001: The Arrival

Terminal stations (also known as relay and transshipment stations) are outposts created to serve as hubs of transport within the inhabited systems. Every planet or asteroid belt will typically have at least one, as their existence is greatly beneficial to the intrasystem transportation.

Each terminal station serves as a destination for the larger, intrasystem transport vessel. They typically include a customs office, a military base, a massive storage area and a fuel depot and/or fuel refinery. The most important part is a hangar, from which smaller (and much more fuel-efficient) ships transport goods and people to nearby worlds. They might also include shipyards.

There are several types of transshipment stations. The most common is a fully man made construction on the orbit of a world, often connected to the surface with an orbital elevator (with Hephaestus station on Luna and Progress Station on Venus constructed in the 21st and 22nd Century being the best examples).

When such a construction is impractical, another approach is needed. This is quite common with gas giants, whose orbits are notoriously unstable, and worlds are rarely capable of sustaining the population required to finance an orbital elevator construction. When that occurs, a small and preferably outermost of the moons will be modified into a transshipment station. Solar examples might include Himelia of Jupiter, Helene of Saturn and Perdita of Neptune.

Encyclopedia Galactica

Book 9, page 889.

***

CHRISTOPHER HALL

His sleep was long and restful. His dreams were uneventful and unremembered. Finally, he woke up, but the area before his eyes was foreign. He fell asleep in his bedroom, but now he was in what looked like a storeroom. Large crates of various shapes and colors surrounded him from all sides.

Darkness concealed most of the hall from his eyes. There was enough light to discern the shapes, but that’s as far as it went.

Then he noticed a body. A pile of crates partially covered it, but the shape was unmistakable at this distance. The corpse was wearing something that looked like… angular armor? It was too dark to guess, and he didn’t consider moving over to investigate a good idea.

He was still trying to comprehend what just happened to him when something pulled the body behind the crates.

Oh, God.

He tried to stand up as silently as possible. He lifted his body right in time to witness two people coming out from behind the same stack of crates. Everyone froze, but they recovered from it first.

“Oookay, I know that this looks bad.” The shorter figure - an adult man, judging from the voice - raised his hands as if trying to show he was unarmed. Because of the lack of light, it barely worked. “But it’s not what you assume.”

“So it’s n-not a kidnapping?“ He tried to be brave and cool about it, but his trembling voice betrayed his real emotions.

“Yes. Quite the opposite, in fact.” The man answered. Then the other person (much taller than the first one) spoke. But he didn’t understand a word of it. The language sounded Slavic. The speaker was female, which contrasted with her height. He was close to two meters, and yet she looked down on him.

“Ah, yes. Because being a jerkass is helpful. We’re in a bit of a pickle here, did you notice that?” If she had noticed, she didn’t consider it a good idea to say it aloud. The man turned his attention back to the confused person in front of him.

”All right, so what’s your name? And how did you get here?” He at least sounded as if he genuinely cared, so… probably not a kidnapper. It was another question altogether if this was the start of a ‘you saw too much’ speech.

“Name’s Christopher. Christopher Hall. And, uhm, I fell asleep, and I woke up here.” Telling them he saw a body was probably a horrible idea, so he didn’t do that. He saw nothing. End of story. “I have no idea how… wait, what the fuck?” The palm of his right hand began glowing with a golden light. Much too weak to illuminate anything, but enough to be noticeable in the dark.

“Oh, great. Translocator. Explains everything.” The man sighed loudly. “Or at least explains how you came here. Listen, close the hand, and order it to stop glowing. In your thoughts.” After a few seconds of silence, he said something more. “Just trust me here, please.”

Christopher came to a decision quickly. The request didn’t sound malicious, so he did as the man said. To his surprise, the glowing disappeared. Which… was weird. Since when were devices that respond to thoughts a thing? And why was one of them in his hand?

“All right, so that’s behind us. Listen, since I’m certain you don’t know where you are, I’ll share this knowledge with you.” The man continued speaking. “But for now, let’s bring in some light, as you probably don’t feel very comfortable in darkness. Anna, could you do me the honor?” Light burst from a small item that the woman kept in her hand, illuminating both of them.

The man looked like a well-kept military officer. He wore something that looked like a scarcely decorated navy blue uniform. His hair was black, but white strands dotted it. The same could be said about his full beard, which seamlessly merged with both the mustache and hair.

He looked like a 50-something actor that put some money into his image and was playing an admiral or at least a captain. His dignified image was undermined by something subtly mischievous in his eyes.

