy called out, "All clear for take-off."

"Fire 'em up," called Jared, his eyes fixed on the view screen, and on the final count, Chad engaged the thrusters, so that the Ladybug rose lightly from its pad and began to arc gracefully up and away from the lunar surface.

Watching his charts, Jared painstakingly negotiated his way out of the gravity field until he could park in the pre-arranged orbit that would permit him to head out in the direction they needed to go.

A few seconds later, Kane's face appeared once more. "Got you in my visuals, Jay. Give us the word when you're ready to go."

"Space Traffic Control says 13.2, Jay." Sandy, still fully tranced, began calling out the orders from STC center, and at the thirteen minute marker, the computer voice kicked in and Sandy sat forward, opened her eyes and shook herself. "Looks like we're really doing it, Jay."

"Oh, ye of little faith." Chad had been watching her, eyes intent on her pretty face as she communed with STC. He was still plugged into his own neural net, effectively a part of the space drive, able to monitor every part of the engine's function and ready to kick the space drive in at a moment's notice.

"I have faith," grinned Sandy. "Just not so much in you."

"Rude! My engines love me. Come listen. They purr like kittens." Chad looked outraged, although there was a softness in his eyes as he looked at her that belied the harshness of his words.

"Don't fight, children, or I'll make you stay home while I go on my own." Jared, plugged into the sensors that allowed him to pilot the Ladybug, sounded remote. "Don't have time to spank you right now."

"Okay, but later I'll hold you to it." Chad always had to have the last word, but then that was who he was. "And I'd happily pay for a ticket to watch you spank Sandy."

"Bitch!" Sandy's contralto cut through his verbiage.

"You started it." Chad would have said more, but Jared's glare finally quelled him.

"Steve's got you on a tight beam, Jay." Chris called his attention to the overhead screen. "We're going to piggyback out of here if that's okay."

"Easiest way of keeping together," agreed Jared, frowningly consulting the time. "Less than five minutes. Stand by for my command."

The trio in the ship waited, breathless with anticipation, for the moment that they would twist for the first time. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

As the computer called zero, Jared engaged the jump drive and, as swift as thought, the Earth winked out of existence, leaving them hanging in space, the solar system a distant spot somewhere behind them.

"You still with me, Kane?" Jared's voice sounded over Chad's whoop of glee at the jump.

"Once Steve locks you into his sights, he doesn't ever let go," was the cheerful reply, and Chad whooped again.

"Okay, next one is the big one. You've got the coordinates, just in case the jump goes pear-shaped?" Jared was setting in the parameters as he spoke, long, slanted eyes staring into his astrogation charts as he set up the jump. "Twist in one minute. Last one through buys the booze."

"You wish!" Kane's voice was accompanied by the sound of cheers from his crew, followed rapidly by applause from Chad and Sandy.

"Come on; settle down." Jared was grinning too, but he knew that the most complex part of their journey was still to come. "Okay, children, we're going for one big jump. We'll twist in 10... 9... 8..."

Again, as zero was called, the view winked out from their screens, and there was a long, breathless moment of dislocation, the sense of falling, before the heavens righted themselves again, and they could see a new solar system ahead.

"Four planets, Jay." Sandy was back in trance again as she communed with the ship's sensors. "Two with breathable atmosphere. Both with gravity of slightly less than one G."

"Thanks, San. What kind of temperature?" The little brunette paused, and Jared, who had set in a course to approach the system, turned to Chad. "Ready the thrusters."

"Third planet out looks the most likely. Temp of 75F by day, around 50F at night, no excess radiation detected." Sandy sounded enthusiastic despite her trance state, and Jared nodded.

"That sounds like the one to start with then." He quickly charted his path to the planet they'd selected and relayed the information to the other ship floating alongside them in the black void. "Gimme the thrusters then, Chadwick." Chad, all business now that his moment had arrived, jumped to comply, and less than half an hour later, the pair of ships were parked in orbit around the new world.

It was a beautiful sight. The planet spread below them, green and red and gold. There were seas below, although not as extensive as those of the Earth. There were polar ice caps too, and several mountain ranges that looked to be significantly higher than those of their home planet.

Sandy, who had been busily scanning the surface, had earmarked a couple of sites of interest. One of them appeared to be a city, and the other, some distance from it, was a very large structure of some kind. Making a snap decision, Jared opted to start with the structure, purely because there was apparently an electrical storm currently raging over the city, making it more difficult to land there.

