User Guide

JOURNEY TO CENTAURI (EXCERPT)
The following is an excerpt from the web-based episodic story, Journey to
Centauri, that appeared on the Alpha Centauri website beginning June 1,
1998, written by Michael Ely. Visit the Alpha Centauri website at www.alpha-
centauri.com to find out more about humanity’s journey to the New World.
“Captain.”
Shapes. Shadows, hovering over him. A sense of threat, darkness eclipsing his
vision, and the distant sound of warning klaxons. He tried to lift his hands and
could not, tried to speak and felt his throat turn to fire. A deep cold pressed
down on him, crushing his bones to ice.
“… this one … hurry!” The voice again.
More movement, seen through layers of frost and glass. I am the Captain,
came his next thought, sharp and coherent. I should be first ….
First out of the sleep. Visions returned to him: the long rough cylinder of the
ship, floating above the chaos of Earth. The massive cryobays with their rows
of sleeping crew, the white-suited cryotechs moving ghostlike among them.
His last memory of lying down in glass and feeling the blue tide rise to swal-
low him, forty years and a moment of darkness ago. Thinking, hoping, that
when he woke again, it would be to the sight of Alpha Centauri’s primary
cresting the rim of a new planet, a new world.
But now … something was wrong. Someone, unauthorized, moving around
the ship. A wave of dizziness washed over him and his vision blurred into a sea
of blue, red lights flashing in the distance. He could feel the ship shaking
beneath him.
“We move …”
A shadow passed over him, and then another. Footsteps retreated. He stared
up through the curved top of the cryocell, willing himself into the open spaces
of the ship, trying to force his fingers to move. His brain signaled alarm but
his heart and muscles, held in near stasis, would not respond.
A NEW SUN
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