Ninety-Nine Red Ships Go By

Chapter One-Everything and Nothing

Life is strange when your society decides that your life is already set on a course from your birth. Such was the reality for one hundred young cubs growing up, all of whom were supposed to be doing this journey to save their very way of life. One of these young chosen few was a little wolf boy by the name of Monty. This is his story, his journey.

His training was rough, cruel even, to put so much pressure on one so young was unfair…but it had to be done. It was never going to be an easy time and even well before the day where it would all begin properly there were already so many problems. It was in the sixth year that everything became different; there was an unfortunate accident that changed everything for the better but not without the ultimate sacrifice from one of the poor cubs. That cub’s name was Sasha and her name became the codename for the rigorous safety tests that paved the way for the years to come and thanks to her bravery, there were no more serious incidents like that.

The scientific minds and trainers had endured too, teaching, tutoring and readying the cubs for what lay ahead of them. Seventeen years and three hundred and sixty four days had passed since the birth of the ‘chosen hundred’. Preparations were in the final stages after so long and tomorrow would be the beginning of the new age, the beginning of the future! Sexual maturity also meant the ultimate step into a completely new world for all the now teenage cubs.

An empty void of blackness was calling to his soul again, filling his heart with fear, uncertainty but more than anything else the sense of excitement was welling up inside his very being as he got into the familiar pod. Even as he padded through the large space, all he wanted to do was watch through the window as the other ninety-eight pods got geared up too. He’d never see any of this again…any of his old friends, any of his old life. Poor Monty had to say goodbye to everything he knew and though he was now eighteen and grown up, he wouldn’t be alone as tears streamed down his fluffy cheeks and matted down the fur there.

It felt like time itself was dragging out this ordeal, as the scientists triple checked every pop, making sure they had enough fuel and were reading correctly. Then, in slow motion they left the launch room and after a further eternity it came. A huge timer shows on the wall and a countdown starts, going down from sixty seconds. The moment of truth, the edge of the abyss and that’s when Monty saw her. An older female wolf was there in the control room, watching his pod unblinking even as her face literally dripped with wetness all around her cheeks. His mother. All at once he wanted to stop this, to leave and try again another time, ruin the whole future if it just meant being able to hold his mother and promise her he’d be ok. 

But alas, even as he tries to wrench the cold, unforgiving metal door open he finds himself locked in for his own safety. He knew why and he knew how to disable the lock later, but right now he just panicked and ran back to the window where the giant timer had just turned to five. As he watched the last few seconds tick by, he gave a daring glance back into the control room. With no time to spare he caught sight of it, a kiss blown at the pod which he gladly received as the thrusters started and sent him, along with the rest of the team rocketing out of the base.

Gripping the side of the pod around the window as though it might help, the adolescent wolf felt his heart sink as all the other pods quickly  disappear and soon even his pla-…his old planet  became little more than a dot and then finally vanished all together leaving him completely alone in the vast emptiness of space. There wasn’t anything to do now but wait…wait until he landed on his new home where he could finally begin his new life. 

So, with a sad sigh Monty forced his gaze back into the pod and moved over to the sleeping area. It had been specially designed to put him to sleep for the whole journey and feed him over the few days’ long flight too. With a huff he moves onto the comfortable pillow covered table that was his bed and straps his body into the mechanism like he’d been taught. Last thing he needed was to be woken up by a rogue asteroid knocking him out of bed and forcing him out of the sleep state. 

With the last free paw he makes sure to put the food tube down his throat, which he always hated. The gag reflex wanted to activate, but the wolf wouldn’t let it as he presses the button to switch on the machine. Immediately his head hits the soft pillow and he was out like a light, even as he crossed whole galaxies. Fortunately, for him it’d just be like a normal sleep and his mind would be as it usually would be waking up once he was awoken by the machine. So far everything had been fine other than the pain of leaving which would no doubt burn its way into the lupine’s dreams...