5.

Robert Stanford and Simon Olsen had well become good friends by such a moment in time the vessel they worked so hard upon had come to be mission ready. Brandon Michaels may have only just arrived though Robert and Simon have been out among the stars for a while now. Robert is the chief operating engineer for The Pathfinder. He was one of the engine designers and has been on-board The Pathfinder for close to thirteen months by such a time the vessel is closing in on a moment of departure and he had been working not only on the engines but on the rather large engine room too.

Simon is the chief operating pilot for The Pathfinder, and he has been on The Pathfinder for almost three months, test driving the ship, its shuttles and training in his team of pilots on all basis of operation. Both Robert and Simon are confident that the ship is as ready for action as it is ever going to be.

The Pathfinder is coming to life. Both Robert and Simon knew this would come to be but to actually see it happening is such a strange thing, strange though good too. They have seen empty corridors, unused living quarters, quiet ship function rooms and now they see activity is at a high. Excitement is not only on its way for the two friends, but it has also come to exist right here, right now and for many people. This is a big moment in Human history.

There are a total of fourteen pilots for The Pathfinder and the ship has two piloting stations located on the main command center with a third piloting station located in engineering. It is recommended that there are two pilots in the command center on duty at all times even though only one is needed for its navigation. The second station is a redundant one, generally only needed for use if there is a problem with the first piloting station.

Simon is also charged with training in further pilots so that there are always a decent number of pilots available, in case of ... and as to if injury, sickness or in the worst case of scenarios, death takes current pilots away from their duties. The engineering staff consists of over fifty engineers so training in new engineers is in no way a priority, though there is no harm in providing training for those wishing to seek it.

Many will come onto The Pathfinder before it departs, with no task required of them and no task expected of them. If any of these people should choose to learn the ways and running's of the ship with a possibility of one day taking up a position, then these things are to be encouraged.

Early on the first full day of having an entire crew aboard The Pathfinder, both Robert and Simon would spend about ninety minutes or so with Brandon and Maria, discussing the capabilities of the ship. The most impressive of its features being the thirty second speed of light booster. This booster system would be something which could only be used once every seventy-two hours as when the thirty in use seconds have elapsed, the system will need to be recharged before it can be reused.

This speed of light booster system would work by creating a force field bubble around the ship after which the power created by the engines would work like polar opposite magnets pushing against this force field to propel the ship to the speed of light and sustain that speed for a thirty second period after which the ship could quickly return to its regular speed capabilities. The bubble itself also provides protection for the crew so that such a great speed can be achieved without doing any physical damage to those within it or to the ship itself.

The booster speed capabilities are immense. After all, if the crew were to find a new world for humanity to move to then they would rather not spend an eternity or even a number of generations in attempting to complete or achieve such a thing.

After their meeting with Brandon and Maria, both Robert and Simon retreated to Robert's room to enjoy a few alcoholic beverages. If anyone currently on the ship deserves some down time and a few beers it definitely would be these two guys however they did ask Brandon if that would be alright with him. Even though they had twenty-four hours before their services would be required for the launch of their impending journey they thought it would be the polite thing to do, especially if they were to show up feeling slightly under the weather. Brandon saw no problem with this, realizing the efforts these two men had already put in.

Robert had a well-stocked cooler and he, along with Simon were most definitely looking forward to having a few drinks. Robert also had a rather large view port in his living quarters as well as a couple of very old and rarely used deck chairs. As the two friends sat down, they were confronted by the awesome view of an over-sized but peaceful looking planet Earth revolving slowly right before them. They each cracked open an ice cold can of beer and took a moment to stare out that view port in silence and contemplate all it is that they both have to contemplate.

'To look at her you wouldn't think she is dying, would you?' speaks Simon.

'Her? She?' asks Robert glancing towards the deck chair to his left.

'Yeah, Mother Nature. After all this time, it is her time to go.'

'Well, all good things do come to an end and all that jazz. Besides if those with whom she took care of all these years had treated her with some respect and returned the favour then she could have had many more years left in her, but such is life and here we are right now, a day away from leaving her for good.'

'She had some temper all the same though, hadn't she?'

'You could say that, but you can hardly blame her though in all seriousness really.'

