Chapter No.2 Introduction.

I was somewhat reluctant to sleep, since I had been snoozing for twenty years. I had this funny feeling that I wouldn't wake up. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing, considering the odd situation that I found myself in.

Despite all of that, I awoke after a restful sleep. I got dressed and headed for the mess hall, which was neither a mess nor a hall. It was just a food service unit embedded in the wall near our bunk cubicles. Small round tables with simple pole chairs provided an efficient dining experience near the food service unit.

I ordered a muffin, some fruit and a cup of coffee, which was not all that great, but it felt good to actually be eating. I had to wait on the robotic chef system to create my meal.

After I finished my simple breakfast, I walked to the command station to see if I could get an update on our status.

COMA was not very helpful. "All systems are operating within optimal parameters," she intoned with a tint of sarcasm.

"Display the operations record of this vessel."

"Please state the time period?"

"Go back to before you were unable to discern our position or velocity."

While COMA was busy, I heard the familiar sounds of walker wheels squeaking. I turned to note that two females wearing robes and slippers were slowly moving toward me.

The operations list finally displayed and it went back twenty years, which meant that whatever caused the present situation happened very early in the mission. On one particular day, a few weeks into the trip, everything was fine, and the next day it wasn't. That didn't make sense because it takes many months to achieve eighty percent the speed of light.

Janet and Sharon finally made it to the command station. Janet was a blond with sharply refined facial features. Sharon was a red head with more opulent features in the form of larger, more expressive eyes and thicker lips.

I turned to welcome them to the living. "Good morning ladies."

"What's our status?" Janet asked.

"Well, there's good news and bad news."

They stared at me with confused expressions. Sharon's expression was one of impatience.

The good news is that this vessel is in good condition with all systems operational. The bad news is that we've been in hibernation for twenty years and we're the only survivors."

"Oh my God!" Sharon blurted, her expressive eyes exhibiting dismay.

"What happened to them?" Janet asked, squinting.

"I don't know. COMA said they were terminal. But that isn't the really bad news. COMA is unable to determine our present position or velocity."

"Why?" Janet asked, tilting her head as if unable to hear me well.

"There's no reference points. It's totally black outside."

She frowned. "That doesn't make sense."

"I definitely agree, but that's the way it is."

"What's that list?" Sharon asked, pointing at the screen.

"The operations log. Whatever plunged us into darkness happened nearly twenty years ago, but there is no reference of a cause, at least none that I've been able to find."

"This is not what I expected," Sharon said, casting her eyes down.

Janet sighed. "This is ridiculous!"

I paused before I said anything. "You two should go get cleaned up. I'll try to find something that might give us a clue as to what happened. We can discuss this after you get back to normal, if that's even possible."

They stared at me for a few moments before slowly hobbling away, pushing their walkers.

I turned to the screen and began looking for anything that would explain what happened. I searched through the main propulsion engine data and the data from the outer skin of the vessel, but I only found one anomaly, a high-energy spectral pulse on the magnetic shielding. This could have been the result of a gamma ray or neutrino blast from a supernova or something similar. The severity of the pulse did not constitute a danger at the time; although I was not an expert on those kinds of phenomenon. I decided to leave that to Janet. She was supposedly proficient in gamma ray astrophysics.

Our velocity at that ill-fated time was listed as being at the expected eighty percent of light speed, which requires two years at maximum fusion powered plasma propulsion to achieve. That didn't make sense since we were only a week into the mission. I assumed that it was a mistake in the record.

When the vessel was plunged into darkness it was an instant occurrence, which indicated that it wasn't the result of our engine propulsion. Although that would have to be verified.

Hearing a noise, I turned to look up the wheel at the crew cubicles and saw the two women minus their robes standing near the shower unit. Obviously, the ship's designers were not concerned about protecting modesty. All that mattered to them was efficiency and energy savings.

I went through the seemingly never-ending recordings after the anomaly occurred but found nothing to indicate what caused it.

