It was the traveler's second spaceflight, and this time he would set a record. On his first flight he became the sixth private citizen to travel into space. With this flight he'd become the first private citizen to travel into space twice.
This flight was aboard the latest model Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the TMAT-3, bound for the International Space Station. The traveler spent a two weeks with the ISS crew, performing scientific experiments and assisting the day to day operations aboard the station. The voyage thus far had gone off without a hitch. It was on the return trip that the trouble started.
It began when a burst of electromagnetic energy knocked out the spacecraft's primary power supply, disrupting telemetry, navigation and communications. Emergency life support systems kicked in almost immediately, but the craft was already flying blind.
As his two cosmonaut traveling companions frantically tried to restore power, the traveler noticed a red-orange glow beyond the circular port of the orbital module. His first thought was that the spacecraft was on fire, but he quickly dismissed this notion. Fire can't survive in the vacuum of space. Approaching apprehensively, he peered through the thick glass window; then craned his head to look up.
There was another spacecraft directly over the Soyuz on a parallel course: an enormous, alien craft covered with spiny protrusions and glistening strands of some kind of blood-red, seemingly organic substance. But again, that was impossible in the vacuum of space.
As the traveler opened his mouth to speak, a violent tremor shook the vessel. Outside, the alien spacecraft began to pulsate; the unearthly orange glow increasing in intensity with each pulse. Now the cosmonauts peered through the port as well, squinting against the light, trying to comprehend this impossible vision.
A beam of the same orange light shot forth from the nose of the alien craft and pierced the very fabric of space... bending it... warping it... opening a tunnel of light that seemed to stretch to eternity.
Whooosh! The Soyuz lurched forward, tugged by an unseen force, tumbling into the open vortex of swirling light. The traveler felt himself being stretched like an elastic band, impossibly extended and elongated... vanishing into the endless tunnel... then suddenly emerging into the blackness of unfamiliar space with an abrupt "pop."
But now the spacecraft was tumbling end over end. Struggling to the port window, he caught sight of the blue-green surface of a planet below them, growing larger with each rotation of the ship. As the craft plummeted, the shape of the continents below became clear. They were disturbingly unfamiliar.
Kaboom! An explosion rocked the vessel, tossing its three occupants across the cramped cabin. The traveler grabbed hold of a metal rung affixed to the inside of the hull to steady himself. Instinctively his eyes darted to the re-entry altimeter affixed to the wrist of his Sokol vacuum suit. They were losing altitude rapidly, and cabin pressure was already failing.
Another lurch, and a tearing sound filled the air as the hull ruptured. Gripping the metal rung tightly, he pulled himself towards the open hatch leading to the reentry module and climbed inside, pulling the cosmonauts in behind him. As the hatch sealed and the pressure inside the module equalized, he pulled himself towards the control panel, squinting at the Cyrillic characters beneath the various dials and switches, until he found what he was looking for.
The explosive bolts blew silently, and the orbital module tumbled away, already trailing sparks in the friction of the upper atmosphere. One of the cosmonauts reached for the parachute controls. It took all his strength of will to wait until the proper altitude was reached before he triggered it. The sudden deceleration tossed the three men like ragdolls, and they lost consciousness.
The solid-fuel braking engines must have fired automatically. When they awoke, the craft lay on its side, but it was intact. The explosive bolts on the escape hatch had also been triggered. Was that automatic, or did one of them somehow manage to do it in their semi-conscious state?
They stumbled out of the capsule and found themselves in a clearing surrounded by deciduous trees of unrecognizable genera. Above them, an oversized, purple moon hung in a sky filled with unfamiliar constellations.
In the life he left behind, the traveler had been a game designer, a world traveler, an undersea explorer and a citizen astronaut. Now he was a castaway stranded on an alien world. The months to come would bring about the greatest trial of his life.
That night their encampment was set upon by Treelurkers: carnivorous tree-dwelling creatures with razor sharp claws. In the ensuing battle, the three were separated, and the traveler was violently mauled by one of the larger creatures. He still carries a memento of that battle: a five inch diagonal scar from forehead to cheek.
Alone and mortally wounded, the castaway made his way to a village of sorts, populated by a race he later learned were called Foreans. They took him in and nursed him back to health. From these noble people he learned that he was not the only human being on the planet. A military settlement of Earthmen called "Foreas Base" lay to the southwest. He also learned of The Bane. This was another organized military force, a hostile force, comprised of many different alien races. The Bane had invaded this planet, and many others, and they were bent on galactic domination.
The entire galaxy... his galaxy... was in the midst of a massive interstellar war.
The Bane attack on Thoria Das came before he was fully healed. The unarmed village was overrun almost immediately. A crustacean-like race of warriors called Thrax, the chief conscripts of the Bane army, took their captives to a prison fortress called Torcastra.
The castaway and his new Forean companions were imprisoned for months. Slowly their numbers dwindled as Thrax Overseers chose victims at random and dragged them away to perform hideous experiments upon their living bodies.
But he made use of his time at Torcastra. He befriended one of the Foreans, an Elder named Randara. From Randara, he learned of the Eloh, and of Logos. Randara schooled him in the use of Logos powers, and he discovered that he was a natural receptive. They practiced in secret, as best they could. And they planned, and they waited for an opportunity.
The revolt started during a shift change among the Torcastra guards. The first few guards were felled by logos attacks, and were relieved of their weapons. Randara used Logos to hack the cellblock's power grid, shutting down the containment fields on the remainder of the cells, and their numbers swelled. Within three hours the prisoners overwhelmed their captors and escaped.
When the castaway arrived at Foreas Base with a small army of Logos Receptive Foreans in tow, a Bane assault was well underway. Their added numbers turned the tide of the battle, and paved the way for the Human-Forean alliance that would signal the formation of the Allied Free Sentients.
He was debriefed by Commander Jayjack, who reported his incredible odyssey to High Command that very day. The word came back the following morning. If he was willing, the castaway was to be enlisted, and immediately brevetted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. His assignment would be twofold: act as liaison to the Forean Council of Elders at Dagdha's Urn and oversee the formation of a special academic program devoted to the study of Logos and Receptive Training. Both of these assignments were more successful than High Command could have dreamed possible.
Just three months later, at the treaty signing ceremony that signaled the formation of the Army of Allied Free Sentients, the Lieutenant Commander was promoted once again.
The very next day, the Bane launched their attack on the planet Earth, and mankind's exodus began. As the first batch of refugees stepped off the wormhole platform on the war torn planet of Foreas, General British, castaway and hero, was there to greet them.