Into The Void (11 page)

Chapter 10

The Cost of Discovery

              Captain Steele awoke thinking about the ridicule the galaxy had thrown at mankind for this massive undertaking. He remembered being told that he was crazy, mad, and asinine. He knew it needed to be done, there was no doubt in his mind. He knew it was a one way trip that had a 100 percent chance of failure. Even if he had made it to the Overlapping Galaxies, what were the odds he would be able to build the Instant Teleportation Device? Even if he built the Instant Teleportation Device what was the chance that it would work? None.

              There were no promise of return. He would be too old by the time the gate was opened for any help. The first ships through would not be able to heal him. His health would be too far gone. He has enough air, but not enough time before his body decays to nothing and he is unable to build the gate. He has enough supplies, but not enough to stay alive indefinitely until he finished the gate. He has the knowledge he needs to complete the mission, but not all the backup parts should enough systems on the ship fail.

              Captain Steele remembered that many races were planning “strikes” against human made items and products. They were furious about all the resources mankind would be wasting in their bold attempt to fix the galactic crisis.

              Captain Steele got up, showered, then went to watch a movie.

              “John you are up at an odd hour. Is everything all right?” Jamie asked.

              “Yeah, I was just thinking. I remember all the ridicule we got for doing what were doing,” Captain Steele replied.

              “It was a lot. But the galaxy will thank us when were done,” Jamie said.

              “I hope your right. My biggest fear is that we can't enter the Overlapping Galaxies. What if some barrier or something blocks us?”

              “There were many variables in even leaving the Milky Way. You knew that.”

              “Yeah but that was before I knew the Chinese time warping dragon couldn't enter.”

              “There is only one way to find out. Let's push forward and see where it takes us. The creature did say you have gone further than anyone else has. Take that for what it's worth. Five billion years old and its entire race has been around much longer and they say that you are the best chance to enter another galaxy.”

              Captain Steele sighed.

              “Your right Jamie. The fact that I'm the best the galaxy has ever produced is kind of a big deal. That's quite a burden to carry.”

              “I have faith in you John.”

              “Well that's nice to know. Glad I can make an AI have faith in me.”

              “I was programmed with the ability to make a choice John. I happen to choose to have faith in you.”

              “Well I'm glad to know you choose to have faith in me. I'm gonna get some breakfast and watch a movie. What movie do you want to see today Jamie?”

              “I will leave that up to you John.”

              “Come on. Just pick a darn movie.”

              “How about an old space movie?”

              “Works for me. Pull it up while I make a sandwich.”

              Captain Steele sat down and watched an old space movie about exploration. He watched the entire movie, then got up to work out. After working out he played a game then went to work on his log.

              “Captain Steele, date 4014, log 1,203, Month 7, Week 2, Standard Milky Way year.

              “I was visited by a Chinese dragon. No joke, that's what the creature said. We conversed and talked. We talked a lot. He informed me that I was the best and only a few others have stepped outside a galaxy in an attempt to cross through intergalactic space.

              “I originally looked at myself as a modern Christopher Columbus but the distance is much much more vast. The only difference between him and me is that I know for a fact my goal is out there and everyone else does as well. That was not the case with Mr. Columbus.

              “I strive forward wondering what other things I will come across. I received part of the Chinese dragon's flesh. It is a very different thing. It is light as a feather but much much much too dense for that. It seems information has almost been coded into it. It easily changes sizes and mass which proves that maybe the universe isn't all we thought it was. How can something change mass without either loosing or gaining mass? The fabric would itself have to create and destroy mass at will. I will have to continue to look into this.

              “Captain Steele, ending log.”

              After finishing his log Captain Steele went back to his daily activities. He walked around the ship checking all the vital equipment. He walked back to the cargo bay, made sure everything was okay, walked around to the lab and made sure everything was in stable conditions, walked to the recreational room and made sure everything was in it's place, then walked to the bridge when he sat in his captain's chair and looked ahead into space.

              The space outside a galaxy is often considered a void for a reason. There is even less light than normal. Normally, in between solar systems there is light from all the stars of the galaxy shining like the night sky because they are so close. Out here the stars are few and far between. Little dots far off in the distance that look like a star are really whole galaxies. There were bands of stars in the sky from time to time but without cosmic dust for light to shine off of so they were dimmer and appeared to be less than normal. The was just a little twinkle of a galaxy in the distance most of the time. There was so much space between the dots.

              There was nothing out here but him. There are enough galaxies in the universe that it should appear like the night sky anywhere else but for some reason it doesn't. It probably had to due with light bending around galaxies that caused light to appear non-existent.

              The more Captain Steele thought about that the worse he became. They were currently more than 14 light years from anything. It's not 14 light years from anything living but 14 light years from anything at all. There is nothing around him, nothing but invisible lack of matter called dark matter. It blew his mind to know where he was. It made him lonely and sad. It made him cold, it made his bones freeze. He wasn't just alone, away from anybody. He was alone, away from anything. He looked out into the distance just ahead of him. He wanted to see the Overlapping Galaxies but there was nothing but a twinkle of a few galaxies in the distance. Only and estimated 128 years to go.

              “Jamie lets play some music. I want a good military song. Something about a company of soldiers. Something heavy.”

              “How about your favorite, one about a company that's bad?”

