My friend Troian (Troy) Hanson and I spoke for a long while. Over the next months we began recruiting every colleague at our disposal and proposed our plan. Our responses included but were not limited to: disbelief, mockery, resigned hopelessness, and the rarest one, hope. Those of the latter disposition had follow up meetings.

After exhausting our personal contacts I had begun to seek out potential minds from off the beaten path. I look high and low, contacting everyone from amateur theorists to engineers. If they had any mind for sense and good will. I contacted them. In order for this to work we needed an army. An army whose sole purpose was to crack the code that the universe hid behind, and to harness it.

One such person caught my eye. A person with an exceptional mind, but more importantly, an exceptional will. This person was a student of mine. He was not terribly bright but what he lacked in knowledge he made up for in adaptability and persistence. It might take him a little more effort to learn and excel but when he did his growth was exponential. He had gone from almost failing his first year class with me to being one of his top students. If one were to put a number on it then this student would be his second best.

One would ask why would I not choose my top student for this cause. If it were not for the fact that person was egotistical and most definitely not a team player then yes, that person would be here right now. But they are not. We need people who will look to advance us all, not focus on their own position. Such people cannot be trusted in the long run.

Chester Alcott was one such potential candidate who held promise.

I had invited him to my home, which was situated on a rather large parcel of land. The only thing that interrupted the horizon were patches of woods in the distance. Nearby was a lake that currently reflected the light of the almost setting sun, bathing it in shades of gold and orange. There was a slight breeze outside that made the faded green grass sway ever so slightly in the wind.

My home was not large but it was spacious. The floors were of dark marble and the walls were of stone. The furniture for the most part was dark cherry. Over all it had a very earthy feel to it.

We were currently in the study. When entering the door your first saw the massive wall bookshelf, then the desk in front of it with a high-backed chair facing the door. To the right was a fireplace with two armchairs of dark leather in front of it. To the left was large red and gold drapery that hid a window that look out over the field behind my home. In the center of the room was a large table with a chair on each side.

My place was dark, cozy, and comfortable. It was the perfect place to contemplate.

"Professor what is this about?" The student asked.

I handed him a cup of water. He thanked me and took it. Analyzing the chessboard on the table I made a move. "Knight takes pawn. Your move Chess."

Chess looked from me back to the board. I stood at the window and looked out over the field behind my house. I loved it here. It was very tranquil. I was especially beautiful during the eventide. It seems that night will soon fall on humanity too - if we do not do something about it.

I heard the clacking sound of a chess piece being moved. "Checkmate."

I turned back to the board and observed. "Chester, I think the world will end before I ever beat you at chess."

Chess laughed, "we all have our flaws. The game is named after me after all."

I chuckled. I was surprised that he could still keep humor at a time like this. Humor was a good sign. I suppose that this might be what I saw in him all those years ago. A kindred spirit.

"You are very calm knowing that the world is going to be destroyed." I said matter-of-factly.

Chess just shrugged. He leaned against the table, propping his head up with his hand. "Had to end sometime. Nothing lasts forever."

"So says contemporary knowledge." I replied.

Chess looked at me with a question behind his eyes. I had peeked his curiosity. Now I just had to fan the flame. Before he could ask his original question again I walked to the window and said, "I have known you since a freshman."

Chess laughed. "Yea, I don’t know why you ever gave me the time of day. It wasn’t like I was the smartest kid in your class."

"No, you were not." I agreed but kindly so. "You were not the brightest."

"Then why did you bother taking me under your wing?"

I took a long swig of water before answering. "I gave you the time of day not because you were the brightest in my class. But because you were determined. You never gave up. I respected that. If you saw a problem you worked at it until you found the solution. You never gave up."

Chess shifted in his seat, obviously getting uncomfortable at the praise.

"Are you ready to give up now?" I asked him sternly.

Chess examined my face. "I never give up. If only there was a way to fix this, but what can we do against such odds?"

"What could we do indeed." I agreed.

It was Chess’s turn to stand up and look out the window. It was as though I was looking at a younger version of myself. The setting twilight sun silhouetted him in orange light. The sight looked almost biblical.

"I suppose the obvious answer would be to leave Earth." He paused for a moment, holding his chin between his fingers in thought. "But how far could we possibly get? Even if we somehow pooled the resources to mount such an exodus, and assuming we could get everyone off the planet - which I can’t possibly see how that would be possible - where would we go? Or more importantly how far would we even get before we were overtaken?"

Not a word did I say. His inclusion to the project would be contingent on whether or not he could find the only solution to our problem. I liked him. He was a good kid. I hoped that he would figure it out. But I resigned myself to the idea that he might not get it. After all, it was a lot to ask of from a kid.

"Well, even if we could leave Earth... And even if we did find a new home... And even if we did find a way to get there. We would not be able to outrun such a monster."

I sighed, slightly lowering my head. This was his final test - as it were. I had hoped that he would pass but I guessed that he was not the progressive thinker that I thought he was. It was worth a shot.

"Unless..." Chess continued. I lifted my head back up. "Unless, we find a way to outrun the monster."

