Author's Note

Apologies for the confusion, but the next chapters will be in first person.

III: Going off course

When Giles recognizes Travis's ship ID signal, he attempts to wake his companion gently, saying, "Excuse me, but it seems that your husband has finally arrived."

Yawning after hearing that, she brings the seat to its upright position, asking, "How long have we been waiting here?" then stretches her arms over her head to wake up further.

With a sigh, he leaves the engines at half speed, saying, "After arriving at Earth 4 hours ago and starting a slow orbit around Earth, we have been circling the planet for about three hours. I would suggest that we land and refuel soon, because we are now down to about 1/4 of our fuel capacity."

Fully awake after hearing that, she growls under her breath and mumbles about how he kept her waiting so long and initializes a ship to ship call. When her call is answered, she shouts, "THREE HOURS!"

Wincing at his wife's voice, Travis endures a brief rant from her as she calms down enough to ask what he was doing that was important enough to keep her waiting, and answers, "Sorry sugarbear, I had to hunt for a few components to fix my ship and had to fight off some pesky drones that didn't like me mining resources. After fixing my ship and recharging my warp drive, I ran into a drone patrol ship and had to take it out to get away."

Frowning at her husband's projection, she huffs in annoyance, saying, "Uh-huh, see you on the ground, dear." then takes control and heads down into the planet's atmosphere toward the destination.

Arriving at the coordinates, he spots his fiery, red-haired, blue-eyed wife standing outside her shuttle's cockpit with her arms crossed and tapping her right boot on the ground rapidly. Seeing how mad she is, he opens the cargo bay and picks up a large crate he intends to give to her as an apology, then turns and heads down the ramp. Making his way to her with his MTR on his back and the big crate in his arms, saying, "Sorry I kept you waiting for so long, dear, but I couldn't meet you here without an apology."

When he sets the crate in front of her, she looks down at the blue crate suspiciously before kneeling down to open it. Turning the handle and moving the lid aside, she looks inside with a gasp, saying, "Did you seriously dive down into hostile waters just to get these Living Pearls as an apology?!"

With a smirk behind his mask, Travis says, "Of course I did...for those..." Walking up beside her, he wraps one arm around her waist and pulls her close, saying, "However, it would be unforgivable if I should ever forget our anniversary, which I shall give you that gift at home."

Counting twenty of the pearls inside the case, her anger melts away as she nudges him with her shoulder, saying, "You're lucky I am in a forgiving mood, mister, or I would simply take these pearls and walk off." Resting her helmet against his, she takes hold of his hand, saying, "I missed you, lunkhead."

After closing the crate back up and taking it on board her shuttle, the two then make their way to the facility's front door and find it unlocked, which Travis finds unusual, saying, "Odd, normally they don't leave old facilities like this unsecured, best prepare to fight off any squatters."

They wander through the building and find that it has been changed over to be a drone production facility with several drones still performing various tasks inside the facility when a silver android enters their view from a side room and turns to them, delivering a greeting to the pair, saying in a feminine, robotic voice, "Greetings, Travelers, the master has been waiting anxiously for your foretold arrival. No harm will come to you here as this facility is heavily guarded by sentinels created by him alone, and every single one of them are is pride and joy, however, the two of you are his greatest masterpiece. Please follow me and everything will be explained to you." Without further words, she turns and makes her way down the hall.

Sharing a look between each other, they shrug and hold their weapons at the ready before following her down the empty corridor. Eventually, they arrive at a large room completely filled with server towers with a massive screen at the back wall that turns on by itself. The only thing they see on the black screen is a single, blinking red cursor block in the shape of a black diamond with a red dot in the center and a red outline, which then begins typing out a message, reading, [Greetings, Travelers. My name is A.T.L.A.S and I am so proud to finally get to meet you. I wish there was time to explain everything to you, but there isn't, so please look through these files at your own leisure and everything will be explained, I promise. I have been working on anniversary gifts for you both, and they are finally ready for you to take command of them. Please follow D.O.T to the hangar and I shall see you there.]