For several hours following their arrival into orbit the crews of both ships were preparing for landfall. Each item of equipment had to be made ready and then tested yet again, and it was close to bedtime when the two ships finally touched down, each of them settled onto herbage that had a blue-green tinge to it, and which looked remarkably like grass.

"Okay." Jared frowned as he studied the readouts Sandy had sent him. "Suits on if you want to go out for a half hour to explore. The air may be breathable, but we still don't know if there are any toxins present, and we won't know until we get the analysis of the ground and the vegetation done." He glared round at the other two. "So don't go touching anything with your bare hands."

Sandy had been busy collecting samples for analysis with a set of Waldoes she'd extruded from the belly of the Ladybug, but with the promise of a trip outside she straightened up and set the computer on auto before unplugging herself from the console.

The door to the airlock opened at Chad's silent command, and he too uncoupled himself from his controls, rising to his feet to reach for his gloves and pull them on. Jared was quivering with excitement at the thought of exploring his new planet.

"Are you going to name it?" asked Sandy, as Jared strolled over to peer out at the terrain. Cobalt sky gave a backdrop to the fiercely white sun. It hung low on the horizon since the day was almost done, but the warmth it gave off was still noticeable. Reddish purple mountains could be seen in the distance, and here and there across the blue-green sward could be seen tiny red and white flowers. The air smelled a little damp - as if it had recently rained.

"Name it? I don't know." Jared frowned. "I have no clue what to call a planet," he said, shrugging helplessly. "Why don't you do it for me?" he said, finally, and Sandy squealed in excitement.

"Jesus, woman!" Chad moved to stand behind her. "Any higher and you'll be audible only to bats. Come to think of it, that would be kind of appropriate."

"Shut up," she hissed, aiming a kick at the shins so conveniently close to her booted foot. Her face screwed up ferociously as she thought, and finally she beamed. "I've got it. I'm gonna call it Paddywhack," she announced, and at that both Jared and Chad began to laugh.

"Okay, San, Paddywhack it is." Jared nodded and stepped down onto his new planet, face alight with the joy of being there.

The three in the Piñata Novia had obviously been waiting for Jared, because first Collins, then Kane popped down out of their ship, followed by a grouchy looking Carlson. "I can't explain it, but the sensors just aren't working. They were fine before we left, and there's nothing I can find wrong with them, but the calibration is all off, and I don't know what's going on," he growled. "I don't know what the hell's going on with it."

"It'll be okay, Steve. Take a look at it in the morning." Chris was staring at the distant building as he was speaking. "Guess we don't have time to go investigate this evening, do we?"

"It'll be best to wait until the readings are all complete and the analysis is done, so we can go without wearing the suits." Jared smiled. "First thing after breakfast we'll head out, all right?"

"You think it's some kind of hanger?" Chad was taking readings as they studied it. "There's definitely some kind of energy coming from inside it. Can't tell you what it's doing yet, but it's definitely going to be worth exploring. Could be a stasis field generator - maybe even more than one."

"What do you think, Misha?" Chris turned to his communications officer, and the other man nodded. "I haven't had too much experience with stasis field generators, but the frequencies certainly look as if it's something of that nature."

