Tell me something can’t be done.

That’s all it takes.

It drives me insane.

To the point where I will literally pursue the impossible at the expense of everything else.

This is a costly way to live.

A dangerous way to live.

And it has brought me here, this way of life, this way of living, all the way out here, to the edge of the known universe, to the very edge.

And as I’m running for my life, through the darkness of an alien jungle, on an alien planet, pulling Jess along with me so she doesn’t fall, so she doesn’t stop, so she isn’t killed, I can’t help but think that this it.

This is the end.

It’s all I can think about.

“Where the hell are we, John? Where? This isn’t right!”

Jess is scared. She has every right to be scared. Not every day you visit an alien planet.

In an alien galaxy.

On the other side of the universe.

We jumped.

And in an instant, we were gone.

In an instant, our ship was lost.

And it’s my fault.

It is all my fault.

I guess at some point, my run of luck was bound to run out. But I had a good run. We had a good run, my colleagues and I. My crew. My friends. A real good run. We did things that everyone thought were impossible. We just conquered space for crying out loud. But all good things must come to an end.

Like how every beginning has an ending.

Every story.

Every star.

Like how one day, the Sun will die.

Like how one day, even the universe will die.

Beginnings and endings. If something, begins, it has to end. That’s the rule. That’s the deal.

What goes up. Must come down.

Must.

No.

Not always.

Sometimes you can beat gravity.

Sometimes, you can escape gravity.

With enough force. With enough speed, velocity, with enough fuel, you can go up. And never come down.

“John, did we jump? Or did we go through a Gateway?” Jess is grabbing my arm, holding on tight as I drag her through the Jungle. I’m pretty sure we jumped. At least, that was the plan.

We we’re supposed to jump to Titan. The largest moon of Saturn.

There are no jungles on Titan.

The Nav computer built into my ExoSuit didn’t know where we were. Said we were too far out. Impossible to calculate the distance. The time. The space. It didn’t recognize what galaxy we had jumped to.

Galaxy.

We weren’t supposed to leave the galaxy. We weren’t supposed to leave the solar system.

And yet, here we are.

A voice cuts through the jungle. As loud as thunder. Tells us to stop. Stop or we die. We cannot escape.

Tell me something can’t be done. That’s all it takes.

We keep running.

I keep thinking about anyone who ever told me that this couldn’t be done.

Shouldn’t be done.

I keep thinking about everyone who ever doubted me.

John, they would say, you need to settle down. Stop fighting the system. You’re too old. Let someone else do it. You can’t live forever, why would you want to? Stop fighting. You can’t fight. You can’t win. Not at your age. John, you have a family. A wife. Two Kids. Two boys who need their father. Think about them.

The Empire won’t let you do this. They own the rights. All of them. They own space.

They own Earth and Mars and all the rest.

You can’t travel faster than the speed of light.

It is not allowed. It is against the law. The law of the universe. The law of the Empire. You cannot do it.

Excuse me? Of course I can. It’s already been done. If they can do it, so can I. Watch me.

No. It’s suicide. You can’t even get into space without their permission.

Again, it’s already been done. There are scavengers and marauders and salvagers scattered throughout our galaxy and every other galaxy. For all intents and purposes, these are space pirates. Do you think the space pirates asked permission before leaving earth for the great and vast unknown?

Well then, in that case, you can’t reverse engineer Jumpdrive tech.

You can’t reverse engineer Gateway tech.

It’s too hard.

Too expensive. You can’t afford it. You can’t buy it off the black market.

It is too damned expensive.

You can’t even afford rent.

You can’ t do this. Not without them. Not without the Empire.

Watch me.

The world needs this. Earth needs this.

Whenever I’m told that something can’t be done, it drives me insane.

And this insanity, this anger, I use it. It gives me strength. Focus. Drive.

Wanna know how we got all the way out here?

We Jumped.

Turns out, if you can ‘acquire’ the funds, if you find a ‘desperate’ seller, you actually can buy a Jumpdrive off the black market.

So that’s what I did. I bought a Jumpdrive. Installed it onto a ship, (also purchased from our local black market.) And now we’re here. Wherever here is.

And I should’ve listened.

But I didn’t.

And I am so, so sorry. Because now, we are lost. My crew and I. Lost on the edge of edge of space and time and God knows where.

And this mistake, it has cost me. More than money. Much more.

A small fortune.

An infinite fortune.

The Nav computer still has no idea where we are. Says it will have an estimation in about a year or two. Maybe.

That’s how far we have travelled. That’s how fast we have travelled.

Faster than light.

I still can’t believe it. It worked. The Jumpdrive worked.

And I wish to God and heaven and all those infinite, countless stars that it hadn’t.

I should’ve listened.

I should’ve done anything other than this.

A bolt of light and heat incinerates a large section of the jungle to the left of us. Someone wants us dead.

The voice tells us, ‘You are trespassing. You cannot escape.’

An energy blast knocks Jess off her feet. Her ExoSuit protects her. I pick her up and we keep running.

