Zarados found himself on a perfectly flat multi-coloured surface. Purples, blues, yellows, oranges, greens, and reds swam underneath his feet. Above him strange patterns formed, weaving in and out of one another, like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. Just as suddenly as it had come, all the colours vanished and Zarados found himself in pitch darkness. He was able to see himself, clear as day however there was nothing else, only him in an endless void. There was another abrupt change as Zarados found himself in front of what looked a wall of fog. Red and black swam together in an intricate pattern, set just in front of this wall were several dots of assorted colours. Zarados floated there staring out at the sheer beauty of the scene. Everything seemed surreal, yet tranquil. He felt as if everything wrong with the universe had disappeared, as if everything were just right.

Zarados woke to the sound of a blaring alarm and a mighty headache. As he raised his head to look at the source of the irritating alarm which threatened to deafen him, he felt an explosion of pain throughout his entire body as every ligament and bone screaming out in pain. He groaned as he disabled the alarm which had ripped him from his dream world. Void sleep was a necessary but unpleasant process any deep space traveller would need to endure if they were to make the journey across the unfathomable distances of space. Zarados tried to adjust himself but felt stiff joints which would need stretching and a generous amount of exercise. Bringing up the journey statistics display, it read “Distance travelled: Two light months, twelve light days, Seventeen light hours, fourteen light minutes.” This placed him approximately another seven light minutes away from Port Argon. This would give him plenty of time to adjust his body to needing to move again. Zarados rolled onto his back, discomfort being released from his chest as he released the pressure in his spine and shoulders with a satisfying pop. As he relaxed, he began tapping away on this data storage tablet which was linked to the ship’s external gravimetric sensory equipment. As he scrolled through the long list of blank entries, he saw one marked “Time: One light month, twenty-eight light days, two light hours, five light minutes,” accompanied by a large blip of activity passed off as wormhole activity. Tapping on it to run a deep analysis, he closed his eyes, despite the excruciating hibernation he went through they felt heavy and pained. A small, almost inaudible beep sounded to signal that the analysis was complete. The small text box read, “Activity likely wormhole or warp related, more data needed for exact definition.” Next to the text was a slightly blurry picture, expanding on it Zarados began to study the picture. The image consisted of a bright blue ripple surrounded by blackness, the picture was very pixelated as if it had been shot quickly and from a great distance meaning this had happened abruptly and quite a while back considering how old this data was. What could it all mean?

Zarados turned back onto his stomach to check the frontal display, he could see a faint object which did not match the surrounding vacuum at all. After zooming in to confirm the identity of the object, Zarados eased his vessel into a lower speed to and began to arch the craft slightly above a direct heading as to begin the deceleration process. After a short while of waiting and doing calculations, the faint dot had grown substantially larger and more detailed. The vessels back-up rockets fired as the station grew larger and larger and retro-gas thrusters kicked in to help stabilize the course of the vessel. As he edged closer to the main docking platform a crushing feeling overcame him as the artificial gravity of the station began to squish him into his control panels. Zarados fought with all his strength to keep from passing out, his hands ached in his effort to keep the controls in line. He felt sweat beading on his forehead and the back of his eyes ached as if someone was squeezing them. His lungs felt as if a mountain was weight on each, he struggled to breath. Suddenly there was peace. As he caught his breath small rings of red and purple swam in his vision, and everything appeared blurry. Zarados felt the gentle tug of the docking clamps as his vessel stabilized and the blood returned to his brain.

After regaining his movement and co-ordination Zarados slipped on an environmental suit before stepping out into the hanger. The air around him was stale, and there was the smell of dust. Looking around he could tell that a good chunk of the station was derelict, it was a miracle that the docking bays still worked at all. As he moved towards the connection tubes which would take him deeper into the station, he noticed how deathly silent it was, there was no sign that anybody had been here in a long while. There appeared to be no signs of struggle. It was as if the entire station’s population had abruptly fled, taking very little. There were a few signs of activity long passed, baggage half packed with various contents scattered about. Half drunken drinks left on counters, the liquids now having gone stale long ago. The only lighting available was the emergency lighting, all the main sources had gone dark. There were only a few bulbs which had been smashed, the rest all remaining intact. Perhaps the power had failed or had just been turned off once people stopped coming here. The majority of stations suffered a similar fate like Port Argon, traffic had slowed down ever since the golden age collapse when almost all interstellar trade had come crashing down.

