I had always thought of space as the empty black backdrop of the universe, speckled with the powerful yet minute lights of distant stars. For as long as I live, I will never forget my first sight of true space, not in the far off splash of stars that surrounds Earth, but the true beauty closer to the center of the galaxy. The space was vibrant, colorful, breathtaking and nothing like I had imagined be. Red light shimmered, brushed across a dark backdrop as it arched behind everything I could see. The foreground battled with the colors of the galaxy for my attention. Before us were hundreds, maybe even thousands of ships, all moving in the void between three moons and an enormous gas giant of a planet, around them all was an array of ringed portals.

We hadn’t known what to expect on the far side of the portal from the Earth's system, but it wasn’t this. This was a central portal hub for this part of the galaxy. Portals of dark light-absorbing liquid sucked in and expelled ships of various sizes as they moved about their business, transporting people from all over.

“There are so many,” I whispered, gazing out the main window of the Flair’s cockpit.

I struggled to understand exactly what I was looking at. If every portal went to a different system, and Petra had told us that this was only a portion of the Galaxy, let alone one of the many galaxies in the universe. I grabbed the chair in front of me. This was a Dream? What kind of Dream was this enormous, I thought, How could anything be so vast. Even the largest video games people had thought up could not possibly contend with this, how was it possible.

I looked over the others, their jaws hung as slack as I suspected mine was as they took in the scene.

The Captain shifted the ship and it rose above the level of the portals before drifting forward, On his console, I could see a complex geometric shape, small lights flashed to designate the location of surrounding ships, the portals, and the planets. A line extended from every dot to dictate the calculated flight paths and speeds of the ships, though, with all the complexity, the captain flew with his eyes closed as he communicated directly with his ship, The Flair.

We flew forward and Jackson leaned forward on the console, craning his neck to look at the ships passing below our feet. His tall and thick frame covering half the console. I never understood how he inherited all the height from our parents while I hadn’t grown an inch since starting high school and still stood at five foot seven.

As we drifted over the congestion Mia spoke to Petra, the only member of the crew who had spoken more than two sentences to us the entire time we had been passengers on their ship.

“Where do they all go?” She asked.

“Well that one,” Petra said, point out the window at their nearest portal, “That goes to a system where all the planets are complete dust balls, not a single living thing on the surface, though every single one is saturated with tunnels and underground caverns, more fungi than you can count.” He explained.

“So, avoid it if you don’t like mushrooms,” Keg muttered,

“And that one there, well you don’t want to go there, been in a state of open warfare for the last twenty years. They got a raw deal and were discovered too soon after induction.” Petra said.

“Wait after their induction?” Jack asked. Both he and I had turned to look at Petra who had screwed up his face. The rest of the Flairs crew had thrown him some nasty looks.

“Induction like….” I tried to ask before Petra waved my question away.

“Look, Mandera told us we're not allowed to say, It’s better if it comes from someone more…. articulate. Just leave it. They’ll tell you everything on Nerion,” He said.

When Jack opened his mouth to press the issue, the captain opened his eyes to intercept Jacks, “No.” It was all he said, and Jack, always the obedient soldier nodded.

The other systems had inductions? Why would N.P.C’s need an induction?, I wondered. The memory of Doctor Mandera telling me that he had been Dreaming his entire life sprang to mind. There was something more here, but I hated the idea of jumping to conclusions even more than I hated the thought of waiting until we were on Nerion to learn more.

We drifted over the tops of the other vessels, the Flair speeding into any patch of exposed space, it took us a little over fifteen minutes to reach the center of the portals, then we banked left and dropped in altitude, Petra calling out a portals entry and exit schedule. Lowering into a line of ships we drifted, forward until Petra gave the go ahead and we pushed into the black liquid, and out the other side.

The new space was woefully quiet compared to the clustered space ships we had just left, only two ships were waiting to enter the portal and rocketing away from us towards a lone green planet.

“Welcome to Nerion,” The captain said, opening his eyes to look at the planet.

“Ohhh, good memories!” Petra said and the rest of the crew nodded in agreement.

“You were all trained here?” Mia asked.

“Oh yeah. Most of the company gets trained here. Creators, we even bankrolled half a campus, they only named one building after us though.” Petra said, tamping on his console then speaking softly, relaying our projected incoming flight path, and requested landing permission

“I wish we had time to have a look around, would be great to relive some of the good times.” Petra lamented.

“In that much of a hurry?” I asked.

The captain scoffed, ”We were meant to be in the Terola system yesterday to drop this cargo and then pick up an item for some rich lady.”

“You really just transport stuff around for people?” Keg asked, and received a slap across the head from Mia.

Petra chuckled, “The amount they pay, we would transport someone’s literal shit across the galaxy,”

“It’s not always such interesting cargo, mostly expensive stuff, sometimes just data someone doesn’t want to risk over the net,” the captain interjected.

