LOCATION: HYADES TRANSIT NEXUS
AREA: THE HYADES CLUSTER
DISTANCE FROM EARTH: 153 LIGHT-YEARS
During the first leg of the trip from Earth, Kaela kept herself constantly busy. Not exactly useful, but certainly busy.
She was used to carrying her own weight. But the combination of crew efficiency and the limited amount of work required during long-range travel meant that there was, essentially, little real work to do.
So, she spent her time studying and learning.
She knew that eventually her natural circadian rhythm would adjust to her new reality, but the crew told her that during space travel, it was important to maintain a normal sleep schedule.
Everyone else aboard The Pathfinder did the same. Kaela simply set an alarm on her System interface that would alert her to take a three-hour rest after twenty or so hours of activity.
She spent a lot of time sparring with the crew, finding that these cultural diplomats were not particularly skilled in the martial arts. Still, they all welcomed the opportunity to improve.
Kaela also spent a lot of time on the bridge, and Flonk was generous with his time and knowledge of The Pathfinder’s specifications and operations.
“The Pathfinder is a diplomatic vessel,” Flonk said. “It only has a 1,000-c engine.”
“Is that ‘c’ as in the speed of light?” Kaela asked.
“Yes, that’s right. It’s not that fast—”
Kaela burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Flonk asked, appearing slightly offended.
“Before we deployed the System on Earth and finally prioritized our engineering efforts toward space travel, our fastest object moved at…”
She tapped out some numbers on her tablet and made the calculations.
“Yes. The Parker Solar Probe could travel at 0.0006-c. So you saying 1,000-c isn’t fast kind of blows my mind.”
Flonk chuckled. Kaela knew he loved it when she used idioms like that. He treated it like a game, trying to discern the meaning each time.
“Assuming you don’t mean your head literally explodes, I believe you’re actually impressed then, not disappointed?”
Kaela nodded, still smiling.
“Yes, Flonk. I am impressed.”
It was his turn to smile.
“Then your head is definitely going to explode when you see the Meridian-Class Interstellar Transport. Those mass transit ships travel at 15,000-c. The shuttle will take you from the Hyades Transit Nexus to the school in around thirty of your Earth days.”
In this way, Kaela spent a lot of time during the first leg of the trip to the Institute pondering the sheer scale of the universe.
On Day 72, Skrixx called her to the bridge.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
She had been sparring one-on-three with a few of the maintenance crew members. They had learned quickly, and Kaela found herself on her heels a number of times.
When she heard the announcement over the speakers to report to the bridge, Kaela took a few minutes to shower and change into her normal clothes. She grabbed a cup of coffee from the mess hall and headed forward through the central corridor.
When she arrived up front, Skrixx turned toward her right away.
“Kaela, I want to thank you for training with our crew. As you can see, we haven’t put much effort into learning combat, but every member of the crew has improved during this short trip.”
She smiled.
“It’s no trouble at all. In fact, the better they get, the harder I have to work to keep my own edge. And as you know, the best way to retain and deepen knowledge is to teach. So I was glad to do it.”
Skrixx nodded, once again impressed with the mature character of this very young human.
“Now,” he said, changing the subject, “I think you’ll enjoy this. Take a seat over here.”
He gestured toward one of the open chairs nearby, and Kaela sat down.
“We are about to drop out of FTL, and I thought you might enjoy the view from up here.”
She nodded and settled in for the show.
Skrixx made an announcement for the rest of the crew.
“Attention. We are dropping out of FTL in three minutes.”
He turned toward Kaela.
“As I said, the inertial dampeners make this a routine operation that requires no special preparation. But our mechanics need to be ready in case there are issues.”
Skrixx entered a few commands on his console. It took only a few minutes for the ship to slow from one thousand times the speed of light to a normal cruising speed.
The viewing screens in front of them spanned the width of the ship from port to starboard, with various readouts appearing like a HUD.
By now, Kaela could read most of them, but they didn’t mean much to her.
There was a low hum she could feel in the floor as the ship decelerated.
“We have arrived in the Hyad sector,” Skrixx said. “This is part of the larger Hyades Cluster.”
He and Flonk both typed on various screens, making adjustments to their speed and direction.
Far in the distance, a star shone brilliantly against the black backdrop of space. It reminded Kaela of the sun, but the color was off. More orange and a little less blindingly bright.
As The Pathfinder moved forward, an enormous planet appeared to the starboard side.
“That is a gas giant,” Skrixx said. “Similar to your Jupiter, but about ten times the size.”
Kaela nodded, watching it grow larger and larger as they moved past it.
Skrixx continued.
“The alliances operating under the Orion Celestial flag currently span over six hundred galaxies. But the Milky Way is our home. Within each galaxy in which it operates, the Accord constructs transit stations at various points to help traffic FTL flow, to allow crews to rest or repair their ships.”
“It’s also a great place to gossip and make new friends,” Flonk added, smiling.
“Ah yes,” Skrixx said. “Gossip may not be one of the main listed functions of the nexus hubs, but it definitely lands high on the list for those who visit.”
They continued explaining, and an hour later a gigantic megastructure began taking shape in the view screen.
Kaela watched in awe as the magnitude of the nexus hub hit her. The rotating rings around it could have swallowed Earth’s moon and then some.
“This was built…” she whispered.
Skrixx nodded.
“Yes. You will learn about engineered megastructures in your second year at the academy. But here is what you need to know about this one. It is located in what you on Earth call a Lagrange point. It’s a naturally balanced point in space, where the gravity from the star and the gas giant allow an object to exist with minimal energy required to maintain the position.”
“Yes,” Kaela said. “I have studied these. Sometimes asteroids form or stay there, correct?”
“Exactly,” Skrixx replied. “The L5 position forms an equilateral triangle between the star and the gas giant, with the point being 60° behind the planet in orbit. Which is all to say that the Hyades Transit Nexus is where we will pick up the next and final leg of our journey.”
Kaela leaned back in the chair and watched the bridge crew work.
The massive station grew larger in the view screen as they approached, and once Skrixx sent their credentials over the transmission, The Pathfinder was quickly given permission to dock.
A half hour later, Kaela stepped through an airlock and onto her first space station.
It was a visit she would never forget, even if it was just the first of many, many such experiences.