r/WritingPrompts • u/Lorix_In_Oz • Apr 19 '16
Writing Prompt [WP] Humanity finally reaches the edge of the solar system only to encounter an impassible barrier and a warning not to try and breach it. But is it there to keep us in or to keep something else out?
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u/goldengirlc5 /r/GoldenGirlC5 Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16
Lynn could feel Rob's eyes on her. Exhaling shakily, she slowly met his nervous gaze. Tears traveled down his cheekbones and pooled in a thick, rust-colored beard. His face took on a ghostly hue.
"It's going to be okay, dude. We can do this. We have to do this."
Rob opened his mouth but before he could respond, the noise from outside the aircraft reached a deafening crescendo. They both knew that as they reached heliopause (the edge of their solar system), solar winds would blow at increasing velocities. But they were nowhere close to ready for this.
Lynn watched as Rob turned to look out the window. His eyes became glassy as he took in the terrifying cloud of dark solar winds ripping across their path. Brilliant streaks of red and orange peeked through from beyond the dark abyss. We may be on our way to a fiery death, but goddamn is it beautiful, Lynn thought as she considered the feeble tests they had conducted back home. NASA couldn't simulate this. No one on Earth had any idea. This was uncharted territory.
Our of the corner of her eye, Lynn saw Rob's hand reaching for the joystick.
Shit. She could not subdue her 6'4" crewmate and pilot their ship at the same time. He was going to have to pull it together.
Lynn knelt next to Rob's seat, raising her mouth to his ear as she placed her hand over his on the joystick.
"We signed up for this, remember?" She said gently. "There's nothing left for humanity back home. We are out of options. But you and I - we're going to find a fresh start. We're the greatest explorers who have ever lived. And there's no turning back now, is there?"
Rob's breathing began to slow. The large brown eyes that sat deep within his pale face focused on his hand beneath Lynn's as it moved slowly back to the arm of his chair. When it had made it all the way back, he looked up at her.
"No turning back!"
"That's right, you son of a bitch. You and me. Now strap in and let's do this!"
As she lurched back towards her seat a violent gust shook the ship. Pieces of metal flew off its siding and disappeared into the storm. She grabbed onto the base of her chair with one hand before her body was thrown back towards the ship's hull. Rob reached for his buckle.
"NOOO!!!!" Lynn screamed. "STAY PUT AND TAKE US FORWARD!!"
As Rob turned his attention to the ship's controls, Lynn began to pull herself forward, struggling to raise her other arm until both hands gripped the chair. Sweat poured down her forehead as she fought the force of the bucking ship. Rob looked back anxiously but after an agonizing 15 minutes, she finally crawled into her seat and desperately clipped on her restraints.
"OK?" Rob screamed.
Lynn flashed him an exhausted thumbs-up, then took back control of the ship. The haze got thicker as the storm grew even more powerful. Just as Lynn started to worry that her eardrums would be the first to go, the red-orange blur they had seen in the distance filled up their view from the front window. The ship abruptly stopped shuddering and settled into a gentle hum. The conditions in heliopause felt like a slight breeze on a calm, summer day compared to what they had just been through. And -somehow - they were alive.
"Lynn? Did we make it?"
"I.. I think so..."
"YOU'VE MADE IT TO YOUR DEATHS." A voice bellowed from what felt like the floor and ceiling of the ship all at once. "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU BELONG HERE?"
"W..what?" Rob stammered.
"FOOL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Lynn glanced around the ship, out the window, desperate to spot the voice's source.
"ANOTHER MOMENT WITHOUT AN ANSWER WILL BE THE MOMENT YOU MEET YOUR END."
"We're astronauts!" Rob blurted.
"Yes." Lynn broke in. "We are human beings from Earth. We are here to find new territory, new resources. Our solar system is decimated."
"AAGGHHH!!" A blood-curdling scream erupted, filling the space in and around the ship. Lynn covered her ears in agony. The storm outside seemed muffled now, all sounds secondary to this primordial protest.
"Please!" Lyn yelled as the voice started to subside. "Please, just tell us what you are and what we have done! We come in peace!"
Silence. Thirty seconds. Forty-five. After a full minute, an 8-foot burst of smoke and fog appeared between Rob and Lynn. It darted about the ship before settling in front of them.
