A nervous tremor travelled across Alec Grissom’s shoulder as he pushed the controls of the shuttlecraft forward, increasing the speed. The craft was low to the ground, typical for travel on this type of commercial vehicle, providing a view through the cockpit glass of the decrepit surface of a world long dead. Ahead and high above the reddish brown terrain, lightning flashed through the deep blanket of black and gray storm clouds causing them to pulse with an eerie glow of pink and purple. The flight was a ferry with no passengers from Boston to the Austin Depot in the Territory of Texas, making him the sole occupant of the cockpit lit only by the dim haze of electronics in red and blue. He knew, however, that the relocation of equipment was a ruse, and that the craft he was in control of was a special craft.
‘Enjoy the trip, time flies…Dora.’ In his head he could see the note as if it were floating in the dim light from the instrument panels. He had never met Dora, though he knew her name well. She was a secretive player in the covert experiment he was placed on this ship for, a woman who was highly placed within the operational center of the Velocity One shuttle fleet. The words ‘time flies’ was a code that it was time for him to test machinery concealed within the special craft.
With an uneasy exhale, Alec accepted that both altitude and position were correct for the beginning of the test. He was far enough between the two territories that the craft was not being accurately monitored. With the culmination of nervous anxiety widening his eyes, Alec reached towards the control panel to begin.
Tracing the underside of the panel, his fingers searched for two simple indentations where tiny screws connected the decorative faceplate over the mechanics hidden beneath. Almost at once, his left pinky slid neatly inside a slot perfectly sized for insertion. Continuing to slide his right hand, his remaining pinky found the matching slot, also slipping effortlessly inside. At the tip of each finger, he could feel the heads of recessed screws.
Alec’s chest tightened with the continuing assault of apprehension as the tips of the two pinky’s massaged the tiny screw heads. With a gentle push upwards on both simultaneously and then slightly forward, the panel clicked, it’s front separating from its mounting to reveal that the bolts on the front side were but decorative guises. He pulled his fingers out of the recessed holes to lift the panel up on hidden hinges. With a glance in to where on other crafts he would expect to see an assortment of wires and tubing, on this craft he spied two simple black buttons.
His breath locked in mid-inhale as he positioned his thumbs atop the soft rubber heads of the two buttons, the cockpit sparking with flashes of the lightning outside. Preparing to depress for the first time the controls that were the root of a cluster of secrets, Alec finished the inhale deeply, ready for the test to begin.
There was a dual thud as he pushed downwards, a vibration from deep within the floor of the cockpit around him. Alec looked up and outwards at the purple-gray sky. The cockpit window flashed for a moment igniting a gasp upon his lips. As if the ship had been struck by a bolt of the ominous lightning outside, the window crackled with bright turquoise sparks of electricity. As the glass began to glow brighter, a flash of blinding white light burst around him. In the hazy blur that the cockpit became, Alec glanced down at his hands, squinting to see his fingers still resting atop the two black buttons. The warp was engaged, he knew this and he knew the next step, the key to crossing the threshold of time. Alec pulled his hands out of the hidden compartment to push forward on the speed controls increasing his velocity once more. The cockpit grew brighter in shades of white and yellow light. Looking away from the front, Alec closed his eyes to shield them from the intense glow as he pulled back on the controls, slowing the craft to signal the end of the experiment.
The blinding glow within the cockpit dimmed rapidly as the craft shook with an unnatural shudder. Alec blinked with the quickly dimming light to aid his eyes in getting accustomed to the darkening ship's interior, once again lit only by the instrument lights around him. The vibration stilled. Outside another flash of lightning in the distance lit up the cockpit window. Not far ahead, the lightning also lit up another craft which flashed white and purple in the light of the storm.
Alec grasped the control shaft once more, preparing to further reduce his speed and avoid collision. He was surprised to see another ship so close where there was not one moments ago. With a glance at the scope, he confirmed with the orange-red blip that the ship was not an illusion. Looking up once more, the ongoing lightning storm pulsing the unmistakable view of a shuttlecraft that was like his own, his curiosity ebbed.
Continuing to gaze upon the craft with an uncertain eye, the ship began to flash, crackling blue electricity racing across its hull. Alec’s breath stilled once more. The horizon exploded into blinding white light again, only this time it was outside his cockpit, originating from the craft. The red and purple sky ahead and around him began to ripple, distorted as if the scenery were floating on the hazy white glow. The explosive sound of the lights eruption reached his ship, echoing with ear shattering bursts that sounded three distinct times before dissipating. As the light began to lessen and dim, the sky returned to the dark gray and purple. The craft ahead of him was gone.
Alec's shoulders fell back pressing into his seat, his heart rate rapidly increasing. As he continued to gaze out the cockpit window, the lightning storm relentlessly flashed with pinks and purples illuminating the dark horizon. “That was me,” he whispered to himself, a chill traversing his spine. "It worked."