"Well, let's plan on finding out about it tomorrow. For now, we should eat and catch some sleep." Jared yawned ostentatiously. "Tomorrow's going to be busy."

~~~~~~~oo(O)oo~~~~~~~

The following morning the six of them set out after breakfast to go and explore the building they'd earmarked the night before. The tests on the local terrain had shown that there were no toxins present, and Jared relaxed enough to permit them to dispense with their suits as long as they wore gloves to handle anything unfamiliar. The slightly lower gravity made the short walk over the springy grass a pleasant outing, and soon they were standing at the gateway to the structure, gazing up at the lintel over the doorway. The portal to the building was ornamented with carvings in a relief that depicted a landscape filled with strange animals.

"Anyone read Gray?" Chad had found a plaque affixed to one side of the doorway. There was a general hubbub as each of them denied being able to read it. Finally they left it behind after taking photographs to send back to Earth for translation and made their way inside.

The lighting seemed to be automatic, and as they progressed down each new corridor, illumination seemed to start up, lighting the specimens that were ranged in alcoves along the passageways.

It seemed to be some kind of museum of natural history, and the creatures on display were astonishing in their variety, each one affording a glimpse of otherworldly fauna and making Jared wish that he'd taken a course in the Grays' written language prior to setting off.

He almost missed it. Chad and Chris were making their way towards a big hall that seemed dominated by something that looked uncommonly like a tyrannosaurus rex, and the others were trailing after them. Jared never knew just exactly what it was that made him turn when he did, but as he turned he caught sight of something that took his breath away.

In an alcove alone, behind a purple, horse-like creature with wicked looking claws on all four limbs, stood a boy - a young man just on the brink of maturity. He was tall and well-made and was dressed in clothing the like of which Jared had only ever seen in period feelies, jeans and a T-shirt that proclaimed his love of Metallica, although Jared had no idea what Metallica might have been.

The figure was so well sculpted that he might almost have been real. Behind him, under transparent paneling were anatomical details - holographs of the same figure naked alongside beautifully rendered line drawings depicting vital organs and vascular system.

It was the boy's face that stopped Jared cold. He'd never seen anyone quite that beautiful. The eyes that stared blindly into whatever dimension only he could see were a brilliant green, thickly fringed with sooty lashes. The nose was fine and thin, but slightly crooked as if it had once been broken and set a little askew. There were high cheekbones, stained with the dark beginnings of a five o' clock shadow, and a lush, full-lipped mouth, lips slightly parted as if waiting for a kiss. Whoever had been the model for this amazingly lifelike statue would have been the man of his dreams.

Jared stood, transfixed, gazing at the handsome statue, feeling a little stupid but nevertheless wondering if it would be possible to bring it home with him, paying no mind to any of the others, who had by this time all moved past and into the great hall.

A shout from Chad called his attention back from his rapt contemplation of the work of art before him. "Jay, come and look what I've found."

Reluctantly turning away, Jared moved out into the hall and saw that Chad had unlatched a small panel that seemed to lead into the wall. Peering in past his engineer's shoulder, he saw that there was a room behind the wall.

"Do you know what these are?" Chad was virtually hopping with excitement. "It's a whole room full of them. Stasis generators! Check it out!"

"They're coded." Collins had stepped up beside Chad and was now peering down at the panels on the largest of the pieces of machinery in the room. "Look. Each one of them's labeled."

"You know what I think?" Chad was eagerly inspecting the way each item seemed to be hooked into its neighbor. "I don't think those things out there are statues at all. I think they're the real deal. They're like exhibits in this weird, intergalactic museum, and they're being held in stasis for God only knows who or what to come and look at them."

"You mean that's a real T-Rex in there?" Sandy had made her way over to see what the others were up to, and she shuddered. "I don't know how I feel about that."

"Oh, my God! That means he's real." Jared felt a trickle of excitement pool low in his belly. "Unh... Chad? Come with me?"

"But..."

"No buts. Come on; I need you."

Chad reluctantly peeled himself away from his inspection of the alien technology and followed Jared back to where the young man still stood on his pedestal, gazing into forever.

"If... if he's real, does that mean you can free him from the field? Make him come to life?" asked Jared, his voice a little shaky. Chad cast a sideways glance at him, obviously catching onto the unspoken need in Jared's request. He smirked but knelt to examine the pedestal itself without saying anything, rapidly working his way around it.

"Give me a few minutes, and I'm sure I'll be able to give it a shot." He gave Jared an old fashioned look. "Pretty, ain't he?"

