Revised it on the suygestion of Dekri. Think it might work a little bit
better like this. Thanks for the review.
Through A Hyperspace Looking Glass Chapter 1 : Through The Looking Glass
Erwin initiated the jump into hyperspace. The vortex formed
before his ship and he instantly knew something was wrong.
Besides appearing to be twenty times deeper then it should
be, it was also a flaming purple. Worst of all it was pulling him
in.
The ship echoed his fear as they both fought to escape the
swirling mass of energy behind them. Erwin launched a series
of vortex disruptors into the opening, watching hopelessly as
they were swallowed and converted to even more energy to
feed the suction. The hyper drive had shut down immediately
but now something else was feeding the pathway to oblivion.
Finally the forces acting on his ship overwhelmed it and they
fell toward the gaping maw cut into the universe. Passing the
opening he felt the duel sensation of twisting as he and the
ship rode the currents across the barriers between realities.
He disengaged from the ship, leaving him alone with the
sensation. Somewhere along the way he passes out, his
twin mind running away from a set of conflicting reports his
nervous system kept sending him.
It had been three weeks since Captain Janeway had ordered
Voyager away from the transwarp hub created by the Borg.
They would have to get back on some other way, she just
hoped they would all make it that far.
Her thoughts were interrupted by flashing red lights and Harry
Kim's voice saying,"Red Alert, all personal to stations, Captain
to the bridge."
Janeway headed for the door wondering what crisis would
overtake them this week. And how many more would they
have to face before they got home.
Stepping onto the bridge she glanced across to Harry's station
before looking at the view screen. She could swear Harry
shrugged in confusion but then her full attention was focused
on what looked like a ball of purple fire in the vacuum of space.
"Unknown captain, it appeared about ten seconds ago and has
been growing at a diminishing rate ever since. Sensors indicate
massive subspace distortions of unknown pattern with a mix of
exotic energies and particles we have yet to identify."
The flames began to darken and dissipate at this point to reveal
an arrowhead shaped ship of black metal." Analysis Mr. Kim?"
Harry tapped more commands into his controls and couldn't believe
the results,"Apparently it is a sublight craft of unknown design.
The hull is made of some sort of energy absorbing material. Our
sensors are having trouble penetrating it, switching to multispacial."
There was a pause and then his board started beeping,"Confirmed,
one life sign, unconscious, human." With this last word she looked up
at the science officer.
"Any idea if communications are still online?"
"I'm not getting any readings of a subspace radio. I don't even think
they have the equipment, nor any communication gear I recognize."
Then his board started going crazy, he worked frantically for half
a minute before the captain said,"Well, Harry?"
"He seems to be waking up mam, and the ship is now reading as
alive as well. We're being targeted with a modulated tachyon pulse,
he might be trying to communicate." He was silent for many minutes
as he wrote new comm protocols from scratch for a form of emission
he would not have thought usable for the task.
Finally the bridge speakers came on,"To the vessel off my port bow,
my name is Erwin. I experienced a massive disruption of my hyper
drive, can you render assistance?"
Janeway signaled for an open channel and spoke,"Erwin, this is the
Federation star ship Voyager. We are prepared to offer assistance
in any way we can. But would you be kind enough to answer a few
questions?"
Sounding relieved he answered,"Of course, but this might work a bit
better face to face."
"Agreed, can you dock at our port hatch."
"Certainly, be with you in a few."
The ship maneuvered sluggishly for a craft of it's size, but it was headed
for their port side hatch. Janeway made for the turbo lift and was
unsurprised when Tuvok followed her, sidearm present.
Once the turbo lift closed Tuvok spoke,"Do you really think it wise to let him
on board?"
Kathryne glanced sidelong at him,"This is the first human we have
encountered in far too long. Call me an old softy if you like, but i intend to
be as hospitable as I can be."
Stepping out of the lift the matter was closed. They arrived at the hatch
just in time to see the pressure indicators equalize.