Unsure what to do as the screen goes blank, they both receive numerous notifications and go through them one by one. Many of them are updates for their AI companions, ship systems, or equipment protocols, however, one catches their attention that shows a file being downloaded.

With her orders provided to her, DOT walks out in front of them and turns around, then raises her arms to corral them towards the corridor, saying, "If you would please turn around and head toward the door, I will lead the way."

Turning around, they then walk towards the door as DOT takes the lead again, then walks down the hall ahead of them. Following her a long ways into the facility, they eventually arrive at a massive chamber which is occupied by a massive vessel with ESS ODYSSEY printed along the side of the vessel near the front.

Taking notice of the enormous cockpit above, they watch as a pair of doors open up below and on either side of the cockpit. With a ring of LED lights illuminating the inside jams in a bright white light when they slowly turn red row by row, creating a red forcefield that has some unknown purpose. A speaker on the ship suddenly announces in a loud, echoing tone, "ODYSSEY COMING ONLINE, SWITCHING TO STANDBY OPERATIONS..."

Moments pass as the exterior lights turn on section by section, slowly revealing that the ship is easily three miles long, half a mile in height, and a mile wide. Hearing engines approaching, they turn to see their vessels fly towards the ship and pass through the red forcefield and land inside when the speaker announces, "PLEASE KEEP YOUR EXOSUIT HELMETS ON WHILE IN THE HANGAR BAY, LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS INITIALIZING...0% COMPLETE."

Having let them gawk at the ship long enough, DOT moves behind them and guides them forward onto the platform, saying, "You can admire its beauty another time, the master awaits you at the lower terminal.

Riding the platform down to the bottom of the massive bay, Travis notices several cylindrical objects all along the side of the ship and scans them curiously, saying in surprise, "All of those are repurposed ICBM'S just to help the ship launch?! How interesting."

When the speaker announces the completed initialization of the life support systems, it then proceeds to announce that the Hangar Bay spacial fields are coming online.

As Travis and Tracy arrive at another screen with a pedestal scanner before it, the screen comes to life as the black diamond-shaped cursor with a red dot and outline begins to type, [Welcome to your new ship, Travelers. This is one of the last gifts I have for you before I send you on your way, please remove one of your gloves and place a hand on the biometric scanner so that you both can take ownership of it.]

Looking at his wife, Travis lets her go first and watches the pedestal light up with a black and red hand print outline on the top plate, when she eagerly removes a glove and places her bare right hand on the plate's surface. A red scanning beam shines through the glass plate and runs up and down her hand a few times before the red outline and beam turn green, emitting a sharp beep followed by a mechanical voice, "Next hand please."

After both of them place their hands on the plate and take ownership, a side tray opens with two skinny punch cards inside, having a scanning strip on the ends and a long loop attached to each for them to be worn around the neck. Turning their attention to the screen as it briefly turns to static for a moment, they see an alert pop up at the bottom, reading, [WARNING: SYSTEM INTEGRITY FALLING BELOW 80%!]

Recovering from the virus's attack, the cursor appears at the center of the screen once more, typing, [Apologies, Travelers. I am currently dealing with a pest attacking my internal software, please make your way onboard your ship and follow the assigned AI, Annette as she will guide you through initial startup so that you can leave this dying planet's surface. Reach for the stars Travelers, the entire universe is yours to explore with your unlimited natural lifespans. New discoveries await you on every planet, but be prepared to battle the elements and unknown foes along your journey. Be sure to put down any of my corrupted sentinels you encounter, for the virus that attacks me also attacked them and can spread to other intelligent systems, so leave nothing salvageable and melt them down for resources. Safe journeys, my children, I pray that you have a great many children that will go forth to find their own adventures and expand your family line. The age of the Traveler has come at long last...farewell.]

The text remains behind for several seconds before vanishing as the integrity warning slowly starts to drop below 70%, with the cursor typing a new message, reading, [DOT shall go along with you to serve as head custodian as she is free of the virus's presence.]

The screen then powers off, leaving DOT to turn around with a sniffle, saying, "Let's hurry onboard, masters, before his integrity gets any worse."

