A little jaunt

[Moira Morley]

The drive home was long and somber. Moira collected her thoughts. She was about to go into space. Not just space, a whole other world. The floating intangible man even said there might be time for a visit to other places. This was all and good, but what about the lifeless body floating in space now? The one that had impregnated her mind with thoughts that she didn't understand?

By the time she got home it seemed Dark Star wasn't there. She sighed and left the hiking supplies in the car. Walking up to the door, she wondered if he had even been there. Maybe an hour was too long of a wait. When she opened the door she saw the answer to her question floating in her living room. She gasped, "Jesus! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Taking a deep breath, she calmed down, "Hopefully I didn't keep you waiting for long." Looking around she sighed, "Well, I would be polite and offer you some amenities but it seems I didn't stock the house for a ghost." She paused, "Not that you're a ghost... are you?"

She shrugged as she walked toward her closet, beckoning him to follow her,"Is there anything I need to pack?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star chuckled at her surprise. "I did no such thing! I was waiting in plain sight, not concealed at all!" His form didn't exactly allow for facial expression, or show it at least. He'd gotten used to using his voice and eyes to convey unspoken communication, like his mild amusement. "Not a problem. I tend to travel rather fast, comparitively. All's well. I choose to wait in here since I didn't want anyone else to notice you had some...super connection. I didn't know if you kept a secret identity or the like and decided er on the side of caution."

Another chuckle. "No, I'm not a ghost though that's not the first time I've been called something similar." He shrugged. "Technically I was once a regular human being. Now, I'm a gravitic energy being who can occassionly become human again. Just not easily or quickly. Maybe someday but..." He just let it hang there with a shrug. He did miss being in physical contact with people. It certianly made dating rathing difficult. But he'd gotten used to it; mostly. Maybe someday, he mused to himself. "Basically, I'm a living dark star. A previously thought-to-be theoretical star that, due to being slightly out of phase and along with the energy patterns produced, make it completely concealed from us while still producing the gravity, energy and radiation most stars create." He paused and chuckled. "Sorry about that. Once upon a time, I was a scientist."

"Hmm. Well, since you don't need to eat or drink, that takes care of that. A set of clothes you're comfortable in I suppose. It's almost a full day round trip. More if we get sidetracked. But given your immunities, there's nothing essential you need. All that's left is personal preference I suppose." He smiled inswardly at his rather rambling words. While he wasn't a total hermit and had chatted with people and aliens semi-regularly, long period of solitary exploration had made him a little chatty when he wasn't paying attention.

[Moira Morley]

Moira reached into the hall closet and grabbed a suitcase and made her way to the bedroom as Dark Star talked. She didn't want to seem rude by interupting. It was actually clean in here for a change. Stephanie must have been in a good mood. She wasn't there, another good sign that something wonderful had happened.

Nodding to his suggestions, she made her way to the closet. She packed suits of various styles and for different weathers. Swimwear, coldwear, sleepwear, and casual wear; just because she didn't feel the weather conditions, that didn't mean she couldn't feel comfortable.

Leaving the packed suitcase in the bedroom, Moira beckoned Dark Star as she scooted down the hall to the bathroom. "I'm sorry for being so quiet. Just trying to get ready is all," she said getting a toiletries bag from under the sink. Packing it with the requesite soap, toothpaste, deoderant, hygene products, and other utensils. She was prepared.

Walking back to the bedroom she stacked the bag full of cleaning products on top of the suit case, "And that should be it!"

[Cyroa]

"No problem." He watched her pack a suitcase with a smile. It was such a mundane things for a person to do when going on vacation. Of course, this little vacation was heading off into space. Still, it reminded of what being home on Earth was like.

He nodded with a smile. "Sounds good to me. It'll be like camping under the stars. Just from a different planet. Alright then. If you're ready, let get going."

He followed her out to the back. He waited until she was ready, then with a nod, gently grabbed hold of her with a telekinetic grip. With a flash, they ascended to the 100 mile orbit mark in mere seconds, hopefully moving so fast that no one in her neighborhood would see anything. Once they were in space, he did a quick tour of the solar system, just hopping though the empty space in moments, since it was her first trip off planet. All the heavenly bodies circling the sun deserved a good look. Each was amazing in its own right.

[Moira Morley]

Moira tried to hold in the scream. It was like the best rollercoaster ever. She let it out by the time they were away from the city enough where no one would hear it.

When they finally reached space she had calmed down. It was unreal. She marveled at the heavenly bodies. Sure she had read about them in school and even seen them in movies, but it was totally different in real life. She even wondered if it was true that no one can hear you in space. "Dark Star?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star loved flying through space. It was like nothing else. The freedom, the enormity, the beauty. He loved being on planets and cared for people a great deal. But space felt more like home to him. It was more than he could put into words.

He flew them back in a moment, hovering near the rings of Saturn. It was a great view. He kept Divine in his gravitic grip and looked over. "Yes Divine?"

