BLACK WOLF
STARDATE 02.21.23
YESTERDAY GALAXY
Captain Lupinus entered the Bridge, annoyed at having been summoned at an inconvenient moment. He took his command chair and stared at the view screen. A gigantic whirling anomaly was before him. Talbot was speechless as he stared into its brilliant depths.
“Report.”
Morduug, the Blind Gazer Science Officer answered quickly. “A wormhole, Captain. One that leads from our current location to the Yesterday Galaxy.”
Captain Lupinus was confused. He turned and looked at his Science Officer. Morduug stared back at him with white, blind eyes.
“What do you mean, to the Yesterday Galaxy? We are already in the Yesterday Galaxy, Morduug.”
Morduug paused before answering. The entire Bridge Crew seemed to be waiting for his next words.
“Talbot, it is a Temporal Wormhole. It leads to our past. But it will not remain stable for long. You must make a decision immediately.”
Again, Captain Lupinus was confused. He always seemed to be a step behind and it was beginning to get frustrating. Perhaps it was because he was being forced to deal with a situation he really didn’t want to deal with at the moment.
“What decision, Morduug?”
“Whether to take the Black Wolf into the Anomaly in order to travel to our past.”
Talbot stroked his black goatee. He wished that Mother Bethany was here to consult, but she was sleeping back in his quarters. He would have to make this decision alone.
A black spider slowly crept up Captain Lupinus’ back and onto his shoulder. It was Animus, his Changeling Advisor and Personal Guard. Changelings can take any form except humanoid.
“INDOMITUS cannot be stopped in this era, Captain, you know that. The machine has advanced too far. Even now, every empire in the Yesterday Galaxy has had its borders penetrated by the inhuman A.I. Our current struggle is only delaying the inevitable. But in the past, INDOMITUS is still young, still growing, still learning. If we are going to stop it, prevent it from becoming this ever expanding monstrosity, we must do it in the past, not here. You know what you have to do, Talbot.”
Animus was rarely mistaken and he was right once again. Animus always saw things that Talbot had difficulty recognizing. But leaving this current time meant abandoning the Commonwealth and the Opposition. How could Talbot do that? And yet, deep inside, Captain Lupinus knew that Animus was correct. Here, the Black Wolf would only make a minor difference. But in the past, with its advanced weaponry, the Black Wolf could become a powerful force. The Commonwealth of the past could be convinced of the threat that INDOMITUS would become and then take steps to prevent it. Other empires in the Yesterday Galaxy could be convinced as well. Nothing was for certain, but the odds of making a difference and saving lives was far better in the past than it was in the present.
The Bridge Crew waited for Captain Lupinus’ command.
“TAKE US INTO THE WORMHOLE.”