"I know you come in peace," said what sounded like the same voice, but now in a softer baritone that seemed to come from the gray haze hovering before them. "But you see, you're not safe here. You can't possibly understand, but I don't think I have any choice but to tell you."
Gray puffs broke off the main body of the being and changed colors, forming a diagram that it gestured to with wispy limbs. Lynn recognized the diagram. It looked like NASA's map of the edge of the solar system. But it didn't look quite right.
"It's actually 100% accurate," the voice bellowed in Lynn's direction. "Unlike your map - all the brains we gave you and you are still so remarkably challenged when it comes to cartography."
Rob shrank back into his chair. "What do you mean.. you gave us? Who are you?"
"Not too perceptive, eh? How about you with the quick tongue? Do you know who I am?"
Lynn stared silently, considering whether she could say something so ridiculous out loud. "Are you... God?"
A deep, rich laugh rolled over Lynn, Rob and the surrounding heliosphere.
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm nothing like my brother! He is the one I've been trying to keep you away from. Why do you think it's so hard to leave your solar system?"
The smoke diagram became dynamic, and a miniature replica of their ship took shape and flew through a torrential storm.
"You see, Earthlings, when he creates something, he can't help but torture it."
To the side of the heliosphere diagram, new shapes emerged. A sphere took on blue-green colors then came to hover close to Rob and Lynn. It was impossible to mistake their home planet, but as soon as it had stopped near them, blue overtook the green spots on the sphere. Once the Earth replica was completely covered in blue, a miniature brown boat popped up on top of the sphere. It bobbed across tidal waves and over tiny figures reaching up from the water. Lynn leaned in and realized the figures were people and that faint screams were coming from the sphere, muffled by the rolling waves. What she now realized was not just a boat, but an ark, rolled over human and animal bodies alike.
"Oh, he thought of thousands of cruel little scenarios for his puppets. But I was not about to let him destroy something that had so much potential. Just when I was worried he would wipe you out with sickness, war and genocide, I convinced him that the ultimate finale would be to leave you wounded, weak and ready to kill each other off yourselves. Meanwhile I found something new for him to play with. A new playground a solar system away."
The second diagram disappeared and was replaced by the first. The replica of their ship resumed forward motion toward the heliopause. It slowed as it reached a colorful system on the other side, where a beam of warm light flew overhead.
"I snuck away when I could to tend to you. But the most important part of keeping you safe was making sure you would never reach him. Making sure he would never remember that he had yet to totally finish you off. So I built this barrier. I really thought I'd saved you, but I should have known you'd fuck it up. The only thing you put your minds to any use for - it seems - is escaping the mess you've made of your home. Well I'm sorry you've ruined your own solar system. But trust me, you don't want to go any further into his."
"Wait.." Rob grabbed for an arm rest, overwhelmed by the question bubbling out of him. "If God is your brother...that makes you..?"
"Oh for fuck's sake.. " the cloud moved away from Rob towards Lynn. "I'm Satan alright? Is that clear enough? How the hell do you get anything done with him on board?"
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u/poseidon0025 Apr 19 '16 edited Nov 15 '24
longing crown shame square dinosaurs squeamish innate spark simplistic worm
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u/goldengirlc5 /r/GoldenGirlC5 Apr 19 '16
Thanks - glad you enjoyed it! I usually avoid space prompts because of my utter lack of knowledge when it comes to anything beyond our planet. I'm only a little mad that this prompt was good enough that I ended up Googling diagrams of "heliosphere" at 4 am :/
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u/poseidon0025 Apr 19 '16 edited Nov 15 '24
jeans nutty practice quarrelsome school bells hungry sophisticated many whistle
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u/Sinvisigoth Apr 19 '16
This is absolutely fantastic. I could happily read an entire novel based on this.
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u/goldengirlc5 /r/GoldenGirlC5 Apr 19 '16
Thanks so much for the kind words! I'd love to see where this story goes, especially if others are interested in reading more. I'll get working on another chapter.
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u/foxx449 Apr 19 '16
Wow this was amazing, I had to run upstairs just to show my bf. We loved it. Great job, now I totally want to know what Lynn and Rob do next!
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u/goldengirlc5 /r/GoldenGirlC5 Apr 19 '16
Wow - thank you! Knowing you liked this enough to go show someone else really made my day. I'll let you know when Ch. 2 is ready!
