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the Horizon disappeared."
    Hubbard eyes widened. "Like the Oceania. Oh my god, Ken that's it. That has to be it."
    Ken raised his eyebrows. "Care to elaborate?"
    "I don't think I was dreaming that I was on the Oceania, Ken. It was real. Too real. What if I really was there?"
    "Don’t you think that’s a bit of a stretch?"
    "Think about it. Watts's record shows she died long ago. Same thing with the Horizon crew. Look, their ship reported violent shaking in the log."
    "Just like the Raven," Ken said through the discovery. "Any reports of a purple haze?"
    “No. Why do you ask?”
    “Back in the cargo bay I saw this purple cloud shoot away the second I turned around. It didn’t do anything to me, but I’ve never seen anything like it. I also saw it disappearing away from you just after you passed out. Given what happened on the Horizon...”
    Hubbard rubbed his chin. “Interesting. You swept the ship for contaminants before we left?”  
    Ken groaned. “C’mon, Hubs. You know I did. Standard undocking procedure was completed, in full, after the Raven was buttoned up.”
    Hubbard put his hands up as if to say he was innocent. “Hey, no need to get defensive. I’m just making sure.”
    “Yeah, I know. Eliminate the obvious and all that.”
    “Exactly,” Hubbard said. “So with that out of the way, I agree there may be a connection with this cloud, the Horizon and us.”
    “The question, more importantly: what is it?”  
      "No, I’m more interested in knowing how it got aboard. If it’s airborne, the whole life support system's contaminated. It must have gotten in through one of the exhaust vents. Whatever it is, this thing is changing our past, literally. It's almost like it's retroactively killing people."
    "I've never heard of such a thing, Hubs."
    "If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."
    Ken went to answer, then froze. A thin cloud of purple seeped onto the bridge through the open door. In seconds the floating hue had formed and hung next to Hubbard's right shoulder.
    "Don't move," Ken said as calm as he could.
    Hubbard gritted his teeth. "What are you going to do? We don't know how to fight this thing."
    "We'll vent the bridge."
    "You're crazy. We'll die with no air."
    "We can hold our breaths. It'll only be for a minute to suck that thing out," Ken remained perfectly still except for the hand sliding slowly to the command console. "We vent, it gets sucked out, we fill the bridge back up with air on the ship."
      Hubbard closed his eyes tight and let out a long exhale. It was a crazy idea, but it was all they had. "I guess this is better than my plan, which I don't have. Do it."
    Ken nodded. He slid his hand forward and entered the desired venting sequence. The system was ready seconds later and they both took a long series of breaths before holding the final one. Ken's lungs burned from expansion. His finger moved to the confirmation button, but it went limp along with the rest of his body.  
    Neither had seen the haze shift forward, engulfing them both.  
    Captain Hubbard and Ken Mallory passed out instantly.

    Blaring alarms pierced Hubbard's ears and the sound shocked his body back into the reality that was the blazing fire aboard the Oceania. A wave of heat blew over his face causing his eyes to instantly tear up. The unfamiliar commanding officer still directed the orderly chaos. Shouts rang along Engineering as the orders were relayed over the noise.
      "Damnit!" Hubbard yelled.
    The haze had been seconds from being vented into deep space, yet it had snapped him back here at the last possible moment. His hands felt heavy, weighted down by the filled hose in his hands, bucking as nannites flew out of the end. Hubbard gripped the hose tight and took a visual inventory of the section. He recognized Jenkins and Whol working the hose on the second team. His counterpart eagerly continued his duty on team one. Hubbard couldn't help from staring for a moment at the younger face, untouched by the