L`Univers:

The first pioneers

     “Sir may I ask you a question?” asked Benedict.                                                   

“Well you just did,” Khan was teasing. “Tell me what is it, kid?”                        

“When I came here to present you the planets and everything…” Benedict stopped.                                                                                                                             

“Yes?” Khan was eager.                                                                                                    

“I did not expect to be sent into outer space, let alone into another galaxy and what`s even more strange with my friends never the less.”                                                                                                          

“And you are probably wondering how any of it is possible?”                                                                                                      

“Well…yes,”                                                                                                                      

“Come on take a walk with me kid, I`ll explain everything and show you around the grounds,” said Khan as walked away from the legend of the spaceship. “Uh…Jane, I will borrow Benedict away from you from some time if that`s okay,” he told her.                                                                                                                        

“Sure just get back soon so we can start with the training,” said Jane.                   

“Sure thing,” he and Benedict walked out from the hangar.

     “By now I am sure you are aware of who Adam is,” asked Khan as they were walking around the courtyard.                                                                                      

“You mean the scientist?” asked Benedict.                                                                

“That`s the one,” confirmed Khan. “And you are also aware of his discoveries right?”                                                                                                                              

“Yes, of course, he is my idol.”                                                                                        

“That is nice that he is your idol, but however there`s a discovery of his that you are not aware of yet.”                                                                                                

“How is that?” Benedict became confused.                                                                   

“Well he proposed this theory of a spinning ship to be able to create this so-called vortex in space that the ship could go through,” Khan started explaining.                                                                                                                       

“How would that work in a universe filled with matter?” asked Benedict.

“Well, you see he thought of the matter to be fluid, therefore dark fluid, some mixture of radiation and gasses and whatnot. And as you know when your mom bakes a cake at home and uses the mixer to stir the ingredients, it creates this vortex,” Khan stopped.                                                                                                                         

“Yes I have seen it,” Benedict was somewhat amazed considering his expression on the face.                                                                                                                       

“So he was like if the mixer can create this on Earth probably a spaceship could also do the same in space.”                                                                                        

“Yes but why fluid or why vortex exactly?” asked Benedict.                                    

“Well, why not?” Khan asked him. “He was inspired by the experiments that took place way back in the 21st century,” he added.                                                     

“And what were they?” Benedict was even more curious.                                   

“It`s said that bunch of astronomers took an aquarium and filled it with salt and water and as you know salt tends to fall to the bottom and then dissolve, but that`s just not the case in zero gravity,” Khan explained to him.                                                                                                                                

“Well, what is the case?” Benedict kept asking.                                                         

“It turns out that the salt kept floating in the middle of the aquarium and the grains were attracted to each other, so now I dare you to use your imagination,” Khan looked at him.                                                                                                     

“The water is the dark fluid and the grains of salt are the planets, stars, asteroids and everything else,” mouthed Benedict.                                              

“Exactly!” Khan raised his voice. “And as for your second part of the question why vortex? Well, it`s just vortex when spinning a ship at high speeds a vortex just creates itself,” Khan put it simply.                                                                     

“But flying through it would require a lot of energy,” said Benedict.                              

“On the contrary,” erupted Khan. “You see the vortex in and of itself carries energy and momentum that gets transferred to the ship, as the ship uses that power to, well just power itself, besides you`ve got the backup core that is powered by Tetrarium.” Khan finally finished explaining.                                                                                                  

“Wow!” Benedict was impressed as he took a deep breath and looked up to the blue clear sky.                                                                                                                       

“Of course we built the ship and tested it…” Khan stopped.                             

