Chapter Five.
Tea's eyes began to tear up when at last arrived at the spot where the Blue Eyes One's vapor trail ended. There she was, in the same spot where they had only been a few hours before.
"Did we get here in time?" Tea asked, crying.
"It's difficult to say. They…may already be dead." Pegasus told her. "We may still be able to save them though if we hurry. We must dock them with our ship and re-pressurize their cockpit." Tea immediately ran to the hatch and put on her space helmet. Once they were docked she opened the main hatch and went with all he might into the cold vacuum sealed cockpit of the Blue Eyes One where she found Yugi, Kiaba, and Mokuba floating motionlessly around the cabin.
"Yugi!" Tea cried. "Please don't be dead!" She pleaded as she lifted his visor to see inside of his space suit. Slowly Yugi opened his eyes and gave a brief smile. "Oh thank God." Tea took him in her arms and carried him all the way back to the Pegasus One where he and the Kaibas were soon up and about again with Kaiba barking orders to rejoin the fleet and Pegasus reminding him that this was his ship not the Kiaba's.
"Now listen here, I don't have to take this from you." Pegasus said as he and Kiaba fought over the captain's chair.
"I financed this expedition, so there for I'm in charge!" Kaiba argued.
"We financed this mission together Kaiba boy, neither one of us could do it alone. So if you're done please go back to your own ship." Pegasus reminded him.
"Those two will never get along." Yugi sighed.
"What does that matter, we're all just happy to have you back." Tea and Rebecca said together.
"How is it possible for a guy like Yugi to get two hot girls and I don't have anyone." Tristan wondered.
"Beats me." Mokuba said. "I'm just thankful we're alive. There will be plenty of time for girls and sex and that sort of thing when we get to the new world. Speaking of which, I'd better radio the fleet to wait for us at quadrant 15." He jumped into the communications station and started punching up the radio frequency of the other ships. By this time they should have rejoined the fleet and started getting ready to make the last light speed jump out of the quadrant. But because of these unforeseen delays, they would be late in meeting back up with the rest of their fleet. Sitting there though, Mokuba couldn't help but sneak a peak at Rebecca who was over in the corner arguing with Tea over Yugi.
"Yugi's mine!" Rebecca declared.
"And I'm telling you, he loves me!" Tea shouted at the young genius.
"I wonder what Rebecca sees in Yugi?" Mokuba asked himself under his breath. He'd become quite taken with her in the short time that he'd been around her. They didn't know each other that well, in fact they had only met on one or two other occasions. Still, there was something inside of him that felt good when Rebecca was around.
"Guys, I'm ready for some food." Joey said as leaned back in his chair. "What's to eat around her Pegasus?"
"Well, Joseph, my ship's galley is stocked with only the best name brand dehydrated and freeze dried foods." Pegasus answered.
"Freeze dried?" Joey wasn't sure about this. He liked his food eatable.
"Or if you prefer I'm sure Kaiba boy's ship is stocked with surplus military rations." Pegasus commented.
"Hey, we've got lots better than that!" Mokuba retorted. "Seto and I made sure that our ship was stocked with the same foods as the American, Russian, and Chinese Astronauts eat."
"I don't care anymore, let's just get some grub." Joey said getting up from his post. He floated over to the hatch and waited for the others.
--------Scene Break-------
"Why do we have to man this ship alone?" Rex complained as he and Weevil sat on the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two.
"Because we're the only ones qualified to man the bridge while Mr. Kaiba is away." Weevil replied. "At least that what I keep telling myself. It's a shame we don't have some company up here. After all who wants to look at your face all the time Dino brain."
"Watch it bug boy, we're the only ones up here remember, and it would be really sad if suddenly one of the hatches were the blow and suck you out into space." Rex teased Weevil by tapping a few non essential controls.
"Uhhh, alright…alright already, but still you have to admit that things would be a little bit more pleasant around here if we had some female company." Weevil suggested.
"What are you talking about Bug boy?" Rex asked.
"Heh heh hee. Serenity Wheeler is still in suspended animation down in the cargo hold. We could wake her up and have a little fun." Weevil answered.