The woman at the same time was… large. That was the first word that came to his mind when he saw her. Her build was slender, though with visible muscles - however, she was much higher than him, even though he was two meters tall. Which left quite an impression.

She wore a similar navy blue uniform and had light brown hair with a low bun behind her head. Besides her size, she looked like a thirty-year-old actress with a subtle but well planned and executed makeup.

“I’m Alexander Keller, and that charming lady is Anna Nowak, head of my… security, for lack of a better word.” The man continued. He looked and acted like a showman. He seemed to like the sound of his voice. “As for the location, we are in the cargo section of a civilian vessel known as the Diamond. How original.” He added after a few seconds of silence. ”What might be a problem is that the owners of this ship are… well, authoritarian in their disposition, to put it lightly. And I don’t think you carry any ID in your pajamas.”

Christopher sighed dejectedly. He didn’t catch that earlier - he was distracted by the circumstances - but he was wearing only his pajamas. Unsurprising, as whatever had happened did so while he was in his bed.

“All right. Let’s assume that it’s all true.” Sounded more or less believable, once you got over the fact that he disappeared from his home and woke up on some random ship (in a different country, since his wasn’t authoritarian... though that depended on whom you asked), and that his hand seemed to glow. “What happens next?”

“Three options.” Alexander said, looking… pleased. “First is that you stay here and die in about ten minutes when the ship decelerates, as there is no inertia dampening on this section of the cargo compartment.” Christopher did not understand what Alexander meant by that, but he was still listening. “Second is that you leave the section on your own, without us. You’ll get arrested by the republicans and you’ll end up in a labor camp for the rest of your life. And that’s the optimistic assumption. And third is that you come with us and accept this once-in-a-lifetime offer of receiving a fake ID. Since I’m looking for some recruits to my little business, paying me back for that favor shouldn’t be a problem. It’s a much better line of work than a labor camp, and you’ll become much wealthier by the end. Which should help you in getting back home. And before you have strange thoughts about it, it’s a legal business.”

It sounded too good to be true. Christopher’s job history wasn’t terribly pleasant, so it might have been one source for his lack of excitement. The body that while out of sight was still in his mind was another one.

“Fine. Let’s say that I agree, though I reserve the right to back out if it all turns out to be a joke or a trick,” Christopher agreed. Alexander pulled out a small piece of plastic and handed it to Christopher.

When he looked at it, he gazed upon a face different from his own. Which then changed into his face - which was another weird thing that he encountered in the past few minutes. The name beside the face was ‘Raphael Schwartz’, from… The Democratic Republic of Yrd?!

Christopher was certain that no such country existed on Earth. So it was all either a remarkably elaborate joke, or something was absolutely, awfully wrong.

“Keep it on you. At all times. Try to act natural, don't freak out or do weird moves. It will be best if you won’t even speak until I tell you that the coast is clear.” Alexander continued with a serious look on his face, ignoring the fact that he just handed Christopher an obviously fake ID. “Once we enter the passenger sector of the ship, there will be armed security on the lookout for things unusual. And a man in pajamas is a bit unusual.” He didn’t like being reminded of that. “Anna, contact Echo. Describe what happened to our favorite hacker duo and ask them to do some magic with the security system of the Diamond.” Her only answer was a nod. “Fine, let’s go.”

***

The cargo compartment seemed gigantic. Sure, it was probably because of the darkness that covered it, as it made it hard to see how far it went. Still, it looked massive. And by the time they reached the exit, he realized that on his own he would have gotten lost among the stacks of crates ten times over.

The bulkhead they went through looked… futuristic. The corridors behind it were badly lit, but still looked… well, honestly he had no idea if they were out of the norm, as he had never been on a ship.

But he was sure that he had never traveled in an elevator which ran so smoothly and quickly. The elevator door was transparent for some reason, so he saw how fast it was in detail.

A silent humming from the outside, and awkward silence on the inside. After ten seconds the elevator stopped, and Alexander walked out of it. Christopher followed him.

If he didn’t expect weird things to happen, his life would have ended right there. Most people would have reacted with screaming, demands for an explanation or at least a deep shock. Which would be noticed by the wrong people - the security personnel in black, which were equipped with blocky full-body armors making them look like some sci-fi nazis. Instead, he kept walking with a neutral face, keeping his shock to himself.

After leaving the elevator they entered what looked like a mix of an indoor garden and a bar. It was massive - at least a hundred meters long, and twenty meters wide. Many people (wearing elegant suits or dresses) were spread around the area. Some were drinking in the bar area, some talking with each other or and others just passing time. There were also soldiers standing here and there, without moving a bit. They looked like black, menacing statues.

