New Beginnings

1.NowYou take your time with the cleanup. Heavy machinery sparking in the dusty nebula. Great tubes sucking galactic slurry into density accelerators, the remains of the Crion system. Green interstellar glow-lights illuminate the sides of your Spidercraft: the gaudy text “Clifford’s Cosmic Catastrophe Mitigation” splashed across a black hole. Dim shadows kiss the photographs taped to your dash.You don’t want to be here, staring down the edge of forever. No one does. But there’s no way out for either of us. Not yet.“Did you hear? There was another jumper at the Orion site.” The words crackle over your comm, punctuated by bursts of static that makes the pictures of your daughter tremble. “They triggered the anomaly and he went right for it. Destabilized the whole sector.”You don’t respond, but your foreman, Caius, does.“Always gonna be jumpers.”2.ThenThe foreman peered over his clipboard. “Herald Gorman?” His voice echoed in the dim hangar, reminiscent of cathedrals.Herald nodded.“Caius…