Tales of the Courier – Event Horizon Jump
No blink, no jump. There was no blink, but there is ethereal. It is everything, and everything is it. The road unfolds and an infinite number more unfold from there. Each one lit with that ethereal glow.
The event lasts mere seconds, all things shimmer and become the road again. The paved roads of Deritrous this time. They have moved many leagues away from the attacks on the scavenger heavy freighters.
The road is calm and serene, the wind whipping past the ride is hot and dry. 1courier slams the brakes, bringing the ride to a screeching halt.
He looks at Cheeky, trying to get a read on her condition. The suns are high in the sky, and the day is hot and bright. Still with the head tilt, she appears to be alert and relieved. “Nice timing on the jump, 1courier, though, I’m surprised it was sanctioned.”
He thinks the timing was good, couldn’t have timed it better himself, so whoever did, was spot on. This was as good a time as any to check the cargo. Self loading or otherwise, these days nothing could be left to chance.
old friends
He exits the ride and Cheeky follows from her side. They meet at the rear of the ride, and stare at the closed lid of the rear compartment. 1courier knows, before opening the compartment, what they will find. He isn’t sure why they will find it, only that they will.
He opens the lid. The oddly shaped and slightly heavy object lays in the center of the compartment. It has that old familiar humming sound. How unexpected, he muses, that it should be humming along. From the intensity of the emanations, he is certain an event is forthcoming.
Now that the gang was all together again, it was time to go. There can only be one reason they have the key. Now that the stakes have been revealed and are so high, there is no time to second guess. He closes the rear compartment and moves back to the front of the ride.
He is about to get behind the wheel, when he notices Cheeky is still at the rear of the machine. She is staring into the distance behind them. Her stance is defiant, and her expression grim. She appears to listen intently, once more, to that internal link with the AI. She speaks quickly and urgently.
“We are now in a serious mess. We are being searched for, by both sides, each claims the key. Each somehow knows, we have the key. We have minutes before we are targeted, and this entire region becomes a wasteland.” She moves to the front of the ride and looks across the top of the machine at 1courier.
horizon blue
He knows they are leaving this area soon, he also knows the new destination will be of the key’s choosing. He decides they will be safer on the move, and climbs behind the wheel, and Cheeky enters from the other side.
The humming sound from the rear compartment is audible throughout the ride now. 1courier starts the engine and floors the accelerator and the ride leaps forward, chewing up road rapidly.
They are gaining speed when Cheeky shouts an urgent warning, “We have been targeted 1courier” she is watching the event happening in front of them, down the road, and rapidly approaching.
It is a massive portal of blue and it is blocking the road ahead. It appears to be growing, and they are beyond the event horizon before anyone can blink. 1courier has time to intuit, that this was not the key, before they have crossed the point of no return.
It is too late to stop their forward momentum, they have built up too much speed. 1courier slams the brakes and the wheels lock, to no avail. They continue straight into the portal. They are in and gone in seconds.
It is a hot and brightly lit day, the road sits quietly and waits.
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