"Look, mom! You can see Rocket Tower Plaza! It looks so small from here."
"Yes, honey. We are very high above it right now."
Alert : Passenger request to descend
"Oh now it's getting bigger! But I don't want to go down!"
Alert : Passenger request to ascend
"I'd rather we stayed a little closer to the ground, my child."
Alert : Passenger request to descend
"I want to go up! Up! Up! Up!"
Alert : Passenger request to ascend
Alert : Passenger request to ascend
Alert : Passenger request to ascend
"Why aren't we going higher! I want to go higher!"
"Captain Murdock here - hello, friends! Apologies but we have reached maximum altitude for the Astro Orbiters. Please enjoy the rest of the flight and remain seated until we have come to a complete stop on the landing pad. Thanks!"
"Did you hear that? Just enjoy the view, my child."
Alert : Passenger request to descend
Captain Tor Murdock had been piloting his Astro Orbiter, The Global Clipper, for the greater part of fifteen rotations now. This far outpaced the usual upper end of five rotations for Orbiter pilots, who tended to move on to piloting space freighters or other galaxy-spanning ships. Murdock's career actually traversed the opposite path. He spent ten rotations with the Tomorrowland Exploratory Force, working his way from flying XV-5s on escort missions to Captain of the LoP Galaxy Clipper running special assignments across the sector. Murdock settled in Tomorrowland after his first tour and took up flying the Astro Orbiters in their consistent circular path over Metropolis. This flight was largely a tourist attraction for the last century, but before that the ships had served a variety of other purposes. The history was a little hazy, even by Tomorrowland standards.
"Just the regular maintenance routine, thanks." Murdock patted the mechanic droid on its rusted titanium shell as he walked toward the pilots lounge.
The lounge was an extremely long elevator ride down from the main flight deck. It wasn't a far distance, it was just this elevator pre-dated hyper-lift technology by maybe a thousand rotations. The Orbiters flight deck also didn't come close to seeing the budget Star Port 75 received.
"Murdock!" called a pale green tentacled being from the finally opened elevator.
"Hello, Gabe." Murdock answered.
Gabe was a Jovian who was second only to Murdock in tenure with the Orbiters. His long tentacles and aerodynamic head were perfect for travelling the gas currents on Jupiter but gave him a bouncy, cartoony walk here in Tomorrowland. Everyone was also pretty sure his name wasn't Gabe, but that's what he went by.
"You alright? Tourists take you for a spin too many?" Gabe asked Murdock as he made space in the elevator.
"Nothing I haven't seen before." Murdock said as he pressed the button and scanned his finger for the pilots lounge.
"You know I'm glad I caught you, I wanted to tell you something, Murdock."
"What's up, Gabe?"
"I...well...I wanted to let you know I'll be leaving the Orbiters. I've been offered a pilots gig with the Cosmic Commuter. Jupiter Line. I couldn't say no."
"We'll miss you, buddy. It's been an honor to fly with you." Murdock said offering the Jovian a hand.
Gabe wrapped up Murdock in a hug of tentacles.
The elevator dinged.
"Saved by the bell." Murdock muttered as Gabe released him.
"See you around, Captain!" waved Gabe goodbye as Murdock stepped out and the doors closed.
Murdock walked into the pilots lounge and found a number of pilots gathered around a table, just off-center of the main counter where food & beverage could be ordered from server droids. Outdated copies of the Robo-Newz and Yew Nork Times sat on a rolling cart with boxes of cups for caf stacked underneath.
"...and only one pilot has ever made it back to tell the tale."
The group at the table all hung on the reveal from the pilot crouched over the table. One foot up on a folding chair.
"They say the sight of the sun reflecting off of the crystals blinded him. He never flew again."
"Then how did he get back home to tell the story?" Murdock asked the storyteller as he walked in.
"He uh, autopilot!" answered the pilot.
"Leave the rookie alone, Gallagher. No need to fill up his head with all that nonsense." Murdock patted the back of Gallagher as he went up to take a seat at the counter.
"We always tell the story! And I kind of think it might actually be true. You saw all that Great Illumination stuff in the Robo-Newz." Gallagher pleaded.
"Sandwich of the day and an Astrofizz, please." Murdock asked as a server droid whirled to work.
The rookie approached and joined Murdock on the stool next to him.
"Captain Murdock, it's nice to finally meet you. I am Kynth, just made it up yesterday from Progress Tech."
"Elevator took that long?" Murdock chuckled to himself.
"No sir, TTA Red Line was down for several hours in the morning. Someone dropped a rope onto the track again. Unbelievable." Kynth said very seriously. "Is it true? What Gallagher was saying?"
"Kynth, I have been flying in and out of Tomorrowland for a zillion rotations. If there was some old Martian tech floating over us I think I would've hit it by now."
"But if it's really hidden, and the Orbiters can reveal it..." Kynth trailed off.
Murdock took a sip of Astrofizz and turned toward the rookie.
"Spend about a hundred hours up in your Orbiter and tell me that thing is still capable of flying in more than a circle." Murdock left a credit chip on the counter and started walking back toward the elevator.
"Captain Murdock - I think you're wrong. I think it's up there. Has anyone ever tried?" called Kynth.
Murdock stepped into the elevator.
"...and remain seated please. an' stay glorp-glop, zorp!"