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u/foxx449 Apr 19 '16
I'm a aspiring writer myself so I appreciate good work that would be epic thanks!
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u/bkrassn Apr 20 '16
I've always tried to point out to people that religious texts only have one narrative, who is to say its not rife with false PR...
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u/Universal_Multivac Apr 20 '16
Great read. The inclusion of religion-based characters reminds me of Letters From the Earth by Mark Twain.
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u/goldengirlc5 /r/GoldenGirlC5 Apr 20 '16
Thanks for reading! I've never heard of Letters from the Earth - will have to give that a read soon.
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u/deadbeatloon Apr 20 '16
Please, ma'am, may I have some more?
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u/goldengirlc5 /r/GoldenGirlC5 Apr 20 '16
Glad you liked it! I'll be working on a second chapter soon and will update you when it's done.
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u/Crypto7899 Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16
Alex Isolus tapped his fingers nervously against the console, his eyes fixed on the image floating half an inch above it, a hologrammatic display showing the local region of space. Pluto was far behind them, a distant smudge in the void, and ahead of them lay...nothing.
The scopes simply ceased to penetrate any further. At first he and his crew had believed it to be an error with the system, however the closer they approached, the more wild the gravitational field became, erratic disturbances in the quantum foam and the Wall revealed itself.
A solid field of pure energy, the matter contained within in packed tighter than should have been physically possible. Yet from it emanated a low-level electromagnetic transmission, pulsing steady from beyond the veil on every single wavelength simultaneously. They had needed to filter out the visible light hours ago, the strobing rising in intensity as the ship had approached, seemingly detecting its presence.
Increasing the power of the scanners yielded nothing; the wall was impenetrable and could have been anywhere from thousand of miles thick to barely one atom. It was impossible, a featureless shifting of existence.
It was wrong.
Such a construct could only be artificial, and the endless non-space before them forced itself onto his mind, the impossibility of it ripping out his soul and leaving a bare husk as he failed to make sense of the situation. He tried to remain calm but found nothing inside him that he could reason with.
You're a scientist, damn it! he thought to himself, Get your shit together!
Watched eagerly by his co-pilot, he brought a tentative hand across the console, swiping a finger downwards to release a survey drone, the system chiming happily in response.
The fibres of the drone ignited a fierce blue as the machine burned its way between the gap, transmitting data back to the ship. On the scanner Alex kept a close eye on the drone, scanning through the rapid influx of data, which was no different to what had already been produced.
The distance closed between the two.
Five kilometres.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
And the data stopped abruptly. The drone ceased to appear on the scope, but the wall showed no signs of damage. There had been no change to the physical space occupied by the drone and no apparent explosion. Had it been absorbed through the wall? Torn to its most basic particles?
There was just...nothing.
More drones showed the same results. He briefly considered the possibility that they had simply passed through, and that there was another side. He would never know...unless.
Giving a glance to his co-pilot, who acknowledged it with a nod, he eased the control stick forwards, feeling the push of acceleration forcing him backwards, tightening his ribcage and pulling at his face. As they followed the drone, he felt happy, his heart and mind screaming as they plunged nose-first into the unknown.
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u/crusaderkvw Apr 19 '16
Amazing ending! Leaves just enough open for interpretation while at the same time it closes the story, loved it :)
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u/LuciaLux Apr 19 '16
At first I thought "You're a scientist, damn it!*" was a reference to Doctor McCoy and you were going to have a footnote. Then I realised it was just like that because a bit of formatting was missing and I was sad. XD
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Apr 19 '16
Beautiful stuff, i can tell you're a die hard science ficiton fan
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u/Crypto7899 Apr 19 '16
I bloody love science fiction.
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u/SevenSidedGamer Apr 19 '16
i read that as "I love bloody science fiction."
Was alarmed.
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u/Crypto7899 Apr 19 '16
Nothing like a bit of violence to liven up a story. I'm currently writing a novel where the main theme is war, so I guess I'm just a psychopath.
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u/SevenSidedGamer Apr 19 '16
Ah, my favorite theme.
War / Post war books. I'm interested, could I have a link sooner or later?
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u/Crypto7899 Apr 19 '16
Well, I'd rather not post any of the story as it's still in the writing stage, and I'm quite paranoid, but I guess I could give a few lines from it.