“And?” Benedict widened his eyes.                                                                                 

“It works kid!” Khan surprised him even more. “We managed to reach speeds triple than the speed of light, however, it was an unmanned mission,” Khan honestly told him.                                                                                                              

“Well, why?” Benedict asked.                                                                                    

“For safety reasons of course, but now that we know it works we plan on sending humans,” Khan told him. “And you kid will be the first ones,” Khan managed to amaze Benedict even more.                                                                        

“Oh wow!” Benedict held his forehead with his palm. “This is just so much to take in,” he explained. “But why us?”                                                                             

“We needed a clean planet and you found one, it`s only fair that we send you there.”                                                                                                                                     

“Yes but, why go through all the trouble when you can send trained professionals?” Benedict kept asking.                                                                                      

“I know you don`t understand now but one day you will… that is as much as I can tell you,” replied Khan. “I know how you feel, but I am going to need you to return to Jane she could be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”                                                                                                          

“Yeah sure,” Benedict felt let down as they departed and started walking toward the hangar.

     Benedict told his friends about the ship and the vortex and as you would expect everybody was amazed and also the fact that they would be the first ones to embark on a journey so important to the history of the human civilization, I have to say it`s quite the accomplishment and quite the happiness booster. After some time they notified Jane that they had a deal between each other about the roles:

Benedict Lenov-is going to be the captain, everybody voted and agreed on that

Peter Diederich-is going to be the first officer, something like captain`s right-hand man.

Simon Royden-is going to be the chef, and make sure no one stays hungry.

Dave Stroder-he is the technical assistant overlooking after the whole ship

Zack Seltzer-is going to be the main engineer, taking care of the core and weapons in the ship.

Raven Elara-no doubt here she is going to work in the medical bay.

Alexander Edinger-he is also in medical bay together with Raven.

Sarah Seamore-she is actually going to be the pilot.

Viktor Moskovitz-he is going to be the pilot as well together with Sarah.

John Macmanus-he is going to be the helmsman, activating warp sequence on captain`s order.

     Everything was set roles and such the training commenced for them. The first three months they were actually separated because everyone had to learn their job, for example, Dave was studying about the mechatronics of spaceships, Raven and Alexander were expanding their knowledge in medicine, Viktor and Sarah were in simulation on how to pilot a ship, and also Simon acquired some new cooking skills. The last three months they were together learning the parts of the ship, they were in a pool with just enough pressure to stimulate zero-gravity, driving rovers and studying their parts and how to fix them, they also learned how to weld in case of damage, but most importantly they learned how to work as a team.

Six months passed for them as it all happened in a day. They had much fun doing the things they love instead of studying them in school. The training was not just about them learning their responsibilities but it was a great team-building experience.

     The yellow envelopes were lying on Jane`s desk with their red marks “PASSED”.

     Jane and Khan gathered all of them in the courtyard. “Congratulations you all passed, ”a couple of whistles and “woohoo's” were heard in a sign of happiness. All of them gathered in the main hall and had a drink or two celebrating the successfully passed training program.                                                                        

“Cheers to our mate here Benedict, who made our lives more exciting,” Peter stood up and raised a glass. “But he never even told us how he found those planets,” as it kicked up everybody`s curiosity and attention. Benedict stood up picked up a plastic board and started drawing with the marker until he got to his favorite part of connecting the lines between the planets.                                                                                                                      

“And these planets are clear from Terarium?” asked somebody as everybody turned to see the somebody they didn`t recognize but Benedict did, he had to, after all, he had a big poster of him in his room… Adam.                                                   

“ADAM,” screamed Benedict. “Oh… I`m sorry sir.”                                                          

“It`s alright kid,” he moved toward him.                                                                    

“Adam!” Khan walked in. “This is Benedict Lenov captain of the…, oh damn we haven`t named it yet,” Khan covered his face because he was sort of embarrassed in front of him.                                                                                         

“Enterprise,” said Dave.                                                                                                  

“No! Conqueror because we shall conquer planets and such,” protested Viktor.                                                                                                                      

“What about Titanic?” asked Alexander.                                                                   

“That is really dumb,” said Simon to everybody.                                                                

“I got it,” John stood up. “Star Fury!”                                                                                   

“I like it,” said Peter.                                                                                                       

“Yeah it has a nice ring to it,” said Benedict the captain and the first officer seemed to like that one as Benedict stepped up to John saying Star Fury it is.                                                                                                                                 

“Adam I`d like you to meet those who will be going on the mission,” said Khan.                                                                                                                   

“H…Hi sir,” he mouthed, but Adam was much more relaxed.                                 