Zarados walked down an empty hallway, which was only illuminated by his plasma lantern and two overhead emergency lights. The one further down the hall flickered before the bulb dimmed and darkness claimed the area. This station had seen better days, that was for sure and now everything which had taken so long to build, and run was falling apart. As he moved along the hallway, he saw that all of the doors either had the “Danger, no seal” or “Locked, override impossible” signs meaning those would be dead ends even if he could open the door. When a room was deemed unsafe on a station then the door welded itself to the surrounding bulkhead. When he reached the end of the hallway Zarados found a door, the overhead sensor awoke and after a moment the overhead display flicked the text “Room 11-D12, Authorized personnel only.” Curious and having no other options, he nodded his head to signal that he wanted to enter, surprisingly there was no question about identification, the door opened, and he was let inside.

The scene was all too familiar to the station he had visited on the hellscape that was Azios-2. In the centre there was a cube, this cube stood much taller and more elongated than the one which he found on Azios-2. Zarados stood, eyeing the cube with great suspicion. Why would this cube be here? Approaching the cube Zarados saw no terminal to activate it. Zarados walked all the way around the cube several times scanning for any sort of input area. There were none, only one single data transfer slot.

“Hey! Are you on?” Zarados said firmly,

No audible reply came, instead text appeared in the space in front of Zarados, it read “Ask, and I will answer,”

“Well, that answers that,” Zarados murmured to himself before asking, “What was the purpose of this station?”

“Trade from the atomic year 3998 to the atomic year 902,023 FLT research from the atomic year 4005 to the atomic year 902,023. All information on storage drive, would you like a portable transfer?” the text read,

“Yes, transfer all data over,” said Zarados, inserting a data core into a slot, “So you’ve been running this whole time?”

“Transfer, complete. Yes, operation has been sustained for 218,468 atomic years, I have been researching FLT flight and have gained 148% more data than previous attempts,” the text read, a small beep indicated that the data core had been completed.

“Are there more of you? If so, where?” asked Zarados, taking the data core and slipping it into his wrist computer to decrypt it.

“There are currently no more similar models however, the version two network had got 138 more working moduals. The closest one is in the Xi Tauri system, approximately 234 light years away, would like you a network map?” the text read,

“Yes, transfer map to data core,” said Zarados, inserting a second disk into the slot

After a brief hum, the text read, “Transfer complete, data slots empty, all data disposed of, take care!”

The last remark left a chill down his spine, as if this cube knew that there was obvious danger out in the cosmos. This was not too unlikely. Zarados removed the data disk, stowing it in his rucksack. As he exited the station Zarados found his mind swimming with questions about where this map would take him, and if the FLT flight was possible. Zarados reached up to scratch his chin, feeling his beard coming in strongly and the idea to ransack the stations remaining supply depots flashed across his mind. Zarados deposited the data he had into his vessels computer for downloading and analysis before making his way to the storage depots with an empty rucksack. Out of the seven there were, two were unreachable, and two more were empty. In the fifth one he found various food items which were a welcome sight. In the sixth he found an empty data core and in the final depot he found some ancient musical recordings from the 21^st century and a small vile containing a bluish liquid. Things were starting to look up as Zarados made his way back to his vessel to depart from Port Argon and towards Xi Tauri, perhaps he could get the FLT working and not have to endure yet another void sleep. Zarados climbed back into the cramped space of his vessel, before reviewing the downloaded FLT data. What he saw was a schematic for a hyper lane core, along with instructions of how to active the FLT travel. The instructions were written poorly but were legible.

“Insert demagnetised Warp-Whale gene sequence 1002 in main chamber, seal and remagnetise the outer shell. Ensure ship is synced with Warp-Whale gene sequence 1002. Align course, send negative charge into chamber, ensure that ship can replicate sequence 1002. To exit FLT travel, ensure location is safe before sending positive charge,”

“Where am I supposed to get sequence 1002 from?” Zarados said before pausing, “What if…”

He took the vile he had picked up in the seventh depot and examined it carefully. A small label was stuck to the cap and in faint letters read, #1002. Zarados began to question this luck, perhaps the computer had given him exactly what he needed because it knew from the network who he was, and what he was doing. Perhaps his questions and quest to find a safe refuge where he could find out who the grey ones were was being answered, one system at a time.