Sector 51

Part 2: Hyperspace

Everything around me was shaking, I turned my head to the left to ease the pressure on my neck. I'm actually doing this, I'm alone in a enormous ball slowly but surely climbing to the heavens

"Godspeed Stephen."

It was Holly, she made her way to mission control.

"Thanks Holly" I said with my voice shaking

there was no response, she was probably rushed to the press to explain the details of liftoff. Then the real ground control came over the radio

"Initiating Gravity turn, good luck Stephen."

The ship slowly started to turn onto the Horizon. I could see everything from the large glass porthole in front of me (another homage to old space missions, this one was reminiscent of the Cupola on the International Space Station) I was out of the majority of the atmosphere, when I looked forward I saw a blue ring around the planet itself. I was basically in space.

"releasing first stage." I said over the radio

"affirmative, engine cutoff in T minus 5 seconds"

The moment that engine shut off I would press a button on the lower right control panel, orient myself towards the horizon and do a burn to get into orbit using the smaller second stage.

"releasing first stage."

for a moment the entire capsule stood still, then that peace was abruptly ended by the second stage, churning out flames at max capacity. The second stage burn wasn't very long and after I completed the burn the ion propulsion and Core Drive will take me where I need to go.

"Orbit circularized." Said Ground Control

I turned down the throttle on the control panel and cut the second stage.

"Okay GC," I paused to unbuckle myself from the seat. "what next?"

I was prepping the Ion engine and core drive, I knew it. It said so in the manual

"Okay head to the top left of the core drive." I could hear cheering and the popping of corks from champagne in the background. Guess they brought some in for when I reached orbit.

"okay, I'm here. What next?"

The core drive had at least a thousand buttons on it. each designed for a specific purpose, designation or command that had to do with the Core Drive or the Ion propulsion.

"click the button that is labeled XE FLOW."

Xenon flow. Xe is xenon on the periodic table. I was priming the Ion engine.

"okay, do you want me to activate the electrical field?"

The man wasn't responding for a second, Our connection was getting bad. That happens when you're on almost opposite sides of the planet

"Our connection is breaking up. Follow in flight procedures three to twenty-seven. Do not enter hyperspace until you are back within communication range."

I wasn't planning on entering hyperspace without them in the first place, I needed to remember I'm the first person to ever attempt to enter hyperspace.

"Affirmative."

I moved back to the command centre effortlessly. I loved being in micro-gravity unfortunately I had a lot of work to do.

Steps three through twelve were regarding the Ion engine. Old technology, I was great at it. Steps thirteen to seventeen had to do with testing auto-pilot systems and communications by talking to satellites and going over small fractions of binary code. Thirteen to Twenty-Seven were all preparations for the hyperspace jump. I felt like taking a nap. I'd been awake for 15 hours and my brain was worn out for the day. Thankfully the amazing engineers at NASA know a thing or two about humans needing sleep. So they gave me a sleeping bag and tethers so I could hook myself and the sleeping bag onto the ladder. I'm pretty sure the Mars missions in the 2040's got memory foam attach to the wall and they strapped themselves down, really NASA? A sleeping bag? Still, I can't argue. They already gave me the opportunity to go to Luhman 16 and back, I'm the first person to get this opportunity as well which makes it even harder to complain. I kept my helmet on, so whenever Ground Control called me I would wake up. So I closed my eyes, there was nothing but the small hum of machinery in the background as I listened to classics like Space Oddity, Rocket Man, and ISS (Is Somebody Singing?)

I woke up, Ground Control was trying to talk to me.

"Stephen? Do you copy?"

I motioned my hand onto the side of my my helmet and activated the microphone

"Yeah," I stuck my hand underneath my helmet and rubbed my eye "what do you need?"

"are you prepared for the hyperspace jump?"

I sprawled out of my sleeping bag and pushed off of the wall effortlessly floating to the command seat.

"affirmative, ready to activate Core Drive."

I pulled out the manual and slipped into my space suit. Who knows what might happen.

"Okay, all procedures successful activate at any moment."

The man paused a moment. "Alright, activating core drive in T minus one minute. Godspeed."

I sat in the seat, anxiously waiting for the moment I'd begin accelerating towards Luhman 16 I held out the manual, I was looking at the specs for the ship's Core Drive, it was an enlarged design of the ones used on the probes, pretty clever design actually. Suddenly I shot forward, this wasn't just scary, it was flat out dangerous, the ship was spinning and rattling as if it was a toy in the hands of a toddler the black expanse looked almost the same, except the stars were now flat lines. I wasn't traveling incredibly fast and I'd be there in half an hour. each star looked like a thin pancake through the cupola and the pressure exerted on my chest was immense. I was gasping for air, I immediately began to regret signing up for this. This wasn't my job, they should've stuck with the probes, suddenly. there was a loud noise in the back. then I fell straight out of hyperspace the seat belt barely kept me in the seat, I know because I heard it, the belt ripped, I was disoriented and I had a stinging pain in my chest.

"Ground Control!" I frantically screamed into the radio, something was wrong.

No response, I have no idea how far out I was, but I guarantee you I didn't go more than a light year.

"Ground Control! The mission is compromised I need a rescue mission immediately! Ground Control! Do you read"

No response again, I took matters into my own hands. I unbuckled the seat belt, well, more like just got out of the seat. the strap was floating above me.

I turned to the back of the ship. at first there was no apparent damage, then I realized, that the Core Drive was on fire and there was a hole in the inner layer of the ship. I followed the only procedure I knew. Turn off the airflow, Seal the hydroponics chamber and open the airlock. It may come off as drastic but I can refill the cabin, I have months worth of air in the back, that is if the oxygen storage survived the blast. I realized now how if I hadn't of put the EVA suit on as a precaution I might've been dead right about now.

The entire system was fried. No power, no control of the ship, nothing except the hydroponics, heat, and oxygen are working.

I opened the airlock and the fire snuffed out immediately, I let out a sigh and grabbed onto the rungs above the airlock of the Valiant. I moved slowly around the ship. Hyperspace did a number on it, the outer shell was battered by little chips and dents. I couldn't see the communications antenna, that explains why I couldn't talk to NASA, so no communication. I moved to the back of the ship, no damage to the oxygen tank thankfully, so I won't die yet. The ion engine wasn't functional. Seems like it was fried by the "short circuit." The Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator wasn't good. it was leaking plutonium so I grabbed onto it, ripped it off of the wiring and threw it into space, I don't care. I had no idea where I was, I'm just floating around interstellar space, no big deal. I wanted to slap my own face but I'd have to take off my helmet to do that. I decided to just wait this out. I can't talk to NASA so I have nothing to do but hope. I moved back into the ship, re-pressurizing immediately, the outer hull wasn't damaged as far as I know so I'll be fine in here. the longest I can wait with my hydroponics (lettuce, peppers, strawberries, cabbage) will be 2 months, the food that was in the storage is fine too, I have 30 lunches, breakfasts, and dinners, Three months worth of food. As I said before I have about 5 months of oxygen. I moved back into the command seat, I took of my helmet as sweat poured down my face. Now was an appropriate time to slap myself in the face, but I wasn't going to. Too much was at risk, but too much could wait. I needed to rest and take everything that just happened in.