“Come, close kid,” they shook hands. “What you did was awesome, your discovery is brilliant,” Benedict thanked him for that.                                                           

“Sir Can I tell you something?” asked Benedict.                                                          

“Sure thing kid,” Adam smiled.                                                                                       

“You were my inspiration sir,” Benedict nodded his head. “Your discovery with the vortex is a work of a genius, but tell me sir…?” Benedict stopped.                    

“Yes, kid?”                                                                                                                  

“Whilst your discovery is brilliant nobody seems to be aware of it, why is that?” Benedict asked.                                                                                                                  

“You see now, I had this chat with Khan and we both agreed that it might be for the best if this stays hidden for a while,” explained Adam.                                        

“But why sir?”                                                                                                                      

“There are all sorts of people to be considered here, who knows that one might use this technology for warmongering.”                                                                   

“Right…” mouthed Benedict and looked away all confused, but he knew that Adam was right.                                                                                                                 

“Well good luck out there captain!” smiled Adam and wished him all the best.                                                                                                                            

“Thank you, sir,” as he left the room with everybody else, Khan starred at Adam straight in the eyes conspicuously kind of like.                                                              

“Do they know?” asked Adam.                                                                                         

“No,” Khan replied shortly.                                                                                                                      

“He asks a lot of questions,” Adam crossed his arms.                                                       

“I would too if I was in his place,” Khan looked at the floor. “But not to worry I haven`t told him anything.”                                                                                        

“How do you feel?” Adam asked again. “About all of this?”                                     

“I don`t know,” exhaled Khan. “Jane may be right, what if we are sending them to doom? What if this thing that we are doing doesn`t work?”                               

“We just have to hope that everything will be all right,” Adam looked at Khan.                                                                                                                         

“Yes…hope,” scoffed Khan. “We could possibly be sending them to even worse things.”                                                                                                                                 

“Trust me, Khan, the things that are coming to this world are far scarier than the things they will encounter,” Adam nodded at Khan.                                            

“Suppose you are right, just…don't tell Jane any of this, she could be a real pain in the ass sometimes,” said Khan as he was walking away from Adam.                                                                                                                       

“You have my word,” nodded Adam.

     One day later all of them were in a briefing room as Jane was explaining some last-minute stuff and some tips and tricks and also told them that they will leave in two days, but before that they will have a night off, at that moment all of them jumped from the chairs cheering and whistling as Jane turned to Khan.                                                                                             

“Are you sure about this?” she asked him.                                                                    

“They are young, let them have some fun,” Khan comforted.                                 

“Khan I don`t think this is the best idea,” said Jane.                                                 

“What do you mean?” he was confused.                                                                           

“A test subject needs to be clean of whatever substance to yield correct results,” Jane looked at them. “That`s what I don`t think it`s the best idea” she explained, the lie that Khan and Adam planted in her head seemed to have worked she had no idea that these ‘test subjects’ are not what they seem at all. You see Jane`s organization does not approve of anybody leaving the planet even more so visiting other planets not now when the world is in crisis. But the question is: What crisis would that be? And why are Khan and Adam so secretive and mysterious?                                                                                                        

“Well let me ask you something Jane,” Khan looked at her. “Do you know the reason why I picked you to train them?” he asked her.                                       

“Well…no,” she answered.                                                                                         

“Because you are the best at what you do and if you and your files say that they are ready then they really are,” said Khan.                                                                

“If anything happens to them, it`s going to be on me and you,” warned Jane

“Besides why are you in such a rush to send them.”                                         

“Jane… this is not the 21st-century requirements change as so does technology, everything is digitalized,” Khan changed the subject and kept persuading Jane. “Yee of little faith,” said Khan as he walked away, whilst Jane remained speechless and had nothing to say back to him.

