Dragon World

Chapter one, version two

Chapter One

Brian never could figure out how it happened. He remembered traveling in the Explorer, the aptly named Deep Space Exploration class ship. And he remembered working on the asteroid mining station before that. Most of his memory was fine, in fact; his childhood, high school, the trade school where he earned his reputation as a skilled robot mechanic, his promotion to lead robot technician at NASA. That's how he ended traveling across the galaxy in the Explorer; they needed someone with his skills to keep the robots on board in good working order. But then came the gap in his memory.

All I could learn from studying Earth's historical records from that period is that the Explorer was lost in space on her maiden voyage.

Brian didn't know what happened either. What he remember seems to have happened shortly after that.

He had been dreaming. He was in rowboat on Lake Wabasis. The boat was rocking gently and gulls squawked overhead. His dad sat at oars. He look just like he remembered, balding with a little extra around the middle. He wore wire rim glasses, a faded fishing hat, an old light blue T-shirt with a palm tree graphic and the sleeves cut off, a pair of tattered khaki shorts, and dingy canvas deck shoes, no socks. They had been out all morning and had a mess of fish on the stringer. His dad said that they should get some lunch and laid his pole in boat and picked up the oars. Brian let his line trail out a little behind the boat as they glided toward shore. Suddenly the gull's squawks morphed into any electronic beep like a heart monitor. He looked up and they seemed to be in a hospital room visiting someone. Who, he never found out, because the room started rocking like they were still on a boat and waves were getting bigger. His conscious mind was forcing him to accept the reality of his surroundings and he realized he really was floating in some kind of vessel and the waves were stronger now.

The vision winked out and he blinked at the bright light. In front of him was the instrument panel of a cockpit. He stared at all the dials and gauges, wondering what they meant. He still heard the beeping but he couldn't tell what it was. If only he had staid in flight school longer...

But he had other things to worry about at the moment, like how he had gotten into the cockpit. He assumed he must be in one the shuttles on board the Explorer. They brought them along to be used as "life boats" in the case of an emergency. He moved to get up and winced. His head was throbbing. He gingerly felt around and found a good size goose eggs on the back of his head. Now that was really something to worry about: He couldn't remember bumping his head.

He would have to ask Alex, the fellow tech, about it when he got back to the lab. Waiting for the grogginess to ware off, he watched a few small clouds move slowly across the blue sky. Suddenly he was hit with the startling realization that he was actually looking at blue sky. How long had it been? Six years? Oh how he had missed seeing blue sky overhead.

He wanted to run to the door and fling it open and breathe the fresh air, but he didn't. He just sat in the pilot's chair feeling more confused. He shouldn't be seeing blue sky or feeling this vessel rocking in the waves. He was in space, deep in space. At least he was supposed to be. The last he knew the Explorer was six years out from earth. But he was not in space now. Just how long had he been unconscious?

Hoping someone in the main cabin would be able to help him sort things out, he got up and immediately his head started pounding. He staggered and grabbed at whatever he could hoping he could brace himself. The first thing he would have to do is find some extra strength aspirin.

The pain subsided to a dull ache and he felt steady on his feet again. This time he moved slowly. Sliding the cockpit door open, he looked into the cabin. It was empty. He was alone. What had happened, and where were the others, he wondered, but before he could give it much though another wave hit the shuttle, lifting, tilting and then dropping it again. Brian lost his balance and flailed his arms trying to catch anything he could. He fell back and landed in a sitting position on floor of the cockpit, between the two seats.

Judging be the force of the waves either a storm was brewing or he was nearing land. He hoped for the latter. He scrambled up and got into the pilot's seat again so he could buckle in to ride this out.

As he rode the waves he tried to figure out what all the controls and gauges might be for. It was an exercise in futility. Even if he could figure what things were, he didn't have the training to fly this thing and it wasn't designed for navigate on water. Even though NASA designed them to float, they never anticipated anyone would actual try to land one on the water.

Of course, Brian had not landed this shuttle. He couldn't remember doing but he had pushed the auto pilot button and the computer system had flown the shuttle and landed it safely on ocean some where.

The question was how had he gotten anywhere? One thing Brian had learned from traveling across the galaxy was just how vast space actually is. He would get some answer once the recovery team picked him up and flew him to Cape Canaveral. He would just have to wait until then.

In the mean time he braced himself as the shuttle pitched in the waves. He was in the breakers now so he just hung on and waited to run aground. He did not have to wait long.