Captain Davy

"Alert! Alert! Space junk ahead. Massive space junk ahead in five minutes, half a mile from our location. Wake up, Captain Davy." 

The light of the whole airship turned blinking red as the built-in smart guide, and a female robotic voice repeatedly warned and echoed throughout the whole dirigible. A man abruptly sat up from his less than thirty minutes of sleep and blinked his eyes fast. He rubbed his eyes and creased his forehead as he looked around, trying to process where he was. 

Oh right. He was in space and currently traveling to another planet that he randomly chose in his list of planets to visit lightyears away. Of course, as long as his airship could handle. 

"Alert, space junk ahead. Alert, space junk ahead-"

"I'm coming. I'm coming! Gods, why aren't you automated to avoid space junk and just do nothing more than warn?" he muttered to himself, annoyed as he stood up and went out of his one-man room with only a single bed. 

He was welcomed by the dimly lit, expansive cockpit and found the zoomed live picture of the space junk from miles away from him. He walked closer to the monitor and observed the movement of the space junk.

"Woah. It's really full of junk there. There's no space junk on my calculations in this way last time. Where did this come from?"

His forehead was creasing as he sat on his doddering swivel chair and typed away on his computer to calculate a few distances where the scope of his built-in telescope would give him a clearer view of the track between the space junk or if it was passable at all. If it wasn't, he had to swerve to other coordinates and find the nearest planet to stop by. 

He got the view of the vast space junk spread all over the expanse, and it made him frown. It was passable still, but the space junks were moving mysteriously fast and hitting each other, creating more smaller junks scattered around that it would be dangerous if once, even just the side or the wing of his aircraft, were hit.

"What's the nearest planet through this space junk, Luisa?" He asked, leaning back on his chair as he thoughtfully observed the space junk. "And the nearest one in another track."

"Planet Xinus N, about a thousand miles more, is the nearest planet past through the space junk following the coordinates to where we are going. Whilst, Planet Mioli, about five thousand miles, is the nearest forty-five degrees from where we are."

"Which way do you think is best to go?" He asked, couldn't decide for himself. This was the downside of having no company while he traveled.

He was indecisive and always sought someone else's input, but since no one was with him, he had no other choice but to ask this built-in robot, Luisa, about her opinion. 

"If you want the rocky and bumpy road but the nearest planet, then you should take this path to Planet Xinus N, but if you want to have a clear and peaceful path where you can take a nap without cursing me, then you can swerve to forty-five degrees northeast and head straight to Planet Mioli."

"The latter sounds appealing," he said, thinking about how he had never had a peaceful sleep for so many hours now, but then he remembered his stomach rumbling every passing minute. "But we-I mean, I—since you don't starve, lucky you—need more supply, and my pantry is already as empty as a pauper's purse."

"Because you eat about five times a day like a kid living a luxury."

He tutted as he leaned back. but not too much because it could break. "You don't know what it feels like having a growling stomach and fast metabolism, Luisa. Don't blame it on me. Also, it's me who's risking my life in stealing food so I can eat whenever I want."

"Should I remind you of the long list of the police, armed forces, the long arm of the law, and whatever police is called in other planets that have been searching you? I can start with Everus, the food planet, and how your face is still on the list of banned travelers." 

Luisa was smart. What do you expect from an AI that his computer scientist father built before he died and gifted to his child in memory of his wife? He could remember clearly that his father was also like Luisa personality-wise. He was also sarcastic and serious at the same time, which always made him think that his father was still with him. 

He died when he was eighteen years old. He came home from school and was expecting a snack time with him, just like what his usual afternoon had been. But instead, he was welcomed by a freshly ruined and chaotic house while his father was in his science lab, lying on the ground with bloodied body and struggling breath. Apparently, someone came into the house and searched the house for something that he didn't know until now. 

His father was still alive but barely breathing. He didn't know what he would do. He was supposed to call someone for help, probably 911, but his father just called him and shook his head. He beckoned him to come to him as he said his last words, one of them being about the aircraft, Luisa, and the worlds outside the planet Earth.

It still brings bitter memory whenever he thinks of it because his father never deserved that kind of death. Unfortunately, when it was time for him already to say who might probably cause his death and what the reason was, he breathed his last breath. The only thing that he understood from his gibberish statement was two words— batu enerhia. 

He had no idea about what he was saying. That strange words hurt his head, so he didn't think that much. Whenever he thinks of Luisa's same personality as his father, if Luisa were less sarcastic and would tone it down, he would think that his father extracted his personality and planted it in this AI's chip.

He didn't realize that he was once again dozing off. The tiredness of staying up for days had been affecting his physical body. However, he jumped on his seat when a loud thud echoed through the whole space, and his spacecraft swerved a little. The light turned red once again, a warning that something had happened. 

"What is it, Luisa?" He asked with concern as he stood up and looked at the side where he felt the hit come from. It was a strong hit, and he worried that it would be in need of attention. Though being hit by space junk and other small dust was normal, he still feared that this aircraft, the last memory of his father, would be wrecked by it.

