Captain Sheppard sat down and waited patiently in his office for Dr. Lenz. Just an hour before, he had informed his crew that everything and everyone that they had ever known was gone. Not just the things and people they loved, but everything in its totality. Some took it reasonably well, perhaps because this ship was already their existence but most of the mass of blue uniforms sobbed uncontrollably. Not that he could blame them, pat of him wanted to do likewise.

The door opened and Dr. Lenz entered.

“Dr. Lenz?”said the Captain with wide, bemused, eyes.

“Yes, that is me. Nice, spacious office you have here. I know I look younger that what you probably expected, but it’s the nanabots. In reality I’m probably even older than you expected. Dare I say I may be the oldest human left.”

The Captain not wanting to be distracted immediately focused the conversation.

“What happened Dr. Lenz? What caused this catastrophe?”

“I’m afraid I know no more than you. Theoretically there was always a possibility that this could occur. It was always just calculated to be an extremely low probability event so people projected that it would take billions of years to occur. Obviously, they were wrong. But what really matters is what happens now.

Once we have completed our first jump, we must immediately scour our surroundings for resources. I have been studying the long range radar. There is a terrestrial world that looks promising. If it is, we must scan and strip it of resources as a matter of urgency. We won’t have long between jumps before the wall of non existence reaches us.

“Prepare a Team Dr. Lenz. You have have been given access to our Personnel Database. Select who you need for the away mission.”

“But I’m just a scientist!”

“We all have to step up. Now go. We don’t have much time.”