The Delmarian Influence

Chapter One

A thousand years ago, the Corridors were discovered. A Ranger patrolling the far reaches of Earth's solar system encountered an energy spike that could not be identified.

A team of Earth's scientists studied the phenomenon for a period of five years before they were able to find the frequency and algorithm of the energy discharge. They still could not identify the source, but they could measure it.

These were exact figures that never changed no matter how long one watched and measured, and they did so for another five years before Philip Tanner Doyle made history by projecting a pulse that matched the algorithm precisely.

The first burst ignited the dark space in a blaze of space dust—which was all they saw before the gravitational force of the phenomena tore them from their cushioned seats on the science vessel Gyfada 17.

In the subspace of a Corridor, there is nothing connecting one with the outside. There are no such things as sight, sound, and sometimes even time is no longer a fixed thing, only a variable--though even those instances are rare.

When they exited the phenomena and watched the sparkle of space dust vanish behind them, many questioned that anything had happened at all, until they noticed the stars. They had traveled far beyond charted space. Even at full thrust it would have taken them ten years to return to their point of origin. They argued for a full hour before all agreed to attempt the energy burst again.

Unharmed, they exited the first Corridor ever found in known space. An hour and twenty minutes had passed. The short arm of the Confederate suddenly became the long arm of the universe as they discovered more and more Corridors. Some were unstable, and some no one ever returned from. The more dangerous ones were marked and documented, and those that led to habitable worlds soon were colonized and terra-formed.

---History of the Confederate, excerpt of pages 47-48.

---Indyra Calimon, Marshal of Education, Old Earth

---Copyright 4067 O.E.

1.

The Mediocre: Unclassified Delmarian Vessel

4100 O.E., Septam 18, 07:56:24.22

Sector 212—Gyfada V

She wouldn't have called it a "rough ride" because there was no such thing in subspace. Only there was something that she couldn't place. It was almost like she collided with an object, but one simply did not collide with something in a Corridor.

Sister Gin Dulina's breathing slowed after a few moments as her body calmed itself. She could feel the buzz of her nanites as their chatter increased, then came to a soft hum that was audible to only her senses. She flexed the tips of her fingers. They were numb. Such a thing never happened after travel through a Corridor, but it was one of the few ones marked by the Confederate.

Still, it did not deter her from her mission. Sitting back in the synth-leather chair of the Mediocre, she activated thrusters with a thought. Another thought and the sensors were recalibrated and chronometer synced up with the local network.

A check of communications revealed more traffic than she had time to go through. A cursory scan of Fyrma V revealed more than a few satellites that would detect her passage if she came in on a safe trajectory.

That was why she piloted the Mediocre manually. In fact, she wasn't going to do any of the regular stuff like check in with the Landing Control Modules or even ask permission.