All of this he barely noticed though as he was mostly paying attention to the ceiling.. A transparent ceiling, through which he gazed upon the magnificent scenery of a pinkish gas giant passing in the background.

Where the fuck was he?! Or… a thought that first seemed insane to him… when was he?

He couldn’t even ask his two companions these most pressing questions, which only made the storm of feelings raging inside him worse.

***

“Welcome to our cabin. You can speak now, we’ve hacked cameras and microphones hours ago.” Alexander said. The cabin in question was the size of his flat. It contained several bunk beds in the wall in the back, what looked like an entertainment section with a table surrounded by three couches and a large monitor, and a kitchenette with a large, transparent fridge. One side was filled with various snacks and food, and the other with a wide selection of alcohol. There was also a set of doors beside the beds, which most likely led to the bathroom.

Two people were waiting for them in the cabin. One was a young man in a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He was sitting on the couch, leaning forward, and with his hands covering his face. He looked depressed. Beside him was a slightly older woman in the same blue uniform. She looked like she was consoling the man and their entrance interrupted it.

Anna ignored Alexander’s introduction and went for the alcohol section of the cabin.

“Looks… comfy.” Christopher - now Raphael, as it seemed - said.

“It better be. The VIP cabin, cost me a pretty penny.” Alexander answered. “We will reach the Terminal Station in about an hour. This gives us a while to talk. And I’m sure you have a lot to ask about.” That was the understatement of a century.

“Yeah. You mentioned something called a Translocator, what is it?” Christopher tackled the most obvious issue indirectly. He wasn’t above subtlety.

“A piece of an archeotech. Very, very rare. Once you get too close to them, they might latch onto you and throw you to another place. No range limit and nobody has yet figured out how they work, or why someone made them. Yours seems different, as the one I saw a few years ago emitted light that was silver, not golden. A question for a question: what country are you from? We might get you back there,. Much faster if it isn’t too far away.”

“United States of America.” Christopher answered, his attention focused on Alexander. He was interested in the man’s reaction. There was none, to his surprise. None, save from a thoughtful look.

“Mhm, that’s the other side of Human Space. Two years of travel. At best.”… well, this sounded like a confirmation of the idea that he was in space. And that it wasn’t a random space - if the USA was a thing, this had to be the future - unless his country had a secret interstellar space program.

That was so ridiculous, that he could barely stop himself from laughing. A reality show? A dream? The latter was possible. But, just in case it wasn’t a dream, he was ready to play along.

“So, what planet are you from?” Alexander kept digging. “You’ll get one more question on your own after that, let’s stick to the question for a question.”

Well, let’s hope that there is no time travel taboo or anything. That would suck.

“Earth.” That his answer was unexpected could be discerned straightaway. Both women in the back looked at him, pausing their activities. And even Alexander seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

“That’s… contradictory, isn’t it?” So, no US on Earth? Christopher could hear menacing Russian laughter in the background. Or maybe it was a Chinese laughter?

“Yeaaah, that’s where things get difficult.” Well, here goes nothing. “Because before I suddenly appeared in that cargo compartment I was most certainly within the territory of the United States on Earth. Though the year was 2021, and there were absolutely no manned flights anywhere near a gas giant.”

The resulting silence was almost deafening. Even the depressed man looked at Christopher with nothing but surprise on his face. Alexander’s brew rose slowly but constantly as if measuring the length of the silence.

“Okaaaay. I didn’t see that coming. Well, the bad news is that I believe getting you back home might be more difficult than I thought.” It was Alexander who spoke first.

“Uhm, you believe me?” That was unexpected.

“Let’s just say that while every scientist out there would laugh that down, I’m more open-minded.” Alexander spoke, the initial shock already gone from his face. “I’ve seen enough impossible things to be only mildly surprised when they happen. Also, I’m very good at noticing when I’m being lied to. Besides, traveling forward in time is the less unbelievable option. There are several ways in which it could happen, for example, you could have stumbled upon an archeotech that somehow ‘stored’ you inside and spit you out right now, after somehow finding its way to this ship. There are also one or two archeotechs that can ‘save’ a person’s ego, memories and even body in the form of data, and then recreate them at will. You could have encountered it, and got yourself ‘saved’. This means that the original you lived his life in peace, and you are the equivalent of a video game character that was saved in the middle of a playthrough, and then somebody started over from that save game to make different plot choices. Though the genre changed a bit which sort of ruined that simile.” He smiled wryly. “In short, your story is possible. The actual time travel is also another possibility, despite it never happening or even considered possible by anyone. So, I can’t say I completely trust you, but I can’t wait to have my chief medical officer run some tests on you. But your story is possible.”