"No, you don't think that she's…I mean she's Kaiba's girl and… we just couldn't…could we?" Rex thought about it for a moment more as Weevil waited for him. "Okay." He said blushing beat red. "Let's go have us some fun." They put the ship on auto pilot and then hurried down to the cargo hold where most of the Kaiba Corp. employees and their families were stored. There they found sleeping in her chamber, Serenity Wheeler. Seto Kaiba's lady love and future mother of his children.
"Isn't she pale and perfect?" Weevil asked looking at her. "Just like a butterfly under glass."
"Okay, you've definitely got to find yourself another hobby." Rex said. "All we have to do to thaw her out is press these buttons and wait for the chamber to open." He reached down and tapped the controls on the side of the chamber and then the warming process began. Lights came on inside the chamber and it began to grow warm to the touch.
"Heehee, in lest than a ten minutes we'll have us a beautiful space madden to…."
"To do what?" Kaiba asked walking up behind them. The two delinquents turned around slowly and to their great horror their employer stood before them in his dark purple robes and a terrible nameless expression on his face.
"Mr. Kaiba sir, what are you doing back so soon?" Weevil managed to ask.
"Yeah, how was your duel with Yugi?" Rex inquired.
"YOU DIE NOW!" Kaiba screamed and then chased the two horny teens out of the cargo bay. They ran jumped and floated around the ship a couple of times until finally Kaiba settled down and Serenity was completely thawed out. When she awoke, surrounded family and friends, she hardly questioned anything. Then she realized from the grave looks on everyone's faces that something was wrong.
How could they tell her, everyone wondered, as Serenity rose up from her bed to ask,
"What's going on?" They all knew that they would have to tell her. It would break Serenity's heart though and everyone knew that. Even Kaiba who said not a word but simply took her hand in his. "Guy's you're scaring me." She said. "What's wrong? Why am I in this bed and why is my hair all wet? Did I get drunk and fall in the pool?"
"Oh if only it were that comical." Pegasus said, his eyes tearing up.
"Serenity." Joey said putting his arms around her. "I've got something pretty bad to tell you."
"The earth is what?!" Serenity exclaimed when Joey told her all that had transpired after the night of the ball. Serenity cried a river on Joey's shoulder and clenched Kaiba's hand as though it were her only lifeline from insanity. "What…what about mom and dad?" Serenity asked. "They're safe too, right?"
"Sure, they're down in the cargo hold just like you were." Yugi told her.
"Yeah, it's alright Serenity, all our families made off of Earth safe and sound." Tea said.
"Besides, now is not the time to grieve for a lost world who's people were going to hell in a hand basket anyway." Kaiba finally spoke. "We've got bigger things to worry about."
"Like for instance?" Ryou asked.
"Like preparing for the transition to light speed." Mokuba said. "Everyone needs to get back to their own ships and strap themselves in for a long journey."
"Hey wait a minute, who's ship do you think my sister's staying on?" Joey demanded to know.
"On whatever ship she wishes." Kaiba said. "It's up to her, but should she choose this one, don't be too astonished. After all, I think that she prefers my company to that your silly little click."
"Silly click!" Joey was outraged. No one insults his friends like that and gets away with it.
"Hold on now Joey." Serenity said, tugging at his jacket. "I'm not the least bit in the mood for yours' or Seto's posturing. Right now I just need to be with the people I love. All of them. So Joey, I'm going to ask you a favor. Will you stay here with me and Seto?" Serenity asked him sweetly.
"Awe, Sis, you know I can't say no to you. Okay, but only if Mai agrees to stay here too."
"Me Joey?" Mai asked. She's been silent for a long time about all this. To tell the truth she didn't know what to make of any of this herself. She'd had lots of friends back on earth who had died, just like all of them had, but now she guessed that she needed those friends she had left more than ever. "Okay sure thing."
"Okay then I suppose we'll all just head back to the Pegasus." Duke said. "See you guys later." Everyone put their space suits back on and went to the main hatch where they said a farewell to each other and then split up. Joey, Mai, and Serenity stayed on the Blue Eyes Two with Kaiba, Mokuba, Weevil, and Rex. Once Yugi and others were safely aboard the Pegasus they went back to the bridge and strapped themselves down in their stations to await the transition to light speed. They would have to initiate as soon as possible if they were going to catch up with the rest of the fleet. The other ships had probably already made the jump to light speed and were probably quadrants away from there by now.