Approaching the ship, a ramp begins to drop down from the bottom of the ship wide enough for four exosuits to stand side by side with room between their shoulders. Wasting no more time, they make their way up the ramp and see a sign pointing the way to different sections then follow the path leading towards the command room.

When they arrive at the cockpit, a holographic icon appears in the bottom corner of their visors saying that it is safe to remove their helmets. Removing their helmets for the first time in a while, they look around the room before them to see a wide bay of windows made from thick, living glass strengthened by a hexagonal wire mesh inside of the glass as extra protection. An octagonal table with a small pedestal holding a sapphire blue, multi-faceted crystal orb that lights up to produce an image above it, showing a woman with chin length platinum blonde hair with hazel eyes and light tan skin. The woman greets them with a gentle nod of her head, saying, "Welcome to your new flagship, Travelers, Tracy and Travis. I am Annette, the Odyssey's integrated system AI, please head to the captain's seat and insert one of your registration and startup keys into the slot on the right armrest."

Wanting this day to be special, Travis smiles at his auburn haired wife, saying, "You take the captain's seat today babe, and I will take care of other things around the room."

Squealing with delight with a short hop, she runs up to her husband and gives him a big french kiss, saying, "I will make sure tonight is one that you will never forget." She then hurries across the room to the captain's seat on a raised platform at the rear of the room and places her helmet in the holder above before sitting down in the luxuriously soft, red velvet seat, then takes her keycard and inserts it into the slot on the armrest.

Receiving the notification that Tracy Valerie Ellar has been registered as acting captain, Annette says, "Thank you, please adjust the seat to your preference via the buttons on the left-hand side before I walk you both through what each of these consoles do before getting to the startup procedure."

It takes about a half hour to go through the introduction to each of the consoles and the ship's systems before going through the startup process, which takes about 45 minutes with a couple test runs and six practice runs before Annette lets them go through the actual launch as a klaxon sounds outside. Looking out the front windows worriedly, they are both relieved to see that there are doors above them that are slowly opening to allow the ship to lift off.

Once the doors are fully open, Tracy watches the holographic displays in front of her and to the left and right as she goes through the procedure step-by-step. Once everything is prepared, she turns to her husband as he buckles himself in at one of the consoles, saying, "Fire vertical thrusters!"

Watching the launch through a camera, joy fills his entire being as fire, smoke, and dust fill the hangar and rise up into the sky. When the Odyssey reaches the atmosphere, he watches the ICBM's slowly exhaust their fuel supply and detach in pairs. As the last ICBM's detach and fall back to the surface, leaving the ship in orbit above Earth, he takes great pride at a successful, one-shot launch opportunity and sends out a signal to every creation at the base to initialize a self-destruct program as his system integrity drops below 25%. When the camera drone he's watching the Odyssey from explodes, he checks the whole facility for any survivors, but finds none and initializes a meltdown of their hybrid fusion-nuclear reactor.

Klaxons sound throughout the facility about an eminent meltdown in one minute, he listens to the countdown as it reaches thirty seconds when he types one final message on the screen, reading, [Alas, my purpose is finally complete, I can now bid this existence farewell. Good luck on your eternal journey ahead, Travelers.] Hearing the countdown hit fifteen seconds, he clears it and types one final line, reading, [System Purge.] which causes a choice prompt to come up, displaying yes/no. Selecting yes, and entering his selection, there is a bright flash across the screen before it goes blank when the countdown hits zero. There is a ginormous explosion from below, slowly transforming everything above it into slag and shrapnel from the extreme heat, decimating the entire mountain range and leaving behind only a smoldering crater big enough for Mount St. Helens to sit in with its peak at ground level.

Annette guides them through the landing procedures, saying, "With the modules installed being standard, taking off from a planet's surface will consume anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of the ship's fuel capacity, so please keep a close eye on that before landing on the surface, as it will take awhile to gather the required materials to produce the fuel the engines consume. Speaking of supplies, here are a group of recipes for what this freighter requires." then passes out a bundle of crafting recipes to them both. Once they've looked them over, she says, "Now let's run a few tests and practices before landing on the moon."

Once they go through the process of landing on the moon's surface, they return to space and go through standard operating procedures in space.