              “Works for me. Crank it up, I'm gonna party.”

             
Captain Steele spent the rest of the day trying to take his mind off of it all before going to bed.

              Captain Steele awoke and went to his captain's chair. He sat there admiring just how far him and Jamie have come. Almost 32 years in and they were making great progress. There was a lot of nothing between the few objects that they had seen and it had been almost 18 years since the last anomaly. They were also ahead of schedule even though they have had numerous stops along the way. Numerous discoveries that will change the laws of science. Several discoveries so great that he will forever be remembered.

              Captain Steele looked out of the ship and saw something. He then looked at the readouts.

              “Unbelievable,” Captain Steele said.

              “A brown dwarf holding an orbit of five planets that exist outside of a galaxy,” Jamie stated in amazement.

              “Isn't a brown dwarf basically a large object that didn't turn into a star?”

              “That's putting it simply John.”

              “Take us in, I'm going to go explore a planet.”

              “John, I know your dying to explore everything but I must-”

              “I'm going planet side. We are to explore what's out here. How can a star that didn't really make it in the star department be able to hold an orbit of five planet sized objects? Where did they come from? No one has ever really thought such a thing could exist outside a galaxy. We need to know Jamie. I'm taking all the gear I can carry.”

              Captain Steele threw on a DSSM suit, his trusty rifle, side arm, spare parts, and containers for specimens. He then entered the inner airlock door.

              “What do the scans show you?” He asked Jamie.

              “The first planet close to the sun has sharp rocks of an unknown material that are spiked at odd angles, with boiling mercury flowing from the core of the planet at a few places. That mercury will shine bright in the dim light of the brown dwarf so be careful. The rocks also appear to be very jagged because the radar is not returning anything but the mercury pools. There also appears to be some kind of fog, that's not breathable, so watch out for that as well.”

              “What is the fog made of?”

              “Unknown. The fog appears to have particles of frozen mercury in it so it's safe to assume it is fog from when the mercury hits the surface it instantly cools due the surface temperature of the planet.”

              “Whats the surface temperature?”

              “One degree Fahrenheit above absolute zero. As you probably recall absolute zero is the point at which all molecules stop moving. So one degree Fahrenheit above absolute zero is about -458 degrees Fahrenheit,” Jamie said.

              “Another day in paradise,” Captain Steele said smiling.

              The ship came to hover an estimated 1,000 feet above the surface and the outer airlock door opened. Captain Steele looked down and saw lots of thick fog.

              “Why aren't we going any lower?” Captain Steele asked.

              “I can't see below the fog and without radar I don't know where the jagged rocks stop at. This is the lowest I can take you. If you need to get back up into the ship just light the path by dropping a plasma flare and I'll see if the ship can fit. You'll need to fall, it could be a hard landing but the surface gravity is only .6 of Earth's. You've survived worse without the DSSM.”

              “Thanks Jamie. Glad you love me,” Captain Steele said sarcastically.

              “I am glad that you know that. Anything I can do to help the mighty Captain Steele,” Jamie sarcastically replied bowing her holographic form.

              Captain Steele readied himself for a hard fall and took a step off of the ship. He fell slowly at first, only to gain speed as he went through the fog. He went faster and faster the more and more he fell. He readied himself for a hard fall on a jagged rock. He went through the fog and saw the ground with spiked jagged rocks just below him. He knew it was going to hurt when he hit.

              Captain Steele landed with his left foot on the edge of a rock, and his right foot about a foot below it on another jagged rock that was at a 45 degree slope.

              “Holy-” Captain Steele said as he hit the ground. 

              When Captain Steele's left foot landed his ankle twisted and his leg slipped as his right foot landed. His left hip took a hard hit from the jagged rock where he slipped and fell.

              “Are you all right John? I noticed your heart rate spike abnormally high for a second.”

              “Yeah, I'm fine. I just landed and slipped on a ledge. Just caught me by surprise,” Captain Steele said through clenched teeth.

              Captain Steele stood up and was sore. His DSSM administered some pain medication and he was ready to get walking again. He looked at all the rocks and saw they were spiked at such odd angles.

              “Hey Jamie, what natural phenomenon would cause rocks to bend at such angles?”

              “Massive cataclysm of a powerful nature. Because of the location of the brown dwarf and its location far outside a galaxy it is unlikely natural and therefore strongly suggests the doing of sentient beings but even that is really reaching for an explanation.”

              Captain Steele walked around with his gun at the high ready, ready to engage should a threat emerge. He walked around and noticed that the rocks were not all pointed in a single direction. They were pointed in all directions. Unless he was at the point of impact for a powerful weapon there was no chance that this was made by sentient beings. This had to be some freak natural phenomenon.

              Captain Steele walked over to one of the rocks and touched it. He was able to break the tip off of it and mercury came spilling out before becoming cool and hardening. He watched as the mercury cooled then hardened into a new rock before breaking a piece off of that rock and seeing the same thing happen all over again. The final result was a rock that was spiked in a new direction. He continued to walk away from it and toward what he believed to be north. He walked for 10 miles before sitting down. There was nothing out here. This planet is some where outside a galaxy, with a star that failed to ignite properly, and no reason as to how or why. Maybe a galaxy lost a solar system at some point in time when it crossed by here. That doesn't line up with any of the other laws of science though.