• Josh had heard of The Arrow. Who hadn't? The Arrow was the local pub and the first choice where spending income was concerned. Money was a rare commodity in the slums of New Philadelphia. The Arrow was also rumored to be the prime recruiting place of local starship captains who needed repairs done for an affordable price.

    Usually, they would only hire for repairs, but, on rare occasions, they would pick up a new member for their crew. The thirty-six year old man knew a few of those lucky enough to leave the planet; lucky enough to escape from hell. He was not one of them.

    The man stepped into the silent streets outside of his half-demolished shelter that he called home. His brown eyes scanned the dead road. The cold was even more bitter in the dark. A slight starved look clung to his wiry form, his ratty brown hair hung just below the tops of his shoulders. The wind felt as if it were about to bite his nose off with some invisible teeth. He trudged on.

    It was easy to tell how close he was to the pub by the increasing volume of drunken song. The sign of a twisting arrow seemed to materialize out of the frost-ridden night. “Welcome to the Arrow,” the man whispered to himself. The Arrow was both spacious and warm. Poor and homeless stumbled around in drunken stupor, either too drunk to realize where they were, or trying to extract some change from the slightly more sober individuals. A song had broken out at one of the tables, the remains of another nearby hinted at a recent brawl. Such was life.

    Josh took his usual seat in the corner of the room. It was a good place to see all that was going on, without much of a chance of drawing any attention from the wandering drunk. Within minutes, a pint of rather strong brew was sitting in front of him, his once jingling pockets, now empty.

    Time never really seemed to matter when it came down to ship repairs. Starship captains and work-crew recruiters didn't really care what part of the day it was. It was no different now. Two recruiters, claiming to be from the starship Axion stepped into the wooden doorway of the Arrow. A blast of the deathly cold came in with their entry. They followed the normal routine of walking from table to table, asking the more sober individuals if they would be interested in earning a little cash, in exchange for some simple labor.

    Josh had helped repair several ships before now, so he knew a little about the design and engineering of the two most popular sources of power: the Harvax Power Core and the Tallos Reactor. The rest, he learned on his own. After all, in this kind of environment, it was either teach yourself, or die in the streets.

    Having seen the state of the majority of the patrons at the Arrow that evening, Josh was not surprised when he was asked if he would like to help with the repairs, for some cash-based compensation. How could he refuse?

    Josh followed the men to the landing bay nearby. The frost had not lightened up a bit. By the time he made it inside, he could hardly feel his face.

    It wasn't a big ship by any standards, not like the sloppily constructed hanger could hold anything much larger. But, what it lacked in size, it made up for in beauty. The Axion was beautiful.

    The hull was made from almost a translucent black steel, the harmonic whispers of recent resonance shifts hanging in the air around it. The ship was shaped like a sphere, as smooth as could be possible.

    The captain explained that it was a jumper, and that the power core had run into some slight issues. He also explained that it was most likely due to their rather, ungentle landing.

    Celestus, when manufactured in the varying forms, had many properties for which it was known. That is what made it popular. The most powerful of these properties, as well as the most lucrative, was the ability to shift the harmonic molecular vibrations around it, allowing for travel between universes that exist on separate molecular frequencies.

    Jumpers were small ships that were built around that technology and idea. They were built around a sphere of pure Celestus, which allowed the ship, and passengers, to shift to the different universes that exist within the tolerable range of frequencies.

    Josh and the other members of the sobering repair crew followed the captain's lead, and walked to the power chamber of the ship. The engineer had already dismantled the outer conductor shells, revealing a couple of cracked magnet rings that surrounded the central conductor cell. This was just a replacement job. Simple enough.

    The Harvax Power Core is one of the many great technological inventions attesting to the success and wealth of Harvax Aerospace Incorporated. The president and founder of the company, Gary F. Harvax, started the business around that very invention. He then continued on to create many wonders, including the Harvax Variable Molecular and Spacial Distortions “warp” Drive and the Anti-Gravity Field Device.

    The work did not take the crew very long to replace, despite the size of the rings. The engineer and captain both thanked them for their help, paid them their dues, and escorted them back to the Arrow.

    Maybe, one day, Josh would fly on one of those ships. But now was not that time. He would just have to make do with his alcohol and cabin. Maybe he could leave. Maybe he should move. But how could he get past the wall?

    Josh sat at his table, another full drink in front of him. The Arrow had grown quite. There were few of the original drunks from when he first arrived wondering around anymore. He was left alone to his own thoughts.

    It would only be a couple of months before he saw the Axion again. But Josh did not know it. Maybe then he would escape that God-forsaken place. Maybe.