Eagle Nebula (Wikipedia)
I think I'd like to do a story based on The Sandy Road. Basically a couple of traders travel across a desert to a neighboring country. They carried more than enough provisions for the trip but after the navigator realizes they're close, he suggests they dump the provisions. After this, the navigator takes a rest and the oxen walk in a big circle. They wake up and find themselves where they were a day ago and panic for water, eventually finding it under a rock in the ground. I think it'd be neat if I could do a similar story in space. A transport convoy would carry extra fuel for a trip and realize that they're going to be late if they don't hurry. They figure to jettison the extra fuel they don't need and take a shortcut through a wormhole. Unfortunately the stress this puts on the ships cause the pilots to black out and autopilot to take over and eject them from the wormhole. They carry on and wake up to systems alarms. The lead transport pilot switches navigation to the closest outpost station and discovers it is 42 light years away while the ship has switched to emergency power, with only enough fuel to sustain life support systems for a few days.
Bibliography: The Sandy Road from The Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt
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