That was… a much more sensible reaction than he expected. If he was in Alexander’s boots, he would probably react by laughing his ass off.

The explanations sounded sensible. Though… oh God, he hoped so much that it would be actual time travel. Sure, it was almost impossible, but… if it sent him one way, it could also send him the other way, right?

“I see. By the way… archeotechs?” That word popped up more than once and he had no idea what it meant.

“Various relics of long-dead civilizations that we don’t understand, but we can use them. Precious things. It’s a nice coincidence that you asked about them, because our work is all about finding them and selling to the highest bidder that doesn’t plan to use them for genocide. Like archeology, but in space and you sometimes need to shoot something.“ Alexander confirmed Christopher’s first impression. That unexpected confirmation and influx of new information made it sound like space Indiana Jones. “Listen, right now, you have nowhere else to go. I offer you a temporary job to earn some bread and accommodation. I promise you that I’ll do my best to find some answers for you in the meantime. Even if there is no way of getting you back home, you’ll at least get accustomed to this time, and you’ll get to earn some cash to start a new life. How does that sound?”

Well, unless the security folks he passed by were merely cosplaying Gestapo for the fun of it, he had only one possible answer to that. And he didn’t feel lucky enough to test that.

***

The next hour of their journey was uneventful (save for Christopher receiving some actual clothes). The fact that of all the people in the room he could only understand Alexander contributed to that. However, he still learned a few things.

First was that Alexander Keller was the captain of Echo, a heavy cruiser belonging to a group called the Explorers' Guild. The Guild was responsible for charting star maps, discovering new worlds, and stealing everything valuable from them under the guise of xenoarchaeology. Though they were an official organization from what passed as the local United Nations. The part about it being legal wasn’t a joke.

The second thing was that Anna Nowak was a lieutenant and head of a company of marines serving as Echo’s ‘garrison’. She was also a supersoldier. Christopher wasn’t sure if that was a joke about her height and supposed strength, though. The other woman was Eva Mendez, a lieutenant commander in charge of navigation (or astrogation, as they called it in space). And the still depressed man of Christopher’s age was Ryan Welch. A native of Tavia, the planet they were leaving behind. He got recruited by Alexander after most of his friends were shot by local security forces because of some thoughtcrime.

Which made it obvious why he’d be in such a state. Especially as he ran into Alexander while frantically running through back alleys of his city while being pursued by the Tavian Security Forces’ death squad. However, since Alexander had the right to conscript anyone he deemed fit and no local government dared to veto that, Ryan got rescued.

The most fictional part of this science ‘fiction’ world was that people respected the local United Nations.

The third thing he learned was that the year was 2711, so he got thrown 690 years into the future. That is, unless this wasn’t a dream. That option was still on the table. Pinching didn’t work, so Christopher had to admit that the probability of the dream hypothesis being true kept shrinking.

He was something beyond curious about the history of the last 690 years, but this wasn’t the time to ask questions. Besides, Alexander was going to be his de facto boss, and this made Christopher be a bit on edge with him around. Even when he seemed to be rather gregarious in his act.

Fourth and final thing was the reason for the commotion in the cargo section, and why Alexander and Anna were there when Christopher arrived. According to the captains' explanation, they were there because the local security force didn’t like Alexander, and wanted to settle scores over the issue of Ryan’s rescue. They lured him out to the cargo compartment, but ended biting a bit more than they could chew. Alexander hoped to leave Tavia before the natives would notice what happened.

There was probably more than one body in that hall. Which was a bit unnerving. What’s more, it sounded like quite a coincidence for the people with fake ID to show up in the very same cargo compartment that he materialized in. Right when he needed that very ID to avoid getting imprisoned.

He was far from unconditionally trusting Alexander.

Finally, the ship reached its destination. According to the captain's explanations, it was a combination between a communication hub, transshipment station and a military base constructed in a large piece of rock orbiting the gas giant called Takhi on the outermost orbit possible. All of that because the homeworld of the Tavian Republic was a large moon orbiting said gas giant, whose gravity totally disrupted any attempts to place satellites or stations on its own orbit.

The only thing he remembered from the journey through it was the omnipresence of faceless security and cameras. This truly was an authoritarian regime. Or even a totalitarian one.

Captain Keller ended up using his standing to avoid getting checked by every single checkpoint on the way. And that was the treatment for VIP passengers. He had no idea what sort of checks normal passengers had to go through.

Soon they were on a small shuttle. And that’s when Christopher dozed off.