Hearing more noises, I turned to see the women at their cubicles getting dressed. I waited until they were before I stood up and went to them. They were attired in crop tops, shorts and athletic shoes.

"It's time you two had a decent meal after twenty years of fasting." I went to the food unit and ordered three fried soy-based chicken sandwiches and mac and cheese portions along with three coffees.

"Did you find anything?" Janet asked me as she walked up to the simple dining area and sat down.

Sharon followed her.

"Not really. Whatever caused it happened literally overnight. I can't imagine what would plunge us into total darkness that quickly."

"There are two possibilities," Janet said. "One is that we've entered into a very dense nebula, but I would think that we would have gotten through it by now. The other possibility is that we've achieved light speed."

"I thought that was impossible," I retorted with a subtle smile.

"Yes, according to Einstein's Special Relativity, it would require an infinite source of energy for a massive object to obtain light speed but if one entered the event horizon of a black hole, it would be the equivalent of obtaining light speed."

"If we entered a black hole's event horizon, we would have been spaghettified."

"Maybe, maybe not, No one has tried it yet."

"Let's assume that we are at light speed," I said. "It would mean that we had traveled nearly twenty light years at that speed, which would put us way past our mission destination."

"It's even worse," she said. "We could be in a part of the galaxy we're not familiar with. Who knows what would happen if we had achieved light speed! Time would have stopped for us relative for anyone that was not at the speed of light."

"We have to find a way to determine if we are at light speed," I said.

"If we are at light speed, couldn't we turn the ship and fire the engines to slow up?" Sharon asked.

"Yes, but let's say we did that. Where would we end up? We could be several light years from any habitable system. We've already lost three crewmembers because of long term hibernation. I don't know about you two, but I'm not about to get in one of those coffins again. In any case, we could end up dying of old age before we arrive anywhere."

"That's true, but maybe we could get lucky."

"I'm not much of a gambler," I said. "I prefer feasible alternatives."

Janet sighed. "Let me look at the data. Maybe I could find something that would explain our present situation."

"Fine with me," I said, nodding.

"What are we going to do with the . . . dead crew members?" Sharon asked.

I shook my head. "I think they'll be fine in those hermetically sealed hibernation units. I sure as hell don't want to open them up."

They didn't offer an objection.

"You gals should exercise," I said. "It'll help you recover from the effects of hibernation. I'll go with you."

We ran around the crew deck until they tired.

"I think I'll go back to the operation list and see if I missed something."

They didn't complain and went to their bunks to rest.

I walked back to the command station and sat down.

"COMA, display the engine operation records for the time of the anomaly."

The list popped up on the main screen. I looked at the fusion temperature and pressure numbers to see if there was a spike or a drop in those parameters. What was so aggravating about this anomaly was that it occurred not too long after launch. I could understand it happening much later, but everything should have been at peak operating capability early on.

I leaned back in my chair just as the women ran past, causing the air they disturbed to transmit and hint of their sweaty bodily aromas. It provided me with a very brief stimulation before I went back to work. I guess they weren't as tired as I thought.

I tried to imagine what would cause our vessel to suddenly accelerate to the speed of light. Could a power surge do that? Maybe it was some quantum effect that the designers hadn't considered. If we were at the speed of light, we would be the first to do so, not that it was something we could brag about. Our chances of seeing Earth again were fading like a risky win bet on a 20 to 1 odds horse.

I heard a noise and turned to see the women strip to take showers. For some strange reason, Sharon waited outside the shower in her birthday suit while Janet used it. Why didn't she wait to strip after Janet was finished? Was she doing this to tease me? Maybe I'm assuming too much.

I thought about what it would be like to live with them for many years if we didn't die from being in space too long. The situation was, quite frankly, awkward. But there was no use concentrating on the future. The present was difficult enough.

I went back to examining the engine operations data and found something that might be important. There was a spike in engine power just before the anomaly. However, engine power fluctuations were common for fusion powered units. Even if there were a power surge, would it be enough to propel us up to the speed of light? Was Einstein wrong? Maybe I was losing my mind.