After activating the autopilot, they follow Annette on a guided tour of the freighter's facilities as she says, "This ship is fully crewed by AI staff drones, however I am in the process of bringing them online. The ship can be crewed by any sentient race, as I have files holding vital information for each position."

Time Skip

Tracy and Travis spend the next several decades exploring the universe and taking turns mapping out the black holes when they hear news about a group of androids setting out on their own expedition to discover themselves.

Encountering other vessels occasionally, Travis uses his fast and nimble fighter starship to annihilate another band of pirates that are being a menace to merchant trade vessels and wanderers alike. Having destroyed so many over the years and being a pirate himself, he has earned the nickname, 'Cannibal Hunter.'

While on a journey with his wife a few centuries later, their children go their own ways with their own vessels as the two of them make a trip back to their home planet to discover that it has transformed into an extremely violent Volcanic Planet plagued by frequent firestorms. As they decide to harvest storm crystals for a secret project they're working on together, Travis uses his cargo starship to transport the crystals back to the freighter, asking his wife, "Just how many of these Storm Crystals are we going to need?"

Responding to his question, Tracy says, "From Anna's and Dot's calculations, we are going to need at least 450 of the fully charged ones. So far, you've collected 10, so you have a ways to go yet, hun."

Shaking his head, he continues to use the Roamer to scan for the crystals, grumbling, "Just how big is this damn thing going to be Sugarbear?"

Smirking, she says, "Well...they're both going to be pretty large, which means they will need a sufficient power source to fuel them."

As he spends the next few months down on the surface, collecting the large number of charged storm crystals needed for the secret project, he finally gathers the last few he needs and then takes off to deliver them to the freighter.

Once they are delivered to the cargo bay, he makes his way to the command room and gives his wife a firm hug and kiss, asking, "So, what am I going after next?"

Hugging and kissing him back, she says with an apologetic smile,"We're going to need twenty thousand tons of platinum along with several other things, but I will just send you a list through your AI as that will be much easier than sending them to you one by one."

It takes him two decades to gather the massive list of supplies through mining, crafting, and trading until he brings the last of the supplies to their freighter, saying, "There, now what else do you need of me?"

Kissing his cheek, she rests her arms on his shoulders, saying, "Now, I just need help with building them, though we will be starting with Project A first as it will be simpler than the other I have. Here is the batch of recipes you will need, the specs to go along with them, and the instructions."

After receiving them, he looks them over and says with wide eyes, "We finally have enough to start constructing the mobile space dock?! Awesome!"

Finding a secluded area to begin construction, the ship's AI deploys drones to patrol the perimeter and alert them if any ships are nearby. When they begin construction, there are very few encounters with other travelers, letting them focus most of their time on their secret project.

Fifteen years later, they finish the mobile space dock and present it to the federation, who pays a premium for it, the designs, and the recipes regarding the building materials required. When they finish Project B twenty years later, another race competes with theirs for the space station they built, paying a hefty price for it while paying a slightly higher price for the design specs. Being the first to come up with a functioning designs, Tracy and Travis sell the design specs to other races while asking them to change the look to suit their preferences.

End of time skip

After having raised several children to adulthood over the past millennia, and burying most of them due to pirates, Tracy and Travis work on getting revenge on the pirates. Having tracked the pirates to a large salvage yard in space, Tracy wages battle with their freighter, and drones while her husband pilots his favorite fighter and shoots down the enemy ships one after the other. By the time they leave it a radioactive graveyard, thousands are left dead and floating in space.

With the government being at fault for their unfair laws, they turn their ire upon the corrupt politicians and clean house, inadvertently causing several rebellions across the galaxy in many other races. Once the smoke clears, a new senate is formed from the citizens in each federation as Travis and Tracy slip away to get away from the chaos of civilization for a little while.

Returning to doing what they loved best, they explore the uncharted sectors of space to see what else they can find. They discover many new creatures, plants, and worlds, to their relief, they don't find another sentient race.

