Itineris

[Vogel]

There were planets.

They were not his planets.

They were not the planets hed lost friends and family on, fought tooth and nail for, killed for, murdered his fellow man for.

They were not his planets.

That cant be Mars? he said, looking at one in the distance. It had a vague reddish hue, but seemed too rocky, too coarse, not the sandy wasteland scattered with bodies he remembered.

Four pieces of metal caught his eye, his fighter pilots reaction time darting them on the target. They were arrayed in a ring, cut out in the middle, reasonably sized for a ship to traverse through them, with more rings down the line, stretching out into the darkness. Hed never seen anything like this. How could he have?

Without a meaningful objective, he set out on a path following the line of rings at some distance.

Crossing a system in a modern fighter is nothing new, or spectacular.

Crossing a system in a fighter designed for space-carrier operations and powered by a non-recharging core and fuel was no joy ride.

He kicked the afterburners for just a bit, gaining some momentum, and then cut them, letting Isaac Newton take the driver seat into the abyss before him.

It was just as well, since Doyle was hardly in the driver seat by now. His eyes were locked on the world he was passing, that strange and foreign ball of mud. The planet that was not his own.

Peripheral vision caught a second sphere off to the left, and he jerked up in response. It was still rather distant, though how far he couldnt tell with his sensors. But it was blue. Entirely blue.

What kind of planet is covered in water like that?

He was left to his own thoughts; the radio was beginning to lose consistency in transmitting, even with the button still mashed down unconsciously.

What felt like hours went by. Disconcerted about being so far away from any notable base and on limited fuel supplies, Doyle kicked in the afterburner again and increased his drifting speed. While he was going reasonably fast, it would still take hours upon hours to get anywhere.

The planets haunted him. The third haunted him even worse.

Small, white tint, rocky.

That cant be Pluto, can it?

Pluto. The Fleet.

Is the Fleet still

The little rock was partially surrounded by a haze of some sort.

Some kind of gas? he muttered to himself, This cant be Pluto or maybe the gas was... Charon? Or

He was irrevocably lost. No planets like these ever existed in any textbook or on any star chart he was aware of. No Humans ever went here, bore witness to these places, stepped foot on them.

Yet they had. Or was he just talking to ghosts?

I need to get out of here

Maybe theres another one of those warp things

He set course towards the Blue world and kicked in the afterburner yet again, wheeling the fighter around. A habitual glance at the fuel gauge warned him that he was rapidly depleting his reserves with these long burns.

Cant keep this up, Ill run out of afterburner but where is this place, these people? Planet Los Angeles??

Its tha blue one.

Doyle rocked in his ejection seat.

Blue?

Blue planet, thats Los Angeles, the strange voice repeated. The accent in his voice was beyond the Lieutenant, but by now that kind of thing took second place to all the other crazy developments.

You mean that planet is Thats preposterous! he shouted, his hands trembling, Since when did a planet like that exist?!

Prospet- what-?

This is some kind of trick, or dream, or Doyle began babbling.

A flash of light punctuated the stars below.

There There, another one of those warp things. My God, who built them?

A famous company named Ageira Technologies, the strange voice piped up again.

Ageira? That sounds Japanese So many strange names

The only favor theyve done us is ta make tha trade lanes disruptable, the voice cackled.

Whats a lane?

To this the voice simply burst out into laughter, and the transmission cut off.

Another one picked up.


Attention, Lieutenant Doyle, a womans voice came through, Please respond.

The proper address shook him out of his mental chaos and brought him back to the present. Whenever the present was.

What- Hello?? he nearly yelled into the mic, This is Lieutenant Doyle of the 92nd International, who is this??

On further thought he added:

Where is this?

Lieutenant Doyle, this is Denise Ellis of the Pryce Research Vessel N102. Weve been tracking you for some time.

Whats an Alliance research vessel doing out here?

Where was here?

Lieutenant Ellis replied cautiously, Do you know where you are?

Well, I- its I

No

No, I dont he replied quietly, But Wheres General Roberts? Or Rockford? The Jesus Christ, whered that Coalition Fleet go?? The images of a massive armada of vessels, blackening even space, burned into his mind what seemed only moments ago, came to mind.

Whered everything go? he started getting panicked, shifting in his ejection seat and trembling at the joints, They were we were staring each other in the face, we were backed into a corner, and then the-"

Monstrosity.

That that thing

Lieutenant, Ellis continued, If it werent for the readings were getting from our science station, wed dismiss you as a madman.

Seriously, whats wrong with ye, Mister Alliance? that strange voice cropped back up on the channel.

Whats wrong with me? Doyle blurted out, Whats wrong with you, you people??

Can you tell us where you are, Lieutenant? the voice identified as Ellis asked again.

Im-, uh

He looked around. Blue planet, fake Pluto, not Mars.

Wheres Earth? he asked with such a whisper it was barely audible.

Immediately a tidal wave of other transmissions came through; his voice was projecting across all general frequencies, even though to him it was still locked into the command channel with no longer existed. As a result, everyone heard him.

In your dreams!

Somewhere over the rainbow!

Back in Sol, one came out of the masses, Didnt you read your history?

Sol

The Lieutenant simply parroted the phrase back in his mind, his eyes at a dead stare.

History? he managed to ask.

Yeah, you did go to school, right? the voice said with a chuckle.

School. The United States Space Naval Academy, Lagrange Point Four

Hah, well I guess they didnt cover pre-Exodus history, huh?

Pre Exo-What??

Lieutenant, Ellis broke back into the conversation, The communication protocols used in your transmissions havent been used for quite some time.

What the Hell are you talking about, Lady?! The tenuous links to sanity were blowing in the breeze, We were just using this coded channels no more than a few hours ago

His eyes snapped back into focus. Hed reached the warp ring; just a mile or so off his nose. Miss Ellis was continuing to talk through his headset, but his mind wasnt between the speakers.

What makes this damned thing turn on, he said aloud, Maybe I can hitch a ride somewhere else maybe home?

Home. Yes, maybe home.

A large shape, looking like a crudely slapped together hunk of metal with engines, came barreling towards him from the right. He reacted, by the book, by wheeling over his nose and training his guns on it.

Wait a minute-

Hey, you! he shouted, Activate this thing!

He didnt know whether it complied with his abrupt order, or if it cared, or if it even heard, but the lumbering transport approached the ring and was greeted by the light.

Hah!

The exultant yell leapt from his throat as the Lieutenants fighter was encompassed by the light.

And appeared amongst new stars.

Different stars.

His confused spirits sank to the bottom of the bucket.

The Hell am I now?