"Read for light speed." Kaiba ordered everyone.
"Making calculations for light speed now." Rex said.
"Course and heading programmed." Weevil added.
"Light speed go!" Kaiba commanded and the ships began to speed up.
"Cutting out sub-light engines." Rex reported from his station.
"Ahead all full." Weevil reported from his. "We're transitioning to light speed." All of a sudden the stars disappeared and beams of bright glowing lights began to swirl around them.
--------Scene Break---------
From the Pegasus, Kaiba's ship looked like a long white blur, and vise versa. The two ships zoomed through space at the speed of light and once they caught up with the rest of the fleet, everything seemed to be going along quite smoothly.
"We're stable at 90 of full power." Rebecca reported to Pegasus.
"Good girl, now what's the status on our heading?" He asked.
"Heading on course 1549.6" Yugi reported.
"Hey guys, I'm getting kind of board." Tea told them all when things had settled into a kind of slow pace.
"Well, maybe we can find something to better occupy our time." Ryou said. "Like having a long over due wedding for two friends of ours."
"You're not serious." Tea said, "You expect Yugi and I to just get married out here in space, with no church, no preacher, and our families frozen away in suspended animation?"
"It wouldn't be that bad would it?" Yugi asked. "I mean, what's stopping us from getting married now? We don't have school to finish anymore and we don't have any obligations to anything or anyone else."
"Yeah but it wouldn't be legal." Tea reminded them all. "We're out here in the middle of nowhere with no laws other than our own sense of moral judgment to guide us."
"That's not true." Pegasus said. "We have ship's articles. In the days of ancient sailing vessels the crew and passengers signed ships articles which stipulated law on the high seas. Out here in space we have the same. The Captain's word is law and since I'm the captain of this ship, I say it's perfectly legal for young Tea and little Yugi to get married."
"Hey yeah, can't the captain of a ship perform marriage ceremonies?" Duke asked.
"I certainly can." Pegasus replied. "I'd be happy to marry Yugi and Tea off to one another."
"Then it's settled." Tristan said. "Let's get these two crazy kids married!" He grabbed Yugi and Tea both up the arms and brought them before Pegasus.
"Hold on, what about everyone else?" Yugi asked. "We need Joey, Serenity, Mai, and the Kaibas here too."
"It wouldn't be a real wedding without the best man and the Bride's maids." Tea added.
"Great, whatever." Rebecca said. "Don't suppose you'd need a flower girl?"
"Sure would." Yugi said looking over at her with a smile. That smile of Yugi's was almost enough to make everything all better for Rebecca. She hated the thought of Yugi being with Tea instead of her, but there was nothing that she could do about it, so she decided that she might as well be happy for them both.
"Great then it's settled then, we'll bring this trek to a halt just long enough have a blow out wedding for Yugi and Tea then we'll continue on our original heading for the new world." Pegasus said. "Call up Kaiba boy and tell him the happy news."
--------Scene Break---------
It took some doing but after an hour and a half of arguing the whether to, the why for, and such they finally managed to talk Kaiba into bringing their fleet to a halt long enough to have a wedding for Yugi and Tea. They decided to hold it outside in space with their space suits on. Everyone played their part down to the last little detail. Joey was best man, Mai and Serenity were brides' maids, and Rebecca was the flower girl. Mokuba would up being the ring barer and the two rings they used were on loan from Pegasus. They were the same rings used during his and his wife's wedding. It had been a long time since he'd brought them out but now he didn't think that his darling Cecilia would mind.
"Do you Yugi Mouto take Tea Anzu to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Pegasus asked over his radio.
"I do." Yugi replied.
"And you Tea take Yugi to be your lawfully wedded Husband?"
"I do." Tea replied.
"Then with the power of the position of Captain of the good ship Pegasus, I do here by pronounce you man and wife. You may…Uh, you may kiss the bride as soon as we get back inside, there's a meteor shower heading straight towards us!" Pegasus exclaimed
"What?" Everyone turned around and looked and there they were, a million or so meteors heading straight towards them. They all scrambled to get inside of the nearest ship which turned out to be the Pegasus.
"Quickly turn on the light speed engines and get us out of here." Kaiba commanded.
"It'll take some time before we can transition back over to light speed." Rebecca informed them all. "The Engines won't be able to hold out if we go straight into light speed!"