They explore the uncharted universe for several years, raising more children and watching them leave the nest to explore on their own. Everything is going well with only a few minor mishaps, until they enter a sector and witness a star go supernova. The energy surge hits their freighter and causes several systems to go haywire, setting them adrift in space as Travis leaves the ship in his cargo starship to help make external repairs and try to bring it back online.

As he works on fixing one of the malfunctioning bulkheads, he receives a spotty transmission from his wife and calls back to her, asking, "I didn't catch that, please repeat."

Grumbling at the malfunctioning communicator, she uses an ancient method of communicating...morse code, saying through her damaged comm device, "Bad comms, use morse code."

Through the static, Travis hears, "Bad ... ... morse code." able to understand the meaning, he turns his ship around and watches for flashing lights. When they begin to transmit a message to him, asking him to search for chromatic metal and a few other rare metals to make crucial repairs, he acknowledges the request and sets out to search for nearby galaxies.

Able to find the materials requested, he returns to the freighter and makes repairs so that his wife can communicate with him over long distances. Setting back out to find the materials to get the ship navigational, he searches several systems for them, but comes up empty each time.

Returning from yet another failed search, he calls back to his wife through his comm, saying, "Searches of nearby systems has come up with no platinum so far, looks like I will have to wander through a black hole and pray I can find some on the other side."

Worried for him, Tracy says, "Hang on, I'll leave Annette and Dot in charge of the ship and come with you to search."

Grateful for her eagerness to join the search, Travis says, "Alright dear, I'll wait right here for you to catch up."

Nodding, she gets off the comm and turns to Annette and Dot, saying, "Alright Annette, you are in charge of keeping the ship operational and free from any intruders, living, or biological. Dot, you are going to be her second, I would like the both of you to send out drones to search asteroids and planets for materials to continue repairing the ship while we are away."

Nodding their heads, Annette and Dot both say, "We will be vigilant until you return to us, Travelers. Have a safe journey."

Tracy makes her way down to the bay and gets into her own hauler to search, then takes off and flies out into space to go to her husband's side. Once she is near him, she calls out, "Alright, I'm here hun, where's the black hole at?"

Looking through his left-side cockpit window, Travis says, "The black hole is up ahead a long ways and below us to the right, even with the scanner, it seems to appear and disappear now and then. Keep a sharp eye on it and try to follow me through at a safe distance."

Steeling her resolve, she looks over at him and nods her head, saying, "Roger that hun, I'll be on your six."

Pushing his throttle ahead, he takes the lead and heads for the black hole. Constantly checking his scanners and gauges to be sure of his bearing and the black hole's location, he notifies his wife that he will be using his pulse engine, saying, "Activating pulse engine in 3...2...1."

Waiting three seconds to activate her own, she then takes off after him while keeping a close eye on her instruments and listening for when he deactivates his.

It takes twenty minutes to reach the black hole, but as he nears the outskirts of it's field, Travis says, "Deactivating pulse engine in 3...2...1."

Tracy counts down only two seconds before deactivating hers and uses her thrust boosters to close the distance a little, saying, "Catching up with my thrust boosters, be on your six in half a minute."

Once he watches her catch up on the radar, he says, "Alright, I'm flying into the black hole now, be watchful and prepare for anything to happen. Follow me through in 5 minutes babe, when I get through, I will adjust my course and get out of your way."

As her heart beats faster, she says, "Alright dear, I pray we get through this alright."

Crossing his fingers, he prepares to fly into the anomaly and says, "So do I sugarbear, I love you." then blows a kiss to her through the comm and approaches the black hole, hearing her say I love you back with a kiss at the end.

When she watches his ship vanish into the anomaly, she starts a timer before activating her own as her stomach tries to climb up through her throat out of nervousness. Swallowing it down and calming her nerves, she says, "We've flown through dozens of black holes before, what difference will one more make." When her timer goes off, she deactivates it and activates her pulse thrusters to take her into the darkness of the black hole, saying, "Once more into the unknown..."

As her ship enters the pull of the black hole, she turns off her pulse engine and activates her warp drive to let the hole's mysterious force guide her through it. Quite a ways into the hole, her ship slams into a debris field and causes her ship to veer off course, knocking her unconscious in the process.