2 Chapter One

Have you ever sat still for a moment just to look at the night sky and dream about the stars? Quieting your inner voice to just gaze and wonder about the vastness of space? Dreams were made by looking at the balls of gas. Ideas and suspicions that made humans what they were today.

As I gazed out of the cockpit of my cloaked Covert Ops Bomber, Nemesis, I was enjoying the view until an Orca Mining team drifted into my view. I sighed and remembered why I was here. I was to be the babysitter to these miners while in Null Sec.

Sometimes it pained me to pull these jobs, but I was one of the few in the Corp that focused on piloting the bombers for PVP. In EVE it was always a matter of life and death when traveling in NULL Sec. There were no rules and Might made right. If you wanted something, you had to be strong enough to take it and keep it. There were no other options.

"Check in. All clear in the Black Ocean." I said over team chat. There were others leading a more obvious escort with heavier spacecraft as the Orca lead mining team took to the asteroids.

Just as I thought things were going to stay quiet, red filled my displays. "Incoming Pirates. Large. 30 ships." The report was fast and as it came in more warp signals came into range and jumped into the system. I swore under my breath and slowly made my way to an intercept course for any carriers that came into view.

My job was to take out any options for fighters as quickly as possible. If I was lucky any explosions would catch smaller ships in the blast.

Soon radar was filled with red and blue markers zooming and crossing in every direction. The escort detail went into battle and I made my route to a large Carrier in the rear of the enemy formation.

"Crap which model is that? I do not remember the specs for that one."

The radio cracked and another of my Corp mates shouted over, "Doesn't matter. Engines and bays are the target. Lining up EMP to take out any shielding. Down in 2."

I gripped the handles of the flight stick and ignited thrusters to full burn. The Carrier was growing in my display as it came ever closer. Shields lit up as the EMP exploded on contact. The shockwave burst out and ended just before my ship entered range. The next few minutes was a fast paced eruption of missile and laser fire dancing over the shields before they petered out. Without hesitation I dove and released a few Inferno torpedoes and my bomb before ducking out and returning back to stealth.

The projectiles flew and the Carrier did it's best to remove itself from the path of the projectiles but ultimately failed. The resulting explosion lit up my HUD and before I knew it everything went black.

A display box popped up and I began cursing.

We are sorry. The system is currently down for maintenance. Please enjoy the rest of your day.

The lid to my VR Pod lifted with a hiss and light flooded back inside the enclosed capsule. My body reflexively stretched as I sat up from the interior and swung my legs over the side.

I yawned and scratched my head and no sooner did my feet touch the ground, I was receiving messages from my Corp mates. Seems everyone was booted off Eve without warning. We could only hope the pirates attacking us lost connection as well. It was never good for the system to cut off like that.

"I am sure we can figure out who hit us and get anything that might have been taken back." I replied. The messages hit the same vein and I just left that as the message for the whole group.

Walking into the kitchen I pushed buttons on the Bev-Moe-Matic and got a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Coffee was never a taste I acquired, but the delicious smell of Hot chocolate always did the trick.

I swiped away the chat and opened up my stats page and saw I needed to put in more exercise. My strength was not as high as it should be and after inspecting the logs I found I had lost a point due to unhealthy habits. I sighed and rearranged my schedule since I would not be playing any games today.

Sitting on the couch I turned on the news and looked over any highlights that might be important. That was when I saw the commercial.

A smart looking man steps forward from the shadows of a room lit by only a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Do you have what it takes to save humanity?" His eyes look at the camera as if it was only natural, as if he was talking directly to you. "Is your Intelligence at least 18 or higher?" His voice was steady and calm as he spoke. Like his words had purpose and meaning beyond just the syllables.

"Not afraid of being alone for prolonged periods of time?" His stone like face, firm and unemotional, finally shifts to a slight grin. "Then we have a job for you." Then with a website popping up at the end the commercial ended. This commercial has been on repeat for as long as I could remember. It had to be the longest running commercial by far.

Flipping through other channels I began trying to just relax but my mind kept circling back to the commercial.

Pulling up my stat page I perused my numbers again.

Stat

Name: Nathan Pres

Age: 25

Str: 15 Con: 15 Dex: 17

Int: 22 Wis: 19 Cha: 16

Personal Skills

Programmer: 2

Gamer: 9

Education: 18

Sewing: 1

Cooking: 3

Jobs: none

Income: 2000/mo

Source: Settlement/Accident

Condition: Nerve damage, Paralysis (Left arm), Muscular Atrophy (Left arm)

I looked at the job section a little longer than I probably should have. I sighed and shook my head. About a year ago I was in an accident that resulted in the loss of the use of my left hand.