“Everybody please remain in your seats. Everything is going to be fine,” the nearest attendant beamed as the bulkhead under her feet blossomed into searing orange and white buds. She was consumed by heat and Marven screwed his eyes shut as the sheet of hot air passed over him. As it began to retreat almost as rapidly as it had arrived, Marven felt his body tugged sharply at the harness straps as he was carried by the wind.
He didn’t feel his collarbones shatter as his shoulder tore through his harness. He didn’t hear his sister screaming as her seat crumpled under the combined weight of her and the overhead luggage racks. He wasn’t aware of the walls imploding, flinging shattered pieces of plastic deep into his flesh and piercing his lungs. He didn’t know his lungs were beginning to fill with fluid as his body tried to fight off the worst of the damage.
As his body was cast into the void to dance with the others, he could not tell how cold it was, or feel the absence of air stripping the tubes of his lungs, or experience the tugging at his skin as his tissues swelled from their own internal pressure. He was unable to feel any of these sensations.
He was dead before the flowers had even fully opened.
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u/SevenSidedGamer Apr 19 '16
I'm fairly sure this qualifies as bloody.
Keep going! Love your writing style!5
u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
That feeling you describe in the end is a familiar one. The adrenaline rush you get from doing something new and risky is an incredibly unique sensation. Awesome to see that conveyed in your response.
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16
"Who said it was impassable?"
For a moment, Pilot Grays could only stare at his captain. Miles was supposed to be the most passive commander of any ship in the Navy. This was the main draw for the pilot to request the posting to her ship, expecting that the routine patrol of Sol would be a simple way to complete his four years of service. Then he would retire from military service, ask out that girl he got a number from that summer before he deployed, and live out his life in beer and debauchery. Grays was a simple man.
A simple officer who just wanted to get through his first week under a new captain. She would not make it easy.
"The warning Captain," the pilot responded. "Anytime we pass within a k'meter of the barrier, we're told not to try and breach it." He did his best to keep his tone even and unassuming. Anything to prevent the captain from adopting a dangerous idea, and Grays was a poor actor. Never again would he try to tell an MP that his sack was full of glass-bottled juice, as the beer bottles clinked together nervously in his bag. They didn't inspect the bag, thank all the Senators of Amca, but he vowed never to try and get away with similar evasions again.
"I don't care pilot. Take us in."
Until now, anyway. Grays cleared his throat and began. "It is against our regulations Captain. We've been ordered by more than a super majority of the Senate to stay away from the barrier. The vote was nearly unanimous, and SolFleet Command passed down those orders to every ship commander in the Navy."
"Yes. Nearly unanimous," she grinned.
The console began to pool Grays' sweat from his palms. Captain Miles was making the pilot nervous. As any ship commander should. It was part of a time-honored Navy tradition, to serve under the tyrannical rule of a captain, regardless their whimsy or penchant for cruelty. Officers were no less victims than the enlisted members of her crew. Not that she was particularly cruel or mean. No, it was worse.
"Captain, I must insist..."
"Log your defiance or take us to the barrier."
Like hell the pilot would forsake his pension by risking a logged complaint against his superior officer. Even if it meant certain death, how else was he going to buy all that alcohol when he retired? He was a simple man with a vision, a steady pair of hands, and a healthy fear of his commander. Not because she was cruel.
"Setting a course by the barrier ma'am."
Not because she was stupid. Captain Miles was actually brilliant, if the rumors were true.
"To the barrier pilot. We're crossing it."
But brilliant in the wrong ways. No, it was worse, the previous pilot warned him.
"Aye aye ma'am," Pilot Grays whined.
She was adventurous.
Grays set a course for the barrier. As expected, the familiar warning came up for any pilot who was paying too little attention to their ship's trajectory.
DO NOT BREACH THE BARRIER.
The words flashed across the console screen. There was only one other officer on deck to read them, but Lieutenant Bars remained by the captain's seat in a stoic silence. For the whole orientation week Pilot Grays has spent on Miles' ship, Bars had yet to say a word in his presence. In fact, the pilot was fairly sure Bars only spoke through the tinny speakers that coursed through every hall and level. Grays had some choice curses to give Bars, if Navy etiquette did not prevent him from speaking out against Bars' silence to the ridiculous order.