"If we don't then we're all dead!" Pegasus realized.
"Do it!" Kaiba yelled. Rebecca hesitated for a moment but she complied. They turned on the light speed engines and the entire fleet took off after the Pegasus into the light speed. The meteor shower passed them by with no ill effect, but once they were out of the way, they began to slow down
"What's happening?" Joey asked. "Why are we dropping our of light speed?"
"That's precisely what I'd like to know." Kaiba turned to Rebecca.
"I warned you." She said to him in a huff. "The reason we're dropping out of light speed is because we went straight into light speed without warming up the engines first. Now every ship in the fleet is breaking down."
"Breaking down?" Pegasus asked. "You mean our engines won't work any longer?"
"Not the light speed engines." Rebecca replied. "Our sub light engines are still perfectly operational but considering the fact that we've no replacement parts to fix the light speed engines, I'm sorry to say that we'll have a very short trip ahead of us."
"Why short?" Yugi asked.
"Because we'll have expended most of our fuel within three to four weeks." Rebecca told them all. Things did not look good at all for them.
"Mokuba, get on the navigation charts and send out more probes." Kaiba ordered.
"What good will that do?" Mokuba asked.
"We've got to find another, closer, inhabitable planet." Kaiba said. All their hopes were dashed at his point. If Kaiba's deeps space probes could have found another planet that was closer it would had done so before.
"Say we can't find one." Ryou said. "What will we do then?"
"It would take us years to travel to our original destination with only our booster rockets to propel us." Kaiba informed them. Our sub light engines will give out before long and we'll have to fall back on the rockets anyway but until that happens we'll search. There must be another Earth like planet out there, if not one that we could terra-form, and make just like our old Earth. Along with the food supplies and construction equipment, I brought along building materials as well as plants, seeds, and live stock. All we have to do is find a planet with a breathable atmosphere."
Mokuba launched the probes and everyone returned to their stations to wait for the incoming data being transmitted from the probes back to the Blue Eyes Two. Several pleasant possibilities came up but they were all too far away for the fleet to reach them. In the mean time, Kaiba's ships coasted along on their navigational thrusters to conserve fuel for the sub-light engines.
"How about that one." Tea pointed out a bright blue planet with several small islands on it's surface.
"That's pretty close but according to the probes there's no fresh water anywhere on the surface of the planet, it's all salt water and those islands are too small to contain a human population. We need a planet with more land and fresh water." Rebecca said looking at the incoming information from the probes.
"Oh." Tea sighed.
"Don't worry Tea, we'll find a place to put down roots." Yugi said trying to encourage his young wife. His wife. How wonderful that felt to them both to be husband and wife at last. Now they were on this grand adventure to find a new home world for humanity. Even though there was not much hope at this point, they found courage and strength in each other.
-------Scene Break-------
"Oh Joey, what if we never find a place to call home." Serenity despaired. Her brother stood on the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two and looked over the monitors and then out at space. He didn't know what to say to his little sister to make it all better this time. He only knew that he had to be there for her.
"Don't worry sis." He told her. "Kaiba's a jerk but he's a genius. He'll find something."
"Oh Joey, I wish that you wouldn't put Seto down like that." Serenity scolded him.
"Can't help it, it's a reflex." Joey replied, joking of course. "Hey Kaiba hurry up and find something, will you?"
"Time is of the essence Wheeler, I know, but we can't rush this. We can't just settle for any old planet. The conditions must be right for inhabitation or else when we set foot on the ground we'll all die." He informed Joey.
"Aren't we the optimist." Joey said sarcastically.
"What about that one?" Serenity asked pointing to one screen. Kaiba looked up at where she was pointing and to his astonishment there was a planet with excellent Earth like conditions just another few weeks away. The trip would be a stretch for their fuel supply but after some minor calculations, Kaiba was sure that they could make it if they used their sub-light engines sparingly and relied on their thrusters for the last leg of the journey. There was only one problem though. According to the probes there were signs on the surface of the planet that there had once been some great civilization living there. The idea was to find a planet which had never been inhabited.
"This one will have to do." Kaiba said. "Contact Pegasus and tell him that we've found a promising prospect. At the very least we'll be able to set down there long enough to make repairs to the light speed engines."
