Sterneinsamkeit: noun; German for finding yourself alone in the stars
2013
Rose Bolton always had something left for stars. For those sparkling things in the night sky, whose full beauty she probably never would observe. In her 23 years of being on Earth she finally managed to realize that and resign herself to the fact that she would never actually explore space, as one was just not able to do that nowadays. Instead, she studied astronomy in university and became a scientist.
She was one of those young innovative scientists, with a lot of potential but lacking from money. Yet she had a bit of luck. After graduating she met Professor Hayes, a 60-year-old Science Fiction freak who so happens to have a lot of money and enough time for research.
As she got out of the bus, she found herself on the pavement before the campus. Professor Hayes lived in one of the university's own research centers. She slowly walked to the astronomy building and entered. It was an old kind of house that still stood to represent the university's long history. Rose loved it since it was full of ancient telescopes, globes and such kind of things. It also smelled remarkably of coffee, as the scientists existence was based on caffeine.
"You're late." greeted the Professor who stood in the middle of his office, some papers in his hands. He was in his usual mood, always expecting the best from his students. He also wore his usual old brown smoking with a bow tie around his neck and the black glasses on his nose. Rose thought he looked a bit like a scientist from the 20s.
"I'm sorry, I thought we'd meet at 10?" she asked, confused. She was usually punctual when it came to work.
"Oh, you're sufficient fantasy certainly made that up." The professor put the papers on a messy table and pointed to a dubious looking machine. "I already began without you."
They then both crossed the large dark room. The machine looked like a telescope for any living room, though it was way heavier and larger.
"I'm sure, Miss Bolton, you can still explain how the... transcriptor works and what we plan on doing with it." He leaned himself on an old table full of mechanic utensils and started putting tobacco in his pipe.
"The transcriptor uses the Earth's own magnetic field and converts it into non-visual and hopefully non-harmful scanning rays that will help detecting the cosmos more."
"Exactly" he cheerfully said, sucking from his pipe and then standing up. "Now, since Toby is ill, you get to operate." A nice grin grew on his face that made him look more like a grandpa than an old professor.
Rose sat at the opposite table and started the computer. She then typed in a code with ten numbers. A beeping sound imbued the whole room and a little green light on the machine was on.
She regarded the professor. His eyes had the gleam of an explorer and his grin grew even larger.
"Well, then. Shall it be your turn, Rose." He pointed at the transcriptor's lens.
Rose swallowed. Okay. Now she gotta look and hope she could see something exciting, something new. Something that would change her little sad world. She went in front of the machine, tilted her head and put her right eye in front of the lens.
What she saw was rather disappointing. There was the universe, the stars. Although shining a bit brighter than they normally did, but still the same distant suns.
"Professor, there is nothing special about it. No change." She exclaimed, obvious discomfort in her voice. But the old man did not answer her.
"Professor?"
Still no answer.
She wanted to turn around but then she changed her mind as the stars started disappearing. One by one. And then suddenly every visible one.
"What the hell" Rose whispered, unable to turn her back to the machine.
Then the darkness started overwhelming her. She suddenly felt sick, near vomiting. Not only her ability of seeing, but also all her other senses began to fade. Her head twisted and her whole body was cricking. But she felt no pain although her body felt as if it was in a painful ankle.
When she finally could open her eyes, she gasped.
She found herself in the middle of what looked like an important convention. Several eyes of people in grey uniforms stared at her in confusion. After a moment of shock, armed soldiers started surrounding her and pointed the tip of their guns at her head.
Oh shit, Rose. Where the fuck are you?
A/N: Yep, that's the prologue. I wanted it to seem like a dream, like it wasn't real. I'm a bit stuck with Star Trek for a while now and decided I could write some fanfiction. I still haven't decided on possible pairings (it will certainly include Jim Kirk though)
This is also my first fanfiction in English and it's not my first language so don't be too strict with me, yeah? (: Please give me some feedback, that would be nice.