Lisa had no idea how long she had been unconscious, but she wished she still were. Her head pounded. Her heart raced. Her stomach felt like it had been used as a vacuum cleaner bag at an old men's barbershop. It was like the worst morning-after in the history of bad morning-afters. Among the many things currently confusing her were where she was, who she was, and even what she was. When she finally managed to open her eyes, they refused to focus, perhaps in fear of what they might see.
A neuron somehow managed to beg a jump-start from a passing squirt of adrenaline, and memory began to return along with a still cloudy sense of the external world.
"Brax! Status!" she croaked.
"Whoa," he said. "What hit me?"
"Sandra! Sensors! Where are we?"
"Shit!"
"Shit, what? Are we in trouble?"
"No. I don't know. Maybe. Shit is what I feel like. Hang on. I'm still trying to find my fingers."
"Doc, are you okay? Are we okay?"
"I'm pulling up the readings from our seat bio-sensors now." After a tense pause, he said, "I see nothing that can't be explained by excitement and stress. No one appears to be in any immediate danger."
"It feels like we're drifting," Brax said. "I'm sure we're still in space, um, somewhere."
"I don't suppose you could pin that down a bit more, could you?"
"Working on it."
"Sensors say there's a massive object ahead," Sandra said. "A planet, I think. It's about fifteen thousand kilometers out."
Lisa began shouting orders, most of which were probably unnecessary. The crew knew what to do, but it made her feel that the situation was less out of control than she feared it actually was.
"Brax, just make sure we don't crash into it. Sandra, try to raise Feynman Station. Doc, make sure there's no damage to life support. Sims, screen on. Focus on the object in front of us."
The main screen flickered to life. It showed a familiar looking sight.
"That can't be Earth," Lisa said, staring at the screen in disbelief. "We were one and a half million kilometers from Earth when we activated the BS device."
"It looks like Earth," Brax said.
It did, with glimpses of blue ocean peeking through heavy white cloud cover.
Brax pointed a finger at the screen. "That bit there kind of looks like the west coast of Africa. And that over there might be South America."
Lisa could almost agree, but the dense cloud layer obscured any clear details. What she thought might be coastlines disappeared almost as soon as she noticed them.
"No response from Feynman station," Sandra said.
"Sims, is that Earth?" Lisa asked.
"Uncertain," the ship's AI replied. "Planetary mass matches that of Earth. Distance from the star it is orbiting and stellar composition are also consistent with readings applicable to Earth."
"Why is that not a definitive 'Yes'?"
"There are anomalies," Sims said.
"I'm not getting anything, Commander," Sandra said.
"What kind of anything aren't you getting?"
"All kinds of anything," the communications officer said, her voice raised in exasperation. "I'm not picking up any signals or transmissions of any kind. There are no space stations and no satellites in orbit. I'm not even seeing any artificial lights on the surface. There's nothing."
"Is it possible we've jumped in time? Gone into the past?"
Time travel had been one of the wilder speculations some experts entertained as a possible outcome of skipping between branes.
"Or maybe the distant future?" Brax said.
"Um, no. I don't think so," Sandra said. "Give me a minute."
Lisa continued to search the image on the forward screen for something recognizable, but the mysterious cloud-covered planet continued to hide its secrets. The absence of anything artificial seemed unnatural. Sandra was right. They should at least be able to see lights from cities on the night side, even through the clouds, but there were none.
"No, the stars are where they should be," Sandra said. "If we had moved far enough in time to explain these anomalies, they'd be in a different configuration."
Lisa and the others stared silently bemused by the image on the screen. The planet seemed almost peaceful, welcoming. Why did she think that meant it must be some kind of trap?
"So what happened?" Lisa eventually asked of no one in particular.
No one volunteered an idea.
"Maybe we should try to activate the Brane Skip again," Sandra ventured. "It might reverse whatever happened."
Lisa considered her suggestion briefly. "Let's hold that in reserve for now. We all seem to be fine, and our mission is to investigate what happens when the Brane Skip engages. This is what happened. For another thing, I don't trust it. The first time we activated it, it sent us here—wherever here is. Who knows where we'll end up if we do it again?"
"At least it's more interesting than gray haze," Brax said. "I say we explore."
"You mean go down to the planet?" Sandra said.
"Sure. Why not? Take some samples of the atmosphere, soil, water, plant life. Whatever we find. Then we'll have some great data when we get back."
"Assuming we get back."
"Well, there is that, I suppose," Brax admitted. "But if we can't—if we're stranded—that planet is probably the best desert island around here. Besides, if that's not Earth, it's a pretty close twin, and part of the reason behind this project is to find new planets suitable for human colonies. It looks like we found one."
"This is just wild speculation," Lisa said, "but is it possible we've skipped to a distant twin galaxy where all the stars and planets exactly mirror our own?"
Doc shrugged. "That may not be impossible, but it does strike me as being very unlikely. Unfortunately, I don't have a better hypothesis at the moment."
"Me either," Lisa said reluctantly.
Their mission was to find out what happened when the Brane Skip engaged, and if they were to provide anything like a comprehensive report, they would need additional information. Getting it required a closer look at the planet.
"It looks like we need more data. Let's go get some. Brax, take us into a low orbit."
"My pleasure, Commander." He settled back in his chair and began examining displays and tapping controls. "We'll need to pick up speed and change trajectory. Prepare for burn."