At the time I wanted to be a programmer and had started learning all I could, but on my way to the interview, a drunk driver ran a red light a T-boned the driver side. The left side of my body was crushed and that was that.

Shaking my head from the memory I decided to bite the bullet and brought up the website for the commercial. Worst case I would be turned away and there would be nothing to it. Looking over the site, it seemed rather strange to look at. The whole page was just a single black color with white lettering. It just had one word on the whole page,

"Apply."

Chuckling nervously I took a breath and pressed the button. Then, nothing. That was it. I just pressed the button and it did nothing. Letting out the breath I laughed at myself. Maybe it was just a hoax or prank or something. And pressing apply just activated a clicker to keep track of all the stupid people who pressed it.

The rest of the day passed by in quick succession. I took care of my personal needs. Walked on the treadmill, ate and just relaxed on the couch, and then checked email. As I scrolled through the myriad of ads and spam, one stood out. It just had the subject head of "Approved" and the message preview showed just a time, date, and location.

"Ok. This is not creepy at all. Maybe I should not be going to the creepy random address sent to me by a stranger after clicking a creepy button on a creepy fake website." I nodded and closed the screen. It took me all of two minutes before I was back and looking up the address from the email.

The search brought up the picture of a grey building located on a government owned plot of land surrounded by electric fences, turret emplacements and power armored guards.

"Yep this was a bad idea." I took a breath and checked the date and time again. Tomorrow just before noon. Actually the tome was odd because it read 11:57.

It wasn't even a proper hour. Throwing my arms up in defeat I decided to go and expected to be turned away. Or shot. Shot was a valid option as well.

The day passed and night fell only for day to come again. Breakfast was skipped but cleaning was a must and before too long I was arriving on location at 11:50. A full seven minutes ahead of schedule. A grin formed for just a moment and was gone the next as I approached a guard. The armored individual spotted me before I was more than 200 yards from them and stopped me.

"State your business!" The voice was defused but still male and rather angry. A beam rifle rose to his shoulder and pointed at me. My hands flashed up in defence.

"I am here for the job. The one from the commercial with the man under the lightbulb."

The man did not respond for a moment but eventually he lowered the rifle and escorted me past the gate. Inside the gates was a sparse wasteland of a landscape.

Do not get me wrong, there was a concrete path from the gate that led to the building. Grass filled in the rest of the ground, but that was it. Just the building and fences. No kind of descriptive detail anywhere beyond the gate.

Inside the building was just as bad.

It reminded me of those old tv shows where the government buildings were places of depression and oppression. I gulped a bit internally as I was led to a conference room and saw a nice looking young woman about my age, sitting at the table.

She wore a tasteful work pantsuit with heels. Her brown hair cut in a bob and outlined her freckled face. A pair of thin glasses rested on her nose as she looked up from papers to stare at me.

"You must be Nathan. I am your interviewer Samantha. I see you applied for the Andros Program. You meet the requirements of intelligence but tell me. Why do you want this job? What makes you different from other people?"

To say that I was momentarily stunned would be an understatement. I had no idea what she was talking about and felt like I was in way over my head.

"I am sorry ma'am but I have no idea what program you are talking about. The website only had an apply button and nothing else. There was not any info about whatever job this is."

Samantha smiled a bit and focused on me more. "No, you are correct. I forget you had no briefing. Most who applied were internal and even then they did not know. Alright then. Let me explain. This is the Andros Program. Long story short, Earth is getting crowded and we need more room. This program is meant to find or create more real estate. This means we will be sending you to space."

She stopped speaking and looked me over. I noticed her eyes focused on my left arm and then my face. I knew my mouth was just hanging open as I felt my mouth snap shut when I tried to say something.

"Space? Like for real going to the stars?" She smiled again and nodded.

"Besides the high intelligence we need people that can function with solitary confinement. You are going to be alone out there. So if I approve you, there will be many hard tests meant to push you mentally. Are you willing to move forward in this process?"

I did not hesitate and nearly shouted my agreement. "Yes! Please. What do I have to do next?" Standing, Samantha moved from the table and looked me in the eyes. "Pass." She offered a paper and a pen. "Sign on the X and we will move forward."

I smiled and took both, signing my life away to the program.