James Robertson and the Space Goliath

I started my journey about 3 years ago now, I had just reached the minimum age to commandeer a full sized space vessel (I had flew smaller flying machines as a child, although none had the ability to leave my home planet's atmosphere) when I enlisted to become a 'Planet Surveyor'. It sounds fancy I know, but in reality the job was quite low level compared to other positions one could acquire. When I first started flying, the company I worked for (KVAT Industries) instructed me to simply find habitable planets that they could transform into large scale factories and warehouses to later sell on to other buyers. However after 2 years of watching beautiful planets being carved into huge metal meshes I took the plunge and decided to quit. I thanked my boss and bid farewell to my colleagues before sitting in my 'KVAT' branded ship one last time. It was a difficult goodbye but after paying for a taxi to the nearest civilian orbital dock I was excited by the possibilities my new freedom presented. It was refreshing to have so many options again.

I stayed at the dock for a while just enjoying the sight of other people and the pleasure of being in the presence of others. 3 days passed and I finally decided to look for a new job (my savings wouldn't last forever) I was told by one of the enormous dock's many robotic guides about an area 2 miles west of the main lobby that held recruitment conventions daily, I decided that would be my best chance at work. A slow stroll down and a 10 minute food break later I arrived at the convention hall. It was moderately sized, holding about 75-100 job seekers and employers. Many were already sat down discussing salaries and specifics. I walked through the rows of booths hoping to find an available employer, eventually I stumbled across a woman under a lime green banner reading HalTech Incorporated 'Making progress happen' admittedly the slogan felt somewhat grandiose but the woman invited me to sit and frankly I still needed a job.
"How was your day?" She forced a crude smile.
"Not too bad thank you." I replied in my best interview voice.
"So have you heard of HalTech before today?" Her voice remained monotone as if she was recalling a pre-written script.
"No I can't say that I have."
"Okay no worries. Haltech Incorporated is a small company that manages the production of consumer tech such as Sandai watches, EZtech tablets and more." I nodded as she spoke. "The job we are advertising today simply involves overseeing a group of 70-80 production line robots and making sure it doesn't go up in flames." I chortled. "The job would be 105 hours a week Monday through Sunday with the exception of Christmas day. Interested?"
I would throw myself into the vacuum of space and let my lungs collapse before I took that job is, what I would of said if I wasn't so polite but I opted for the much more professional sounding "I'll get back to you on that." before standing up and leaving the booth.

4 more draining interviews later and nothing seemed to suit me, somewhat defeated I walked hunch-shouldered back to the dock's hostel. The night drew out and I tossed and turned unable to lull myself to sleep. Midnight ticked by and as I stared up at the stainless steel ceiling I couldn't help but shake the feeling that quitting might have been a mistake.
"What's got you so restless?" An old, worn voice spoke out from the darkness.
I was taken aback slightly, how long had he been watching me?
"Oh its nothing." I replied not wanting to over share
"Well you can keep tossing and turning or you can tell me what's on your mind." He doubled down.
I sighed "I quit my job of flying round uncharted regions of space and now i'm realizing that most of the other jobs on offer aren't as thrilling." The old man gave a croaky chuckle.
"If you want to explore then why not just buy a ship and fly whichever way pleases you?".
"I want to get payed for it.". I grinned slightly realizing the outlandish requirements I had.
"Is that so. You know I can probably help you with that. If you're interested. " I sat up in the darkness enticed by the old man's statement "Yes absolutely." I replied
"Well then here's the gig. I'll loan your very own spaceship to fly around the galaxy at your heart's content for the first year until you can afford your own. All I ask for in return is that you video tape interesting things you find on your travels, the more interesting something is the more i'll pay you. It can be anything really but the rarer or crazier something is the more I'll pay." I shook his hand then and there and the next day I awoke to find a letter from the old timer telling me where my ship was. I remember when I first laid my eyes on it, she was gorgeous. Not a single piece of KVAT branding cluttered her hull it was magnificent. I met with the man one more time later that day and we swapped details he told me his name was James Robertson. I have only seen him twice since both times to trade information.

That brings me to just last night at this point I have been travelling for around a year and had moderate success. I had been awake for about 4 hours already and after a long stint of seeing nothing but darkness, I watched a coloured spec in the distance grow in size as I approached it. It was filled with deep indigos as well as lilac strings of connecting passages. Light gleamed from within the center revealing some of the hidden details of the void around it.The whole spectacle was incredible. Damn was the old man's jaw would drop if he saw this. I was a fly and the nebula seemed like a magnificently beautiful venus fly trap. Before long I was within its depths surrounded by the incredible light show it was beyond anything I had ever seen. Slowly the nebula began to thin and before me was a relatively large planet. Unusually its exterior was constant the whole thing coated in a murky camo green whereas most other planets have multiple colours breaking up the different climates of its surface.

It wasn't long before I saw it, a small opening forming at the equator. It was a single point facing towards my ship that gradually expanded. The entire planet began to open up like segments of an orange. A sickening mucus began to float out of its innards settling on my windshield. I quickly used the screen wipers and wiped it away. At this point I was stunned. Completely frozen in a mixture of terror and intense curiosity. A hulking slimy snake like appendage become to rise out of its mouth like opening. It approached my vessel. I panicked, but it was too late. As I span my ship around it's eel like tentacle gripped on tightly. I had one last option. I throttled up the ship allowing the boosters to scold the creatures slimy limb. It immediately released its grip on my ship and instead struck it once. The boosters of my ship were completely shredded and there was no hope of them taking me anywhere . My only saving grace was that the burning boost had given me enough momentum to float away from the monsters reach. However now I was trapped in a deep unexplored nebula thousands of miles away from the nearest inhabited planet with a set of destroyed boosters.

I escaped the beast but I would have to get a lot luckier to escape the impending loss of oxygen. There's about 6 hours left now. I suppose it's enough time to reflect on my choices or alternatively enough time to sleep, at least that way I could go peacefully. Either way i'm lucky enough to view this nebula one last time before I rest...  

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I hope you enjoyed this short story I know it was a little bleak towards the end but I don't intend to leave this explorer's story here