As the hatch opened Kathryne thought to herself they had a monk
coming on the ship. Then she noticed the intricate patterns, almost
like circuit pathways woven into its surface. The visitor lowered his
hood to reveal a head scoured clean of all hair.
"Welcome aboard Voyager. I'm Captain Janeway and this is my chief of
security Commander Tuvok. We have so many questions for you, but
first we require you to undergo a routine physical."
Erwin grinned slightly, but spoke when he noticed the Commander going
for his weapon,"No, please. I meant no disrespect and understand it is
your custom. I would just hate to think, the germ that could affect me
would devastate an entire planet. Please, lead on captain."
Although put off a bit by his response, she decided to start a conversation,
"You are human, but your ship doesn't match any known type, nor dose it
seem to have any form of FTL drive. How did you get out here?"
"Well first captain it would be helpful to know exactly where and, I
suppose, when here is. You see your ship doesn't match any Earth
Alliance ship I have ever even heard of. Nor have I heard of a human
group calling itself the Federation."
Janeway looked at their guest strangely,"It's stardate 54973.4."
Erwin looked at her vacantly."What year is that?"
Janeway glanced at Tuvok not believing a human could not know
this information,"It's only a week before the end of 2377."
Erwin nearly lost it."120 years. How could it be 120 years?"
Janeway had dealt with temporally displaced people before, she
took his arm and led him toward sick bay. As they arrived the doctor
came out of his office and helped guide his new patient toward the
examination table.
Scanning him the Doctor got several surprises. He turned toward the
captain and motioned for her to step aside."He is in remarkable condition.
There appears to have some kind of organic 'cyberware'. It's sending
out organic nanites to repair his body."
Janeway stepped over to the control panel and activated a forcefield.
Erwin was shaken out of his torpor and began analyzing the wall of
energy."You have made some advancements. Energy barriers were
the exclusive domain of the technomages in my day. You have nothing
to fear from me."
"We have had dealings with a race that uses cybernetics, their no
where near as advanced as yours. But they have still destroyed
entire civilizations. We definitely need to figure out exactly where
you came from."
"Well I suppose a place to start is to establish that I will not be taken
prisoner." With these words the force field generators blew out."Now,
captain understand that I was given my Tech, the cyberware you detected,
because I voluntarially finished years of study under one of the most genial
souls in my entire universe. We are powerful but we have no intention of
conquering anyone. Erwin began relaying the history of his race. The wars,
contact with the Centauri, others. More wars, and finally the coming war
and the gathering of the mages to leave known space.
When he had finished the captain put away her weapon,"We have even
more to discuss than I thought." And so she too launched into a recitation
of her own history. An hour later Erwin was ready to throw in the towel.
Not only was he in the wrong time, he was in the wrong fragging reality.
"Well captain it seems we are both a long way from home. Your lost
among the stars and I'm on the wrong side of whatever forces keep
realities separate."
Janeway could see the young man being crushed by the knowledge
he may never be able to get home. In her case she at least knew she
had a good chance of getting back to Earth in her lifetime. But this
person in front of her was doomed to be trapped here for the rest of
his life. Then something dawned on her,"Would it not be possible to
reproduce the accident that sent you here?"
"Even if I knew exactly what happened, my hyperdrive core is cracked,
molten slag. I might be able to fix it, my specialty is hyper drive physics,
but I severely doubt you have even heard of Q-40. And without a supply
of that I'm not going anywhere."
Janeway couldn't help but feel for the man sitting before her, his
acceptance of the inevitable mirrored her own and that of her crew.
She put her hand on his shoulder,"You can come with us then, the
Federation has vast resources that may be able to help you get there.
And we can probably learn much from each other."
He smiled and nodded, realizing the historical irony of a solitary mage
banding together with normals for a common cause. His teacher would
laugh at this. Alwin had stated on several occasions the importance of
helping others, and in this case they would be helping each other. Trust
could come later, but at least he might one day get home.
This is something inspired by a table top RPG session. It should be
interesting to see where he ends up next. If you like it please review it.
Even if you don't like it, please review it.
As with my other story thanks again to my wife for proofing it for me.