KYLE'S P.O.V.

  The Adastra shot through high-level clouds as we ascended into space. I kept a death grip on the control column, easing our sharp climb to reach orbit.

  Behind me, Conrad fiddled with the radio, cycling through various frequencies in an attempt to communicate with the ground.

  “Does that even work?” I asked.

  “Yeah—” Conrad replied, turning a small dial on the radio.

  Pruitt's loud voice boomed into my headset.

  “—WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?” He sounded pissed, understandably. “IF YOU CONTINUE, YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO OVERSEE THE AGENCY—”

  Conrad quickly grabbed a headset and began speaking into it. “Look, Dad, I'm sorry—” he stuttered, “I just can't let you ignore what has happened.”

  I clicked on my microphone. “Pruitt, I've looked up to your family name since I was little,” I said. “And to a degree, I still do. However, I'll never be looking up to you specifically.”

  Pruitt’s tone shifted, though the anger was still present. “Raymond? You are dragging my son to his death with that half-cocked plan of yours! If I ever have the opportunity of meeting you again, I will make sure you remember it.”

  His words angered me—not in an annoyed way, but in a way that left me confused. My grip on the control column tightened as if I could crush it in my hands.

  I held my thumb on the control yoke, hovering over the mic button. My microphone activated, and without thinking, I acted.

  “You'll be outright THANKFUL to ever see me again!” I yelled into the mic. “Because as far as I'm concerned—YOU are a liar. To my colleagues. To the public. And to your own children!”

  Pruitt didn’t have much of a reply. He wasn’t expecting the sudden outburst, and neither was I.

  “Two minutes until we're in orbit,” Conrad said, breaking the tense silence. “And can we shut off the damn radio now?”

  I didn’t say anything. Instead, I continued staring out at the cracked windshield in front of me. “Well... uh,” I said, “just wait a moment.”

  I took a deep breath and adjusted my grip on the control column. “We’ll be transmitting scientific data at 3GHz frequency. Adastra out.” I gestured for Conrad to cut communications with the ground, which he promptly did.

  I turned back to Conrad. “Once we’re in orbit, get the gravimetric computers going. Send the additional data to the ground at 3GHz.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He nodded. “We’re just about to match the EX-5’s orbit,” he said. “Engine shut-off in ten seconds.”

  I counted down, and when Conrad said so, I shut off the engines. Suddenly being weightless was... interesting, to say the least.

  Bits of dust and other minuscule debris began floating about the cabin, including Michael’s hoodie. Conrad looked on in awe as beams of light illuminated the floating particles.

  “Try not to get any in your eyes... or eye, in my case,” I said, unbuckling my seat harness. I haphazardly pulled myself away from the cockpit and toward the flight engineer’s station.

  I settled into the seat as Conrad activated various scientific computers. “Once we reach the coordinates where the EX-5 disappeared, we’re getting out of dodge.”

  Minutes passed as I worked through circuit breakers and other systems to activate the hyperspace cell. To my relief, I succeeded in connecting it. The cabin lights flickered momentarily as they began drawing power from the cell.

  “Conrad, don’t let our negative mass reach -150% or more,” I warned. “Less-than-stellar things will happen.” I floated back to the pilot’s seat.

  Conrad hovered near my seat, looking concerned. “And what will happen if we go over -150%?”

  I laughed. “Well, every atom of the spacecraft—and our bodies—will be violently ripped apart.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked, giving me a funny look.

  I sighed. “Actually, not at all,” I admitted. “It’s just been... so much.” Conrad patted my shoulder before returning to his seat.

  “In a couple of minutes, there’ll be no more need to worry,” Conrad reassured. “We’ll know what happened.”

  A small tear formed on the side of my visor, and without gravity, it clung there, unmoving. It grew until I had to close my eye. “How long until the jump?” I asked quietly.

  “Six or so minutes until we’re in position,” he replied.

  I turned to Conrad. “Hey, uh, you never really did tell me why you’re doing this.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  I blinked away the tear. “You know—risking your life for this? You mentioned Avera this morning, and that was about it.”

  “Oh... I guess I never fully did tell you,” Conrad said. “The day the EX-5 took off, I proposed to Avera.”

  I was speechless.

  “She said no, though. That’s why I was such a jerk to you in the first place. I was heartbroken...” He leaned back in his seat.

  He stared at the cabin ceiling. “Gah!-fuck, I’m a hypocrite.”

  I felt bad for him. Sure, he might have been right about the hypocrite part, but that didn’t lessen the fact that he proposed and got turned down.

  “So... how long were you two together?” I asked.

  “Almost three years,” he said. “After the EX-3 mission, I developed a crush on her. I hesitated for a year before asking her out. We hit it off after that.”

  “That’s nice,” I chuckled.

  Conrad sat up. “And what about you and Michael?” he asked.

  “Oh... like a little over a year,” I said. “Ironically, I turned him down when he first asked me out. It was only after I realized how scared he was of going to space that I tried to comfort him. That’s when I realized we had mutual feelings.”

  Conrad laughed. “I guess getting turned down runs in the family.”

  “And what exactly do you plan to do when you see Avera again? Let her slap you in the face?” I teased.

  He started to respond. “Well, I really don’t k—” He stopped mid-sentence as the Adastra rattled.

  The ship lightly shook, and the bright stars outside the windshield seemed to swirl, as if stirred by an invisible whisk.

  “What’s happening?” Conrad asked, startled.

  “This patch of space is still disrupted from the EX-5,” I explained. “It shouldn’t be this bad, though. They really had a rough ride.”

  “And us?” Conrad asked.

  “A bit worse,” I admitted. “It’ll be hard to stabilize a warp field in space this disrupted.”

  “Do we go?” Conrad asked, tightening his harness.

  “It’ll only get worse. Yes,” I said. “Kill the cell safeguards!”

  Warning alarms buzzed through the cabin.

  I gripped the hyperspace handles. “Here we go!” I yelled, slowly pushing them forward, worsening the vibrations.

  Space outside the windshield blurred as streaks of stars enveloped the Adastra. I was awestruck—it was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

  “Our mass is 36% and decreasing!” Conrad called out. “How long will—” He paused, staring out the windshield. “Oh my...”

  Aureon’s oceans and landmasses morphed before our eyes, as if melting together. The Adastra groaned and shuddered under the extreme forces.

  “What’s our mass?” I shouted.

  “Negative 67%!” Conrad replied. “How much longer?”

  “Almost!” I yelled.

  The alarms grew louder. Lights on the control panels flashed like strings of Christmas lights.

  We were so close. I pressed my head against the seat, ready to order Conrad to shut down everything.

  “Kyle, we’re reaching—no! Our mass is over -150%!” Conrad shouted.

  “Already?” I panicked.

  Before he could reply, the crack on the windshield spiderwebbed.

  “Shut it down! QUICKLY!” I yelled.

  Conrad killed the hyperspace cell, plunging the cabin into darkness. After a moment, the lights flickered back on. “Did we... make it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  Outside, a planet resembling Aureon floated below us. But whether it truly was Aureon... that was another question entirely.

  End of Chapter 14.