I stared at him, trying to hold back the smile that was on the verge of blooming on my face.

"Is that what this is about? Finding a way to outrun the monster?" Chess asked.

I continued to look at him in silence. He was close. He has part of the answer. He only needs the how.

"How could we possibly escape from this?" Chess asked almost angrily. "You honestly think that we can outrun this? That is why you pulled me away and-" he cut himself off. I saw it , the problem solver stirring behind his eyes. "Pull." He said to himself.

He began to pace. The sun had almost set so I got up to turn on the lights. The sound of my shoes clapping against marble echoed throughout my home. When the lights turned on I heard Chess breathe a sharp intake of air as though he were slapped.

"You want to try solve faster than light travel, don’t you?"

I breathed in deep. Sweet relief, it was good to be right. We would need all the good minds we could get and here we got one. "Yes, Chess. We are. And we are close."

Chess looked at me questioningly. "We? And how close?"

I opened up my bag that was sitting on a chair next to mine and began pulling out notes and files. "Yes, we."

"Who is we?" Chess asked.

I put my notes and files down on the table and gave them just enough push so as to spread them evenly across it. "We are the people who will save humanity. We are the people who are going to turn science fiction into science fact before that monster can eat us and turn us into history."

Chess stood there, probably in shock. "You are serious." It was not a question.

I screwed my mouth up in slight disapproval. "I fear this might become a trend..."

"What?"

I waved my hands dismissively. "So, do you want in?" I asked plainly.

Just as I suspected he responded in the affirmative. "Yes, yes I do. But how could we possibly solve faster than light travel? I thought that quantum theory and relativity don’t fit together."

I stood up and sifted through my notes until I found one particularly important page. "Yes, well, that is what I thought too. Until one day I decided to be determined like you." I threw the page in a spinning motion so that it landed on the table neatly in front of him.

Chess picked up the page and peered at it. "You write very small." He stated, sounding like he was annoyed.

I ignored it. "Just read it. Tell me what you think."

His attention turned back to the page in his hands. Moments passed in silence before he turned the page over and examined it that side as well.

He froze. Then he flipped the page to the front and then the back. Front. Back. Front. He looked up and stared me in the eyes. His mouth hung slightly open. "This-"

"-is why we need you." I walked over and took the page from him gently. I looked it over and set it down. "Your determination those years ago is what inspired me to pursue this problem to the point that I have. But like most things I quit before I could finish it completely. What a coincidence it is that we need this answered very soon, or else everything we know and love will be gone forever. We need your determination and your ability to think outside the box, as it were." I tapped the page. "It is close but. It is not perfect. Something is missing." I looked at Chess square in the eye. "I think that you might be able to help us find that missing something."

Chess flushed. "I’m honored that you think so highly of me but you are the true scientist here. I am just a student."

"A student who went from failing to excelling in almost every course he set his eyes on. No you are not smart. But your determination is what pulled you through. It is what found you the answers and allowed you to learn and adapt faster than any other student I have seen. We need you to apply your skills to this. Perhaps you can think of something we have not. For everyone’s sake. Your... Brand, of determination is what humanity needs to survive." I tried not to sound grandiose but it kind of came out that way regardless.

Chess stood there slightly dumbfounded. He probably thought that spiel was over the top but the truth is that it was the truth. Humanity gives up far too easily. We resign to our doom the moment we are told that everything is going to end and there is nothing we can do. The real truth is that humanity ends when we give up. Determination is what will save mankind.

Chess shook himself out of his mini stupor and looked at the table of notes. His reply came swiftly. "You still haven’t told me exactly who ’we’ is."

Sitting down, I smiled and said, "very observant." Having been satisfied that Chester was as determined as I thought he was I decided that it was time for full disclosure. "We are a team of scientists and similarly minded individuals from across the world who are partnering together to solve the mystery that is space and time and getting our theories off the ground... No pun intended. I could get into specifics that would take a nice long while to iron out but I will simplify our main goal in two words: warp speed."

Chess stared at me. I saw that he wanted to laugh but at the same time it made sense. He did eventually laugh. The answer was so obvious that I supposed that it was funny. "Turn science fiction into science fact, indeed."

I smiled in return. "Indeed."

"Not to seem like a pessimist, but, ignoring all the technical and scientific barriers that are currently in our way," he started. From my experience the word but has always been followed by bad news - or in this case more bad news. "How are we going to get the funding for all of this."

I sighed and said as calmly as I could, "we are going to have to convince people that the acquisition of wealth is a pointless act now."

Chess raised an eyebrow. He did not say it but his facial expression spoke the words for him: are you serious? A trend this was becoming, indeed.

"We have to find a way to express to as many people as we can that it is in their own best interest to fund our project."

"And if we can’t?" Chess asked darkly.

I sighed heavily and leaned back in my chair. I looked up at the ceiling contemplating the  very probable reality that human survival might be contingent on subverting human greed. I cringed at the thought. "Then I suspect... that a good portion of mankind will end up in the fourth circle of hell."

Next Chapter: Teaser Excerpt