“Plus, killing pirates is fun,” Petra chuckled.

“That happens often?” Jack asked, still looking down at the planet.

“It depends on the cargo, if its something of obscene value then there is normally always someone looking to steal it. This one time, some business tycoon hired us to transport his new wife across two systems. Halfway through destroying our third batch of pirates we were wondering what was so valuable about this woman. Turned out that her new husband had hired us, and the pirates aswell so he could be rid of her and claim the massive insurance.” Petra turned his hands up in confusion, “she ended up murdering him when they were reunited.”

“Only because you told her what had happened,” the captain pointed out.

“Well someone had to, wouldn’t you want to know if your wife tried to have you killed?” Petra asked Keg, looking for validation.

“Don’t have a wife, but no. Relationships are built on secrets. Right?”

Everyone laughed at him, then we fell silent as the plant grew closer, a thick mountainous continent filling the view window, the suns light flashing against the horizon in a fan of rays. We hit the atmosphere and the captain flicked two switches on the dash, we twisted so the shielding on the base of the ship was taking the brunt of the force and heat during entry. Air began flashing in violent shades of red and orange against the window. The Flair decelerated so drastically that my legs bent to absorb the change in gravity, then we were cruising over the tops of mountains, crumbling rock faces cascading down into dense forests.

“Just look at it,” Petra said with a smile, standing up and looking out over the captain’s head at the view. We crested the top of a mountain range to see a deep valley, its width spanning miles in either direction, planted right in the center was what could only be described as a university campus. Tall stone buildings had been built across the valley in inexplicable randomness, as though everyone had separate ideas of what the campus should look like. Between the buildings grew trees that look like they were hundreds of years old, creating manicured forests. The ship twisted in the air as it came around the side of the buildings, then coming to land on a clear field. Mia’s twin sister jogged into the cockpit upon feeling the ship touch down.

“Listen up,” The captain said, his tone serious as always. “That’s north,” He pointed directly in front of us, following the nose of the ship. Then he turned to look at us, “You’re representing the Grey Scarred Company while you’re here, that means a few things. Firstly, you will not disgrace us by failing. Secondly, you will not let anyone treat you like anything less than a member of the company. Take example from Erick and his actions over the last few days. We have a reputation to uphold. That being said, do not flout the rules, murder is not permitted on the grounds though kill in a fair fight is allowed. Someone will go over all of this with you, you just worry about not making us look weak. Now get off my ship, we have to go.” he turned back to the controls. Take example from me? So if someone pisses us off…kill everyone? I thought. I knew it wasn’t what he was getting at, but the thought still made me chuckle inside.

We shuffled from the cockpit and through the ship, grabbing our bags and extra weapons from the common room on our way to the rear doors. Petra followed us, pressing the button on the wall to drop the ramp. “Ask for rooms on the second floor, the bathrooms are the best.” He smiled at us before the smile slipped from his face. “Oh, that’s right. Try to keep an open mind, you’re going to see some things, some people, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Make sure you’re respectful, the last thing we want is to come across as recruiting a bunch of xenophobic humans,”

“See stuff like what? You mean aliens?” Keg asked,

“You’re aliens too remember,” Petra said, and Sam kicked Keg in the ass, forcing him to walk down the ramp.

I turned to look at Petra as he laughed, “Hey bro, can you please thank the captain and the rest of the crew for me? I know you didn’t have to come to get me, I appreciate it.” I said.

“I’ll thank them, but don’t forget that we did have to come get you. You’re part of the Company and were technically in our care. We would have done it for anyone. I’d hope you would do the same for us.” Petra said.

I nodded, “Of course.”

“And look, we were all impressed by what you did back on the piece of filth's ship. Your scars are grey my friend.” He slapped me on the shoulder and I nodded again. Then I turned and followed the others down the ramp, it receded and the doors closed as soon as my feet hit the ground. Which I had first thought was grass but turned out to be a spongy lichen that blanketed the ground., though unlike any lichen on earth, this grew in the open, in bright sunlight.

We were only just out of the way of the engines when they roared to life and the Flair lifted from the ground. The limbs of the nearest trees bending as they rocketed up and away.

“What is with this company and their shitty goodbyes,” Keg muttered, readjusting his bag on his shoulder.

“Going to miss your new friends?” Sam teased. Keg threw her a frown.

“Where to?” Mia asked, and we all looked at Jack.

He shook his head, and looked towards the nearest building, “There must be a reason they dropped us here.” He headed off across the grass with the rest of us trailing after him.

