Chapter 9. The Syrion nebula

As they reached the middle of the galaxy they opened the map. Everything around them for hundreds of light years was an empty void. The map indicated a nebula. A mechanical voice sounded:

"Syrion nebula ahead. Once the Syrion star, it collapsed in on itself and left a dangerous pathway."

"This galaxy is full of stars whose gravitational pull would overpower the ships thrusters and it would be sucked in" said Tony

"Well, fuck. We have to go straight through it. Computer, what makes it so dangerous?"

"Several factors are in play of making it dangerous. Main obstacles are high amounts of ionizing UV rays that would damage our electronics in case of a prolonged journey, cosmic rays and stellar winds, constant fluctuations of gravitational forces and possible corrosive materials. A safe pathway has not yet been established, neither has any significant research been made on accounts of safe passage and use of this nebula" 

"Computer, scan the nebula and give an approximate time when we can set out relatively safely"

"Scanning..." 

A minute passed when the voice sounded again

"Safe passage available in 2 days on May 15. 2024.The central passageway will be open till May 20th 2024. The conditions will worsen over time and is therefore highly advisable to set out at noon of May 15th."

"This computer is surprisingly useful" Tony said

"Yeah the AI is custom. Its been reprogrammed to suit for precise travel calculatiuons. They usually aren't good for anyhing other than oppening maps and sending messages."

"Well what will we do in the meantime? We still have 2 days till the passageway opens." Tony asked

"Well i have a couple of games on board just for occasions like this. Mostly games from Earth. Its a couple galaxies away. I've been there couple of times. The food is great too. Its perfectly spicy. Not like food on Valon. I think i have a couple of food samples perserved in the storage unit."

He went on searching for the food. It was deeper in the storage than he expected. It really has been a while since he last visited it. A couple of years? Hundred years? He did not know. When he found the food he realized it had rotted even though it was supposedly perserved to never rot. He took it to the scanner where it scanned the food for its ingredients and matched it to available database. It replicated it in the printer. Taiji tried it but it lost quite a bit of its taste. "Printers usually make all food they produce drastically worse than it is in reality. Hope you enjoy it. Tony's was shocked that a planet he had never heard of had such good food. He was stuck on a semi-remote planet for so long that he forgot what real food tasted like. He survived only eating wildlife and occasional lost dried food and MRE's the Military lost during their training excercises on Tornell. 

"This is really good. Like really good. It must be even better when made by profesionals. We definetly have to visit it after our trip to the temple!"

"If we have time we will. But we definetly will with time. Im already missing its cousine"

Taiji went to the printer and printed himself a bowl. He began eating, remeniscing about all the things he enjoyed from Earth. When they finished he reccomended a couple of games. They played them all but ultimately decided for a co-op fps game and played it almost the whole time untill the computer announced:

"Nebula safe passage opens in approximately 5 hours. Redirecting power from unnecesarry parts to shields and thrusters is advised"