Lost in Space - Europa

Walternate Universe Beta-2

“How did you get here? What’s your Alpha designation?”
“R-O-O-92” I replied to a council of five behind a desk
“R-O-O is not an Alpha designation” one of them replied
“How did you get that brace?” another one inquired

“I was brought to a citadel in Alpha 1”, I began to explain
Recounting the last nine parallel universes I’d been through
“My brace was damaged during a car crash
And I left my daughter alone in the cold on a bridge on Earth!”

“R-O-O” I heard some from behind me from others behind me
“They’re almost primates” another voice tried to whisper
“We’ve almost landed on Mars” I said trying to shut them up
But upon hearing this many behind me began to laugh

“Quiet” the woman in the middle of the council members shouted
“Obviously the Alpha verse has been conducting many operations
And they’ve put someone with little to no knowledge on duty
To travel and traverse through many parallel universes”

“We only use wormholes here to send important communication
And travel across great distances whenever necessary
One of our engineers here can help you repair your portal device
After all, you have not been the first one to drop by unexpected”

“This is a research facility, one of six stations on this moon
We also have others but that’s no concern to you
We’ll see that you’re back on Earth and in your universe
In less than” she looked at her watch “21 Earth hours”

I sat in a room, tired but otherwise curious to see
Looking at the terrain outside the window as ships flew by
Then admiring the gas giant in the distance
It was like a surreal dream I couldn’t believe my eyes

I could see different satellites orbiting in the darkness
Wishing I could know more about this parallel universe
But my “primitive ways” seemed like they were unworthy
To gain a little knowledge for my world if not for myself

Three young men came in their suits with the brace
One said “This is Dr. Love and Dr. Liston
They’re both from Earth and I’m Dr. Rivers, from Mars”

“You were born in Mars?” I asked in awe
“How many doctorates do you have?” one of them asked
“Well, I, uh, I don’t, I only have a bachelors in Finance”

We stayed quiet for a second until Liston showed me the brace
“Alpha’s coding is different than Beta’s
They like to have more control but I made all the repairs
And some mods”

“What mods?” Love asked
“Making the wormholes closer so that they’re instantaneous again”
“Don’t teleport him into a supernova, or a black hole, or worse”
“What could be worse than a black hole?” I asked

“Titan” they all said. “Those guys are a-holes” Love added
“Total a-holes” Liston said
Total a-holes, those Titans” Rivers added
“Titan? As in the Saturn’s moon?” I asked
“Yep” Rivers said. “There are many research facilities in these moons”

A few hours later after I’d eaten my first space meal
The three came back to say goodbye
The wormhole this time was going to take me back to Alpha Earth

They walked me back to the main hanger of their facility
As I looked at Jupiter taking one last Europan breath
I stepped through and when I came out the other side
It was a chamber similar to the one I just left

But when I looked up I saw Saturn and its rings
Those a-holes sent me to Titan…

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