41.

Jeff had a full day of test runs on the shuttles ahead of him. It would be the first time any of the shuttles would be taken off The Pathfinder since they were reinforced with the Titanium which had been collected from the Planetoid The Pathfinder had come across more than a little while ago by this point in time. The intended goal of taking each shuttle out for a run one by one was to make sure everything was and is in full working order. If any alterations are needed to be made then the pilots or Jeff in particular, could work in conjunction with the engineering team to determine what would need to be improved.

The mining shuttle would be first to go on a test run. It's only previous outing proved to be somewhat of a successful mission. Indeed, it had gone out to that planetoid and brought back the titanium which now reinforces its structure as well as the structures of the other shuttles.

On this outing, the mining shuttle operated just as well as it did on the mission with which it had gone out on. It moved freely and responded well. However, there was one thing about the mining shuttle that Jeff failed to notice. It had nothing to do with how it handled or felt, nor had it anything to do with its functionality.

Something is not right, something is off, what that something could possibly be is something that cannot be so easily placed. For inside the shuttle itself ... there is movement. Within the darkest corners of the shuttle movement is occurring with which Jeff could neither see nor hear, nonetheless the movement is there all the same and whatever is creating that movement is not from some redundant or non-redundant part of the shuttle. It is not something insignificant, anything but as for what happens to be moving is something very much alive.

Jeff discovered only a small number of niggles from out of all the shuttle craft test runs but nothing of any real significance is found, unaware of the movement in the mining shuttle is cause too for it to go undiscovered. It is unlike Jeff not to investigate his gut feeling, perhaps on this occasion, leaving things be was the best option.

The only other shuttle to have left The Pathfinder prior to these tests surprisingly worked perfectly well, it almost felt even better that perfect to Jeff, and of course that shuttle was the one which had visited the world with the burning rain.

It's almost as if someone had already made improvements to that shuttle, improvements which Jeff knew nothing about, he wouldn't complain though because of how well the shuttle seemed to handle. Inquiries as to if improvements had taken place on that one shuttle puzzled Jeff all the more for no one Jeff asked knew of any upgrades being installed or of anything else of the likes besides what had been added to its structure. Could those improvements in themselves have been inquiries?

The one real discovery of any significance to come out from the testing would be something which would only be discovered a little while after testing had been completed, and to say that particular discovery would be somewhat shocking would be a major understatement. It would be nothing specific to a shuttle but rather something shared and stowed away between them. Who would be the one or the first to make this particular discovery? It wouldn't be right if it had been anyone other than Jeff.

This particular day had been a long day, but one Jeff so far had enjoyed. It was a nice change not to be in the command center and it was also nice to get to fly again. Working at the number two piloting station is not work at all, it is of course just a backup position for the main piloting station and Jeff would much rather have something to do rather than nothing at all and if the something to do could be piloting related then all the better.

Having indeed been such a pleasing day up to this point, Jeff arrives back to his living quarters ready to do much of nothing at all. He turned on the lights, took his top off and sat down in front of his personal computer console turning on some music. He closes his eyes and does not notice the lights in the room go out. Almost hanging off the chair he has come to be on, it would only be when the music begins to jump around and become distorted that Jeff notices that something is not right.

Music from a compact disc may skip or jump but not music from a computer's hard drive, not unless there is another power problem and besides compact discs have long since become something of a rarity but away from that fact, there would soon be two questions for Jeff to consider. What could have knocked out the lights in his quarters? And what could be creating the distortion on his console?

Not only was the music acting up but so too was the computer screen and it was only when Jeff had opened his eyes that he would notice that the only light in his main living room was being provided by his computer screen and that was flickering quite badly.

In addition to the lights being out and what was going on with Jeff's computer console, the room gets really cold really quickly. Jeff stands up, takes a couple of steps, and puts his top back on. It has gotten so cold that the flickering light from the screen allows him to see his own breath stretch out in front of him.

Along with a moment of watching his own breath stretch out, that very same flickering light which allows Jeff to see his own breath would also allow Jeff to catch a glimpse of movement which appeared to be high up and happening at the furthest end of the room away from him. This momentarily freezes him to the position he so happens to be in.

The sight of something very large and dark moving within his main living room indeed causes Jeff to momentarily question it before forcing him to move suddenly and fall over the seat he had only just been sitting on moments earlier. Having come to be on his back while still observing movement in the shadows, Jeff begins to try to and edge himself towards the door, for he notices that there was light in the hallway outside his quarters.

The shadowy movement now comes at an unusually strange pace, from having been extremely quick one moment to a much slower snail's pace the next, and not only that, it also came crawling along the ceiling and has come ever so close to where Jeff is. It clearly had two arms and two legs but whatever it was, whatever it is, it is not human, maybe human like to a degree but definitely not human. That much is obvious. The best description Jeff would be able to give to what he saw was that it is some kind of enormous spiderlike shadow creature.

