Alan began to feel queasy, as soon as the small junker ship began to move. He always disliked the nauseating shifts in gravity the smaller ‘boats’ seemed to unreliably generate, it reminded him of a thrill ride he'd been on as a teenager that resembled teacups. But there was no helping it. The bus size vessel transporting him from the salvage ship, to the residency ship in which he was assigned, was the only affordable way to travel. Every sputter of the small ship’s engine would temporarily disable the gravity, which already was weaker than Earth’s by a fair margin. Likey a cost cutting measure by the higher ups.

Alan sat back, trying to adjust to the jolting ride after his week’s shift, collecting, sorting, and processing the scraps. “My contribution to the NTEF fleet,” he mumbled to himself. It was grueling, dull and at times unremarkably dangerous work. Breaking down old ships, mining out asteroids, sifting through damaged ruins. But for anyone looking to do a lot harder work for a little extra pay, it was perfect. The other passenger, fellow scrappers, seemed eager to share with anyone who would listen on how they’d spend their hard earned credits. “I’ve been saving for a few months Rouge Madam...I'm going to get plastered for the next 3 days...I’ve got a pod lined for the next day I’m going to strike it rich!” Alan shifted his eyes toward the porthole window to avoid the tiresome conversation.

His thoughts drifted back to the e-message he had received from his parents. They’d invited him to eat with them. He wasn’t sure he wanted to accept. He loved his parents, but he’d always felt bad having dinner with them. They insisted on using their own food credits to purchase his nutri-paste.

He just didn’t like being a burden on their expenses. They knew he had food credits, but he secretly suspected they were hoping the money he saved might be used to take out a girl. Which he hadn’t done in as long as... Well he couldn’t remember. Truth be told he’d saved and sent every last credit to get his little sister pod time.

The small glass port window, covered in condensation, looked out over a massive fleet of ships. The New Terran Expeditionary Fleet, was lighted in red hughes as the fleet circled the large red giant star of system 8Z-X21. Capital ships the size of small cities, were surrounded by more modest vessels. He saw Neuvo California, bathed in red burning light, while twinking ships moved about it. Alan couldn’t help but think back to child-like bonfires and sparks wafting around the large fire.“Ten years” he said quietly while taking in the site. He’d seen visions of this for so long and it never got old.

“It’s been 10 years. I can hardly believe it myself.” A gravelly voice interrupted Alan’s reminiscing. Alan shifted his gaze to the older man, who had the look of someone used to working hard labor for years. The passenger must have mistaken Alan’s comments for a chance of conversation. “My Julia and I had planned on retiring and seeing the world about 10 years ago. It came as quite a shock to us that we had to leave.” He smiled wanly, “You know she didn’t make it a year in space, even with all the advancements in medicine and health.”

He spoke in such a way as if he’d shared the line a thousand times. Alan tried to think of something appropriate to say, or at least to excuse himself from the awkward conversation. He wasn’t unsympathetic. Everyone had lost someone since the great exodus. “I’m sorry to hear she passed away.” was all Alan could reply.

“It’s ok, I’m sorry to be so open. Julia would always chide me for being far too forward. But I suppose today is a special day.” A green light began to glow from his ring finger, and a brief shining light seemed to halo around his hand. When the light faded 2 soda’s in purple cans appeared in its place. “Grape Soda, Julia favorite.”

Alan’s eyes widened. “Where did you get those? In Cosmos?,”

“Well I brought a few cases from earth, back in the days when she and I were players. It was our favorite drink. I always bring out a few at times like this.” He passed a can to Alan. It had been forever since he’d had a soda and popped it open. As he was about to take a sip he paused remembering his manners, “Thank you sir.”

The old man smiled warmly. “Good to see you have manners. Don’t drink it all in one gulp.” The last part he added with a wink.

They each took a slow sip to savor the sweet flavor. After some silence the old man paused and gazed out at the burning fleet. “She would have loved this view. She loved space, from the beginning she wanted to spend all her time out in the stars”

Alan gazed out once again. “There was a strange beauty to it,” He thought, but added silently to himself ‘if you can forget the exodus, the food and energy shortages, and pirate raids.’ The Old man remiesed more about his life with Julia, her dreams, her passion, her love of the grandchildren. The heartache and thrill she had when they had to leave Earth. Opposed to being uncomfortable, Alan had to admit, the time he sat sipping grape soda and seeing through the eyes of Julia, was enough to make him forget.

The last bits of flavor seemed to empty more quickly than Alan would have liked. Not wanting to waste the aluminum. He activated his own ring. It hadn’t been activated for a long time, not since he had drained the last of food stores years ago. He located the Cosmos Interface and found the storage compartment for materials. There wasn’t much left, as he had converted all to credits. In fact aside from the 14.9 grams of aluminum can there was only one other material there.

Alan pulled the stone from the inventory. Blue and purple light mixed with the red lights coming in the small window of the ship. The stone emitted uneven waves of light.

“That's a pretty stone, never seen anything quite like it.” The old man commented.

“It’s only small rock, I picked up on a planet in Cosmos”

“What's it made of?”

“I never could find out.” holding out the stone for the man to more clearly see. Alan continued, “ I figured it must be worth something to be so rare, but every offer seemed woefully small.”

“I suppose so.” The old man was about to say more, when the ship jolted and the indoor lighting went black.