Tea's eyes began to tear up when at last arrived at the spot where the Blue Eyes One's vapor trail ended. There she was, in the same spot where they had only been a few hours before.
"Did we get here in time?" Tea asked, crying.
"It's difficult to say. They…may already be dead." Pegasus told her. "We may still be able to save them though if we hurry. We must dock them with our ship and re-pressurize their cockpit." Tea immediately ran to the hatch and put on her space helmet. Once they were docked she opened the main hatch and went with all he might into the cold vacuum sealed cockpit of the Blue Eyes One where she found Yugi, Kiaba, and Mokuba floating motionlessly around the cabin.
"Yugi!" Tea cried. "Please don't be dead!" She pleaded as she lifted his visor to see inside of his space suit. Slowly Yugi opened his eyes and gave a brief smile. "Oh thank God." Tea took him in her arms and carried him all the way back to the Pegasus One where he and the Kaibas were soon up and about again with Kaiba barking orders to rejoin the fleet and Pegasus reminding him that this was his ship not the Kiaba's.
"Now listen here, I don't have to take this from you." Pegasus said as he and Kiaba fought over the captain's chair.
"I financed this expedition, so there for I'm in charge!" Kaiba argued.
"We financed this mission together Kaiba boy, neither one of us could do it alone. So if you're done please go back to your own ship." Pegasus reminded him.
"Those two will never get along." Yugi sighed.
"What does that matter, we're all just happy to have you back." Tea and Rebecca said together.
"How is it possible for a guy like Yugi to get two hot girls and I don't have anyone." Tristan wondered.
"Beats me." Mokuba said. "I'm just thankful we're alive. There will be plenty of time for girls and sex and that sort of thing when we get to the new world. Speaking of which, I'd better radio the fleet to wait for us at quadrant 15." He jumped into the communications station and started punching up the radio frequency of the other ships. By this time they should have rejoined the fleet and started getting ready to make the last light speed jump out of the quadrant. But because of these unforeseen delays, they would be late in meeting back up with the rest of their fleet. Sitting there though, Mokuba couldn't help but sneak a peak at Rebecca who was over in the corner arguing with Tea over Yugi.
"Yugi's mine!" Rebecca declared.
"And I'm telling you, he loves me!" Tea shouted at the young genius.
"I wonder what Rebecca sees in Yugi?" Mokuba asked himself under his breath. He'd become quite taken with her in the short time that he'd been around her. They didn't know each other that well, in fact they had only met on one or two other occasions. Still, there was something inside of him that felt good when Rebecca was around.
"Guys, I'm ready for some food." Joey said as leaned back in his chair. "What's to eat around her Pegasus?"
"Well, Joseph, my ship's galley is stocked with only the best name brand dehydrated and freeze dried foods." Pegasus answered.
"Freeze dried?" Joey wasn't sure about this. He liked his food eatable.
"Or if you prefer I'm sure Kaiba boy's ship is stocked with surplus military rations." Pegasus commented.
"Hey, we've got lots better than that!" Mokuba retorted. "Seto and I made sure that our ship was stocked with the same foods as the American, Russian, and Chinese Astronauts eat."
"I don't care anymore, let's just get some grub." Joey said getting up from his post. He floated over to the hatch and waited for the others.
--------Scene Break-------
"Why do we have to man this ship alone?" Rex complained as he and Weevil sat on the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two.
"Because we're the only ones qualified to man the bridge while Mr. Kaiba is away." Weevil replied. "At least that what I keep telling myself. It's a shame we don't have some company up here. After all who wants to look at your face all the time Dino brain."
"Watch it bug boy, we're the only ones up here remember, and it would be really sad if suddenly one of the hatches were the blow and suck you out into space." Rex teased Weevil by tapping a few non essential controls.
"Uhhh, alright…alright already, but still you have to admit that things would be a little bit more pleasant around here if we had some female company." Weevil suggested.
"What are you talking about Bug boy?" Rex asked.
"Heh heh hee. Serenity Wheeler is still in suspended animation down in the cargo hold. We could wake her up and have a little fun." Weevil answered.