‘My suit is damaged,” Jess says. “Power. Shields. Oxygen. Everything is failing.’

And now I am getting angry. We just conquered space, and this is the reception we get?

Anger. Insanity. Focus.

Took me, us, all the way out here. Faster than light.

Jess and I became separated from the ship. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. Was it the proximity alert? Did the ship think we were under attack? We were ejected. A safety protocol that has done the opposite of what it was designed to do.

So right now, we are running. As fast as we can. Running for our lives.

Both our ExoSuits are running low on power. Jess just took a direct hit from a concentrated energy blast, but we never charged them. Never thought we’d need them.

My fault again.

Oxygen is running low as well. Storage was never full. Need to find water. Hydrogen. Nitrogen. Something we can use to make ozone.

Jess slows down. Her suit is failing. I pull her forward. ‘Don’t stop! We can make it!’

We are running as fast as we can because something, someone is chasing us.

Someone is hunting us.

I say someone, because the funny thing is, I can hear them talking. Shouting.

People. Humans.

Communicating in broken English. And perfect English.

Strategizing.

We’ve come out here, to the absolute edge of the known universe, to a distant galaxy, crash landed on an alien planet, and we’re being hunted by a pack of humans.

They are not happy.

We are intruding. We are trespassing.

Another bolt of light and heat incinerates a large section of jungle to our right.

Projectile weapons firing high velocity rounds cut down the jungle overhead. The onslaught thins out the canopy so we can see the sky. There are three very large moons in this sky.

There are large structures scattered throughout this part of the planet, all throughout this hostile terrain.

Pyramid like structures.

Towers.

Temples.

We are intruding on hallowed and sacred ground. Secret. Classified.

We come to a dead end. A sheer cliff face.

Our hunters are getting closer.

“Oh God, John. What the hell are we going to do? Who are these people? They are people, aren’t they? How did they get here?”

They got here, the same way we got here. A JumpDrive. A Gateway. One or the other.

Jess is yelling and yet whispering at the same time. Breathing hard.

She is on the verge of collapsing. Can’t blame her.

She grabs me, latches on to me. “We can’t fight them. We can’t outrun them. There’s too many.”

Tell me something can’t be done.

It gives me strength.

We need to get back to the ship. Failure is not an option. Luke won’t know how to rewrite the safety protocol, will he? He might. He’s better with code than I’ll ever be.

He might figure it out.

He might know why the safety protocols kicked in. He might be able to figure out if the proximity alarm was tripped.

He might.

Or.

He might not.

The proximity alarm. Was it tripped? Why else were Jess and I ejected from the bridge?

Were we attacked?

Too many questions. Not enough damn answers.

The cliff is sheer. Vertical. Hard rock.

Jess says, “They’re coming. We have to climb. It’s the only way. How did they get here?”

“They got here the same way we got here, Jess. And we can’t climb this cliff. We won’t make it. We have to find another way.”

“Then we hide. We go to ground. And we wait.”

“That’s a good idea. Problem is, we don’t have time to hide.”

“What are you talking about? Why don’t we have time? Why don’t we have all the time in the world? Please tell me you turned off the AutoDrive.”

AutoDrive, another safety feature. Designed to get you back home if you become lost in the infinite expanse of this infinite universe.

“We weren’t prepared for this,” I say. “We weren’t supposed to jump today. We weren’t ready.”

And yet here we are. Wait, where are we?

“What do you mean, we weren’t supposed to jump today?”

“If we don’t get back before the AutoDrive kicks in,” I explain. “We are never getting home. Do you understand? We’re too far out. I don’t even know if the coordinates were recorded.”

“You don’t where we are? How could you not know? How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening, Jess. We could be under attack for all I know. Why else would the safety protocols kick in? Something tripped the proximity alarm.”

“Something? Like a missile? A drone? What? Does anyone else know?”

Suddenly there’s a blast. An explosion. Through the trees, the jungle, whatever it is.

Alien vegetation.

Tracer rounds. High velocity. High powered.

Deadly.

Jess is torn to shreds right before me. No, the rounds hit her suit. Her suit is damaged. Heavily damaged. Something attaches to her chest plate. Small and flat and circular. The suit shuts down.

“I can’t move!”

She is alive.

Full of panic. She is trapped. The suit has become a tomb. A wearable coffin.

“John! Help!”

A spear, a harpoon, launched from the jungle, from the darkness, impales the suit, impales Jess. She is pulled off her feet. I catch her and grab her by the hand. Someone, something strong, drags her, reels her towards the jungle. I am dragged along with Jess.

“John, please. Don’t let go.”

But I can’t hold on.

“It’s going to be ok,” I lie. “I won’t leave you here.”

I lose my grip and Jess disappears into the Jungle. She doesn’t scream.

And just like that, Jess is gone.

And I am alone.

On an alien planet.

In a distant galaxy.

On the edge of known universe.

Hunted by a pack of humans.