#chasing horizons

Chapter One: Discovery

Do you ever look at the night sky and think… "What's out there? What could I find if I just had a way?"

I did. Every night, when I was a little kid. I used to look up and wonder who I'd be if I were out there. A valiant captain, running headlong into danger? A cunning rogue, using my words to get out of trouble? Maybe I'd be a reckless hero, gambling on a prayer and saving the day at the last second.

Or maybe I'd just be some janitor on a vacation cruiser cleaning up the mess of every crotch-goblin that thinks the urinal cakes are made of actual cake.

When space travel became public technology, the world changed. People like me, people who never felt at home on Relan, started coming out of the woodwork in massive hordes, buying up whatever vessel they could afford and taking off with their friends and families. By the time I was born in 5245, census estimates showed that roughly a third of the population had permanently taken to the stars.

It was a mass exodus. Wanderlust became a marketable skill, with exploration and adventure becoming paid work. That's where I come in.

"Sera Charn, P-Class IV pilot, captain of the Queen of the Stars. Thirty-five relative years old, honey badger, female." I said, exasperated. "Chess, have you had to turn in one of these damnable reports yet? All the cool tech they have these days, stuff that's leagues better than my college courses taught me about, and these hacks still use that outdated automation from sixty years ago."

I huffed, waiting for the auto-responder to acknowledge my input. Chess, the love of my life, my other half, the most beautiful cat I had ever met in my life, sat across the room tinkering with some toy she'd bought at the last station.

Her voice was smooth, gentle, her accent pleasing and refined. "Love, if you're having trouble now, and the last time, and all of the times before that, I worry it may be that you simply suck at it. Although, to answer your question, I'm afraid I haven't had to turn one in. Captains only, and… Well, you made sure not to mark me down as co-captain." she gave me a wry smile, glancing up from her toy. I scoffed, shaking my head, earning a giggle from her. After a moment of watching her, looking over her clever, dexterous hands, her toned, strong arms, I had my attention stolen by a soft "plink!" from the computer.

A message, requesting my fingerprint and a few more details. I scanned my print in and began tapping away at the keyboard, slowly getting more frustrated with the constant appearance of new fields to fill out. A birth date here turning into a planet of origin there, leading to a request for confirmation of which continent, to which state or province, then city or town, on and on for what felt like forever.

Just before I could rip that godawful machine out of the ship, I felt a hand on my shoulder. A calm, humble voice stole my attention from the computer. "You're still filling that report out? Don't you do these every month? One would think you'd have these down to quite the science."

I turned to face Thomas, Chess' brother and a scorch dragon with better maintenance skills than both of us combined. I huffed at his comment and shrugged his hand away. He laughed, heading over to the kitchen space and setting about preparing some food for himself. I glanced at his hands and groaned. "At least wash your mitts before you go touching our food, I could taste the axle grease for a month last time you went rooting around in there without cleaning up."

He gave me a pointed look and, with a grand gesture, made a show of reaching into the fridge and grabbing something. He pulled out a bag of shredded cheese and popped it open, reaching in and getting a handful. I could see black smudges on the inside of the bag as his hand left it, and black on bits of cheese throughout.

"You son of a bitch, that's-" He cut me off, turning the bag to face me. It wasn't the sharp cheddar I thought it was, he'd grabbed the mild cheddar, his favorite and one I didn't touch often. "… Not my cheese. You play dangerous games with me, Tommy…" I glowered at him, then turned back to the computer. It finally took my information and, with another "Plink!" was asking for my report and telemetry since my last report.

We were adventurers, no set destination, no planet to call home. We didn't even count as citizens of any one nation, which afforded us certain protections by the International Institution of Extraplanetary Affairs. We could go anywhere, stay anywhere, be treated as citizens of whatever world we wanted…

So long as we kept providing them reports of our exploration and travel events, samples from any unsettled worlds we landed on, and scanner telemetry for their maps once every relative month. So here I was, uploading files again. At least the hard part was over. I finally finished up the report, hitting send and standing up to stretch, the implant in my upper back straining a little as my muscles shifted. As uncomfortable as it was, it was worth it.

"Andy, where's Chess?" I asked, looking up to the nearest camera. A calm, soothing voice responded from the ship's speakers.

"Mrs. Charn is currently in the lab, performing maintenance on her cybernetics. She has asked that I inform you if any obstacles arise."

My brows furrowed and I looked at the camera. "Without me? I get that she's good at it, but I help her for a reason. Did she have a reason for not calling me to help?"

After a moment of silence, the camera shifted to focus on me better. "Mrs. Charn wished for you to continue your duties, and did not intend to perform invasive maintenance. She is adjusting the tightness of one bolt on her left leg, and lubricating the pistons as well."

