After our brief visit to Andromeda Galaxy, we are in search of a horizon in the universe. Sadly we haven’t come across one yet and we are low on our solar fuel. It would be better for us to return back to Earth, but again the fuel isn’t enough. While travelling through the nebula it seems some sort of electrostatic discharge there, has affected our solar cells. It’s not able to retain the solar charge and we are leaking charge from the cells. So the bad news is we are stuck in empty space with limited fuel. On the other hand there is a good news too. While visiting the nebula we came across a cluster of antimatter and have collected some. Nautilus has an experimental device which may open up a wormhole near Earth. This Experimental warp device should open a wormhole somewhere between Mars and Earth at a safe distance so that it does not affect the gravitational field of either of the planets. I think it will be better for us to store our solar fuel for later use and take the warp drive. After we come out of the other end of the wormhole near Earth we can use the rest of the solar fuel to reach Earth and land successfully. This is the only chance we have or else we will never reach back Earth.
The warp drive system in Nautilus is different from the regular spaceship maneuver system. The warp control system has this small lever with “Launch” written on its side. Probably that’s how I will launch the warp drive. Let’s try to pull the lever. Nope it isn’t working, nothing has happened. What else could I be missing ?? Okay, found it. There’s a small button saying “Initiate Drive”. I pressed it and Lo behold, a touch screen showing the galactic map of the surrounding space shows up. That’s a good progress. Now we need to find our planet Earth and choose a safe zone for the wormhole to appear near Earth. It’s pretty tough finding out Earth from here, after all we have come a long distance from our home. Somehow I managed to find Milky Way and with the help of our navigation system I could trace back the path we travelled starting from Earth. Finally it’s done. We all are going home!! Wait a second it’s asking for another input. It says “4D coordinates”. What’s that? Never mind I can ignore that probably because there is an option to “Skip”. So now all set, buckle up we are all on our way back home. Launch, I pull the lever and this time without fail the ship starts vibrating. Probably that’s a good start. As I look through the windshield of the spaceship I could see Nautilus is shooting a beam of Plasma jet in the empty space. The Plasma is bluish white in color, and I don’t think any one or anything should come in its path. It looks ferocious, the intensity, the width of the beam seems like it even has a temperature high enough to disintegrate any asteroid with quite an ease. But what is it shooting at? It’s blank and empty space outside.
I can see the amount of antimatter stored reduced by some units on the scale of warp system dashboard. Suddenly there is a black ball with tiny glitters in it. Somewhat like bubble in space and it’s expanding. After the bubble is big enough I see the plasma beam has stopped and Nautilus is moving towards it. Gaining speed automatically Nautilus is racing towards that bubble. The bubble seems solid more like a glass bubble, I wish we don’t just smash against some glass wall. I have no controls in my hand with which i could regulate the speed. It’s like a autopilot mode, gaining speed, vibrating violently. I rather close my eyes than witness this horrible crash. There is not a single lever or button that I haven’t pressed or pulled to stop it, it doesn’t respond. Okay!! I realise this is the greatest mistake of my life, depending on an experimental project to take me home. What else could I have done? Either way I am as good as dead, I hope it’s a fast death. Racing towards the bubble, the impact is fractions of second away…. And then the impact happened.
Everything seems so calm and smooth, the vibrations have been reduced quite a lot. It seems I am gliding very smoothly. Am I dead? Of course not, I am still sitting on my pilot chair, buckled up. In front of me is the windshield, I don’t see a single scratch on it, I even don’t see the bubble in front anymore. It looks like a tunnel studded with glitters on it’s wall, probably stars and galaxies far away. But what is this tunnel? Did Nautilus really create a wormhole!!!! It has turns, left, right, up, down and due to the extreme speed of Nautilus it takes those turns violently. I am scared and I’m sitting there with a pale white face grabbing the armrest of my chair with my sweaty palms of my hand. I really wish for a “break” now, just like we have in our cars. It’s now an hour, travelling like this, at such a speed like a maniac. Suddenly I see another bubble the same diameter as that of the tunnel. Before I can analyse it more Nautilus collided with it. Okay not collided, it’s more like Nautilus got absorbed in the bubble. The inside of the bubble looks more like jelly. Although it isn’t sticky but it feels more like travelling through a dab of jelly. The speed is much reduced now, is this jelly the fabric of space!! I have no idea what is it, I am just relaxed that the speed is reduced, but then suddenly I feel a force pushing our Nautilus from the back. My windshield of spaceship is now blurred. The ship has lost its orientation and probably is upside down. With a sudden a jerk, I feel like I am falling free. The free fall is gaining speed. The bubble of jelly was the other end of the wormhole and it has almost spitted us out, again back into the void space. I cannot feel the friction which caused the ship to slow down inside the bubble anymore. I think I should launch the manual drive now as it’s no more in Warp drive.
The free fall stopped and the ship is stable. I looked up on the navigation map and found ourselves somewhat close to Saturn. I have located Earth and here we go, back to humanity. I can see the Wormhole at a distance. It’s reducing in size at an amazing rate while swallowing up some of the asteroids and meteors from Saturn’s asteroid belt. Finally it’s gone but it has left a small impression on the belt of asteroids. Let me try to recharge our solar cells as it cannot hold much charge in it anymore. It’s been sometime, now I can see Earth at a distance. It looks so much greener and clear, with the blue water bodies. Which part of Earth is this? At a distance it’s difficult to identify the land mass. Wait, we have come so close yet I don’t recognise the landmass. Infact I can’t make out the countries or continents. It’s like one big land mass and one big ocean, much more green much more blue, the weather is so clear. Where am I? What happened to Earth when I left, or did I come some place else?
I didn’t realise that while thinking about all these out of shock, I had already entered the atmosphere of this alien planet. Wait a second, I came across Saturn, also passed by Mars, the navigation map shows nine planets including pluto. Everything so same just that Earth doesn’t look same. Am I in a replica of Earth? By now we have reached the ground surface of Earth and I have no choice but to land as the solar cells needs recharge. The Environment outside seem habitable as per our measurements system in Nautilus. Let’s open the door and take our first step on an alien planet, later we will have to decide and plan our route back home. I have landed on a deserted place. I don’t see any aliens outside nor any alien structures. Its rocky with plants and trees. I believe it’s good for us, considering any alien species could be malevolent here. I step out, amazed by the fresh air and clear sky. Its feels like Earth but doesn’t look like Earth, although I can see plants and rocky landscapes, mountains but what I saw from above while entering the planet’s atmosphere, I am sure this is no way Earth. One land mass, one Ocean, it’s not just Earth’s topography.
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