Dirk Halfspeed Reimagined - Part 2

Let's say Dirk's real name is Dirk Knightley (or some variation of this spelling). Let's say Dirk does not find out what is his last name, only his first name, and let's say his real name is not revealed to the readers either, at least not for the first few episodes. So the opening scene he's floating in space unconscious, a la The Bourne Identity. He comes to, he discovers his first name is Dirk and he discovers he knows nothing else about himself.

He discovers he has lots of oxygen remaining, maybe four hours, so he is not in immediate danger of suffocating - but he's in space, who knows how far he is from anything. He tests his thrusters and plays around with them. He can "swim" in space, but what direction would he go in?

Perhaps he is able to determine by reading the stars that he is "near" the Nexus station. "Near" means six to eight hours away at thruster speed. More than the amount of time for which his oxygen will last. His thruster only has enough power for maybe two hours. Maybe only half an hour.

He flips himself around to face various directions but there is nothing to see in any direction. But wait, one of the stars is getting brighter. Or is it? It seems to be getting bigger. Dirk realizes there is a ship heading right for him. It is heading right towards him, like a speeding locomotive train.

He dives straight "down", relative to the axis of the ship's travel. He hears a huge rumble, then remembers sound doesn't travel in space. The sound is his own heartbeat, his own breathing, his own blood pumping through his veins; his sense of hearing has been heightened by fear. He looks up and sees the ship passing overhead, maybe four to twelve feet above him. A close call. The ship is moving quickly but he recognizes that the ship is decelerating. He concludes that the ship must be enroute to Nexus Station and is decelerating in preparation for docking. What is several hours away for him is merely minutes away for this ship.

Perhaps Dirk attaches himself to the ship (How? It is moving very fast. Wouldn't his arms be ripped off if he tried to "grab" it?) Perhaps he is close enough to be pulled along by its wake (some kind of magnetic wake that his suit responds to). In any case, he gets an unexpected boost of speed that allows him to "swim" to Nexus station before his oxygen runs out.