3: A New Planet

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"…and so it is with great sadness that we announce the disappearance of Sir Edward M. Bentham last Friday, 10:27 PM Galactic Time. The space cruiser in which he was in has suddenly encountered the first ever wormhole discovered by man. We have reason to believe that he is still alive and we will do everything we can to rescue him."

-Official Statement from the President of the BRC, Agatha Quinn.

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Meanwhile, in the middle of space, a space cruiser is floating around aimlessly.

"urrrrggggghhhh" Edward struggled to keep his head up while sitting on the cockpit. "Core! Analyze my physical status!"

[SCANNING…]

[EDWARD BENTHAM

PHYSICAL STATUS : OK]

"Wow, that's so detailed" Edward sarcastically said rolling his eyes at the vague analysis. "What is the status of the ship? Can we secure communication back home?"

[SPACE CRUISER:1153PXC VVIP CLASS

STATUS: HEAVY DAMAGES ON PROTECTIVE SKELETON

: SHIELDS ARE AT 20% EFFECTIVITY

: ALL COMMUNICATIONS ARE OFFLINE

: 53% OF WEAPONS ARE STILL ONLINE

: SINK IS STILL LEAKING]

"Oh screw that sink!" Edward said frustratingly. His voice rather high.

"Wait a minute. Why is my voice so high?" he thought. "Core, get me a mirror."

[CERTAINLY SIR]

A mirror suddenly appeared in front of Bentham.

"What the Heck!!!" he shouted. 'I look young! This is impossible! Did I time travel?…'

"Core, what happened to me? Why have I become young? Did the wormhole also reverse my age?"

[OF COURSE NOT, ARE YOU MAD? I JUST ACTIVATED PROTOCOL 6733P.

UNDER PROTOCOL 6733P, WHEN THERE IS GRAVE DANGER PRESENTED TO YOUR BODY, I AM TO IMMEDIATELY EXTRACT YOUR BRAIN AND TRANSFER IT TO A SPARE VESSEL ABOARD THE SHIP. IT WAS YOU WHO PROGRAMMED ME THIS WAY]

"Hey, don't just go crushing my fantasies like that. And anyway, didn't I say that I didn't want a new body? Why did you transfer my brain?" he asked.

[IT IS YOU WHO SAID THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO DIE IN THE WORMHOLE. THEREFORE, I LOGICALLY MADE SURE THAT YOU SURVIVED THE WORMHOLE BY TRANSFERRING YOUR BRAIN TO A STRONGER VESSEL.]

[ANYWAY, THAT BODY YOU ARE IN IS THE ONLY BODY I HAVE BROUGHT IN THIS SHIP. SO BE CAREFUL WITH IT]

"Alright Alright, I got it." Edward said nonchalantly. "Anyways, can you secure our location? Where are we right now?"

[SCANNING LOCATION… 1%....3%...]

"Well, this is going to take some time… might as well repair the ship." Edward thought while grabbing a few tools as he started to dismantle the cockpit.

A few hours later...

[SCANNING COMPLETE!]

Core announced. Edward stopped what he was doing and went to the navigational room to look at his location.

When the results came up, Edward was absolutely flabbergasted.

"Holy Shit!" he exclaimed while staring at the map screen. "We are 973 BILLION light years away from the Milky Way? Oh this is hopeless..."

Edward was dejected. 'Am I going to spend the rest of my life floating in space? I don't even have enough food to last me for a month... I am going to die here'

[SIR, I HAVE DETECTED A GALAXY NOT TOO FAR FROM HERE. WITH WHAT FUEL RESERVES WE HAVE, WE CAN STILL MAKE IT TO ONE OF THE PLANETS THERE]

"Might as well try... I hope there is a planet with some animals at least. The last couple of planets we colonized a few years ago was only full of water and plankton..." he thought