"No, you don't think that she's…I mean she's Kaiba's girl and… we just couldn't…could we?" Rex thought about it for a moment more as Weevil waited for him. "Okay." He said blushing beat red. "Let's go have us some fun." They put the ship on auto pilot and then hurried down to the cargo hold where most of the Kaiba Corp. employees and their families were stored. There they found sleeping in her chamber, Serenity Wheeler. Seto Kaiba's lady love and future mother of his children.
"Isn't she pale and perfect?" Weevil asked looking at her. "Just like a butterfly under glass."
"Okay, you've definitely got to find yourself another hobby." Rex said. "All we have to do to thaw her out is press these buttons and wait for the chamber to open." He reached down and tapped the controls on the side of the chamber and then the warming process began. Lights came on inside the chamber and it began to grow warm to the touch.
"Heehee, in lest than a ten minutes we'll have us a beautiful space madden to…."
"To do what?" Kaiba asked walking up behind them. The two delinquents turned around slowly and to their great horror their employer stood before them in his dark purple robes and a terrible nameless expression on his face.
"Mr. Kaiba sir, what are you doing back so soon?" Weevil managed to ask.
"Yeah, how was your duel with Yugi?" Rex inquired.
"YOU DIE NOW!" Kaiba screamed and then chased the two horny teens out of the cargo bay. They ran jumped and floated around the ship a couple of times until finally Kaiba settled down and Serenity was completely thawed out. When she awoke, surrounded family and friends, she hardly questioned anything. Then she realized from the grave looks on everyone's faces that something was wrong.
How could they tell her, everyone wondered, as Serenity rose up from her bed to ask,
"What's going on?" They all knew that they would have to tell her. It would break Serenity's heart though and everyone knew that. Even Kaiba who said not a word but simply took her hand in his. "Guy's you're scaring me." She said. "What's wrong? Why am I in this bed and why is my hair all wet? Did I get drunk and fall in the pool?"
"Oh if only it were that comical." Pegasus said, his eyes tearing up.
"Serenity." Joey said putting his arms around her. "I've got something pretty bad to tell you."
"The earth is what?!" Serenity exclaimed when Joey told her all that had transpired after the night of the ball. Serenity cried a river on Joey's shoulder and clenched Kaiba's hand as though it were her only lifeline from insanity. "What…what about mom and dad?" Serenity asked. "They're safe too, right?"
"Sure, they're down in the cargo hold just like you were." Yugi told her.
"Yeah, it's alright Serenity, all our families made off of Earth safe and sound." Tea said.
"Besides, now is not the time to grieve for a lost world who's people were going to hell in a hand basket anyway." Kaiba finally spoke. "We've got bigger things to worry about."
"Like for instance?" Ryou asked.
"Like preparing for the transition to light speed." Mokuba said. "Everyone needs to get back to their own ships and strap themselves in for a long journey."
"Hey wait a minute, who's ship do you think my sister's staying on?" Joey demanded to know.
"On whatever ship she wishes." Kaiba said. "It's up to her, but should she choose this one, don't be too astonished. After all, I think that she prefers my company to that your silly little click."
"Silly click!" Joey was outraged. No one insults his friends like that and gets away with it.
"Hold on now Joey." Serenity said, tugging at his jacket. "I'm not the least bit in the mood for yours' or Seto's posturing. Right now I just need to be with the people I love. All of them. So Joey, I'm going to ask you a favor. Will you stay here with me and Seto?" Serenity asked him sweetly.
"Awe, Sis, you know I can't say no to you. Okay, but only if Mai agrees to stay here too."
"Me Joey?" Mai asked. She's been silent for a long time about all this. To tell the truth she didn't know what to make of any of this herself. She'd had lots of friends back on earth who had died, just like all of them had, but now she guessed that she needed those friends she had left more than ever. "Okay sure thing."
"Okay then I suppose we'll all just head back to the Pegasus." Duke said. "See you guys later." Everyone put their space suits back on and went to the main hatch where they said a farewell to each other and then split up. Joey, Mai, and Serenity stayed on the Blue Eyes Two with Kaiba, Mokuba, Weevil, and Rex. Once Yugi and others were safely aboard the Pegasus they went back to the bridge and strapped themselves down in their stations to await the transition to light speed. They would have to initiate as soon as possible if they were going to catch up with the rest of the fleet. The other ships had probably already made the jump to light speed and were probably quadrants away from there by now.
"Read for light speed." Kaiba ordered everyone.
