Chapter 7 - Cargo

The hours leading up to the flight had been pretty rough just sitting there strapped in. It got really uncomfortable since I had to go to the bathroom too, and pushing 55 these things have become much more urgent.

I could tell from the crew's muffled voices that we were getting close to our departure. I had followed this procedure so many times I could probably do it in my sleep, but I had always been safely tucked away in the control room on the station. I've only heard descriptions of what the flight itself is like. I started to get nervous. My instinct was to let them know I was there and to end this childish game.

Ultimately I was frightened in both directions. If I reveal myself, I couldn't imagine the consequences, but if I stayed I was venturing into the unknown, which is much more frightening.

I decided to stay. The docking clamps released and the thrusters were firing to position us in the acceleration ring.

Here we go.

Chapter 6 - Plan

As we approached the last day before launch I decided to fake an illness. My plan was to have my second in command take care of this launch. He had completed nearly as many launches as I. I've been training him up since the second flight through the rift, and he was more than ready.

I was planning to stow away on the craft. Although it wasn't huge, it could hold a crew of five and had storage for various equipment and supplies. My plan was to hide in there with their gear.

First I had to figure out a way to buckle myself in, since it was storage and not designed for a human traveler. Fortunately we had some spare cargo straps on board the space station. I was able to hide one of them on board during one of my last pre-flight inspection to ensure no one would find them.

Since the crew would have to sit in the ship for about 4 hours prior to launch I had to make sure I got in there unseen a few hours before that.

So while the majority of the station crew was on their night cycle I snuck on board and set up my seat belt. Based on the data I had analyzed years ago, this was going to be a bumpy and strange ride.

Chapter 5 - Disobey

We had successfully launched 7 crews through the rift. They always returned safely, thanks to the technology I had developed. On the space station I had a staff of three working under me. My staff was starting to get very good at the inspections and preparations. My role was starting to feel obsolete.

I couldn't handle zero gravity like my staff could, I was starting to have health issues stemming from the atrophy atrophy caused my little gravity.

I had been involved in several space flights out to the station, normally we spend 3 months up, and 6 months down. But the government physicians was starting to give me the impression that this would be my last flight to the station. The only reason I was able to have this many flights was the fact that my crew required so much on site training.

I felt like I was going to completely lose any opportunity to travel through the rift after this mission. So I did something spontaneous that went against the grain of everything that got me this far in my career. I was preparing to disobey orders.

I was going to get through that rift!

Chapter 4 - Application

Over the course of several years we had a handful of successful manned missions make it through the rift unharmed. My design had worked and I was starting to get a little antsy. For the first time in a long time the little boy inside of me began to speak up. I had been so used to the fact that I would never visit a new world, that I'd became accustomed to working on the ground creating the next stepping stone. I had forgotten what it was like to be filled with awe and wonder at the possibility of new world exploration in person.

I put in my application to be part of one of the landing teams on Terra Duorum. I provided a detailed explained of my personal interest in understanding the civilization that used to inhabit Terra Durom. My engineering knowledge would also allow me to begin working out a way to transport large numbers of people back and forth through the rift so that we could get more scientists on the ground of this new world, and maybe some day civilians. As you already know my application was rejected.

The closest they would allow me to get to Terra Duorum was on the new space station that they were building to orbit in sync with the rift. This was going to be the docking point where each craft would stop to prepare for launch through the rift.

They needed me there to complete inspections on each of the ships, and make any last minute modifications before the crew navigated the rift.

Some would find this quite exciting, just being in space and so close to such an anomaly, but like I said my inner boy was screaming now. I wanted more, and it was so close I could practically touch it.

Chapter 3 - Design

My involvement was designing the propulsion system that takes the crew through the rift safely. Unfortunately we lost a few probes that we sent. But in losing the probes we gained a lot of data to help us design an adequate craft. The data was so complex that their current designers weren't able to find a solution. That's why I was brought in.

I had been working on the design of the new Orion rocket when suddenly they reassigned me to a new division that I had never heard of before. I had been around the block a few times, so for there to be any surprises in regards to our administration hierarchy was quite a...well, surprise.

Apparently in secret they built a new hangar north of the Kennedy Space Center. They had a small team of engineers working on the problem of traveling through the rift as safely as possible. Although several probes had traveled through, on return they always showed signs of heavy damage and were on the verge of being destroyed. We needed something safer.

I won't bore you with the details, but the structural design had to take variables on the quantum level into account in order to increase stability. It all came down to designing the craft so that the Heisenberg uncertainty would play out in our favor. And yes that was my idea.

So based on my design we completely changed how we would go about building the craft. It was strange, in all my experience at NASA we were always made painfully aware of the limitations of our budget. This was the first time that I felt like money really was no object. This parallel universe had been appraised at quite a high value, and the higher ups wanted to make sure this was done right.

Fortunately for them i was used to budget constraints so in the end they got way more out of our team then you would think was possible.

Chapter 2 - Questions

I really hoped to be a part of one the expeditions to this world. Having developed a background in archeology in my spare time I was interested in finding out what happened on this planet. Why it was so similar to our own, why did we find it, and most importantly where did everyone go?

Unfortunately for me I had two things going against me. I was getting a little old by their standards, and I was a propulsion expert. Let me explain, on missions like this... you know to other universes they are concerned that the very few people that get to go are in perfect health. The loss of communication once they are on the other side complicates this greatly. Anything they can do to decrease the number of variables that might impact the mission is very advantageous. It's not like you could just dial 911 emergency and have an ambulance come if you had heart problems or you tripped and broke your leg. No you would be on your own with your crew and that's it.

Second being a propulsion expert was another handicap (strange huh?). Basically I was considered "too valuable" to risk losing on one of these missions.

Chapter 1 - Discovery

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with the idea of exploring new worlds. Flying to other planets and meeting new races. The as I got older it seemed that the only worlds I could explore would be within the confines of our solar system. In my lifetime the only places I had a remote chance of visiting were the moon, mars, and maybe venus. Although going to any of those would be an amazing experience that only a few human beings could have, but I wanted more.

I wanted to see worlds and peoples that had already existed for generations. I guess I watched too much star trek as a kid. Up until the last few years it seemed like the only role I could have in this would be to help create a stepping stone for future generations. Most would say that this was a noble cause, but as you can tell I was greedy.

Then in the last five years everything had changed. They disclosed the discovery of a parallel universe to high level staff at NASA. A rift in space time had been found. This rift was a gateway to this universe and we had sent various probes through to investigate.

It seems that in this parallel dimension they found a planet very similar to our earth. The probes had completed a few landings on the surface and found signs of civilization there. Cities in very similar locations to our own planet. Similar technology as well. The only difference was there were absolutely no signs of living or dead people, and we hadn't discovered any yet.

What a mystery.

I find it kind of ironic that I had always longed for finding a civilization, and when we finally do, it turns out that they are our long lost twin or some sort.