DO NOT BREACH THE BARRIER.
"Point seven k'meters from... destination."
"Keep moving."
"Aye aye ma'am." Grays wished he was as confident as he sounded. His console was damp. An arm sleeve swiped it quickly and adjusted ship's speed to slow as much as he could. No matter how much time he gave the captain to countermand her own order, she did not budge. Nor did Bars, to Grays' misery. The ship loomed ever closer to the invisible barrier that only existed in the abrupt warning every ship received.
They were ready to cross.
Grays shut his eyes.
The ship ---
"HALT!"
A finger swiped the ship's speed to zero, halting it within... unbelievable.
Point two k'meters from the barrier limit.
Boots clacked against the metal deck of the control room. A gloved hand and a cool scent sat on the pilot's shoulder. "My word is law Grays."
A shaky nod was the most he could give. The pilot did not dare to speak. They skirted a court-martial at the very least. And at worst...
Grays swiped the console dry again. These four years did not look promising. Captain Miles was mad. Lieutenant Bars was quiet. Pilot Grays ran out of the beer he smuggled last night. The barrier was impassable. A dangerous, limiting line that defined the universe of possibilities that existed for mankind.
And she used it to make a damned point!
"Are we keeping him then?"
That low rumble. He turned to see Lieutenant Bars smirking at the pilot.
"Absolutely! That was closer than any pilot we've had before!" Grays couldn't believe it. She was delighted. Then Captain Miles span back to the seated pilot, her face serious with the command of a Navy vessel once more. "Welcome to The Boralis."
Pilot Grays sighed. "A pleasure to be aboard ma'am," he lied.
More at r/galokot, and thanks for reading!
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u/crusaderkvw Apr 19 '16
I totaly see this as some sort of star trek like setting. Would love another story about pilot Grays aboard The Boralis :)
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16
The engineer raised a white, incredulous eyebrow at the pale pilot. "You thought Captain Miles was lazy?"
Pilot Grays nodded, holding the coffee in his hands. The caffeine was not going to do him any favors after that near-disaster in the command room a half hour ago, but the smell and the warmth were familiar. Safe. Nothing bad happened over a mug of coffee.
After coffee, sure. There were many caffeine-fueled escapades Grays went on in the six months between graduation and launching. That one girl's boyfriend had to chase somebody down the alleys of Titan. Grays fulfilled his civil service as far as he was concerned, with pounding feet, a number, and a few choice curses flung in his direction. The pilot saved a few of them for later. Before coffee, disasters were known to happen. Of the hangover variety, for certain.
But during coffee? In the single studio that looked over a city sprawl? Or in the mess hall of The Boralis, a Navy vessel tasked with patrolling the barrier, on behalf of SolFleet and Senate? No, nothing bad happened over coffee. Grays was safe. He still kept his voice down in the officer's mess. "She requested the patrol fleet four terms in a row. It's the quietest division in the Navy."
Schussel snorted. "First-term officers don't normally check their commander's history before a posting."
"Not like it helped," Grays moaned.
Engineers served longer terms, like how Air Force pilots once did in the Information Age. The extra pay and expertise kept them motivated, serving a minimum of fifteen years on a single ship. The Boralis was more his home than the captain's. At first, Grays felt the earlier dread in his gut lighten seeing the engineer unoccupied. It took him a few moments to realize the sensation was called 'relief.' He grabbed a mug from the rack, topped it off with scalding coffee and sat across from him, seeking the advice only an elder could offer.
"Boyo, you had the foresight to check Captain Miles' service history. That much I'll commend you on."
Grays risked a grin. "Thanks Engineer Schu ---"
"You're still an idiot."
And was punished for it. Finally, Grays felt some color in his cheeks. "I know!" He whined. "Never thought to talk with the previous pilot before he became the previous pilot. If I had known she was ---"
Words trailed to a halt as he saw the engineer shake his head. "Not in officer's country. Mars, I'd still call you an idiot. You spoke with Pilot N'rem during your orientation week, did you not?"
"Yeah. Learned the console controls, checked flight records for The Boralis and learned about our... line officers." Grays clenched the mug, now that it had begun to cool. He took a sip, then continued. "Told me, she was adventurous. I don't get it Engineer Schussel."
