Chapter 46: Spoiler Alert: I Did
I was feeling a bit like a cartoon character as I flew through space, my arms at my sides as rocket thrusters came out of the bottom of my heels and propelled me forward.
I would like to say that it felt a lot like skydiving, but because (a) I have never been skydiving and (b) that implies gravity, it was really not the same.
"Attention, attention! Course direction will put you in the direct path of a nebula. Suggestion is to turn around. Attention, attention! Course direction will put you in the direct path of a nebula. Suggestion is to turn around." A light inside of my helmet started flashing red as a warning came across both my screen and speaker.
"Attention! Attention!" it started for a third time.
"Understood, turn off alarm," I sighed, using my hands to act as rudders to correct the course I was in. Because the nebula in front of me was larger than planet Earth, I asked Jun Li for the exact coordinates of the ship. After all, this was not the time to be lost in space.
Ha! Get it? Lost in space? I could be funny sometimes.
"Audio alarm turned off," came the voice inside of my helmet.
I sighed as the loud, repeating announcement turned off mid-sentence, but the blinking red light and the news ticker at the bottom of my screen continued. "Turn off the warning light," I growled, trying to find the red dot that was me on the map in front of me.
It looked like a map app that I might have had on my phone, but in this case, it was a red dot that showed the course I needed to go to the last known coordinates of the Sisalik X94 fighter craft. It didn’t have a distance, but there was an "estimated time of arrival". Four hours, nine minutes.
I needed to be flying in space for four hours and nine minutes. It was a daunting idea.
However, I couldn’t see the course that I needed to take with the red light lighting up the inside of my helmet. "Warning light has been turned off. However, according to your current trajectory, you will be entering the planetary nebula within two minutes. According to the coordinates listed, there is only a 29.451% chance of success. Do you still wish to proceed?"
Wait! What the fuck?
"I was informed that there was a 43% chance of success. Why is it now only 29%?" I asked confused. I mean, I haven’t deviated from the plan at all, so why was there such a huge drop?
"According to new information, the nebula has become more unstable within the last few minutes, decreasing the chance of success by 13.28191%. At this rate, in less than one hour your chance of success will be 0%."
Great, I had to shave off over three hours from my original time. I don’t see that happening.
"The best way to reach the target in optimal time?" I asked, my arms shaking as I tried to keep them steady. Even the slightest twitch of my wrist was enough to send me off course.
"In order to reach the target within the optimal time limit, you would need to both increase the force of the thrusters, thus increasing your speed, and cut through the nebula."
I thought about it for a minute. My current course was meant to take me around the edge of the nebula, which was why it was going to take so long. Jun Li had determined that it was the safest course of action seeing that in the middle of this particular nebula was giving birth to a new planet.
"Adjust course for the shortest time," I said, refusing to really break down my decision. I knew the moment I did that; I could create a list a mile long as to why this was a horrible idea. But I needed a ship, and according to Jun Li, this was the best one.
"Adjusting your course for the shortest time. The new estimated time of arrival is 58 minutes. Please confirm changes."
"Changes confirmed," I said and as soon as the last syllable passed my lips, I could feel the thrusters on the bottom of my feet practically explode with the force of the resultant gas being pushed through the engine bell. Now, I couldn’t so much as move a finger without sending myself off course.
My arms were still glued to my sides and my legs were locked together, making me a human-shaped dart being thrown. I wanted to turn my head and see if Jun Li was still visible behind me, but I didn’t care.
"Probability of success has risen to 30.76109%. That is an increase of 1.31009%," said my armor sounding impressed.
I was more impressed by the fact that I was currently wearing nothing but some impenetrable fabric and Nanos flying through space, and yet, it felt like I was swimming in a pool.
Or maybe I should say shark-infested waters since I apparently had the same chance of survival.
The light coming from the stars became straight lines and the cosmic dust and gases parted like mist on a foggy night. It was so surreal I expected to wake up at any moment only to find this all a dream and the Sisalik carving out my lungs to see if I really needed them to live.
Spoiler alert: I did.
My eyes scanned the screen in front of me, trying to see if the ship was within eyesight. It wasn’t. But what was, was this little, tiny orange ball that continued growing larger and larger the closer that I got to it. The gases inside the nebula were swirling around the orange ball.
"Gravitational disk instabilities detected, increasing thruster," came the voice inside my helmet and I could feel myself being pushed faster past the small star that was trying to become a planet.
I tried to keep my eyes on the star, but it was impossible without moving my head. It was hard to believe that I witnessed the beginnings of a planet in person. The universe really was full of infinite possibilities.