***

CHRISTOPHER HALL

When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a large, dimly lit hall. The only source of light were candles thinly spread around.

This whole ‘open your eyes in a different place’ business started being awkward at this point. Maybe if he fell asleep now, he would wake up in his home? Though he should check the surrounding for danger before dozing off. The place looked like a church, Christopher could even see something resembling pews right beside him, but because of lack of light...

A hundred new candles burst to life, illuminating the figure standing in front of him. It was tall, much taller than him, and much taller than humanly possible. Then again, it wasn’t a human. It wore a pure white linen robe with a golden belt and a hood. The robe didn’t cover the entirety of its crystal body that seemed to change the color every few seconds.

Its eyes were burning like torches, enough for smoke to rise above its head. The only other thing visible under the thing’s hood looked like constant electrical discharges that seemed to be… a bit bronze in color?

What the…

“Be not afraid.” Each word sounded as if a thousand people in unison spoke it. “And rejoice, for you were chosen.”

Christopher tried to take a step back, a necessary beginning to running like crazy. His legs froze in place.

“What are you?!” Christopher spoke, which was about everything that he could do in his current circumstances.

“Bible, Book of Daniel, chapter ten, verses five and six.” The entity spoke, each word spoken by a thousand voices... each of them sounding mildly displeased and dissapointed. “Since you didn’t read it, I’ll quote that for you. ‘I raised my eyes to look about me, and this is what I saw: A man dressed in linen, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face looked like lightning, his eyes were like fiery torches, his arms and his face had the gleam of burnished bronze, the sound of his voice was like the roar of a multitude.’”

To say that Christopher was confused would be an understatement.

“Wait, so you claim to be some sort of… an angel?” In his opinion, this topped everything that happened to him today, though the time travel into the far future was a close second.

“No.” Phew. “I’m their projection.” What? “Seeing them in their true form would have resulted in your mind shattering into pieces and eyes burning to ash. That’s why when it is required to deliver their will to humans, a projection is used. The best way to describe me is ‘an interactive film directed by actual angels.’"

Fucking great.

“Language, child.” The entity immediately proved itself capable of reading his mind. “You are free to interpret my nature differently. I could, for example, be a technologically advanced alien or an AI of the archeotech lodged in your hand that brought you here, both cases using long-forgotten knowledge in your mind to appeal in such a way. And that's without opening the long list of alternative religious explanations. All of these options are equally possible. But you knowing truth is not important. What really matters is the reason you were brought to this time.”

“So, that was you. Or whoever was it that made you.” Christopher said, deciding to ignore the fact that this entity seemed to read his mind.

“Yes. A person who had to remain alive will die. As it already happened, we can do little to change that.” To say that this line confused Christopher would be a massive understatement. “A replacement is required. Someone unconnected to this world. Someone from the outside. You’ll be that replacement. If you succeed, you’ll be rewarded. If you fail, a disaster of unimaginable scale will befall Mankind.”

“What?! I don’t want any of that!” Christopher was furious. And confused. Like most young people, he always dreamt of something more than his current mundane life. But now that he received what he dreamt of, he was terrified.

Probably because of responsibility. He could feel his curiosity and interest wane after the ‘disaster of unimaginable scale’. The very idea of someone’s life depending on him was scary.

Maybe… maybe there was a way to worm out of that?

“Do I need to remind you how well that went with the prophet Jonah?” Christopher did remember that part. “Good, so there are at least some parts of Scripture that you recognize. It makes things easier. Besides, finding a giant fish in space is complicated." It said, leaving Christopher to wonder if this was some sort of a joke.

"We shall continue then." It said, ignoring his confusion. "You will receive three gifts to help you on your journey. The first one you will notice right after waking up. The other two will become apparent later on. Friends you’ll make along the way can count as the fourth gift, so cherish them well.” Christopher didn't expect that part. “You can also trust Alexander. Tell him everything that happened here.”

Christopher resigned himself to this fate. It didn’t look like there was a way out of it - at least for now. Though he wanted to consult Alexander before he would officially surrender. And he still had some questions to make.

“Yes. The ‘reward’ does include the possibility of returning to your point on a timeline.” The entity read the question from his mind before he could vocalize them. “Your third gift will explain all the downsides and hardships of that to you.”

It couldn’t be that easy, right?

“So, do I get to know what sort of thing I’m supposed to do?” Christopher thought that it was a pretty important knowledge to have.

“No. This will become apparent in time.” Christopher sighed. This whole mission was going to be a pain, he could already feel that. “For now, you need to get used to your new life. I wish you luck.”