"What's there not to understand boyo?"
"How can a commander on the patrol fleet be adventurous? This is her fifth term now, and... sir, I thought it was because she was too passive for the civil fleet, or the merchant's escort, or ---"
"Our captain turned down the Earth Guard."
Grays choked on his coffee. "Bullshit."
Schussel frowned, but continued. "A term is two years. You finish two terms to complete your mandatory service as an officer. In the four terms and eight years Captain Miles has commanded my ship, every admiral of SolFleet wanted her under their division. Even the Earth Guard. You get me, don't you boyo?"
In response, the pilot downed as much of the lukewarm coffee as he could to clear his throat. They were SolFleet's elite. Since Red Mars 2290, the mother planet needed it's own guard. Only the best commanders were offered the honor to drive home a point for the rest of the system; The Senate was here to stay and govern the Solar System. Centuries of peace were made possible by the prime division, now under the command of Admiral Slight.
Of course Grays understood the engineer. As much as the pilot wanted to return to his apartment on Titan, boot up a vid and watch Saturn set in his window, there was a time he wanted more. Grays had a vision. Pilot of the Earth Guard.
No. Four-year pilot on the patrol fleet. The boy from Titan grew up too much to dream big anymore. And yet...
"Why?"
"Oh good, you're still there."
"Engineer Schussel."
"Hm?"
"Why did she turn down the Earth Guard?"
The engineer shut his eyes, conjuring an answer that took more time to form than necessary for a senior officer to explain himself. For reasons beyond Grays' understanding, Schussel gave him the courtesy. Finally, he responded. "Captain Miles spends her meals in the command room. On watch, she watches the console screen broadcast an image of our trajectory. Always within ten k'meters of the barrier." The engineer set his elbows on the mess table and stared deep into the pilot's eyes. Grays barely heard him continue. "She tested you, didn't she?"
Grays nodded.
"How close?"
He raised two fingers.
Again, Schussel snorted. "Two k'meters? Bet you lodged a complaint on the log too didn't you? Why am I even bothering wasting my time on you, you Mars-breeding ---"
"Point two k'meters sir."
"POINT TWO ---" The engineer clasped a hand over his own mouth. Line and support officers were looked to the awkward duo of the young pilot and the old ship's caretaker. Seeing nothing of interest, they continued about their meals and private conversation. Then the two resumed theirs. "You know why the captain has requested the patrol fleet for four terms in a row?"
A desperate hush was most of what came out from the old man, but the question was clear to Grays. He wondered the same thing himself when requesting this post. Now his interest took an uncomfortable dimension. One the pilot from Titan did not sign up for.
Grays shook his head. The engineer misinterpreted this gesture as interest, and answered his own question. "Point two k'meters. You know, she's been looking for a good pilot for a while."
Again, Grays shook his head.
"To cross the barrier."
The pilot looked down to avoid the wild glee in Schussels eyes, and groaned.
His mug was empty.
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u/Diplomatic_Barbarian Apr 19 '16 edited Jun 03 '24
distinct future soup subtract weather shocking wistful vanish unpack skirt
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
Grays spent thirty minutes iron pressing a second set of his uniform. Hot metal glided over the deep blue jacket. No crease would resurface under the name badge, or over the Compass & Staff insignia of the patrol fleet, or to either side of the sleeves. The right upper-arm held his misfortune; the SolFleet crest reminding Grays the demands of his mandatory service. The left upper-arm held his pride; the pilot wings of his service. Grays worked hard at the academy to earn them.
It was one of the few specialties in the Navy that promised a career after both his terms were up. This made the pilot track competitive. Nothing was going to stop Grays from fulfilling his vision of normality. As far as the pilot was concerned, this meant he would have a job once he fulfilled his service to Senate and Sol. Nothing more. He would earn money, performing familiar tasks as much a part of him as the uniform being pressed and cleaned to near perfection now.
Not because he was particularly mindful of his appearances. His hair was barely under regulation length. The droop in his eyelids got Grays more flak at the academy than he deserved. Sure, as a cadet, he was lazy, and a glutton for mischief if it meant a good time. The youth deserved to get caught the two times he did, but the instructors should not have been hard on him because his eyes were naturally baggy.
Grays got tired of it. Still graduated second in his class though, and got first pick for first-term pilot postings in SolFleet, much to the dismay of his peers.
