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January 4, 2041 Earth
Professor Sean August frowned as he picked at the plate of Galbi and rice in front of him. He was at the last place on Earth he wanted to be, his retirement ceremony. He took a sip from his water.
"Professor August! Congratulations! You definitely deserve some rest." A fat man waddled up to him.
"Oh great, here comes tubby" Professor August thought to himself.
Sean was afraid that one of the buttons on the man's overstretched tuxedo would pop off and hit him.
"Thank you Mister Mayor you overweight, corrupt lowlife" August smiled.
"You know, it really is too bad that you have to leave. We will miss your brilliant research."
The mayor was sweating profusely and blotted at his brow with a handkerchief, straining the fabric of his suit even more.
"Yes, thank you for your support. and your continuous cutting off of our funding"
August decided that his retirement was as good a place as any to tell this man off.
"Granpa Sean! Come dance with me." A pretty little girl grabbed the professor's arm before he could say anything.
"OK, stop pulling, Rian sweetie." Professor August dropped his straw in his glass, silently observing how the water made light travel slower in the glass, bending the image.
"Attention everyone." A drunken young man had approached the podium.
"Good evening all, I would like to propose a toast to our guest of honor. Professor August, you were a great person who taught me a lot and I just want to say... I love you man."
Admidst nervous coughs and hushed chuckles, another man called out "Speech! Speech!"
Soon, the whole room was chanting "Speech".
Some hands pushed him toward the podium, where the drunken man gave him a hug and relinquished the microphone.
"Yes, well... that was, interesting"
Did he grab my butt in that hug?
"Thank you all for being here. although I don't even know three-quarters of this mob."
Professor August took another sip. Here goes.
"First, I would like to thank my family, who have always humored and supported this old man. My daughter, Jessie, the most precious person in my life. Honey, your mother would be so proud of you, if she was alive."
"I'm right here jerk!" A rough voice called out from the group.
Ignoring his ex-wife's interruption, he continued.
"I'm sure Jessie knows how I feel, because she too has a daughter, Rian, oh I mean, Princess Rian."
The little girl beamed.
"and everyone else... can go to hell."
"This is a momentous occasion, not because I am retiring, although I am sure that for a few people, it's a dream come true."
Nervous laughter rippled through the crowd, some people laughing louder than others.
"No, two years ago today, the Tarsians, a colony of alien civilization, massacred the U.N. surveillance team on Mars. My latest research was to find uses for the Tarsian technology we recovered from that terrible day. Please, join me in a moment of silence for our fallen brethren."
Professor August bowed his head and stared at his glass, his straw, the way water bent the light.
"Ahem, I would like to say one more thing, I have found a perfect use for that technology, I am definitely not retiring!"
Some people fainted and at least one person was injured by a high velocity flying button.
Five months later, Professor August created the process to "slow down" light. Yet, despite decades more research by Professor August and the most advanced scientific labs, the process only worked in one direction.
Sep 16, 2047 Hanul
The pilot breathed heavily as she surveyed the damage done to the U.N. Armada by the Tarsian ambush. The wreckage that was once the Lysytheia drifted further away along with her hopes of survival. She was trained for this situation; she knew the Tracer that she was in couldn't support her while still in active mode, not for too long. She shut down the battle program, the Tarsians that attacked the fleet were long dead and reinforcements were not likely to come for them. She allocated the majority of the Tracer's power to pilot long-term life support; the only other active program was the ultra high frequency distress signal that the Tracer beamed out.
She estimated that the Tracer's remaining power could keep her alive, in a comatose state, for at least two years. She stared at the single button that flashed slowly on her screen, after she pushed it, the STASIS mode would be initiated and she would be put in the comatose state. She looked at her display and confirmed that the distress signal was still being sent out, then she returned to the screen. Her hand wavered over the button and a thousand thoughts raced through her head.
What if this doesn't work? What if I'm not found? What if I wake up too soon? Or too late? Where is my Tracer floating off to? What if I'm wrong and there are survivors out there?
The frantic pilot realized that the more time she wasted, the less chance there was that she would get through this. She took a deep breath in and let it out, simultaneously pushing the button.
The lights went out in the cockpit and the only illumination were the dim flashes of the distress signal light outside the Tracer. She sat quietly staring out at space, waiting.
Noboru! I should tell… him…
She tried to fight the sudden drowsiness, her phone faded in and out of her vision, she willed her message to the phone.
Noboru, I am here. Noboru, find me. The world flickered and then went dark.
Oct 24, 2047 Hanul
"Major Heartilly, we have obtained the Tracer and its pilot. Her name is Captain Mikako Nagamine. She has been transferred to the medical operations team."
"Fine, send out the report and keep me informed on her status." The dark haired officer ran a hand over her face; after thirty-nine days, they had finally found her. She sighed in relief, her mission was over and yet, the ordeal would be ongoing for that poor pilot. She looked out her window at the black emptiness of space and shuddered at the possibility of being out there alone.
Athena Heartilly's anxiety multiplied later that day as she reviewed the reports. The first was from the engineering team, the Tracer had been severely damaged. When they found it, it's power supply had been damaged and barely had enough energy to sustain the life support systems. If they had found the tracer any later, they would be recovering a corpse.
The next report was by the medical team. They had stabilized the patient's vitals. However, at the time of the report, the patient was still unconscious.
Although Athena's ship traveled the distance to the distress signal in a few weeks, the trip back to E3, the nearest planet with a U.N. base of operations, would take twenty-six months because U.N. ships could travel faster than light-speed in one direction only, using the "August Law".
The time is a blessing for Mikako and the therapy she will probably need, Athena thought to herself.