What was Ben thinking? What caused him to think that going out, into deep space, without any knowledge of the galaxy, was a good idea?

Max's mind was racing. Now two of his grandchildren were throwing their lives into the hands of the unforgiving workings of space. He had watched them grow up together, and he didn't plan on learning that they would die together.

"W-what...what happened to aunt Gwendolyn?" Kenny's voice came from the main tower room. With his eyes wide, Max rushed back into the circular room only to find two children standing next to the transmission receiver.

"Grandpa? What's going on, and where's my dad?" he asked pleadingly.

Oh I had hoped they wouldn't find out. He sobbed in his mind. Being intelligent enough to know lying wasn't a decent option, he decided that the truth was the best defense available.

"Your father got a message that your aunt was in...really big trouble. I don't know why, or even what he was thinking, but he decided to go after her."

"Of course he did, he's a hero," Devlin commented.

"You don't understand," Max continued, "Ben isn't familiar with the dangers of space and travelling through solar systems. He's like a rabbit running through a hunting ground."

"Is he going to be alright?" Kenny continued with his questions - looking at Max with a fearful gaze. He had lost his mother, and losing his father would break him.

"I'm not sure..." was the only honest answer the white-haired plumber could give. There was no extra space shuttle or ship they could use to go after him. Even so, the Grazer X200 was much too fast for any other human-made ship to follow - let alone catch up with.

"There has to be something. We can't just sit around and wait to hear some bad news." Devlin remarked with determination.

At first, Max could think of absolutely nothing that could be helpful in such a situation; however, he began to nod with agreement as an idea flew into his head.

"I think I might know someone who can help."

"Who?" The two boys squeaked together.

A smile spread across the aged face of Maxwell Tennyson. "Boys, has your father ever told you about a man named Tetrax?"

Ben felt quite rejuvenated after getting a few hours of peaceful sleep. He had figured out how to turn off the automatic massage hands by simply ripping them out of their compartments. It wasn't very quaint, but at least it was permanent.

Upon waking up he learned that he was now in the Ulvages system, much closer to the last place Gwendolyn had last sent a message than he had hoped. Everything so far had been smooth - he even found time to sit down and snack on a few egg rolls from the food storage.

Even with all of his luxuries and silence, Ben was not able to relax completely. A burning sensation melted his mind into despair. Knowing that Gwen might be seriously hurt - and alone - or even worse, killed his heart.

Never once had he wanted to admit it, but he cared about Gwendolyn more than anyone in the world. The only other person who even met the care level of Gwen to him was his own paternal son, Kenny.

They both were completely priceless to him. However, he hated himself for the way he neglected Kenny and the way he treats Gwen. It seems that, whenever he cares for someone - with all honesty - Ben isn't able to express it successfully.

And the hardest part of it all is how he really feels about Gwen. He loves her more than just some cousin in his family. Falling for her beauty and attitude when he was only ten years old, he has wanted to stand next to her constantly. His dreams are clouded by her face and angelic voice. But he knew it just couldn't be. So many problems would spring up from such uncontrollable platonic feelings. At the very least, he could watch over her - and always make sure she would be safe.

Suddenly, the ship collided with a large piece of space debris - shaking the white interior with such force that some of the panels on the controls flew off. Ben blinked a few times before actually believe what was happening. He was heading into a nest of asteroids.

Running across the ship, almost falling on several occasions, he looked out the large dual window that was placed in the front of the cockpit. Enormous brown rocks flew freely in a spiraling direction. By instinct, the young hero hopped into the leather pilot's seat and began to slap at controls. He knew how to fly, but Ben had never flown through an asteroid field.

Every minute was disambiguated with the rumbling over space rock smashing into the metallic ship. The clinging noise bounced off the ship and caused ear-piercing sounds to drive themselves into Ben's mind. Loud noises plus stressful adrenaline caused him to completely lose control of the ship. He tried again and again to fly in a different direction, but was met with more and more floating anomalies.

"This is renowned hero Ben 10,000, I am in need of emergency aid. My ship has-" he stopped speaking into the radio piece when he realized that the entire system was sparking with malfunctioning responses. An asteroid must have crushed the transmission chip that was attached to the top of the Grazer.

Completely stopping his futile attempts to tame the ship, Ben stared out directly in front of him. Right before his ship, just a few miles ahead, was a large brown rock the size of the Earth's moon. It was heading in his direction.

"Attention. Direct collision detected. It is advised that all passengers evacuate the Grazer X200." a computer voice rang through the intercoms.

Jumping up from his seat, Ben furiously looked around for a space suit. He knew the ship had one, because when Gwen had been instructing how to fly, she also explained all the emergency equipment to him. Oh how he wished he would have listened more.

Going through different chests and cabinets he looked hopelessly in places that were either too large or too small. In just minutes, the computer voice came on again and began to speak with a stale tone.

"Impact in 10, 9, 8..." the countdown had started.

Knowing not what else to do, Ben abandoned his attempts at looking for a spacesuit and hoped that he could remember which monsters of his - that were available to him at the time - could survive in the depths of space.

"4,3,2..."

Under the intense pressure, he wasn't able to think.

"Big chill, no...Ghostfreak, no..." his mind raced as he tried, but failed, to think of an alien. Having ten-thousand choices meant he had to remember the best environment each one had. And since he never really battled in space, Ben could not think of one that would suit his needs.

"1,0..."

The ship then collided, mercilessly, into the moon-like rock.