Murdock did his final checks and began to pull The Global Clipper away from the landing pad. This was his third hopefully uneventful flight of the day. As he approached cruising altitude he couldn't help but start to think about what the rookie had said last week. He started to examine the Clipper's console. Standard Crestline Astronautics display, modified X-S Tech solar ray detector, and the radar unit. A small box that sat above the display with a tiny holograph display. Two switches. One to power on the unit and one for some purpose he'd never learned.
Alert : Passenger request to ascend
The Captain shook his head and focused. They were already at maximum altitude. The altitude limit had been in place for Astro Orbiters for nearly one hundred rotations. The Tomorrowland Premier's office had turned down all requests to raise it. Murdock pulled back on the yoke, raising the nose of the Orbiter higher. As the ship began to climb Tor Murdock felt a rush he hadn't felt since his time with Exploratory Force. Almost on cue, the old ship began to rumble. He pushed the ship back below the limit.
Alert : Passenger request to descend
Alert : Passenger request to descend
Alert : Passenger request to descend
"Thought I might find you here."
Gabe's long head poked its way through the hatch of the Metropolis STOLport control tower roof. Murdock sat on the edge, legs over the side, watching the evening traffic from Star Port 75.
"And I thought you were leaving." Murdock replied.
"Shuttle is off tomorrow. Thought I'd get one last look." Gabe sat down next to his fellow pilot.
"Jupiter, huh? That's a nice run of the system." Murdock said still staring ahead.
"I'll get to be there for almost half of every rotation. I haven't been home in a long time. And now when I'm not home, I'll be making sure people get to theirs."
Murdock kept staring. Gabe kept talking.
"Plus, I'll get to fly one of those Warp & Weft 9400s." Gabe pointed at a ship departing Star Port 75.
"That's an Interplanetary Systems 7100. Exploratory Force cruiser." Murdock replied as the glare from the rockets reflected in his eyes.
Gabe issued him a side glance.
"Why did you leave the Force, Murdock?"
The two sat in peace, surrounded by the sound of ships cutting through the night air.
"Flying XV-5s was a dream. Just me and the stars. Running escort missions across the galaxy. Seeing planets I'd never seen before. Chasing the next big discovery. Then I started to pilot shuttles. Freighters. Finally Galaxy Clipper. The missions started to become real exploration. Anomalies. Black holes. Mapping uncharted systems. There were a lot of close calls. Some were too close. I was responsible for a lot of people. It didn't seem like the exploration was worth all the risk. I saw the Orbiters on a shore leave and made a plan to return. Fly through the known."
Gabe put a tentacle on Murdock's shoulder.
"I still think that was a Warp & Weft."
Another ship left Star Port 75 and disappeared behind the clouds.
Murdock found himself on the landing pad early that morning. The mechanic droid beeped cheerfully as it wrapped up the initial checks successfully. It clicked as its grasper extension formed a crude thumbs up.
"Global Clipper to tower - taking an early test flight this morning." Murdock relayed through his shoulder transmitter as he hopped into the cockpit.
"Affirmative, Global Clipper."
The Global Clipper lifted off the ground with ease and began the climb toward the altitude line. Just beneath the bottom of the closest clouds an orange light illuminated on the dashboard, indicating the Orbiter had reached the limit and should ascend no further.
Murdock thought about the controls on his old XV-5. The weight of momentum pulling him back as the thrusters fired. Pointing toward an unknown star with no hesitation.
He eased the yoke toward him and the Orbiter started to climb again. The light flashed red.
"Global Clipper, this is tower. You have passed the altitude limit, please descend."
"Global Clipper, respond."
Captain Murdock toggled the transmitter off and engaged the thrusters. The clouds rushed by at a pace so quick they became nothing more than a grey-white blur. As the ship entered the upper atmosphere it began to shake like a sonic excavator with a few bolts loose. Through the resistance and into the freedom of space for the first time in a long time, the Global Clipper relaxed. So did its Captain.
The stars glowed softly; a blinking signal from every corner of the galaxy. Closer by, ships traveled to and from the planet in the designated system path. He flipped on the radar with a satisfying click.
The light green display blinked a few times as it calibrated to the objects around it. The traffic in the system path seemed to check out. Slowly, the Orbiter turned and the radar continued to compensate.
Like sand falling through an hourglass the radar began to build the image of something entering the edge of Murdock's view. Something big. Out the view port he saw... nothing.
He flipped the unknown second switch on the radar and instinctively shielded his eyes.
Slowly he spread his fingers apart.
In front of him floated a massive crystalline structure. It glimmered as it took in the bright rays of the sun and sent them disassembled into infinite different directions. It wasn't blinding but it was breathtaking. The shape was similar to early Tomorrowland satellites but the materials were all wildly alien.
"I can't believe it." Murdock spoke to himself.
The dashboard of the Global Clipper began to light up as the ship started to drift back toward the planet.
Alert : Auto-Pilot Engaged. Prepare for Landing.
"You have got to be kidding me."
The doors to the elevator opened with their standard ancient rattle. Inside the pilot's lounge a group was huddled around a table reading the latest copy of the Robo-Newz.
"They're saying it could be a Martian space station! Or a weather machine!" Gallagher had the crowd at the edge of their folding chairs.
Murdock passed the crowd and sat down at the bar.
"Just caf." He instructed the server droid.
"Did you hear?" Kynth asked, taking the stool next to him. "The story was true! There was something there. They say it appeared just a few days ago!"
The caf was warm and energizing. Murdock turned toward Kynth.
"You want to go for a ride, Rookie?"