Abby stared quietly at her as she stood in the threshold. This was hardly the first time that she left or even the last time. It was something that Abby knew well. But it was hard for her to be anything other than disappointed. All of her plans for after dinner were going to be without her Mommy now. She could understand it and yet still remained sad.

Smiling back at her daughter and son, she tried to give them something encouraging to hold on to for her return. “We’ll do something together once I’m back. It won’t be long.”

“Promise?”

“Of course, dear. You pick something with your brother and get Daddy’s approval and we’ll do it. Alright?”

“Okay.” She gave Katlyn a small nod still having trouble with it, though in a little more positive mood.

Franklin knelt down next to them trying to get them to wave and lift up their spirits more. “Wish Mommy a safe flight.”

“…have a safe flight!”

“Thank you, I’ll be back before you know.” She smiled to them the last time and stepped out of the threshold. The door slid closed impatiently, after being held open for so long. Katlyn shifted her expression quickly pulling herself together for the job.

While she waited on the lift, she sifted through her bag. It already had been double checked, but she went over it again. Most of the contents would be unnecessary for the job. She had a medical license for physical therapy and training. Part of the equipment was the tools of the trade. It all came with her as a precaution and partly out of habit. While everything did have strict uses, she knew each well enough to know how to get different effects out them when she needed them to do something other than intended purpose. Trade secrets as it were, things learned from experience, though what others might see a gray area. Yet it was why she had so much trust with her clients and friends, she could get the results needed.

Everything was in order and her flight remained on time. As she rode the hover train to the port, she monitored the time on her flight. She had twenty minutes before her flight and it was ten minutes out from landing. It would remain on time, she had no doubt about it. It’d be strange if something wasn’t on schedule.

The 3674 city port remained bustling even at the evening hours. Most that packed the busy terminal, which ferried out hundreds of thousands every day, were businessmen and women at this hour. Just like she knew with Jack, work didn’t stop just because technology made their lives easier. In fact, it almost seemed worse because there were so many conveniences now. So it was faster and easier to move and finish things. More could be done and so people worked harder to keep progress moving at a break neck pace. Life was anything, but slow. Though she forced herself to slow down even while the world around her kept sprinting.

“Flight C3952 to City 3509 confirmed,” spoke the young man’s computer generated voice, “Please lift your carry-on to the scanner.” Holographic directions appeared out in front of the computer terminal directing new or inexperienced fliers to the procedures. They weren’t something that she could waive, but she could skip things by forcing the scan. Once completed all of the directions disappeared. “Thank you, Miss Mills. Please have a safe flight.”

Granted access into the hundreds of gates that made up the planetary status port, Katlyn sat down on a waiting hover taxi. The building was made up of multiple wings and buildings in a large complex that couldn’t be navigated on foot with any reasonable amount of time. Her flight was docked and finishing the cleaning routines now. It was going to be open in five minutes and it would take nearly an hour on foot if she tried. Thankfully, the internal taxi could make it less than ten.

Eleven minutes almost to the dot, she could sit down in her seat, already half packed with four minutes remaining before the flight left. A countdown ran digitally down the aisle in several places reminding the passengers of the schedule.

It was going to be a busy flight for her. The rest of her row was filled out quickly and the transport hit the full capacity of a hundred just as the countdown hit zero. Even while people shuffled around to find their seat, the engines kicked on. The sound dampeners kept the engines to a low whisper that sounded more like wind blowing by than lift. Only the fact that the perspective changed out the window could it really be told that the transport was moving.

Like Katlyn, frequent fliers had developed a special skill to be able to detect the very subtle changes. She knew when it moved, though any test and machine would say that there was nothing that they could feel. The logically bound computer would say it was just a figment of their imagination crafted by visual cues they are subconsciously picking up from the windows. However, she knew better. Machines still had a ways to go before they could comprehend the complexities of the human mind, even if they were technically already superior to humans now.

The countdown for the arrival at 3509 replaced the zero’d out display with a time of thirty-four minutes and twenty five seconds.

Everything would be fine.

That’s what she thought. What everyone thought.

The last recording from the 3509 city transponder came two minutes and forty-seven seconds in the flight. A massive flash of white and green light lit up the night sky completely blinding everyone temporary. The force dampeners could not fully keep up with the sudden strange turbulent force that struck the transport.

Screams, shouts and panicked cries flew throughout the cabin of the transport. Nothing like this had ever happened. No one knew what was happening. Two people still standing talking at the time were tossed into the ceiling from the rocking and collapsed to the carpeted floor unmoving with blood dripping down their foreheads.

The internal lights flickered and disappeared throwing the whole chamber into darkness with only the blinding light from outside to give them false comfort.

Everything stopped.

The shaking was gone and the lights started back up. The blinding light disappeared. Everyone sighed with relief that it was over. Yet that was too soon to hope. Red warning lights threw up on the screens as well as holographic displays. New turbulence kicked up tossing everyone around.

Almost no one was belted into the seats, including Katlyn. The force that shook the transport ripped people out of their chairs and threw them around the cabin unable to keep themselves supported. She smashed her head against someone else that she couldn’t see before she blacked out.

Day 1 – Zero Hour

On this day everything changed in Alouria.