"It's nothing much to worry about, captain. It came from a planet's space junk, probably a launching of another failed aircraft from the nearby planet, which caused a fierce impact. As you can see on the screen, the side of the aircraft is not that affected aside from a small dent. We can still function well enough."

The widescreen showed him the whole live view of the aircraft. A ball-sized airship was on both sides of the whole aircraft, like moons to a planet. They had cameras that gave him the whole view of his aircraft. Thankfully, Luisa's body was built sturdily.

He remembered how the government on Earth went crazy over his father's aircraft. They believed that it was the best-built aircraft of the century, and they were all dying to ignite it. However, no one could. 

Hah. The only way to power the engine was through his fingerprint.

He could still vividly remember how he sneaked into NASA's headquarters and looked for his father's aircraft, which he found immediately. He didn't know how to power it either, he just circled outside until he heard people coming in, and in his panic, he clambered to the steps of the aircraft and tried to open the door. Shockingly, as soon as he held the knob, it opened.

That was another tale of how he was banned from the Earth and the most wanted aircraft. Thankfully, Luisa could travel much farther away from the Earth's vicinity and farther from how Earth's aircraft could travel. 

"Captain, we are now entering the danger of space junk in forty minutes and will reach Planet Xinus N in about an hour. The source of the massive space junk is still unknown, and I suggest you launch the protective barrier."

He sat properly and looked at the tracker screen at the side. The screen was detecting space junk, the meteor, comets, and asteroids that they needed to avoid. Everything that a captain of an aircraft needed was already built-in and provided by his father. He didn't need anything technical anymore, aside from a supply of food and water.

"Yeah!" He exclaimed, cracking his fingers, stretching his arms, and popping the bones on his neck. He seemed rather excited that he was about to go to a rough path than be threatened by it. "It's been so long since I've got some action."

He grinned at himself and played his MP3 which chose All By Myself by Celine Dion. Gods, his father's choice of songs, really. He changed it to a remix bop song and wore his seat belt. "Let's get this done, baby!"

It was smooth, avoiding the huge space junk and ginormous rocks obstructing their way at first. He just needed to maneuver his way from side to side as the rocks were slow to unmoving. However, a fast, as huge as a van rock moved toward him right after he avoided a small rock that almost hit right on his front light. 

He let out a relieved sigh when he had saved his aircraft from being hit by the rock, but another one came fast until everything that was coming to him was going fast as if someone was throwing rocks at him. What on Earth… No, not Earth. What in the universe is happening!?

"Woah!" he exclaimed when he started being hands-on in this rough and rocky journey. This was his first time using his whole strength to control the aircraft, and it wasn't easy considering the size, how heavy it was, and the pace he had to keep going. 

Mostly it was on autopilot. When there was only a huge obstruction was the only time Luisa would call him for support. He had faced a lot of obstruction and space junk before, but never like this. Those space junk were mostly remnants of aircraft and rockets and harmless and not so massive that he had something to avoid every way he went. It was like someone was littering on purpose and was having fun with it that it was unending.

Hello!? He was already having a hard time here!

"Luisa, can you check where these massive rocks are coming from?" he asked, focused on controlling the butterfly steering wheel from left to right. 

A green word that said 'Checking…' flashed at the side of the screen as Luisa checked where this headache was coming from. 

While it was being done, more and more rocks were making it hard for him to see. He thought it was even impossible to pass through. The small screen that detected the rocks was beeping and beating like crazy. There were piles of rocks that he thought he was inside an asteroid belt. The bop song was long forgotten and changed with a scary background in his head. 

"Is it possible to get through these messy rocks?" He murmured as he stopped right in front of the tangled thread of space rocks that he hadn't seen before in his entire span of space traveling. 

"These rocks are combined with space dust, which makes it hard for you to see the placements of the rocks, but it is passable. You just have to be careful and follow the tracker carefully. You can do it, captain."

"Did you just cheer me up?" He commented without tearing his focus on the rocks in front of him. "How about the source?"

"The source is still unclear, but Planet Xinus N is right at the end of this course. I just thought you might need cheering since this will be tough," she replied. It sounded weird, especially since it was mixed with a robotic, monotonous voice, but at the same time, there was still an emotion. 

"Well, here goes nothing." He sighed and started moving forward. He was nervous for his aircraft, but he trusted the double cover and the sweeper outside to keep the aircraft from being severely hit. 

There were multiple reactions coming out of his mouth every now and then. Thankfully, he was just going slow, and even when he could feel the impact of the rocks hitting the side of his aircraft, it wasn't that strong. The rocks were stagnant as well, unlike when they had been thrown at him earlier. It was bearable this time.

"Five more minutes, and you'll be out, captain," Luisa informed. "We'll be under Planet Xinus N's frontier. Their dense ozone layer seemed to prevent me from tracking what was happening inside. But I can sense that something is wrong."

"How wrong?" 

"In percentage, eighty percent."

Davy tilted his head and shrugged. A somewhat stronger rock hit the side window, which caused them to shake. "We'll see about that. Let me get out of here first."