'That didn't take long' says Simon with a smile glancing over to his friend.

'What didn't take long?'

'Oh, just the length of time it took for you to refer to Earth as her.'

'Feeling a bit funny today, aren't we?'

Simon laughed a laugh he couldn't help but let go of and fairly soon Robert couldn't help but smile and have himself a laugh too. About an hour or so into their conversation things began to get more than just a little bit strange to say the least. Staring a little above the view port Simon was sure for a moment or so that he could see a face extruding out from a bulkhead before slinking right back in again.

'Did you just see that?' he asks.

'See what?' asks Robert in reply.

'That bulkhead, just above the view port, a face appeared for a moment as if it were behind it trying to get out.'

'Yeah sure, you are definitely feeling a bit funny today.'

'I am being serious Robert.'

'Really? Well, first of all you could never fit a head behind there, never mind getting a whole person in behind it and second, it is pure metal, nothing would make an imprint on it from inside or outside and thirdly, even if something did make an imprint on it then the shape of the bulkhead would not revert back to its original form after such an imprint or any sort of imprint having being made on it.'

'Well, I know I saw something and that is for sure.'

'How many beers have you had?'

'Same as you, I am on my fourth beer now.'

'Maybe you should slow down a little there, horse; some people are not as capable of holding their drink as well as others.'

'I can hold my drink just f...' Simon was interrupted; he could see the face once more in the bulkhead and just like before it was as if it were trying to get out. 'Look there it is again; can you see it?' he asked almost childishly having an 'I told you so' moment while also being bemused and bewildered.

Before Robert could answer, something hit him full on in the face knocking him backwards to the ground and out of his deck chair. When he tried to get up, something hit him again. Robert could not see anything around him that could be hitting him like that. In fact, he couldn't see anything at all anywhere that could possibly be attacking him.

It had only been himself and Simon in the room and Simon was still sitting in his deck chair in further bewilderment and shock at what was now happening, for Simon could see Robert reacting as if he was being attacked and Simon too was unable to see anyone or anything that could be creating or causing such an attack.

Moments later Simon falls out of Roberts living quarters and out into the hallway. His face all bloodied and battered, Simon really is in one heck of a mess, and it is not long before he completely passes out. As it is, it appears that whatever attacked Robert had also attacked Simon. Inside the room Robert was also unconscious and just as much a bloody mess as Simon.

Not long after a discovery of the two unconscious men had been made, Brandon storms into the ships medical facility demanding to know exactly what it is that had happened. Upon his entry he was immediately stopped by the ships chief medical officer. The doctor tells Brandon not to jump to any conclusions. There were and are two men in his medical bay with physical wounds to the effect that they had been involved in a fight with one exception.

The doctor was able to determine that neither man had fought back so it was evident that they were both attacked rather than having fought with each other, and whatever did attack them done so without having to go on any kind of defensive.

Both Robert and Simon had received wounds to their faces and torsos but neither had any wounds to their hands. Luckily, there were no serious physical wounds, nothing had been broken or fractured, and there were no physical injuries which couldn't heal in a few days. There were only a few hours left in this particular day and not so many more to go until the scheduled launch of The Pathfinder.

This certainly was not the way Brandon wanted things to begin, not that he has spent much time or any time at all thinking of what he could want or need or even as to how things would really proceed at all. He however trusts his own life experience and no matter what has come his way, what will come his way, he trusts enough in his own leadership and in the knowledge of those around him to see things through.

At all that, what Brandon does know is that he would have to delay things from moving forwards as he is not willing to use the ships booster system until he has both his chief engineer and chief pilot at their stations for indeed it is in them and other with whom he will trust. So, it would be at least a couple of days or so before they, the people involved and the ship as a whole, could make an attempt to leave the solar system.

Brandon also wasn't going to hang around the medical area. Once the necessary information was passed onto him, he tells the doctor that he would be heading back to his own living quarters and that he wanted to be kept informed. Yeah, he may have also wanted to have a proper conversation with the doctor though at this moment he was unwilling to talk about his son's death or speak of his own imperfections. If there were ever a time for either to occur, then as far as he was concerned now was not that time.