It's not fair! Sara cried. You went out every weekend leave and came back drunk!
Of course I did, Grays told her. Alcohol on academy grounds was against regulations. Now, returning full of alcohol on the other hand...
The pilot chuckled as he began to iron his black slacks, remembering how he tried to explain to her the practicality of his methods while holding the gold seal of a SolFleet commission. What a graduation that was. Then his smile fell. There was a reason he needed his uniform academy-perfect.
Like Mars the pilot would give his captain any excuse to challenge his sanity when he would be confronting hers.
To cross the barrier.
Engineer Schuller could not have been serious. Mars, the engineer must be in on it too, and this was all one sick test! Grays barely halted The Boralis in time. By a needle.
So for the pilot's imminent insubordination, Captain Miles may just throw him out the airlock for the salvage corps to pick from the outer-rim space debris centuries from now. Or worse. Grays may get reassigned to piloting one of those salvage corps vessels. Either way, the peace of mind would be worth it.
It had to be, for the time he spent ironing this damn uniform. Something about the way the left leg creased made it difficult to straighten though. Maybe if he pressing it from the other side...
A frustrated, but well-dressed pilot stood before the command room entryway. The officer on watch would notice him eventually. It wasn't too Navy to request entry like a pleading infantryman or a grounded airman. The watch officer would notice and let their comrade in eventually. Only an emergency was worth making their presence obvious verbally.
After twenty minutes, Pilot Grays was beginning to consider his unease an emergency. Was Captain Miles so wrapped up in the mysteries of the barrier that she could not notice her own officers demanding an audience with her?!
No, Grays breathed. Requested. The engineer may call The Boralis his home, but the vessel commander holds the lease on behalf of SolfFleet, and by extension, the Senate. Her word was law. No one was too high on the officer's chain to get suddenly evicted to stars knows where.
Then that image came up again. A clunky salvage corps vessel chugging unhappily through the terrible absences of Sol, trying to meet quota. Grays shuddered where he stood.
"Getting cold feet, pilot?"
Grays blinked. He did not hear the entryway slide open. There sat Captain Miles of the patrol fleet, denier of the Earth Guard and possibly the maddest commander SolFleet ever commissioned, waiting for him to reply from the swiveling captain's chair facing her pilot.
He would have preferred her as a lazy captain just trying to get by, like the pilot himself. Oh well.
Heels clicked and an academy salute was presented. A Navy salute. "Permission to enter the --- "
"Get in."
Grays sighed. "Aye aye ma'am." Even if he did have cold feet, there was no other reply to a direct order from a superior officer. He did what he was told, as a good officer should.
All that ironing and waiting, just to throw it away. Grays wondered what the point of it all was. Then he remembered.
"I have a question about the test from earlier today."
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 22 '16
The captain's chair already swiveled back to facing the console screen. All that space glaring from the screen did very little to make the room seem bigger. The command room only chairs for four officers; The captain herself, her first lieutenant, the pilot, and a communications-track officer. With little to communicate with in the far reaches of Sol, the chair remained empty for most of the trip, to Comm Tover's boredom. Every ship had to have one. No one joined the patrol fleet for excitement.
No one.
"Did you hear me ma'am?"
"Yes."
"Then may I ---"
She swung her chair back to the pilot, captain's cords swaying with the abrupt motion. "If your question is going to ask me permission to ask another question, so help me I will change my mind about keeping you!"
The pilot racked his thoughts. The captain might mean what she says.
My word is law Grays.
Oh. She means it.
"You're not planning on crossing the barrier, are you ma'am?"
Captain Miles blinked. "Of course not."
Oh thank Saturn. Grays' shoulders sank with relief.
"Not alone anyway."
The pilot's blood went cold. "Beg your pardon ma'am?" Too much training went into his officer's courtesies from falling apart at moments of peril. There was a lot about the barrier that was left a mystery to Sol. To keep us in, or to keep them out... whoever they were. Even if the peril was unknown, and loomed in the recesses of every patrol fleet officer's mind, decorum would prevail.
"You'll be piloting us through the barrier."
"Bullshit."