Alan felt the restraints on his seat belt tighten, as gravity let go its hold and he rose slightly.

“What in blazes?!” The old man exclaimed.

A loud klaxon began to sound and emergency lighting switched on.

Alan yelled over the alarm, “I don’t know, something must be going on with the engine.”

A moment later the transport shifted again. Alan looked around and saw red light piercing through the window.

“Flare” The dreadful thought came unbidden to his mind. The Red Giant had produced a solar flare right in the path of the fleet.

There wasn’t even time to process the thought. The fastest particles sped ahead of the wave, disabling thousands of smaller ships in the fleet. What came next was the superheated gases and plasma jetting from the red Giant, miles and miles wide, which either destroyed ships outright, or irradiated them. Completely killing all inside. 90% of the human fleet was either destroyed or disabled. Millions, the remnants of the human race, had been lost, and those that remained were shattered.

***

When Alan awoke his mind was fuzzy. Drowsiness mingled with the echoes of panic and red heat washing over him. Except, oddly enough, he noticed a deep chill in his hand, where he had clutched the unknown stone. For a moment longer he still felt it, the cold ache lingering in his hand, like a cold day playing in the snow.

As his mind began to wake, and the painful sensations subsided. The first real thing Alan noticed was the firm sense of gravity, and a soft bed. “I must be on one of the nicer medical ships” He thought to himself. Not wanting to show he was awake lest he be moved to one of the more practical ships. He lay there. Eyes closed, wondering how he’d survived. After a moment though, he noticed something strange. Silence. There weren't the beeps of computers or constant thrum of a ship’s engine.

He cracked his eyes risking a peak. He sat up suddenly crying in alarm. “What is going on!”

Alan found himself in a 1 bedroom apartment. It was covered in dated floral wallpaper, with a popcorn ceiling. There were scattered dirty clothes, as many on the floor as there in the hamper at the end of his bed. A sturdy wood desk was cluttered with paper and textbooks. And a computer monitor hovered above the pile. On one side of the room, there was a mini fridge, microwave and overfilled trash can. A thin metal chair sat awkwardly in the center of the room to act as both office chair and dining room. Alan took a double take. “This...this is my old room.”

Heart pounding, he threw off the thin bedding, and ran outside. The wooden door banged open, as his sock covered feet padded out onto the front lawn, onto the dewy grass of the brisk autumn morning. ‘Grass,’ he thought, ‘how long had it been since he had felt grass?’ He was caught off guard as he looked out to see the bright sun peaking over the horizon. His breath caught sharply in the instant he took in the majesty of the sunrise. A wash of orange and reds, the backdrop to a golden globe moving just beyond the horizon. He stood there motionless, captivated by the scene of morning. A moment of sweet nostalgia, like reading a favored book years later.

It was only the well chill of the morning dew seeping through his feet which broke the magic moment. He looked down at his now damp socks. The sensation shocking his mind into trying to understand what was happening. ‘This shouldn’t be possible, even the best simulators on ships couldn’t capture his room, this house or street as well as this. How was he here, why was he here. Was it because of the solar flare? The unidentified stone? A combination of the two? Alan would have pondered it longer, had he not heard an abrupt yelp from behind him.

“Oh dear!” The shocked voice of a matronly woman came from the main house porch. Turning he saw an elderly woman in bathrobes and curlers. It was Mrs. Dubai She had been Alan’s landlady, for the one room rental he’d gotten after highschool. A widower who’d converted her garage into a 1 bedroom studio.

Alan saw her surprised, face flushed, a frail woman staring eyes bulged right at him. For a brief moment he wondered if she had seen a ghost, and would have happily agreed with her, considering his present condition.

Her surprise, however, seemed to have a more mundane cause. The cold wind chilling his uncovered chest clued him in to her outburst. He’d been standing in the front lawn wearing nothing but soaked socks and boxer shorts.

“Oh sorry, Mrs. Dubai. ” He flushed and moved quickly toward the door of his room “Excuse, sorry about that”. All he could do was blush, while she stared speechless.

Alan quickly closed the door behind and rested his back against it, breathing deeply, trying to put everything together.

What did he know? First: He was back, somehow in the past. When? Well he’d gotten the room right after high school, the first few years of college. But he needed more information to know exact dates. Moving toward the computer, he sat down, tapping impatiently, waiting for it to boot up. When it requested the password, he typed it without pausing as he had kept the same password for years.

When it finally booted, he stared in awe. The date read Sept. 8. “Impossible.” Alan thought to himself ‘It’s been 12 years. 12 years before mankind traveled the stars, faced starvation, was evicted from earth. Before…’ His thoughts paused, before continuing ‘What are the odds, to be sent back, not only back in time, but today of all days.’ His mind flashed back over the last 12 years. It was the literal day before Cosmos would be introduced to the world. The day that Cosmos changed everything.

Cosmos: Gateway to the Galaxy as it’s full title, would be released to the public by a government entity tomorrow. Changing the future of mankind. It’s purpose and design had been completely unprecedented. Not even the people behind the release knew it’s full impact. It was after all a game on its surface. It, however, would drastically change the technology, economy and political landscape of humankind. Where the power, wealth and influence were unmatched. Where, he thought back with regret, human kind lost it’s most precious resource. Earth.