I nodded, smiling. "Alright. I'll leave her to it, then. And Tommy?"

"Mr. Teach is currently performing critical maintenance on the vehicle bay blast door. It was suffering a fault in the closing mechanism and was quickly becoming a high-risk circumstance. I alerted him of this fault several days ago while it was still low-risk. He has procrastinated since then and is only now beginning the task."

"Yep… That sounds about right. Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, cocking my head and dropping one ear to the side.

"The last time I attempted to inform you of a technical fault, you responded with the following."

A second later, my own voice, recorded from the event, came through the speakers. "Lissen'ere… You cometuh me with… with techsical issues, I'mma BITE the WIRES, an'… An' I'm gonna nest in… insiiiiide your server. Now… Where wass we Chessy-wessy~?"

The recording cut off as my ears burned. "I was drunk, and very… Busy. You can tell me if there's a technical issue, Andy. Just don't do it if I'm in my room with Chess, or if I'm sloshed, right? And… Especially not if both are true."

"Understood. I will account for this in the future. Would you like to hear the latest reports?"

I nodded, sitting back down in my seat. "Thanks, Andy. Go for it, I'm not sure what else to do, so let's hear it. Maybe it'll give me something to work on."

"Very well. In the last forty-eight hours since my previous report, there have been one-hundred and sixty-six flags in our system, each of which corresponds to a new exoplanet entering our scanner range."

"Okay, might do some sightseeing later, then. How many within reasonable params for terraforming?" I turned to open up the digital reports on the computer beside me, tapping away at the keys one-handed while I waited for an answer.

"Twenty-eight. And of those twenty-eight, four are already habitable as-is, without need for additional efforts."

I sat upright, looking at the nearest camera. "Hold on, you mean we found not one, not two, not three, but FOUR planets that don't need a damn bit of work to survive on? That's huge! We can drop right down to the surface and check the place out! Any of them got life? Flora, fauna, anything? Not just the four, but any of them at all."

"Yes. Six planets show readings consistent with early stage flora, five of which are including photosynthesizing flora. One planet, auto-designated as EXO 1998-VDH has signs of both life and technology, as our sensors were disrupted in short bursts by electrical signals given off by the exoplanet. These signals are inconsistent with natural electromagnetic activity and imply a level of concentrated technological advancement. I have marked it on your chart."

I stared at the camera, my chest tightening as I felt a heavy drumbeat beneath my breast. My claws dug in against the metal of my desk, and I turned to look at the computer, zeroing in on the planet Andy highlighted for me. Sure enough, several waves of electromagnetic activity, uncannily similar to those given off by Relan, were coming off the planet. An unnaturally strong concentration of it in certain parts of the world.

Going over the deep-scan report, I could see that the disruptions ranged from simple electrical interference to radio waves, advanced energy output, and even signs of cold fusion. Some readings didn't even make sense, a form of energy our scanners couldn't punch through, but couldn't identify either.

"Andy, set a course immediately. Call Chess, tell her whatever she's doing can wait. I need her on the bridge." I said hurriedly, rushing from my chair to the door, sprinting down the hall.

"Would you like me to alert Mr. Teach? as well?"

I shook my head as I ran to the bridge, willing the door open just before I arrived, then willing it closed as I passed through it, the machinery responding to my implants instantly. "No, let him fix the blast door. When he's done, tell him to report to the bridge immediately." I sat in the head chair, punching in coordinates within cruising distance of EXO 1998-VDH. I flipped a couple of switches, prepping the ship for the jump. "Andy, tell everyone to hold on to something, we're about to take off."

"Understood."

After giving a moment of time to let everyone brace themselves, I hit the switch to prime the engines. The instant they activated, I hit the accelerator and felt the ship lurch, everything not bolted down being shifted back as it warped forward. I felt gravity pulling on me, dragging me back against the chair for barely more than a second, like being hit with a wall of solid air, and then all was calm.

Stars stretched and colors outside of the ship shifted slowly across the visible spectrum before settling into the blue range. As I watched the map, the blip of our ship slowly closing in on the dot that was our destination, Chess came hurrying in, half limping before sitting down and fiddling with her leg brace. "I'm here, what happened? Why did we need to jump so suddenly?"

I turned my head to look at her, glancing at her leg. "You said it was just tightening a bolt and lubing the pistons."

She rolled her eyes and faced her computer. "It was. And… Then it wasn't. If you hadn't had us jump, and insisted I come to the bridge, I would have had ample time to fix it properly. As it stands, I blame you for the lack of support at this point."

I laughed, flashing her a grin. "Alright, alright, but I blame you for it since you could have asked for help. Now hit your station, you'll see why we jumped. Andy, file a report to Chess about what you found."

