The Sky Walkers

  “Captain, I have detected a wormhole,” said Jackson. “I advise we should use it.”

  “A wormhole has too many complications. Keep on the planned route.”

  “Sir, with all due respect, we have been looking for Kepler-189 F for thirty years,” said Chloe. “This wormhole may be the only opportunity.”

  “The Odyssey-9 has been built to last a hundred years.”

  “But we aren’t,” said Chloe. “Sir, the ship is built to last to support the colony as it grows, not to wander around in space forever.”

  Captain Kruk sighed. “Jackson, prepare for worm-hole traversal.”

  “Yes!” said Jackson as the Odessy-9 leaned towards its inevitable destiny.

  The lush green grass danced beneath Captain Kurk's feet to welcome him. The breeze held the scent of smoke like back on Earth. “I must be remesing.” He laughed, and Chloe presented with the flag: An arrow-shaped Odyssey inside a star.

  “I declare this planet as Kepar 189-—” Chloe patted his shoulder. “Umm, Captain.” She nodded toward a little girl staring at them with a lollipop.

  “She looks almost human,” said Jackson.

  “She is human, Jackson.” She sat. “Hey, sweetie, what are you doing here?”

  “How is this possible?” said Captain Kurk. “Human life, here? We are supposed to be the first arrivals.”

  Soon, they began to rumble, and the girl ran away. Military cars surrounded them. All were painted in white and gold, like the Odyessey-9. A Captain in a long white coat with golden stripes approached them. He spoke in a strange language but with a softness like Chloe.

  “I am Captain Kurk, of the Odyssey,” he said after the Captain stopped talking. The Captain in white laughed. He leaned toward his sub-ordinate and whirled his finger to the side of his head.

  “I am not crazy,” said Captain Kurk with such authority that even the other Captain stood straight. He whispered something to his subordinate, and he shouted, “Jack”

  “Why are they shouting my name?” said Jackson, and Chloe shrugged her shoulders.

  A tall, pale and slender man walked before them. He had slits with green eyes. “How are you? Why are you here?” he said with a stern monotonous voice like reading a book.

  “I am Captain Kurk of the Odyessy, and this is my crew. We are from Earth and here on a mission. We come with peace.”

  "Hey, dude, why do you have my name?” said Jackson

  “It was the name my mother gave me. How did you come here?”

  “Through a wormhole,” said Captain Kurk. “We are to set—”

  “For knowledge!” said Chloe. “That’s our only goal.”

  “Chloe, what are you saying?” whispered Captain Kurk.

  “We are in un-familiar and frankly, hostile territory here."

  “Well, in that case, we’ll be happy to help you,” said Jack. “I am sure that there are many things Space Explorers like you can tell us.”

  The Captain in white said something to Jack. “Oh, and the Captain wants me to you that his name is Kurk too.”

  They stayed in a room inside a cave. Chloe spent days roaming their museums and libraries. Captain Kurk dealt with the government, while Jackson was more of a people person.

  “I must have met a thousand Jacks by now,” said Jackson one night. “It is one name of their Saints. The Sky Walkers they called them.”

  “They are not Saints,” said Chloe. “At least, not how we understand them. According to the legends, they came from the heavens containing hidden knowledge that the Gods would not grant them. They all seem to connect their lineage to them in one way or another. Every scholar here has a graph of masters connecting her to the Sky Walkers.”

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  “They seem pretty important,” said Captain Kurk. “I went back to the Odyssey to check its systems. I checked the date and….”

  “And?” said Jackson.

  “We are in the year 2400.”

  “What?” said Jackson.

  “Sit down, Jackson.”

  “Captain, we are three centuries off and you are telling me—”

  “I told you that wormholes have complexions! So, now sit down.”

  Captain Kurk sighed. “We need to figure out what to do next?”

  “If we are three centuries into the future then maybe all these, the names, the myths, I mean it's still a theory, but maybe they are all related to us. Maybe we are the Skywalkers or were if we took our original route.”

  “That’s why that guy had my name,” said Jackson.

  “Would you leave it?” said Chloe.

  “I must be pretty popular around here.”

  “And there’s one more thing,” said Captain Kurk. “This planet is not Keplar 189-f.”

  “What?”

  “It’s some unknown planet near the Andromeda galaxy. Jackson, can you get us back to our time.”

  “I think so. I need some time to gather more data.”

  “But, Captain, if we go back, we’ll break the time loop,” said Chloe. “No Skywalkers and thus no civilization.”

  “So, wait, who came first, them or us?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We can’t just wipe a civilization out of existence.”

  “Our mission is to settle a colony on Keplar 189-f and go back home. Go back to families and friends. Don’t you think we have a duty to them or the people who struggled so much to send us on this mission?”

  “But, sir, we can’t abandon these people.”

  “I won’t fail our mission nor our chance to go back home on this. I am sorry.”

  One morning as the breeze hit his moustache, Captain Kurk was reminded of home.

  “Ah, sir how are you?” said the Captain in white, Kurk from afar.

  “You speak my language?”

  “Oh, it's not so difficult. We are all taught old English in school. I did some reading and jogged my memory. Though, please mind my manners.”

  Captain Kurk grunted and went back to enjoying the air. “I have to ask sir, why come here? So far from your home?”

  “I was given a duty and I aim to fulfil it. A person is no better than an animal who doesn’t value his duty.”

  “But still, being so far from your home, don’t you miss it?”

  “I am a SpaceFarer, Kurk. Unlike some, we are never in exile. We simply move from one home to another.”

  Kurk stayed silent for a minute. “I, um, never saw that in that manner. You know, my grandfather told me something like that.”

  “Oh?”

  “He said that we are more polite than the Martians, more stern than the Mercurians and….”

  “Freer than the people of the astro belt.” He turned toward him. “It’s an old Space Farer quote.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, we have a quote similar to this.”

  “Oh.” He nodded. They both shared a smile. “I still can’t fathom leaving your home for so long.”

  Chloe walked toward them. “Yes, but we must be careful that in search of our home, we don’t take someone else’s away.”

  Captain Kurk went into deep thought. His eyes stuck on the clouds sailing in the sky. The grass danced in the wind. The wind whistled as it whirled. The odyssey-9 stood solemn in the distance. Its golden plates glittered in the sunlight. He wondered if it was worth it to sacrifice this world for his own. But he was a Space Farer. All of the universe was his home.

  “Captain?”

  “Yes.” He sighed. “You’re right.”