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Aftermath
Excerpt from Chapter 2: "A Mysterious Message"
(Starganauts: Aftermath is still in-progress, so this snippet may change)
"Remember how you were looking for a mission to keep you occupied?” Cahalero asked.
“Yes?” Derek perked up. The excitement in Cahalero’s voice sent his mind fluttering with possibilities. Was it plans for a secret Myd uprising? Details of the fate of the missing Trylithians? He could imagine many things, but the captain’s next words shocked him.
“The transmission came from the planet of your ancestors, Derek. It originated from Earth!”
Derek couldn’t speak for several moments. His thought processes froze, and he merely blinked, his mouth agape as his brain struggled to catch up to this galaxy-altering news.
“Um…ahem…pardon me…but did you just say...Earth?”
"I did," Cahalero confirmed. "The message came from Earth."
“Whoa, whoa! Th-the planet?" Derek took a step back. "The place that Sharko and Company travelled from? Um, isn’t that impossible? Everybody on Earth is kind of—oh, I don’t know—super crispy and DEAD!”
“So we believed, from your ancestors' accounts.” Cahalero grinned at his reaction. “This transmission, however, is undeniable. It’s on an old radio-wave frequency, which most modern machines can’t read.”
“How old is the message?” Derek regained some of his dignity by closing his mouth.
“That’s the incredible part! By our calculations, this message is only four days old! That is how long we theorize it would take for a transmission to travel from Earth through the wormhole.”
“Wait, what? How can it…?” Derek looked ready to fall over. “What did it say?”
“We’re going to let you listen to it yourself. A lot of the message is degraded, from the distance and wormhole radiation. Yet it seems like someone is alive back there, and in trouble. When can we expect you in the HQ?”
“As soon as I recover. I’m gonna…is it okay if I bring Shelly?”
“Of course!” Cahalero stated. “All of your team is welcome—especially the Dundees. You’ll need to agree to confidentiality, so don’t share this news outside of the Base.”
“I wouldn’t dr-dream of it,” Derek pledged. “Thank you.”
“You’re most welcome. Just tell me when you’re heading over. And Derek?” Cahalero smirked. "Please sit down before you fall over. Your shock is showing."
The captain cut off the transmission, leaving a stunned Derek to stumble out of the armory and into his dorm. What a day! Pirateer moped in his corner of the room, looking distracted and muttering under his breath. More than usual, Derek noted. He started at the sudden swoosh of the men's dormitory door opening. Jasham Vardin knocked on the door lintel before stepping in after Derek waved him in absently-mindedly.
"Derek! Just the man I want to see," he stated. "Your next race is coming up in a month or so, right? Krystal and I are trying to plan a getaway, and I wondered when it's happening so we can avoid double-booking. We'd like to come and support you."
Derek didn't hear Jasham's question. His mind hovered a million lightfathoms away, struggling to process the vast implications of Cahalero’s news. Suppose this transmission had been faked, or left by someone with ulterior motives? On the flipside, what if it proved genuine? Nobody could've survived Vogul’s incineration. Even if they had, how would they have survived this long on the barren world? ...
Jasham shook him, snapping Derek back to the dormitory.
“Earth to Derek, as the old saying goes!” he teased.
“Oh, you have NO idea!" Derek gave a hearty chortle. "I…I have some things I really need to think about.”
“Don’t hurt yourself.” Jasham grinned. "So, when is your race?"
"A week from today," Derek answered, and Jasham nodded before leaving the room.
Derek turned to his nightstand, opening the top drawer and drawing out his omniport. He pulled up files he hadn’t browsed since school days. A brown-haired, rugged man stood in front of a charming old-fashioned Vexadorian home, a hazel-haired woman beside him. Both wore fashions influenced by Earth, that faraway place Derek hadn’t given much thought to. Several children stood between them; Derek recognizing a dark-haired one as his grandfather.
He felt around in the drawer until his fingers encountered a round, wooden object. Drawing it out, he gazed down at it and thought of his grandfather. That child had grown up to carve the heirloom now resting in his hand. A miniature globe of pre-apocalyptic Earth, only the shapes of continents stood out. The ornament was as large as an orb but lighter. He tossed it once, his eyes absorbing the continents and the swaths of ocean between them.
Could it be? Would his destiny intertwine with that of Earth’s? Everyone had given up the planet for dead. Besides, travelling there without aid of the wormhole would take over a century. One needed Myd gunships to do that. And we made them destroy every one, as part of the ceasefire, Derek realized. The answer must surely lie in the transmission, so he checked the time and prayed Shelly wouldn’t dawdle too long. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction to this mind-bending news.