The Starflyer (Wriik's ship), was a medium sized starship. Slightly golden color on the outside with a taint of rust, the vessel was fairly new. Huge cannons were mounted on the side of the front end of the ship. Mini guns were in sight, below the port bow. I couldn't see the missiles, but I was pretty sure that they were hidden behind the heavy armor plating. Overall, she was well armed. I wondered how did Wriik get pass the security checkpoints with all these heavy artilleries. He probably had some connections.

"Activate the navigation systems please," Wriik asked without thinking as he furiously fumbled with other controls in front of him. There was plenty of room inside the spacecraft, and I was pretty satisfied.

"Which one is it?" I inquired. Staring at the flashing buttons before me, I was clueless. "Is it the red button?"

"DON'T PRESS IT!" the alien suddenly yelled with alarm. "That's the self-destruct control!"

"Oh..." I slowly moved my finger away with caution. Finally, I saw a keyboard beside me. Contemplating about the codes for a few seconds, I punched in the commands. They were easy to interpret. Half a beat later, the giant monitor in front of us began to beep and light up.

An orange line connected the planets together in a straight line. The star map was huge. I smiled at the colorful picture before my eyes. I had never seen a map so beautiful as this.

"Here, we'll need to change the coordinates," he leaned toward me and typed in a few sets of codes. I could see the line slowly shifting into the specified coordinates. "There. Now we power up, and then we can leave."

I gave him a sidelong glance. "There's something that puzzles me."

"What?" his eyes never left the console. His claw-like fingers rapidly tapping the claviers.

"How did you know that I can decipher the symbols on this ship?"

He stopped for a minute, thinking about it. Then he shrugged. Looking at me, he grinned. "I don't know. I just... know!" He pressed the last key and the engine gradually roared to life.

Smooth and deep humming sounds echoed through the ship's hull. Cool air-conditioned air began to flow onto the Bridge, providing rich oxygen for us to breathe during the takeoff. All the windows on the sides were covered with heavy metal plating that were slowly sliding down. Their substances I could not define clearly.

"Strap yourself in," Wriik said as he sat onto the chair behind him. He buckled the belt tightly against his stomach.

I followed his instructions. The low sound of the motors at the back of the gigantic freighter languishly shifted to high pitch. I could feel the metallic tiles beneath my trembling feet shaking with instability.

Looking at him, I frowned. "Is your ship always vibrating like this?"

Laughing, his green eyes glittered with mirth. "Yup. Don't worry, she'll get better once out in the space."

After a few minutes of warming up, we began to rise off the ground.

"All systems go. Prepare to liftoff," a computer voice that sounded like a female said. "Captain Wriik, would you like to double-check your destinations?"

"No, Arteesa, just continue on."

"As you wish. Clearing the lower atmosphere. Moving away from the lithosphere with altitude of four hundred thousand feet and climbing... all systems..."

Wriik gazed at me. The voice of the ship's computer blended in with the engines' sputters. He shrugged again and said: "You get lonely when you travel by yourself in deep space. Arteesa, the computer that I've programmed with the newest AI Chip, keeps me company. Sometimes, I feel as if she is a living person, you get what I mean?"

I stared back dumbly. "Uh... yeah?"

Finally, the interstellar vessel stopped quivering, and the ado of the twin engines on the spear-like ship progressively faded. We were now drifting silently in the solar system. Our craft was a small dot among the many other white dots. Most of them were planets far away. We were insignificant, puny, weak and defenseless... well, not exactly defenseless with the aforementioned features of the Starflyer. Still... that was what I felt like.

I shivered with coldness when the dynamo lagged a little, failed to bring up the heat immediately by not charging up the heating systems. Wriik didn't seem to notice it, as he was half-naked, wearing only his green pants.

"You're not cold?" I asked as I nodded at his bare chest.

Flexing the muscles, he chuckled. "I can tolerate severe climates and temperatures, so with this little drop of heat, I feel nothing at all."

"Fascinating," my eyes were wide as I gawked at his endurance. "What species are you?"

"Well, I am from this other universe that is hundreds of light years away from your universe. I am from this little blue planet named Feeliiev, in my native tongue. My race is called Terrivians. There are many others who are like me, but I am somewhat unique. Only ten in one thousand of my people would actually go venture into space to become merchants and other professionals."

"Ah. I see."

"You're from Earth, that I know. But where do you live? Some of the continents were destroyed long ago by nuclear outbursts, so only a few are still inhabitable." Wriik stretched his back. His movements were cat-like. I could feel strange power coming out from him.

"Uh... well... I don't really live in the same place permanently. I move around a lot, so I guess I am all over the world," I paltered the truth. "So. How did you acquire this magnificent vessel of yours?" I fleetly changed the topic. Glancing around, I could see electronic equipment that I was not familiar with, humming with energy.

Waving his hand, he sighed. "It's my father's. He lend this ship to me when I was old enough to travel among the galaxies by myself." He grinned as he recalled the lecture that his old man had given to him before the departure. Too bad that he had passed away three years ago...

"Nice. These weapons are your father's as well?"

"Your ship is very impressive. Full of mysteries and secretes that only you alone can understand and use," I praised gratefully. After all, he could have just turned me over and be free. But he didn't do that, much to my surprise. And also, I was mollified that I didn't have to kill him. He was... somewhat different than Naiomi Goden who really didn't like me at all. She used me... that bitch! Some day, some day I would pay her back with the same treatments as she had shown me.

An alarm sounded as the navigation systems started to fail one by one. The light in the interior began to flicker rapidly.

"What happened?" I yelled over the blaring noise.

Stroking each key and pushing each button, my companion was horrified. "I don't know! Something's wrong with the ship and we are still in the wormhole!"

"What will happen if we are stuck or even worse, we are disintegrated in this uncanny place?" I instantly regretted of asking such dark questions.

Looking at me with his wide, green eyes, he said: "Then our death will be very painful..."

I just had to ask...