First half of Alternate Universe tale by me

This is my first alternate universe tale. Or half of it that is. I wrote this originally over six years ago, I could easily see what needed work, even though I went over kinda of quick. It was 4600 and some words long and that was before I started to revise it. Now it is 4,995 words. It will be over 5,000 by the time I finish. And that is with deleting some parts. This part is 2,282 words.

Enjoy:

The Gathering

Samuel G. Longrian waited. He knew they would make an appearance just like he had known that the process would work this time. That trip though had been wild. He still felt a bit dizzy. Which wasn’t the fault of his ship-the thirty meter long twenty meter wide Future. The energy convertors and extra shielding: radiation, electronic, stealth-he had those turned off now though-and heat and cold, all functioned well. He didn’t know if he would need all of that but to test his new process drive powered by tachyon radiation he thought it would be best. So now he waited. His cushioned seat, silk fused with leather, and air temp were set for his maximine comfort while he waited. The air tasted just right too. He had learned that something bad in the air would change its flavor, the hard way. For a second he thought he had smelled too many man scents during the trip but now his command center had a good smell.
The command center contained three other seats, but he didn’t need a crew or passengers for this trip.
His command center-like a big cockpit in a huge air transport-styled plain with the only colors were black, silver, and dark gray-had arrived here in one piece with every device functioning correctly at 110 percent.
The sensors beeped for his ship sat inside a large empty pocket near the side of an area full of asteriods and other space debris. The experts thought an exceptionally large comet had collided with an ice planet. One or the other had a change of orbit possibly because of a mini black hole passing though, a war, a very slight time shift, or nothing at all.
He had known there would be such a clear area, before he arrived, so it hadn’t taken long to find it. Samuel made the test with his sensors on max, just to make sure that he really was the first to arrive. He had been.
Some of the asteroids that made up this belt were as big as large houses, while others were barely the size of a medicine
ball. Opposite where his ship was resting, there was an opening, just large enough for a small space craft to easily fly though. He had flown though it, so knew it how easy maneuvering through it, would be for the others.
Samuel had been waiting for twenty-four hours already, and was surprised no one had shown up yet. He still had no doubt they would be there. Not all, of course, for some would have experiences circumstances that interfered with them being able to come here. Some would be dead, that made him think. How many times had he almost died. More than he wanted to conterplate
A few hours later, after he made a trip to his little ship's head, he made himself some Chinese green tea. As he poured the tea leaves into the hot water, he wondered if the others would like green tea as much as he did. Probably, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal if they didn't, he decided. He would be finding out soon enough anyway. He quickly ascended back into his ship’s observation cabin.
On most ships it would be called an observation deck, but because his ship was so small, he always referred to it as a cabin. He sat in his favorite of the four seats in the cabin. It was a comfortable padded lounge chair, that was in the right spot for him to see space, free of any obstacles. Five steps behind the chair there was a circular door in the floor, which led to the control room. He always left it open so he could hear any beeps the computer might make. He could jump though it and immediately be in the control room, if something did happen.
Not many vessels, as small, as his had observation cabins and that was one reason he had chosen this vessel. One of the other reasons would be evident if any of the others gave him any trouble.
He had just taken a couple of sips of the tea when his sensor array beeped. Something was coming. After glancing at the small repeater screen, near the chair he was relaxing in, he decided that he had time to enjoy some of his tea.
A few minutes later he observed another vessel make its way though the opening in the far wall. It was a vessel slightly larger than his with different lines, however he could see that it too had an observation blister.
His ship was very streamlined, looking very much like pictures he had seen of spy planes flown way back in the 1950s on Earth. The Future was thicker than those planes, with various blisters along each side. Some blisters protected sensor arrays while others hid weapons. One larger blister on top, toward the back, made up the top part of this cabin. This new vessel was less streamlined and more cubic looking.
“So”, he spoke out loud, a bad habit he let himself have, “the first one has arrived”.
After another thought he added, “The first one after me that is”.
Now he had to decide rather to contact the newcomer, or allow the person to contact him. It was possible that it was not one of the ones he was expecting. Someone else could have made the trip, but he just shrugged thinking that he would find out soon enough.
The other would know that he was there. The new ship's
sensors would be able to identify his ship easily. He took another sip of the tea rolling it around his tongue. He decided to let the other do the work. He glanced at his sensors again and it showed what he had expected, that the newcomer had no weapons online. He had been careful keeping his weapon systems on standby. They could be at full power in a second, or two though.
He watched the other ship stop in the center of the clear area. His sensor screen showed that the single occupant of the new ship first scanned the clear area, some of the surrounding asteroids and finally executed a deeper scan of Samuel's ship.
Seconds later his comm unit beeped the incoming message signal. He decide to jump down to his command room instead of
activating the observation cabin's comm screen. It would lower
from the ceiling and obscure most of the window he was now looking out of. That was one of the few things he didn't like about this ship.
He sat down the still half filled cup, stood than running to the hatch he leaped though it, landing easily, flexing his knees as his feet touched the floor. He quickly straighten up and took the three steps to the main comm unit. He activated it and, as the screen slide up out of its recess a picture formed on it. It showed the head and shoulders of a fairly young man with medium length reddish hair, bright green eyes. He looked to be in his 30s, 38 to be exact, Samuel knew. Even though the image on the screen had longer hair than he expected, it was one of the people he had been expecting.
He said in a deep voice with proud ring in it , "Greetings. I am Samuel G. Longrian."
The other responded with a hello, and by saying his name.
Samuel said, "I've been expecting you."
"I am, on the other hand, fairly surprised to see you."