"Making calculations for light speed now." Rex said.
"Course and heading programmed." Weevil added.
"Light speed go!" Kaiba commanded and the ships began to speed up.
"Cutting out sub-light engines." Rex reported from his station.
"Ahead all full." Weevil reported from his. "We're transitioning to light speed." All of a sudden the stars disappeared and beams of bright glowing lights began to swirl around them.
--------Scene Break---------
From the Pegasus, Kaiba's ship looked like a long white blur, and vise versa. The two ships zoomed through space at the speed of light and once they caught up with the rest of the fleet, everything seemed to be going along quite smoothly.
"We're stable at 90 of full power." Rebecca reported to Pegasus.
"Good girl, now what's the status on our heading?" He asked.
"Heading on course 1549.6" Yugi reported.
"Hey guys, I'm getting kind of board." Tea told them all when things had settled into a kind of slow pace.
"Well, maybe we can find something to better occupy our time." Ryou said. "Like having a long over due wedding for two friends of ours."
"You're not serious." Tea said, "You expect Yugi and I to just get married out here in space, with no church, no preacher, and our families frozen away in suspended animation?"
"It wouldn't be that bad would it?" Yugi asked. "I mean, what's stopping us from getting married now? We don't have school to finish anymore and we don't have any obligations to anything or anyone else."
"Yeah but it wouldn't be legal." Tea reminded them all. "We're out here in the middle of nowhere with no laws other than our own sense of moral judgment to guide us."
"That's not true." Pegasus said. "We have ship's articles. In the days of ancient sailing vessels the crew and passengers signed ships articles which stipulated law on the high seas. Out here in space we have the same. The Captain's word is law and since I'm the captain of this ship, I say it's perfectly legal for young Tea and little Yugi to get married."
"Hey yeah, can't the captain of a ship perform marriage ceremonies?" Duke asked.
"I certainly can." Pegasus replied. "I'd be happy to marry Yugi and Tea off to one another."
"Then it's settled." Tristan said. "Let's get these two crazy kids married!" He grabbed Yugi and Tea both up the arms and brought them before Pegasus.
"Hold on, what about everyone else?" Yugi asked. "We need Joey, Serenity, Mai, and the Kaibas here too."
"It wouldn't be a real wedding without the best man and the Bride's maids." Tea added.
"Great, whatever." Rebecca said. "Don't suppose you'd need a flower girl?"
"Sure would." Yugi said looking over at her with a smile. That smile of Yugi's was almost enough to make everything all better for Rebecca. She hated the thought of Yugi being with Tea instead of her, but there was nothing that she could do about it, so she decided that she might as well be happy for them both.
"Great then it's settled then, we'll bring this trek to a halt just long enough have a blow out wedding for Yugi and Tea then we'll continue on our original heading for the new world." Pegasus said. "Call up Kaiba boy and tell him the happy news."
--------Scene Break---------
It took some doing but after an hour and a half of arguing the whether to, the why for, and such they finally managed to talk Kaiba into bringing their fleet to a halt long enough to have a wedding for Yugi and Tea. They decided to hold it outside in space with their space suits on. Everyone played their part down to the last little detail. Joey was best man, Mai and Serenity were brides' maids, and Rebecca was the flower girl. Mokuba would up being the ring barer and the two rings they used were on loan from Pegasus. They were the same rings used during his and his wife's wedding. It had been a long time since he'd brought them out but now he didn't think that his darling Cecilia would mind.
"Do you Yugi Mouto take Tea Anzu to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Pegasus asked over his radio.
"I do." Yugi replied.
"And you Tea take Yugi to be your lawfully wedded Husband?"
"I do." Tea replied.
"Then with the power of the position of Captain of the good ship Pegasus, I do here by pronounce you man and wife. You may…Uh, you may kiss the bride as soon as we get back inside, there's a meteor shower heading straight towards us!" Pegasus exclaimed
"What?" Everyone turned around and looked and there they were, a million or so meteors heading straight towards them. They all scrambled to get inside of the nearest ship which turned out to be the Pegasus.
"Quickly turn on the light speed engines and get us out of here." Kaiba commanded.
"It'll take some time before we can transition back over to light speed." Rebecca informed them all. "The Engines won't be able to hold out if we go straight into light speed!"
