Flicker of Light, page 1.

[Her Royal Highness Starslyder]

A sudden flicker of light imposes itself upon the field of darkness in which she was immersed, cutting short her baptism into the  great, silent black.  It was a particular area of interest now, the spot on the horizon, had there been a horizon, where the spark had hinted of ... something, promising nothing.  Still she watched it.  Intently.  Drawn to the center, for now that is what she considered it to have been.  The only. 

 

As the seconds ticked by in an obedient march the flicker did not reappear.  The ink of solitude and silence blurred her bearing on the spot that produced the light.  Her mind began to make it's attempts to rekindle what she had seen, failing, save for diffuse circles of muted blues and reds.  And then blackness again.  

 

Her Universe, without stars.  

 

She would not waver from her heading now.   If she was yet an entity capable of such, her eye would capture again the flicker.  

[Her Royal Highness Starslyder]

Page 2 

 

Confident that the bow of her vessel was aimed at the blue-on-black smudge on her vision field, she locked in the coordinates.  

 

She prefers Star point navigation.  

 

How did did she end up in Star-less space?

 

As if a sun itself was the caster of shadows.  Or was she blind.  No, she shook her head and wiped at her eyes again.  The amber craft console lights pulsed as per norm.  It was out there, not in here, not in her head.   

 

Resting back in the solitary Captain’s chair, she felt around next to her for the protein bar opened earlier. Before the Flicker of Light had redirected her thoughts.  

 

For now now she did not think to glance toward the emergency eject button safety release.  

 

 

 

 

[Her Royal Highness Starslyder]

Page 3

 

Fuel 27%.  Still a good bit.  No real sense in changing direction now.  She trained her eyes on the point in space that refused to flicker again.   The rest of the field of starless black threatened and tempted her.   She only wanted to see something exactly where she was looking.   An alternate choice would only waste her fuel.  

 

After a few calculations, speed adjusted down 8%.  Maximum drift time once the fuel is gone.  

 

Optimistic.  Her mind did drift to the eject button, her eyes did not.

[Her Royal Highness Starslyder]

Page 4

 

Distinctly, feels the fall.  Dumped into her chair by a flux in gravity... or jerked awake suddenly.   She reaches to a chilled area on her chin and wipes away a significant amount of drool.  Nope, wasn't gravity issues.  

 

A moment to re-orient to date, time, place, situation.  

 

Sigh.  19% fuel left, a hearty chunk of sleep indeed.  Standing, she began working the kinks and sore areas of her frame that had been assaulted by what could barely pass as furniture. The manual even advised turning gravity off and using the securing hooks on either the port or starboard sides of the ship, for sleeping. 

 

She preferred the gravity however, often the floor would do as well as the chair.

 

Heading unchanged.  Resume searching for more.... light? Star, flicker, glow, wtf ever. 

 

Ship?

  

[Her Royal Highness Starslyder]

page 5.

 

Ship?

 

Ship!?  Crap.. a ship. That... is not a star. Stars don't do what THAT thing is doing.  

 

Ship..  the four letter word kept repeating itself in her head, obtrusive.  A small green indicator light on her vitals monitor switched to yellow and began blinking at a considerably faster rate.  The blinking was annoying.

 

Ship-ship-ship-ship...   she fumbled for the communication panel and swiveled it toward her while lowering it at the same time.  Wiping the extra moisture from her eyes to get a clear view, she found the signal button marked "Flag" and depressed it.  Beeping in various patterns began, implying messages were being sent.  The beeping patterns repeated. 

 

Oh .. 

 

wait..   wait... what if...

 

There didn't seem to be a cancel button.