The Nexus

Chapter 1: Awakening

Jacob awoke with a pounding headache. He was disoriented, unaware of what just happened. As his blurred vision cleared, it all began to come back to him. It all happened so fast. As if in a second, the UEG Roosevelt had been caught in an anomaly. A gravitational pull in what was supposed to be the middle of nowhere, if that makes any sense. The pull knocked him unconscious the moment the ship shuttered. Now he was awake. Light headed, but awake. His first instinct was to loosen his safety gear that kept him in his seat. His first mistake, as he quickly fell upwards from his seat onto the ceiling. It was then he discovered he had been on what is now his ceiling. The ship must have been brought upside down, or perhaps the gravity system had malfunctioned and flipped on the bridge. He would have to find the solution. Being on the ceiling wasn't the most fun he's had so far.

It was soon revealed to him that the second option was correct. In his search to activate the secondary power generator for the bridges independent systems, he found a miraculously still active terminal, that worked parallel with that of another terminal on the floor. The gravity controls. The screen was damaged, but for the most part the machine was still in working condition. The gravity must have accidently reversed during the crash. As he went to return the gravity to normal, he felt something on the screen. It was rather wet, but unlike water. This stuck to his gloved fingertip like some sort of gel. This rather disturbed Jacob. There was no such substance he was aware of that this could have been. Nothing he can begin to guess, at least. He endured the gel, bracing himself as he returned the bridges gravity to normal. He suddenly fell to the ground, just like he had when he got on the ceiling. He landed on a chair on the which would have potentially killed him had he not landed on his back. While the pain was excruciating, his uniforms low grade exoskeleton was miraculously enough to keep his spine intact. As yelped in pain, groaning as he slowly got back to his feet, using the console as support. He slowly approached the lower deck of the bridge to search for the back up generator.

He knew the layout of the bridge well enough to find the generator as soon as he got down the stairs. He stepped on the floor. More of that gel, he thought, as he found it considerably sticky in some random spots. It only fueled his fear of what he would find once he activated the generator, as well as his curiosity. He soon found the generator at the far end of the deck. He struggled to pull down the heavy duty switch, but managed. Sparks flew for a second, making him uncertain if the generator would work, but after seconds of sparks, the backup generator hummed to life behind the wall. The lights activated, and the sight was a horror.

The deck was badly torn apart, as if there had been a struggle. Substances mixed together, many of which he could not identify. The ones he could identify only spooked him further. Water and fuel were expected but- he was horrified. Appalled of the sight, he nearly vomited. He knew it smelled funny in here. Blood. There was definitely a struggle here. To keep himself from panicking, he quickly vacated the deck. The upper deck wasn't much better, though. As terrified as he was, he was confused. With the blood he found on the decks, there were no bodies. Jacob was the only one. This only brought questions to him as he searched the deck for clues. He found none. He approached the bridges exit, and took in a deep breath as he opened the heavy duty doors.

The large door split open slowly. Before Jacob was the security checkpoint. At least, what was left of it. The crash threw the whole room into a mess. The chairs, security tools, and glass were scattered across the floor. Among the mess, he found a flashlight and a taser with a single cartridge. With a heavy breath, he took the taser and cartridge under his belt, and held onto the flashlight. The light made it easy to see his breath, but little else. It was like a freezer in here. The heating system must have malfunctioned in the crash, Jacob thought. He continued forward, deeper into the Roosevelt.

Throughout the ship, he could easily see the damage. Terminals torn to shreds, tools thrown about, and on the floor, only more of those substances he found on the ship. He felt nauseous and stopped, leaning against the wall as he finally vomited. He breathed heavily to try and control himself as he slowly got back on his feet. He stumbled at first, using the walls for support, but soon, he saw something. A light. It was natural, not an artificial light from the ship. As he approached it, it quickly got warmer. It got warmer and warmer, until it became so hot he wanted to retreat back to the belly of the Roosevelt. Soon enough he reached the abyss between the dark and the light.

His eyes slowly adjusted, and he soon saw what was before him. The Roosevelt had been torn in half as it entered the gravity, and before him was a vast mesa. The land was dry, covered in orange sand. He felt dehydrated just looking at the hot desert, so he slowly retreated back to the darkness of the ship to continue searching for supplies.

It was shortly after when Jacob found a supply closet. The closet, however was locked. He wished he had an access key for the closet as he looked around for one, but to no avail. If he wanted into these supplies, he would have to pick the closet lock system. It was a relatively easy system to pick, as long as one knew what they were doing. He merely had to enter the locks emergency reset. This was designed in case the locks code was discovered to keep the closet secure. However, the manufacturer likely didn't anticipate someone resetting the lock to easily change the combination to whatever they desire. All he needed now was the locks manufacturing number, which could be found inside the lock. Luckily his exoskeleton was sufficient enough to handle this part, as he took advantage of his reinforced arm to force the locks electrical panel off, exposing the wires that connect to the lock. This part was the tricky part, as what he was looking for was behind the wires. If he unplugged any of these wires, the lock would go into shutdown, and he would lose access to the closet, since he wasn't an engineer. He carefully maneuvered his hand through the wires. His heart nearly stopped when he felt a tug. A wire was caught in his exoskeletons arm. One slight move and he could unplug this wire, so he had to think. He lifted his flashlight to assess the situation more closely. It was stuck tight. I brought the flashlight down and reached his spare hand in cautiously to try and reach the wire. He managed to gently tug the wire, trying to get it loose. It was working, but he still needed to be careful. Eventually, the wire was free, and Jacob gently pushed the wires aside. He found the number. 365572. He memorized the six digit number and slowly retracted his hand from the panel, returning to the lock. He entered the code and the panel flashed green. "Reset granted. Please enter a new combination" spoke a female's voice. He could hear that the voice had a rather inhuman tone to it, yet it was the closest to human contact Jacob has gotten on this damn ship. He entered a rather simple digit: 01-20-01. The lock flashed green once more and the closet opened.

The closet was dark, almost like a void. He turned on his flashlight and examined the closet. The lights were off, so Jacob tried the switch. It was futile. The switch did not work as he flipped it on and off. Unable to activate the lights, Jacob entered the closet, flashlight in hand. Inside were a handful of supplies; a first aid kit, two batteries, three food bars, a bottle of water, and a rope. There were other resources, but he could only carry so much, so he took what was vital. He put them in a pouch he found on the floor of the closet and took it along with him towards the bright light of the Roosevelts breach.