Samuel sat down in his captain's chair and said, "After some thought I concluded that I wouldn't be the only one to learn of the process, and be willing to test it."
"Now that you mention it, it's obvious." The other said with a smile.
They chatted for a long period of time, describing their lives plus getting into the history and modern affairs of both their worlds. During their talk more ships joined them. Some came though the short channel and others came though the narrow wall of asteroids that made up the edge of the belt.
Soon the clear area was full of one man ships. Many were carbon copies of Samuel's ship, while three were copies of the second arrival's ship.
Of the ship's similar to his, most were black, even though two of those had red trim. One copy was bright red and three had been painted white. One of the white ones had red trim while one had black trim. The third was solid white.
The smallest of the ships arrived almost last. This ship was the only one with just a passenger compartment, to Samuel it looked to be some type of runabout: long, narrow, with two drive pods next to the hull and what might be a shark’s fin on top. It was purple, blue, green with chartuse trim of all colors That ship came through a side wall, thick with larger asteroids, and stayed to one side, instead of mixing it up with the other vessels.
The second to the last ship to arrive zipped though the opening at breakneck speed. Its pilot almost scraped two ships sitting near the opening. Finally it executed a maneuver that could only be called screeching to a stop. Even before this new ship had come to a complete stop, its occupant had sent a signal, interrupting all of the other comm signals being used.
His image showed a man with long flowing hair, a muscular figure except for the start of a beer belly, he wore a black turtleneck with slacks. he said, "I am here, let the party begin."
Samuel noticed that even though this brash new comer looked to have the same build as most of the others, some were a little heavier while some were a little scrawnier, he seemed to take up more room. It was as if he had a large body to go with his loud voice. His green eyes were intense while having a humorous twinkle to them. He dressed in an older, to Samuel, casual-dress style. The majority of the others were dressed in a casual-formal style. Samuel's clothes were one step up from them. Some of those gathered wore ship jumpsuits. One man dressed in bright colors of a form of robe.
Some of those present ignored the newcomer going back to their conversations. Others greeted him like a long lost brother.
Samuel, along with everyone else in the gathering, talked for many hours, after taking his leave of the first man. Some shared computer files: with songs, books, histories etc, while others just chatted. Finally, after most of those talking considered it to be late night, the conversations ended for the day. Many went to bed, while others stayed up even later. The noisy one invited some over to his ship where they partied far into the "night". 
 The next morning, ship time, Samuel G. Longrian woke and had a leisurely breakfast. Afterwards he commed a few of those present, he hadn’t had the time to talk to the previous evening. Hours later he realized that he had talked to most of those present. He had declined invitations to come over with various excuses and made more excuses when two of the more brash ones wanted to visit him.
He had, as most had, exchanged adventure tales, while asking questions about the other person's background. Samuel asked some questions a few had thought strange.
He looked at his computer's screen and decided that he needed to talk to just two, or three more than he could go home. He was uncharacteristically a little nervous about the return trip. The process had worked once to transport him here, as it had worked in tests, therefore it should function correctly to send him back home. Should was the operative word though. In his life he had found many things that should work didn't. There was always the possibility that it would not work at all, or that it would send him someplace else. The process had been steady and reliable in the many tests, but a part could short or disappear on him. That had happen twice during his first tests. He had learned that most of the others had the same test results. Except for three he had talked to. One had gone through the tests like they were not really needed, another had better success so hadn’t needed the same number of tests. Samuel thought about talking to him more but he seemed even more intellecual then Samuel which was sating a lot. He mentally shrugged there was always a chance of harm in most things humans do, even in ordinary travel.
His musings were interrupted by his comm unit beeping. Someone else wanted to talk to him. Which was fine with him. That is it was fine, until he keyed his unit to receive. A picture of the person comming him instantly appeared.
The one comming him was dressed in the same tasteful clothes as Samuel was and had his hair in the same style. Samuel eyed the other warily, pressing a button that traced the comm signal back to its source. He wasn't surprised that it led back to a vessel very similar to his. It was one of the black ones and had exactly the same power readings as his vessel.
The other smiled warmly, which did not reassure Longrian, and said, "Hello, brother traveler. Is this what you expected?"
Samuel said, "Yes and more. This is wild.”

end part one