As I stumbled into the main cabin to power up the ship's fragile reactor, I could still smell the stench from last night's failure. The aroma of panic and the fear of indecision that led us to this point left its aftertaste lingering like an unbathed prostitute who no longer cared. At one point in time this craft was the pride of the Enceladus Class cruisers, alas no longer. Even prior to last night's debacle (an ignominious failure, to put it mildly) the time cruiser had seen its better days. But even so, with competent leadership, it was a force to be reckoned with. However in this day and age, competent leadership is a lost art and that was proven again, last night. At least I don't have to deal with their corpses, Vladimir Syonkia, his troops and their SDC-13's (Spontaneous Combustion Destabilizers, Model #13) saw to that. The SDC-13 is a very advanced weapon that vaporizes any time travelers who are not in their own time period and simply obliterates the mind of those who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time (so to speak). This explains the look of shock in the eyes of the homeless Tamroidian we befriended at the bar last week, still shivering on the floor, under the navigation panel. Had I arrived back from my explorer pod a few minutes earlier (when they were departing) I would be dust as well. Instead I am the lone survivor of a crew of 137 who needs to find a way to bring this craft home or to be lost forever in a galaxy that time has forgotten, that existed before my time.
To be continued....
© Copyright 2023 by Michael Hopkins
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