A Journey's Beginning

The tall form of Simon Rivers hovered in the brightly lit doorway, his shadow long and merging with the dark room. He simply stood there, allowing his presence to be absorbed into whoever was in the room. Finally taking a step in, there was the sound of a slight shuffle. Holding out his arm, a disruptor pistol could be seen, silhouetted in Rivers’ shadow.

“I know you’re in here,” Rivers whispered, just loud enough to be heard by the other in the lonely room. “You can’t hide from me forever,” he taunted. There was momentary silence, before the response of shuffling feet as somebody tried to scramble and run. With acute aim, Rivers’ arm swung about and a bright green energy blast discharged from the nuzzle of the weapon. The body collapsed as Rivers had hit his mark. Pulling out a flashlight, Rivers walked further into the room, finally coming to stop over the crumpled body on the floor.

Kneeling down, Rivers turned the body over. He was still breathing, albeit shallowly, as death was at his door. The man was a frail looking sort with scraggly hair and sweat beaded around his eyes. His face was gaunt and ghostly, fitting for the end he was about to meet. Despite all of this, Rivers looked down on the man with a sort of sadness.

“I warned you not to run,” Rivers said solemnly, “but I really need what we agreed upon!”
The man gasped some, trembling, trying to hold on a moment longer to the life that once was his. Opening his mouth, he tried to speak, but all that he could muster was a gurgling sound as fluid began to enter his lungs. Changing tactics, the man slowly, weakly, reached into his pocket. Fumbling in it for a moment, his shaking hand finally retreated, a piece of parchment like material firmly clutched in his fist. Holding it out, he offered it to Rivers. Reaching out with his own hand, Rivers wrapped his fingers around the coarse material, taking it from the dying man.

“Be careful,” the man finally gasped out as his hand hit the ground and his eyes rolled back into his head. Kneeling there for a moment longer, as if to pay respect to the dead man, Rivers waited. Finally deciding it was time to continue, Rivers stood, looking down at the corpse at his feet before turning on his heal and exiting the room.

Entering into the light, Rivers looked about the bustling crowd on the space station. So many people, yet it would take a shockingly long time for them to discover the dead body in the dark maintenance closet. Hunching his shoulders, Rivers began to walk, disappearing into the crowd. As he walked, he held open his hand, revealing the piece of ancient parchment that he had reclaimed off of his now dead contact. The universe had changed, that much was for certain, but the extent of that change wasn’t over yet. He had a responsibility, to himself, to the people and he couldn’t let anything get in the way.

Finally arriving at his destination, Rivers flashed a small piece of ID to the guard standing watch over the docking bay. Having been let through, Rivers headed for a small shuttle craft. The craft was dull and grey, a standard shuttle a civilian might use, something that wouldn’t attract attention. As Rivers entered the shuttle however, he couldn’t shake that strange tingling sensation in the back of his neck, that one you have when somebody was watching you.

The shuttle lifted off, leaving the station behind. Setting the controls to automatic, the small craft jumped to warp speed, heading for its next destination. Finally able to relax a little, Rivers sat back in his chair, now able to take a good look at his prize. The parchment was torn, obviously a piece to a larger item. On it were markings, drawings more like, in a sort of ink based form. Holding it up to the light, Rivers could make out faint writing, location names perhaps.

Spinning around in his chair, Rivers faced a table with the other pieces of parchment lying together. This was the last piece, the key. Gently placing his new piece in the center he looked at it. It was a simple map of a village, pre-industrial by the looks of it. Sitting back, he looked at it, unsure. This was it? Just a map of a village. The names were meaningless. It was simply as it looked, just an old map of an old village. No clues, no hints, nothing even resembling what he was looking for.

Turning around, Rivers looked into the deep abyss of space, the stars streaking by. All that he had gone through, the time, the lives. All for an antiquated and completely irrelevant map. His mind began to drift, reflecting on what had happened over the past year. So much had changed. Turning back around once more to face the map, Rivers couldn’t help but feel as if he was missing something, this couldn’t be all there was, something had to be hidden in this map. Staring at it, his mind began to drift some more and then he saw it. Standing up over the map, he walked around the table, blurring his vision a little. So simple and always there. Rivers chuckled lightly to himself.

The time was at hand. Sitting back down in his chair, he tapped in some new coordinates, setting the ship on a new direction. A new direction to change everything.