Deep Space Dream. D. LAWS

      Chapter 1

      A Simple Hike in the Mountains

      “Ouch, damn rock.” This was the second time adventure hiker Roy Darwin had stepped on a loose rock up in the mountains above the city of Vancouver in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

      Roy grew up in Southern California and joined the marines at the age of eighteen. Married twice and divorced twice, his love of the marines had cost him. After three tours overseas and then as a small arms and self-defense instructor, he had seen all of the anger and violence he could handle. Now retired, he started traveling north along the Pacific coast to find a quieter lifestyle, one where neighbors or strangers smiled and said “good morning,” and one where the wave of a hand was with all five fingers. Roy was alone in his world and free to go wherever his heart took him. The solitude of hiking was his peace.

      Today started out as a nice spring day with a few clouds off to the West, and he decided to extend his hike further up the mountain. The clouds were starting to thicken overhead. It’s time to find shelter while the rain passes, he thought to himself as he noticed the clouds moving his way.

      He moved through the brush toward the mountain and then a bush moved too easy. It fell away, revealing a small cave. What a great find, he thought. I can be out of the rain and have a fantastic view of the city below. As he looked around, he noticed that there had been a cave-in only a few feet inside the entrance. Well it’s still deep enough to protect me from the weather, he thought to himself as he sat there admiring the city below him.

      After a while, he began looking around the shallow cave. He wondered just how deep this cave might have been before it caved-in and assumed the cave-in was caused by an earthquake in the past. When he started surveying the fallen rocks, his eyes centered on a disturbing sight. Just under the rocks were the skeletal remains of a hand.

      “Damn, some poor guy was in here when the roof caved in” he said out loud, although no one was there to hear him.

      He noticed a small metal object under the hand and hoped it would identify the victim. After carefully digging it out, he found it to be a small metal cylinder, about an inch around and about three inches long. As he carried it out into the light to get a better look at what the poor guy in the cave was holding, it began to glow. Then everything went dark.