ch12: [ day fifteen ]

“Temporal destination acquired... Please enter new orbital coordinate”, crackled a computer voice, as Walter looked out at the planet Jupiter. He had awoken several minutes prior, into surroundings that were not familiar. Additionally he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and was covered in a gooey material.

At first he had thought that Jupiter was displayed on a screen, perhaps generated in real-time by a computer. After closer observation, he realized that it was the actual planet. The cloud formations on the planet where much to detailed and fluid for any computer to replicate, especially in real-time. He wasn’t sure, but he believed that he could make out one or two of the moons.

“Temporal destination acquired... Please enter new orbital coordinate”, chimed in the computer voice once again. Perplexed, Walter slowly turned around. In the quite awe of the celestial spectacle outside, he had not peered around to see where he was. It seemed he was in a control room, with tools, instruments, and other objects scattered chaotically about. All around the room, several red lights were blinking in regular intervals. The light they emitted was completely overwhelmed by the oscillating Jovian light.

With a vague sense of familiarity, Walter inspected the room. He encountered several objects that held some significance to him, but could not recall how. On a panel of monitors he discovered a translucent simulation of Saturn and Jupiter. It was complete with lunar orbits. In the area near Jupiter, the simulation displayed a blinking ovular object. It appeared to be headed towards the planet.