Having been able to pull himself up, Jeff manages to get his light back on. He has however turned away from the creature for a split second while doing this. As soon as light had been restored, a painfully loud shriek sounded, and that noise would knock Jeff back to the ground. When next he could look, there would no longer be any sign of whatever it was that Jeff had seen. One thing is for sure and that is that the creature is extremely quick.

The shriek the creature had let out however had been a deafening one. Jeff's natural instinct was to cover his ears. Having removed his hands from his ears Jeff found that his right ear had begun to bleed, and his actual hearing had ... dimmed as it might if some kind of strong explosion had occurred close by. So, a trip to the medical center was in order, is in order. This ear injury would also affect his balance; staggering and falling in the hallway outside his quarters, aid from other crew members quickly came Jeff's way.

Jeff is an easily excitable person and at times he is almost childlike in nature. Instead of being filled with fear from what he had just experienced he could not wait to tell everyone and anyone of what he had been through, and he didn't even have to exaggerate his experience. There was however the small problem of the ringing in his ears causing him to relay his story quite loudly.

Doctor Aaron Gray didn't see any possible lasting ill effects with Jeff's ears but suggested that he should spend the night in the medical facility for observation. Jeff has no problem with that as he is in absolutely no hurry to get back to his own quarters.

42.

On board The Pathfinder Timothy Atkins has gained the unwanted nickname of slightly dim Tim, even at times his very beautiful girlfriend thought of him that way but that was part of the attraction for her, and she always defended him. It is completely unwarranted too as Timothy, or Tim, he doesn't mind which, is quite an intelligent chap, he simply just does not show just how intelligent he is or can be.

For all that he is, Tim is only seventeen years old and just one month away from his eighteenth birthday. Timothy too is a man of honour, or at least a boy who dreams of being a man with credibility and honour, a man who would be a defender of all which is good, and as good a place to center his dreaming and defending some honour lays with his passion for 1950's detective fiction.

Tim's imagination often takes him to many places so instead of, in reality, walking down a hallway heading into his living quarters Timothy arrives at his office reception area where he is greeted by his secretary Mary Lee, an imaginary person who in his world just so happens to look identical to his girlfriend Jasmine.

Wearing grey slacks, a white shirt with a slim dark red leather tie along with a grey sports jacket, Tim hung his beige Fedora hat and trench coat, which he only ever carries over his arm, on the standing rack upon entering the reception area to his office. It had been far too warm to be wearing both a sports jacket and a trench coat, not that he does wear the trench coat, but he had both with him anyway. He was sure that his clothing, whether worn or carried, would give him more of a professional look, all this being imaginary of course.

'Good morning, Miss Lee, how are you today?'

'I'm fine sir, how are you?'

'Doing good, thank you, any calls or post this morning?'

'Not yet but you do have a visitor in your office.'

'A visitor you say, and this early in the day too, huh? Hope it's not the tax man, I may be a little behind but that should not warrant a visit.'

'Definitely not the tax man' says Mary to herself while organizing the files on her desk.

Tim walks into the office and is surprised to see an extremely beautiful lady wearing a long black dress and a black hat with a draping see through veil hanging in front of her face and all this is accompanied by curly blonde shoulder length hair. This woman who stands in front of Tim's desk just so happens to bare a strong resemblance to Cindy with the added exception of being a few years older.

'Hello, my name is Timothy At...'

'I know who you are Mister Atkins, this is why I am here' speaks the visiting lady cutting off Tim before he could finish introducing himself.

Tim closes the office door and then the blinds on the inside glass pane of that door before walking around to his side of the desk.

'And you might be ...?' he asks.

'I might be a lot of people but that is irrelevant at this moment in time.'

'Alright', Tim knew he was in for it with this one. 'Please have a seat.'

'I would rather stand.'

'As you wish ... so what can I help you with?' asks Tim as he attempts to resist the urge to swivel in his swinging black leather seat.

'I know you can be discreet, so this is why I have come to you.'

'Sure.'

'A gentleman friend of mine has recently been killed; I am not here to find out why he was killed, but rather I am looking for something of mine which he took not very long before his death.'

Timothy opens his briefcase and takes out a pen and a notepad but before the conversation could continue the lady lets out a scream while looking upwards and behind Tim.

'What? ... What is it?' he asks loudly.

Tim turns, looked upwards and briefly saw something large and dark crouched between where the corner of the wall and the ceiling meet. His bright office fades into his darkened quarters and this brings Tim's fantasy daydream to an end. For Tim, reality had entered his fantasy world bring him back to reality only to leave him lying unconscious in the most darkened corner within the main room of his own living quarters where would soon be found by Jasmine who Tim would call 'Mary' upon temporarily regaining consciousness.