     The same night all of them were formally dressed and went into a night club where they had fun but they drank too much so that the morning they woke up in San Francisco as they were lying on a hill with a view to the Golden Gate bridge they had a nice chat, getting to know each other as they will be the only ones taking care of themselves when they leave. Simon will cook food, Alexander and Raven will treat them, Viktor and Sarah they will keep the course. Dave and Zack will make sure the ship stays in tip-top shape as John will launch the vortex and lastly Benedict and Peter well… they will just boss around and maybe throw a helping hand now and then.

     Six hours later they entered the briefing room all of them were sleepy and could barely walk let alone standing up.                                                                      

“I hope your hangover is over,”  Jane minced words as they were entering the room.                                                                                                                                  

“I`m glad I didn`t have to perform detoxification,” explained Raven to Jane, they took their places and Khan started explaining.                                                                 

“In exactly eighteen hours you will leave in a smaller ship that will carry you behind the moon where the U.N.E. Star Fury is and from there you will warp.”                                                                                                                           

“This thing has warp?” Dave asked.                                                                        

“Well…no, but it`s what we call the vortex nowadays, it makes us sound more advanced,” explained Khan.                                                                                                

“I like it,” said Viktor.                                                                                                      

“Wait, what does U.N.E. stand for?” asked Simon who was very confused.                                                                                                     

“United Nations of Earth of course,” replied Khan.                                                   

“Oh…I see,” Simon nodded his head whilst trying to look away from being shy because he didn`t want the others to think that he is that dumb.

     The morning they were all having breakfast chatting and giggling amongst each other whilst Benedict seemed saddened and pale.                                                                                         

“You okay dude?” Peter looked at him.                                                                            

“I`m fine,” he dropped the fork and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe his palms. “It`s just that I saw a picture of Neil Armstrong having his breakfast before leaving Earth,” Zack raised his glass and stood up.                                                      

“Hey-we will be okay,” Zack comforted as Benedict stood up too.                          

“Cheers to us then,” as they finished their drinks.

     A couple of hours later Jane was role calling them, while Khan was calling out to someone named Blackwell.                                                                                      

“Yes sir?” he came racing in front of him.                                                                        

“It`s time,” Khan turned toward Benedict as he held the visor and placed his hand on Benedict`s shoulder and whispered to him.                                                          

“It`s a long trip, and some scientists would say that there is no possible way to even leave the galaxy but we did it. Humans have always dreamt of the impossible and made it possible, we are quite good at it actually,” smiled Khan as he raised his head. “Good luck kid,” It was probably the last time Khan and Benedict would see each other until they return.                                                                                     

“Thank you, sir,” all ten of them entered the shuttle and lastly was Blackwell who will transport them to the Star Fury. Khan immediately went to the control room and said to the employees that he will commandeer this launch, as he started right away, Retro?, GO!, Fighto?,GO!, Control?,GO!, Telecom?,GO!, Surgeon?,GO!, Guidance?,GO!, “Blackwell this is Houston you are clear to go.” Blackwell pressed a bunch of buttons

“Roger that sir, all right lifting off in t-minus 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…,and we have a lift off!!!”                                       

“I hope you are comfortable because it’s a long way to the moon” warned Blackwell.                                                                                                                      

“Houston!” called out Zack.                                                                                                            

“Yes?” Khan immediately responded, but Zack laughed. “Ah, man I`ve always wanted to say that,” while everybody in the shuttle laughed.                                                                                                                                    

“And if you turn to your left you would see the I.S.S.,” said Blackwell as they stood up and saw the station which was much bigger now that the Chinese and Russians have linked up with it, and looked like a maze with a bunch of tunels were connected to each other randomly. After eight hours they finally arrived as Viktor and John rushed to the windows to see it. The ship was gorgeous it was even better than the one from the legend it had lights and colors and had its name painted on the back of the body. Just as the shuttle connected to the ship everyone rushed into the tunnel.                                                                                                             

“Wait, kid,” Blackwell stopped Benedict.                                                                          

“Yes sir?” he looked at him.                                                                                              

“I am sure you understand the role and the responsibility that a captain has,” Blackwell touched him on his shoulder and stared at him.                                   