As Chess sat at her desk, her computer let out a notification. "I don't need help every time, love. I appreciate it, but it isn't necessary. It only takes me a little longer to do it alone." I nodded, smiling as I focused on the map, ready to slow us. I heard her clicking through files, and then a gasp. "Is this accurate? You've not made Andy falsify this to tease me, have you?"

I shook my head. "Not a chance."

She laughed, clicking through. "All these terraformable worlds, this will cover our costs for the next few months. And some already habitable? We will be stable for a year, easily."

I flashed a cheeky grin her way and nodded towards her computer. "Keep reading, there's something better than a few habitable worlds."

One of her ears dropped to the side, her tail flicking curiously behind her. She turned her attention back to the computer, reading through before stopping short. "Love… Tell me this isn't a joke."

I smiled from ear to ear. "Not a joke."

I watched as our ship finally came close enough, and decelerated. A sudden rush of force, this time pulling me forward, and then stillness returned. Chess and I stood, approaching the monitors that made up the false window at the front of the bridge together. My fingers brushed against hers and I reached for them, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it.

She squeezed in return, then turned her head. "Sera, there are people down there." Her tone was incredulous, almost disbelieving.

I laughed, nodding. "There are. And we get to meet them before anyone else."

Chess leaned against the glass and stared out at the planet ahead of us. I could hardly take my eyes off of her, it was like watching a kid walk into a candy store for the very first time. I wasn't much different, but there was a wonder in her eyes that was intoxicating.

A whole new planet of people… A whole new society, new cultures, new countries or kingdoms or whatever they have…

The world was large, massive even. Nearly twice the size of Relan, easily.

Chess is bound to have an advantage here, that gravity is going to be hell on me and Tommy…

Sprawling, green and brown continents. White, grey, and black clouds across the atmosphere. A hurricane spun over a gargantuan ocean, and on the portion of the dark side of the world that we could see from our vantage point, there were countless yellow dots and unnatural lights covering the surface. Clear, obvious signs of civilization.

I took hold of Chess and gripped her side, pulling her close and steadying her against me. She laughed, looking at me before turning her head back to the planet ahead. Looking out over across it, I noticed a few things that stood out as odd. There were no constructed satellites, and of the natural satellites orbiting the world, there were three. Despite the highly advanced readings we got from the scan, there were no space stations, no ships, no indication of space-age advancement at all.

That's… Odd. There should be at least some kind of tech out here. I'll bet they don't even know we're watching them…

We stood there for… I don't even know how long. Eventually we were interrupted by the door to the bridge opening. Thomas stepped up behind us, wrapping an arm around each of us and poking his head in between ours. "What are we looking at? New world to check out? What's got you wanting to see this one so bad you jumped us here without a meeting first? Fancy waterfalls? Diamond rain? Venomous plants?"

I smiled, glancing at Chess and laughing. "Nope. Chess, wanna do the honors?"

Chess turned, hugging her brother and laughing, squeezing him so tight that his breathing became little more than wheezing. "Tom, there are people down there!"

He pried her off of him, looking at her with one brow raised, the other furrowed, his hands on her shoulders. "Okay, so supply run? Are we low on something?"

I smacked his shoulder. "No, you daftie! There are NEW people down there!"

He rubbed his shoulder and looked from me to Chess, then to the planet. His eyes went wide and his lips parted, jaw dropping ever so slightly as he gently pushed past us to get a better look at the world, staring at the lights, the moons, the continents, taking in everything he could see. "New… Did we really…? Those… Those are lights. Those are LIGHTS! That's technology!" He cried out before turning to face us again.

I nodded, my smile growing as Chess' did the same. Thomas laughed, a soft, choked-out sound. "We… We found intelligent life!" He shouted, then scooped up Chess and spun, the pair laughing, a loud, eager, joyous sound shared between them.

When he put her down, she held on to steady herself, her braces clicking out of place awkwardly as they adjusted to the impact. She turned and took my hand, pulling me in for a kiss, my lips and hers crashing together as she looped her arms around me. I hugged her middle, smiling against her lips, my tail ruffling as I hummed happily.

Thomas moved away as Chess and I broke our kiss, locking eyes. "What do you think we'll find down there?" I asked, reaching up to brush her cheek with my thumb, feeling her soft fur beneath the pad of my thumb.

She laughed, shaking her head. "I have no idea. I really, truly have no idea. But I want to know."

I gave her a grin, dropping to one knee and adjusting the mechanism at her knee, slotting it into proper place so it wouldn't pop out again. I stood, looking into her eyes with a smile, my eyes softening a little. "Then let's go find out together."