[Moira Morley]

Moira wiggled around giddily as much as she could in the telekinetic grip without falling out of it. "That was awesome!" Looking around, she relaxed at bit, "So this is what it's like up here? Not bad! This is like those Star Trek shows without the ship and the aliens." She trailed off on that last word as reality snapped her back to the reason she was there. With a glum tone she asked, "How long until we get there?"

[Cyroa]

He chuckled. "Yes, though there are quite a few system that are more spectacular than this. But one's home always has a special place." He did laugh at that. "Well, those aliens and ships? They're out there. Some actually look remarkably human. Others...not so much."

He paused in thought. "Well, straight shot? It's hundreds of lightyears from here. Roughly...9 hours or so, one way. Was just letting you see Sol's system before we got started."

[Moira Morley]

"It's all very nice," Moira smiled half-heartedly, "but I gotta chunk of alien brain in me that's digging to get out poste haste."

"Have you ever been to any of the other planets," she asked after a few quiet seconds of quietly marveling, "I mean science fiction makes them look so fun."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded. "Of course. My apologies. I was just letting you have a look." He turned and, in a flash, they had left the system traveling over a million times faster than the speed of light. The stars, planets and celestial phenomena blurred by as they accelerated towards the distant worlds.

He nodded as they streamed through space. "I've been to dozens, hundreds. I've lost count actually. There was always more to see; something I've never seen before was always just down the way." He smiled. "I loved it. I was doing it for almost 20 years before I realized how much time had passed. It's great out here."

He paused though. "It isn't always fun. There's a lot of great thing s out here. And a lot of bad ones. There are some good and just as many, if not more, 'bad' ones. I don't like to make broad judgments, but there are some dark places out here besides just the beautiful ones."

[Moira Morley]

Moira nodded along as she listened to Dark Star's explanations. Maybe we could stop at one of those good planets, she thought, I'm sure there's a lot to learn from this trip.

"Hey, Dark Star," she asked sweetly, "can you slow down for a moment?"

Dark Star did as she asked.

Moira smiled as she took in the sights of deep space. "I was wondering," she paused, "if we could stop at one of these planets? You know, we could take a bit of a breather before we get down to business?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star paused, letting them hang there in the depth of space, nothing for lightyears in any direction. Being out there made you realize how small you really were. But it didn't excuse your from trying...

He mentally shook his head and focused on the divine Divine floating amongst the various heavily bodies. He chuckled at the poetry in the thought before nodding. "Before? If you like. I thought you were in a rush to get there and get this resolved. We could stop at one one of a dozen worlds all within ten or so hours of travel. There are Paradise worlds; places of picturesque beauty and peace without a single dangerous or hostile creature on them, not that it would bother us any regardless. There are others with races that are equally as welcome and fascinating. Whatever you'd like really. I haven't traveled to every system, no by a long shot, but I know more than most out here. I'm more of a tour guide here, helping you see the sights," he added with a grin. "We can go now or after. Up to you."

[Moira Morley]

How selfish of me, Moira thought with a mental sigh, We have all the time in the world after the work gets done. "Yeah, I probably didn't mean that last part," she said with a weary smile to her pilot, "There's too much on my mind. Namely the alien. It's like my head and it are fighting to do what they want." She paused, "Let's get the business over with first. Then we can enjoy ourselves."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded and chuckled lightly. "Perfectly understandable. A lot to take in all at once." Once again they shot off, traveling millions of times faster than the speed of light. Star, systems, nebula simply blew by as they raced for their destination. Hours passed as they flew along, closing in on the desired system.

They were almost to their destination when Dark Star heard a distress call. It stated how the ship's power was failing and life support was down as well. He immediately began to slow, angling their flight. "We need to stop; I just heard a distress call. We'll check it out and then head back on our way as soon as we can. It's pretty much in line anyway."

They slowed to normal speeds. Ahead in the distance, they could see a large space vessel, sitting dark in space. Behind it, a small cloud of vapor trailed behind.

[Moira Morley]

Moira nodded as she was at the mercy of her pilot. This was the second spaceship she'd personally seen in her life. Heck if she were lucky enough, she could have her own. She made a mental note to find an inventor when she was home.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star brought them in closer to the leaking vessel. When they were only a few miles away, he paused as scanners reached out from the vessel, running over them briefly. Dark Star looked over his companion. "Seems they have some power...Not getting any replies though," he said as he tried contacting them.

He blinked as he felt an energy buildup in the vessel. There was a tingling and a flash and suddenly both Dark Star and Divine disappeared from the blackness of space. The two heroes blinked as the lights faded. They materialized inside a large metallic looking hangar bay of some kind... There were several smaller vessels, like fighter jets, in bays along one side. No one else seemed to be present for the moment.

"We've been teleported. Not sure to where. Probably aboard the vessel?"