Chapter 1 - Troubled dreams

"Okay, Hyperspace Drive has been completed. Where is our current location?"

"We are currently in Section Five, Captain. Approximately 250 lits from planet Earth and counting. All systems are stable and functional."

"Approach Earth, enable stealth-mode and watch out for the satellites."

"Yessir!"

*******************

Jacques woke up startled, warm sweat drenched his neck and body. He raised out his hand and scratched his left eyebrows. God, he was thirsty. He reluctantly got up, slipped into his shoes and walked towards the kitchen, carefully avoiding the junk on the floor, which was left piling up for the past few months.

He was quietly going broke and had to dismiss the housekeeper, who used to arrive at Jacques' door every Tuesday morning with a light smile on her face. He fumbled at the light switch on the wall, but he managed to hit the correct one. The fluorescent light then flicked twice and lighted the entire kitchen area. The sight of his kitchen reminded him of the last time he saw it being actually clean, which also was the time when he moved into the house.

The glass mug clinked cheerfully as he picked it up, placing it under the tap, he twisted the handle and clear water gushed into the mug. He turned off the tap and glanced at the clock. 4:10 a.m.. It was horribly late but he never did managed to sleep after having one of those dreams. It used to occur once in a blue moon but they were very frequent now, almost every single awful night.

He pulled out the wooden chair and sat down. His hands were placed on the table, he sat quietly, almost motionless for a while as he stared at the mug, as if expecting for something wonderful or magical to happen to the mug of water. It never did, so he took a large gulp of the water and placed the heavy mug down.

He had gone through the whole day before he slept: work, work, work, break, work, work, work. It was going like this for the past 5 years, and he was amazed at himself for being able to handle the stress from his job. Except for his job, he had no life. He had few friends, his wife was long gone from this world, several arguments with his son created a rift in between them and all of these made Jacques a lonelier person more than ever.

Jacques jolted as he felt something brush against his leg, he peered under the table to see his brown tabby staring right back in his face. Right. How could anyone forget the cat? The light from the kitchen had attracted his attention and he had come to see who was there. He picked up his cat and held him up.

"At least you won't abandon me, won't you?" Jacques jokingly asked the striped tabby. He meowed in reply. Jacques raised an eyebrow and pondered for a moment that maybe his cat had understood him, but then he remembered that this cat always had meows for replies since he kept him. Besides, a cat capable of understanding humans? Yeah right.

Kit was found as a stray who had crossed paths with Jacques, his odd behaviours, unlike other normal cats made Jacques interested in keeping this lost kitty. He had a long history with various animals including fishes, lizards, cats and dogs ever since his childhood days but he never really had a permanent animal partner. It wasn't uncommon for him to touch any animals that could be touched. He loved animals as much as he loved his family.

A dark brown photo album was laid open at the other side of the table, all of the photos there showed happy memories frozen in time, but quickly faded away in reality. Kit had curled up in his lap as Jacques silently flipped through the album. Each grainy photo brought back different memories. How he wished things were different for him. He flipped another page and saw Elily, smiling gracefully towards the camera, with little baby Mark in her arms. He knew that Elily was smiling at him, as he was the person who took that particular shot. Jacques lightly touched her cheek on the photo and a tear rolled down from a corner of his eye.

Jacques flipped open his cellphone and planned to give Mark a call, or at least a leave him a message. He knew he had not contacted his son for a long time already, even he himself had forgotten exactly how long it was. Mark stormed out during their last encounter, still furious and claiming that Jacques had indirectly caused his mother's death.

"Hello Mark, this is Dad calling, how about we have a cup of coffee sometime, have a nice chat, start things afresh? There still are some things about your mother that you haven't knowed yet, I hope to discuss this with you soon. Call me when you receive this message, okay? Bye."

*******************

"Coordinates of landing location?"

"Based on the database information at hand, we're supposed to land in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Coordinates are: latitude 48 degrees, 22 minutes north, longitude 89 degrees, 19 minutes west. ETA is 12 minutes, 43 seconds. Local time is currently 5:17 a.m., sun isn't due to rise in another hour."

"Excellent, we're right on schedule. Continue with caution."

*******************

Jacques placed Kit back on the kitchen floor and headed towards his computer. The LCD screen dimly illuminated the room as he checked the progress of the program. Kit silently followed his owner into the room.

"Bah, still another 5 hours to go," Jacques was starting to get irritated with the computer. It was already a year old, but still faithful to its owner, if you overlook several minor problems. He then checked his e-mails but found nothing, so he proceeded to the living room and slump into the single-seat sofa. Before he dozed away, Kit jumped into his lap to accompany him into slumberland.

*******************

"Turn off all external lights and prepare for landing."

"Yessir! Landing in... three... two... one... Dock opened, camouflage enabled, security forcefield enabled."

"Good work! Men, switch to civilian attire and carry all equipment needed outside."

"Yessir!"

Prologue

"What's that?"

Little Mark pointed at the night sky, his eyes were focused on a group of sparking stars in space, now oblivious to the little blue planet he stood on, called Earth.

Mark resembled his mother, Elily in a number of ways, his mop of curly black hair, ocean blue eyes and soft, round facial features. In short, he was essentially a part of her mother and he reminded Jacques of her whenever he saw him.

"You see, son, that is the Big Dipper, see those 4 stars in a rectangle? If you connect the line of stars with the rectangle, it's in the shape of a big dipper!" Jacques answered excitedly.

"Ah!" Mark flashed a toothy grin, knowing that his bedtime was close approaching, Jacques scooped Mark with an arm and pinched his nose cheekily, his son smiling back at him. Jacques carried his son, turned around and saw his mother calling out to him. Taking a last look at the night sky, the two of them went back into the family's little summer lodge.

Deep down inside, Jacque was a happy and blissful person, for he had a wonderful family but even deeper inside of him, he knew that things won't stay the same forever.