We only made it fifty meters before we saw our first signs of life and Petra's words became apparent. Walking between two stone buildings in front of us were three people. Two of them looked normal, although scaled with one thick plate over their heads like armored helmets, but the third figure was something we hadn’t seen before. Smooth skin reflected the patched sunlight along with four thin limbs, though the back legs were so short that the pelvis was only inches above the ground and the long front arms supported the upper body.

“Do you see a neck? I don’t see a neck and I’ve already zoomed in,” Keg said, stopping in his tracks. His augmented eye giving him the best view.

“Does shit just go in one ear and out the other with you?!” Jack hissed, scowling at him.

“I don’t see a neck,” Sam said, squinting across the field and Jack sighed

Keg was right though, I couldn’t see any neck, there was a thick hump at the connection between the upper back and the skull, where the neck would be. We all blinked before Jack cleared his throat and brought us back to reality. Right, respectful. I reminded myself. Keg was still not quite getting it thought. “Why was there no one like that with the Company when they came to earth?” He asked. Jack spun around to face him, “Kegan, Pull your fucking head in and quite it. I’ll kill you myself if you go offending someone on our first day here!” he growled, and I blinked in surprise at his perfect imitation of our dad.

Keg looked at him a moment then muttered his apology, “Right, sorry.”

We followed Jack over the lawn, Jack calling out to the group. They turned to look at us, as we approached, the mouth of the long limbed creature cracked into a smile, showing four rows of teeth like plates, “Hello. Can we help you?” Its voice was deep and soothing.

“Yeah, We just got dropped off, can you point us in the right direction,”

“just arrived?” One of the scaled men asked, “Which guild are you with?”

“The Grey Scarred Company,” Jack answered, the second scaled man scowled, which we all ignored.

“Oh yeah, behind this building across the lawn, you can't miss it. There should be someone set up to direct you. I think I saw the rest of your people arrive earlier today,” Jack thanked them and we continued past the building, I could feel the strange Alien figure in my EM sense, its slow easy strides as they walked away from us.

Around the far side of the building and across another patch of lichen until a large grey stone building came into view from between two thicks of trees. The only way I could describe it was…bland. Dark tinted windows inset in the four grey stone walls, no adornments or artistic architecture. Each stone was identical and evenly placed beside its neighbors.

Standing outside the building was a tall man with short-cropped hair, the tip of his head only inches from the top of the eight-foot high doorway. He stood, his foot tapping on the concrete walkway and looking occasionally at his scanner. His head turned up when he noticed out approach, his arm stretching almost to the second-floor window as he waved us over.

“At least this one has a neck,” Keg muttered as he hurried over.

“You lot are a bit late?” The man said, his voice trumpeting over to us.

“Yes sir, sorry sir,” Jack said, dropping his bag to stand straight in front of him, the others matching his posture with straight backs and high chins, a little higher than normal to look up into the man's face.

“Not a bother, your Company called through to notify us. I’m Dornish, which one of you was it that got abducted?” The man asked, looking over our faces.

“That would be me,” I said, nodding up to him. Jack shot me an annoyed look and I knew he would be wanting to reprimand me for not referring to the man as ‘sir’ but not willing to make a scene.

“You don’t look injured, are you sure you’re able to be here right now? I can make arrangments at our medical building for you if you would like,”

“No, I’ll be fine. Thanks,” I muttered.

“Good to hear, If that is all your luggage, then let’s get you inside, the rest of your companies recruits are already in there waiting.

Jack grumbled about being late as we followed the man through the stretched doorway an into a warm entry hall. Stone stairs lead the way up to the second, third and fourth floors while open arches to our left and right showed the way to a dining hall and a common room, where a group of humans sat waiting, their idle chatter buzzing through the building.

Dornish led us through to the common room filled with the others, I caught the familiar faces of people from the selection, Jack nodded in greeting to a few as Dornish left us against the wall by the door while he moved to stand in front of an unlit fireplace. The idea of a fireplace at all surprised me, in a world where technology was so great that it mimicked magic, having a fireplace seemed like a waste of space.

We dropped our bags and stood silently as Dornish cleared his throat to quiet the remaining conversations. The room simmered into silence.

“Welcome, This is the Grey House. Named such because it was financed for use by your Company, the Grey Scarred Company. You have been recruited, and sent here, to Nerion for further training. You will be given rooms, and information on courses shortly. But first, there are things you must know and it has fallen on me to relay this information.” Dornish paused a moment, looking over us.

“As you must already know, the system that includes your home planet, Earth, is currently in the induction stage. This means that there have been certain restrictions placed on the entry of the system as well as protections for the native species, being you. When I was young, my planet went through their induction process. I went to sleep one night and there I was, in the most vivid dream I had ever experienced, one that has continued since then. Your planet is not the first to enter this new reality, you are one of a million species being inducted into this dream world. It is my pleasure to be the one to welcome you properly.”