“Honestly I must say I am a little worried, I am not sure that I am exactly the captain material,” said Benedict.                                                                                         

“I wouldn`t worry much about it, it`s not like you are going anywhere we will be here observing you…”                                                                                                        

“That`s enough Blackwell let them go, let`s not waste time,” Khan interrupted him over the radio as him and Adam looked at each other being scarred because Blackwell almost gave them away.                                                                                    

“You have your friend's trust and support and that`s enough to keep a good man standing,” Blackwell comforted him. “Here`s a tip I have for you, this job…will change you for better or worse, the actions and decisions that stand before you will shape your persona and as so will you then act upon them,” Blackwell stopped and let all of that sink in Benedict`s head as he remained silent.                                                                                                                                    

“Now I am sure you are bored of hearing this but…good luck out there captain,” said Blackwell.                                                                                                                  

“Thank you, sir,” Benedict smiled and entered the tunnel being even more confused. Are they playing tricks on him? Is he actually leaving or could it be true that they are staying here? When he arrived at the bridge everyone was admiring the ship and there was a reason for it was just awesome, the bridge was a big room with the captain`s chair in the middle and Dave`s technical desk just behind the captain with colorful flickering lights and switches, John`s and Peter`s desk in front of the captain ,then couple of stairs down there where the two pilot`s desk`s for Viktor and Sarah, but most of all it was the big window as big as the whole room the view was filled with the blackness of space and the little bright dots of stars and just a fraction of the moon.                                                                                                                                

“Captain on the bridge!!!” yelled John as Benedict sat on the chair, he immediately told John to warp.                                                                                                     “Is everything ready?” asked John.                                                                                 

“Wings are set and ready,” confirmed Sarah.                                                         

“Thrusters at full capacity,” added Viktor.                                                                     

“The tech is all good,” said Dave from the back.                                                        

“Rockets are secure I`m powering up the shields,” said Zack. “Wait, shields?” asked Raven over the radio.                                                                                          

“Yeah so we don’t hit any debris while we are in the vortex,” answered Zack.                                                                                                                  

“Ladies and gentlemen…” Benedict gulped. “This is the beginning of a great adventure, GO!” he ordered.                                                                                                

“Yes captain launching rotation sequence,” John pushed the lever on his desk. The ship started making some alienish sounds, and in front of the ship appeared what looked like a black hole with spirals that spun around it and sucked in the ship in an instant.

     “Khan there is a problem…” Jane walked up to him.                                         

“What?” Khan was stressed out.                                                                                

“The ship it went in hyperspace…”                                                                             

“Oh… oh yeah you see we sort of lied to you and your board of members, this is not an experimenting type of thing this is actually what is going to save the human civilization unlike your stupid attempts,” said Khan directly to her face.                               

“You are a part of those board members and you`ve just betrayed everything we stood for and our efforts and this will not go unpunished,” she threatened.                                                                                                             

“Some efforts they were, with thousands dying every day and you still focused on finding the cure.”                                                                                                            

“The cure for Terarium is not finding it but moving to a clear planet that contains none of it,” Adam chimed in aswell                                                                              

“Guards!!!” yelled Jane.                                                                                               

“No this is IASA you`ve got no power here, guards take her away!!!” ordered Khan as they dragged Jane out of the room.                                                                     

“We did a good thing,” Adam came behind Khan. “We will cure our civilization.” “The organization will come after us, they will hunt us,” Khan starred at Jane who was still being dragged.                                                                                                   

“The needs of many outweigh the needs of few, some sacrifices are worth,” Adam tapped him on the shoulder and left the office. As long as Khan had full control over IASA nobody could do anything to him nor the expedition. The organization, in fact, was being hated by the government whilst the government supports IASA and as soon as Adam figured out this simple loophole he knew he had to act and speak up. The virus is killing loads and The organization covers it hoping they could find a cure, so far they found nothing, keeping the government in the dark. It`s not like anyone could speak up The organization had a way of dealing with traitors it is why Khan is scared of them.