Somber Solitude

It was unbearably cold. Seeping in and creeping over Tobi's body, as he woke up, shivering in darkness.

"Osei!" He yelled out at first, but as he looked around and flailed his arms, a new question came to mind. 'Where am I?' He thought panicking, as claustrophobia started to settle in. He reached his senses out as far as he could, realizing he was floating somewhere, then manifested a sphere of ice with fire burning within. Lighting the room up so that he could gauge his surroundings.

What he saw, confirmed his fears. He was trapped in a dome. One meant to contain him and it was moving quickly.

'Moving where?' He asked himself as he threw his senses outside of the dome, hoping to figure out his location and captors.

Countless thoughts and emotions clouded his mind, as he felt dried blood sticking on the side of his head. However the most prevalent feeling, was despair.

He was alone, in the middle of space. With no ground or planet around him, for thousands of kilometres.

'Calm down.' He told himself as he started to hyperventilate.

It was easy to pretend, that he could've done something different, compared to characters or people he saw placed in tough situations like this. However being in that position himself, made him realize just how difficult it was, just to calm himself down. Much less think straight.

He slapped himself to reset and began mulling over his options, as he dropped himself down in muddy water. 'This dome was made to protect me. Something must have happened, for them to have thrown me out into deep space.'

Suddenly a sting across his chest, almost keeled him over. Surging a terrible memory, which he quickly pushed out of his mind. He healed himself to subside the pain slighlty, but it seemed to him that he had been treated already. However sudden movements had, reopened the large wound, diagonally down his chest, nearly seperating him in half.

An idea sprung up, but he was wary, as he didn't know how much air he had left and if he would damage, the only thing keeping him alive. He shifted up into third gear, carefully, and slowly, as he raised his hand to clear a dirt layer of the dome in front of him.

The dirt dome the Hashins kept him in, was dense and near airtight, with just enough holes to breathe. Which Seven, the Hashin who was tasked with him, had reconstructed with hundreds of more layers of ice, adding an air recycling system, and temporary insulation. Diminishing by the minute.

Tobi shivered from the cold, as breathing got even more difficult. He gritted his teeth, and shook his head, reaching out to take control of the iko and energy guarding him. However, it felt too easy, like they were allowing him to share control. Telling him that they were allies.

The metals and dirt in front of him, shifted apart into a window, showing layers of ice beneath. The pressure within the cabin dropped slightly, creaking the cabin, as he freaked out.

He stopped for a moment, then wiped the glass, leaving his palm on it, as he willed the hundreds of walls, within the pane to become transparent, while reshaping the dome with leftover ice. For better mobility.

It creaked once more, as layers on the outside shifted around, bending to his will. He looked outside, mesmerized by the myriad of stars and lights. However, there was always, that solemn everlasting darkness, looming, all around him.

That's when he thought of Osei.

Rememebering his last moments with him, brought newfound pain and reopened a scar, that subsided for only a moment, but he knew would last for the rest of his life. If he could get out of his current situation.

He gathered up some of the metals and dirt in the dome he was in, and forced it to phase through carefully outside, then set it a blaze rotating against the depths of space, within a bubble of ice. He struggled as it kept going out, but eventually managed to protect it from the cold.

"Frost: Astronaut." On his command, the ice around the rotating core, using some of the leftovers from making the window, manifested into a clone of him.

He gave it a specific set of instructions to go ahead and search around for him, for a habitable planet, to land on. Then he reached into his waist pack, grabbing a small spherical drone and threw it up, as it whizzed to life, hovering lightly and taking in the room.

"Tobi, you're in outer space." Sarah's voice perked up from the drone. A lite offline version, installed in case of emergencies.

Tobi, personally opted out of Saphyra updating his device, which Sarah named, the E-Drone. It was packed with majority of her survival knowledge and some of her pre-life basic functions.

He nodded, confirming her suspicions. "Yes we are, it seems, I have been separated from everyone else. Can you reach HQ from here?

She whirred around the room some more, then beamed out a holographic image of the galaxy. "We are over a thousand lightyears away from Earth. It's uncertain if my signal will ever reach them."

Tobi sighed in despair. "Ok then, where would be the best place to land and look for food. I'm starving."

Sarah took a minute, to trace their location, using star alignments and the speed at which they were drifting. Then beamed out another holographic image, with a dot, blipping their position and the possible habitable worlds nearest to him.

She finished processing all of the info she needed, then spoke up, "The most promising planet, I can recommend heading to would be Kepler D - 136. It has the most characteristics similar to Earth, and has a constitution that may be able hold an abundance of life."

Tobi nodded, relieved to have a goal. He was beginning to feel famished. Yet he told himself to keep going and focus on getting out of there.

He raised his hands forth, gathering enough energy and teleported his clone back. It brought back with it, a small asteroid about the size of his dome. Satisfied, he dissipated the clone, but left it's core floating, as he broke apart the asteroid and fitted it all together to his dome, giving him more fuel to burn and protection.

"Create: Space Walker." He said, as rocket fire propelled his miniature spaceship forward, deeper into the abyss of space.

Tobi looked back at the drone, as Sarah assessed his situation further. "Tobi, you're BMI has dropped significantly. When was the last time you ate?"

Tobi thought about it for a moment, realizing that it had been sometime, but she didn't have to bring it up. He couldn't blame her, since she left a more primitive state of her mind, that was made for emergencies and survival.

"Maybe an hour before going to Rennaya." He finally said, realizing his head was feeling a bit woozy, as it was hard to recall his memories.

"Ah, makes sense, it's been two days since. Then I recomm-"

She tried to say as he cut her off.

"Wait, did you say two days?" He asked, terrified.

She did the equivalent of a drone, nodding, then said, "Yup."

"I hope everyone's alright... They must be worried." He looked down solemnly, then turned his attention back through the window, as he thought of all the people that may be missing him. "I've got to get back, as soon as possible."

"That's for sure, but Tobi, upon further assessment of your health, it seems you have sustained considerable head trauma, aside from several fractures within your body that will not heal quickly without a cryomed." Sarah analysed, as she linked in to his suit. "I'm almost certain that you've sustained a concussion and such you shouldn't strain yourself. However at the current speed that we are moving, we'll only arrive at Kepler D -136, in about 200 years."

Tobi laughed out loud. "Now who's got time for that." He shook his head. "No, I've got a better idea. Show me the map again and point me in the right direction."

"Okay." She said warily and did as she was told.

Then he raised his hand to his sides, shifting back into third gear and shrouded the entire dome, with his iko. Then with several cracks appearing in the vacuum of space around them, the dome teleported forward, continuously, hundreds of thousands of kilometers, by the second.

He managed to keep going, for ten minutes, before he collapsed from exhaustion. He looked up at the drone, as Sarah updated him. "Great work, now we are only 125 light years away, from the planet."

Tobi rolled his eyes. "Only?" He said, shaking his head."I'm already winded from all of that." He laid down, slowly falling asleep. "I'm gonna rest a bit and try again. I'm so hungry..." He said weakly, as he dozed off.

Sarah looked at him, then back through the window. Worried about what he might encounter out there...