✅ Project SETI 2: The Daxut Plan

Part II: Infiltration

         Gabriel yelled out when the Temetor One's engines activated. Both vessels began to streak through space so fast that it was nearly inconceivable, and he could feel the strain it was having on him in every individual molecule of his body as they twisted and vibrated. The very fibers of time and space contorted around him—the piloting console and the stars that glittered behind the windowed hull began to shimmer and distort, as if he were seeing it through an increasingly choppy body of water. His scream reduced to nothing but a muffled whisper, and a pressurized feeling on his body forcefully expelled all the air from his chest.

         And then it was over, as quickly as it had begun. Gabriel panted to catch his breath as the fabric of reality normalized again. Still in his sensitive post-seizure state, the unexpected stress on his body had taken a lot out of him. When he gathered himself up more fully, he could see a planet beyond the edge of the mothership that glowed an earthly white and blue, but it was much smaller and the continents were shaped differently. He could also see some satellite-like devices in orbit around it and clear signs of intelligent life on the surface.

         "Warning: Fuel level low. Recommend shut-down or modification of the following active processes: Stealth tethering, voice A.I."

         Gabriel sighed. It didn't surprise him, but it was inconvenient and yet another barrier to getting back home. Now he'd have to find Nova, and find fuel. He disabled the A.I as prompted and modified the tractor device to be magnetized rather than energy-based. Thankfully, the ship held fast to the alloy of the Temetor One's outer hull. However, he was now completely visible to any nearby scanners and the naked eye and suspected that his ship would soon be discovered and taken into custody.

         He knew he had to act fast. He undid the buckles at his hips, carefully stood up and slowly took a step forward. He found that while he was still a little uncoordinated, he could walk now if he was careful. While he made his way to his bedroom in the back, he thought that he might be able to get away with stowing away somewhere on the mothership until he fully regained his strength. Truthfully, he needed to sleep to recover, but there wasn't time for that right now.

         He passed the medical equipment still on the floor and noticed that the portable nebulizer was still on. He frowned at that and was further perturbed by the fact that the oxygen tank was now empty. He had another, but after that, it would solely rely on purifying and concentrating the oxygen within the cabin, and he didn't like that. He lingered for a moment on what little memories he had of seizing, and while he was ultimately grateful for Nova's presence through it, he felt intensely embarrassed that it had happened at all.

         Once in the bedroom, the motion-activated light clicked on. He pressed a button near the doorway, and a panel activated on the only unobstructed wall in the small room. It pushed forward and split in half, and the two halves neatly disappeared into small slots near the floor and ceiling. Beyond it was a modest wardrobe: on the left side, there were three stacked drawers full of clothes, and to the right was a glass case that held an all-black light-armor body suit and matching full-face helmet.

         He sighed at it. He hadn't used it in a really long time, and never anticipated he'd be using it for something such as this, specifically. He'd purchased it after a particularly well-paying job he was charged with by the space pirates he was once employed by, and had gone all out with it. The suit allowed him to survive out in space for roughly six hours; automatically regulated body temperature based on the external climate, and offered low-level energy shielding in addition to the reinforced metal alloys built into the fabric of the suit itself. It also had a basic life support system and limited stealth capabilities, and could be paired with any one of his ranged weapons for an augmented sight in the helmet's visor. At the time, he anticipated staying the gig with the space pirates much longer than how things turned out in reality, and truly thought he would need such bells and whistles.