"Yes. Yes, he is." The response came with an unspoken warning to let the topic drop, and the smirk broadened into a grin as Chad saluted and turned to go back to the control room. He was not to make it. Chris's voice was suddenly heard, yelling, "Jesus wept!" and then several things happened at once. There was a sudden roar, and the sound of running feet. A weird, grunting hiss sounded from behind them, and the horse-like thing suddenly launched itself at Chad, while the young man Jared had been admiring suddenly staggered back and tumbled off the side of the plinth where he'd been standing.

The thing with the claws had drawn back its lips to reveal several rows of needle-like teeth, and Jared didn't think twice. He yanked out his laser and fired, disintegrating the creature within inches of his hapless engineer.

"Run!" At that moment, Sandy pattered past them, followed rapidly by Steve, then Chris.

"Where's Misha?"

"I bet he's still in that control chamber," growled Chad. "What did he do? It's like he turned off the stasis field, and everything is waking up."

"Shit!" Jared turned to Chad. "That means there's a fucking dinosaur out in the hall there, doesn't it?" He'd totally forgotten about the young man who had so fascinated him earlier, and he almost leapt out of his skin when a hand touched his shoulder."

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"Tell you later." There was a spine-chilling moan from the direction of the hall, and a muffled, "Oh, God!" from their newly liberated companion, and then they ran, full out, heels pounding the marble floor. Behind them, the huge, lizard-like animal had squeezed itself through the opening to the corridor and was beginning to pick up speed as it lumbered in pursuit of them.

The others were no longer visible, and it seemed as if they were about to meet their demise, when Chad, a few feet in front of them, disappeared from view and a second or so later stuck his head back around the corner. "This way!" Jared was dragging the erstwhile statue along with him, and the two of them were barely ten feet in front of the charging monster. The young man from the exhibit veered across to tuck in at Jared's elbow as the pair of them hurtled into the crevice where Chad had been concealed. Seconds later, the whole building seemed to shake as the dinosaur reached it and crashed against the entrance to their refuge.

The narrow corridor was evidently the entryway to some kind of storage facility. There was a metal rail set into the floor, and a few feet further along, the passage opened out into a sizeable room. Inside the room were a number of containers and storage lockers, each bearing notices filled with the now familiar alien script.

Jared turned to face the monstrous lizard, just as it abandoned its attempts to force its shoulders through into the narrow space in favor of starting to bite and chew at the walls to the sides in an attempt to widen the passageway. "I always wanted to see one of these things for real when I was a kid."

He lifted his disruptor and then hesitated for a moment. "It seems a shame to kill it when it's probably the only one left in the entire fucking universe."

"Hold on," called Chad from behind him. Jared turned back in time to see his engineer holding up a small, black instrument. "Get behind me."

Approaching the gigantic creature, Chad did something to the object in his hand, and a flood of violet light emerged from the Tyrannosaur. As the two onlookers watched, the creature stiffened and stilled, in just a matter of seconds frozen back into immobility.

"What...?" The young man spread his hands, his face reflecting terror and bafflement in equal amounts.

"Shit! I'd forgotten about you." Jared turned to him, hands spread in apology. "It's okay. You're safe. We'll take care of you."

"Where the hell am I? Who are you, and what the hell is that?" The kid pointed one trembling finger at the frozen lizard. Jared felt suddenly ashamed.

"I'm sorry, man. My name is Jared, and that reprobate over there is Chad, my engineer. What's your name?"

"I'm Jensen, Jensen Ackles, and if it's all the same to you, exciting as this is, I'd love to go home to my family now. It's my birthday, and my sister wouldn't tell me what she'd got me for a present." The young man had been stunning as a silent statue, but now, alive and mobile, he was incredible. Jared felt a frisson of lust warm him as he gazed at the man in front of him. He wanted to trace the plump lips, lick along his cheekbones and kiss the words from the succulent mouth. He swallowed, mentally berating himself for the inappropriateness of his thoughts.

"Okay, Jensen, we'll drop you back home once the mission is complete. We won't be here too long. I think there's enough cargo here for half a dozen trips. Where is home, anyway?"

"Dallas," murmured Jensen. "Richardson, actually. It's a suburb."

"What's a suburb?" Chad had wandered back to eavesdrop. "Dallas? Wasn't that a part of the Lone Star Republic? Got trashed in the TexMex uprising? How long have you been here?" He frowned at Jensen. "Most of Lone Star went up in smoke seventy five years ago. You been in stasis that long?"

"Jensen...?" Jared spoke softly, beginning to realize that the young man might well be further from his home than anyone had suspected. "Just what year do you think it is?"

"It's 1999 - March 1st, 1999." Jensen looked at Jared as if imploring him to agree with him, and Jared felt a pang of sympathy as he suddenly realized what Jensen's predicament actually was.

"Actually, dude," he began, and then paused as Chad suddenly let fly a string of profanities. "Chad, what the hell?"

"I didn't think, Jay." Chad turned to Jared. "The fucking lizard is filling the whole doorway, not to mention the stasis ray is blocking the corridor. How are we going to get out?"



~~~~~~~oo(O)oo~~~~~~~





Part3 | Master Post