"If we don't then we're all dead!" Pegasus realized.
"Do it!" Kaiba yelled. Rebecca hesitated for a moment but she complied. They turned on the light speed engines and the entire fleet took off after the Pegasus into the light speed. The meteor shower passed them by with no ill effect, but once they were out of the way, they began to slow down
"What's happening?" Joey asked. "Why are we dropping our of light speed?"
"That's precisely what I'd like to know." Kaiba turned to Rebecca.
"I warned you." She said to him in a huff. "The reason we're dropping out of light speed is because we went straight into light speed without warming up the engines first. Now every ship in the fleet is breaking down."
"Breaking down?" Pegasus asked. "You mean our engines won't work any longer?"
"Not the light speed engines." Rebecca replied. "Our sub light engines are still perfectly operational but considering the fact that we've no replacement parts to fix the light speed engines, I'm sorry to say that we'll have a very short trip ahead of us."
"Why short?" Yugi asked.
"Because we'll have expended most of our fuel within three to four weeks." Rebecca told them all. Things did not look good at all for them.
"Mokuba, get on the navigation charts and send out more probes." Kaiba ordered.
"What good will that do?" Mokuba asked.
"We've got to find another, closer, inhabitable planet." Kaiba said. All their hopes were dashed at his point. If Kaiba's deeps space probes could have found another planet that was closer it would had done so before.
"Say we can't find one." Ryou said. "What will we do then?"
"It would take us years to travel to our original destination with only our booster rockets to propel us." Kaiba informed them. Our sub light engines will give out before long and we'll have to fall back on the rockets anyway but until that happens we'll search. There must be another Earth like planet out there, if not one that we could terra-form, and make just like our old Earth. Along with the food supplies and construction equipment, I brought along building materials as well as plants, seeds, and live stock. All we have to do is find a planet with a breathable atmosphere."
Mokuba launched the probes and everyone returned to their stations to wait for the incoming data being transmitted from the probes back to the Blue Eyes Two. Several pleasant possibilities came up but they were all too far away for the fleet to reach them. In the mean time, Kaiba's ships coasted along on their navigational thrusters to conserve fuel for the sub-light engines.
"How about that one." Tea pointed out a bright blue planet with several small islands on it's surface.
"That's pretty close but according to the probes there's no fresh water anywhere on the surface of the planet, it's all salt water and those islands are too small to contain a human population. We need a planet with more land and fresh water." Rebecca said looking at the incoming information from the probes.
"Oh." Tea sighed.
"Don't worry Tea, we'll find a place to put down roots." Yugi said trying to encourage his young wife. His wife. How wonderful that felt to them both to be husband and wife at last. Now they were on this grand adventure to find a new home world for humanity. Even though there was not much hope at this point, they found courage and strength in each other.
-------Scene Break-------
"Oh Joey, what if we never find a place to call home." Serenity despaired. Her brother stood on the bridge of the Blue Eyes Two and looked over the monitors and then out at space. He didn't know what to say to his little sister to make it all better this time. He only knew that he had to be there for her.
"Don't worry sis." He told her. "Kaiba's a jerk but he's a genius. He'll find something."
"Oh Joey, I wish that you wouldn't put Seto down like that." Serenity scolded him.
"Can't help it, it's a reflex." Joey replied, joking of course. "Hey Kaiba hurry up and find something, will you?"
"Time is of the essence Wheeler, I know, but we can't rush this. We can't just settle for any old planet. The conditions must be right for inhabitation or else when we set foot on the ground we'll all die." He informed Joey.
"Aren't we the optimist." Joey said sarcastically.
"What about that one?" Serenity asked pointing to one screen. Kaiba looked up at where she was pointing and to his astonishment there was a planet with excellent Earth like conditions just another few weeks away. The trip would be a stretch for their fuel supply but after some minor calculations, Kaiba was sure that they could make it if they used their sub-light engines sparingly and relied on their thrusters for the last leg of the journey. There was only one problem though. According to the probes there were signs on the surface of the planet that there had once been some great civilization living there. The idea was to find a planet which had never been inhabited.
"This one will have to do." Kaiba said. "Contact Pegasus and tell him that we've found a promising prospect. At the very least we'll be able to set down there long enough to make repairs to the light speed engines."