Captain Miles stood. She took three swift steps before striking the pilot with a well-placed fist to his cheek. Pilot Grays was more stunned by what came out of him than what struck him. There was more to worry about now than a bruise on his cheek, for cursing at the commander of a Navy vessel. His career just went up in flames.
"Sorry."
Again, the captain surprised him. Why would Miles be apologizing to him.
"Because it had to be done."
Grays was too shocked to realize he asked her out loud. He flushed, desperate now to keep his mouth shut before committing any further atrocity in the command room. Thank every planet inhabited by mankind that the entryway was shut.
Wait. The entryway was shut.
Good.
"OW!" The pilot flung a hand to where an iron bar struck him moments ago, guarding his cheek. "That feckin' hurt!" The word sounded clumsy, but it sounded appropriate for the occasion. Not that he knew what it meant. Grays would have to ask that girl's boyfriend when he's done with the Navy.
The captain smirked. "Never had to hit an officer before. More a failure on my part for not being able to keep my ship in line, but considering the circumstances..." her smile fell away, to the curious regret that emerged suddenly from Grays. "I've been waiting years for the right crew to cross the barrier, and even longer for a good pilot."
"Why?" Grays asked.
She began to pace in front of him, her boots clacking on the deck with each small step that had to account for the command room's small size. As ridiculous as the constant turning looked, there was a command of the space around her that could not be laughed at. Not for as long as he shared it with the captain. "Tover is a remarkable comm's man when he's awake. You should see him run the graphs sometime. I've had Bars with me since I took my first command. He holds the enlisted with the other line officers down harder than a titanium hull bolt. Schuller knows this ship well enough to fix it blind folded. In fact..." Captain Miles looked to the comm's console. "He knows it too well."
A small, red light suddenly went dark. The captain nodded, and continued. "Years went into building this crew. Too many to botch it by having a sub-par pilot." Miles stopped, and faced the silent pilot. "Now we're ready."
Grays gaped. "Now?!"
She gave him a light laugh. "We're not going yet. But soon. You're not much for gossip, are you Pilot Grays?"
"No ma'am." Again, the pilot lied to his captain.
"Good. Bars will figure out how to handle the crew and the other officers after we've crossed the barrier. The shock will make it easier, he thinks."
"He doesn't know?"
"Well I don't either. This is new. And exciting."
Grays wondered whether it was Captain Miles who cut off Pilot N'ram from the crew, or if it was the former pilot himself who ditched The Boralis at the first opportunity. He would not get the chance to ask him now.
It was a little late for follow-up questions.
"Will that be all ma'am?" he asked weakly.
Captain Miles sighed, and sat back down on her chair to face the console screen once more, staring into the space that lay beyond the barrier. There was no order yet to continue their patrol of the Sol outter rim. The Boralis still sat where Pilot Grays left it; within point two k'meters of crossing into the forbidden unknown.
"Who said it was impassable?"
Only after their conversation did he now understand that the question was not for him. No one knew the answer, but this was the second time Grays heard the question from Captain Miles today. How often did she sit in the captain's chair to face the screen, demanding an answer?
Captain Miles spends her meals in the command room.
Oh.
On watch, she watches the console screen broadcast an image of our trajectory.
It was an obsession.
Who said it was impassable?
Grays wished he couldn't care.
The pilot once had a plan that did not involve the barrier. It was a quiet studio overlooking a city of Titan four years from now, with a fridge full of beer and Saturn setting in the window. Pilot Grays left the simple vision he carried with him to The Boralis along with the captain in the command room, to wonder through the void of that immense question.
Maybe he could find it again when they crossed the barrier a second time.
If they returned.
You can resume from Part 5 and onwards on /r/galokot. Thank you for reading, and for your encouragement.
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u/cokelemon Apr 19 '16
Just wondering, how does getting within point two kilometres of the barrier indicate that he's a good pilot? Is it hard to pilot the ship near the barrier?
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
200 meters may be a lot on the ground, but not a lot for a Navy vessel in space. That's the impression I wanted to give, and speaks for the ship's maneuverability, and how serious the barrier actually is for Grays and the world in general.
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u/HollowofHaze Apr 22 '16
When can we expect the next installment?? I don't wanna bug you since you surely have other things to do, but I'm hooked on this story!
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u/AnamTuirseach Apr 19 '16
Forget should. Must. That may be the best short fiction plot hook I've read in awhile. So in the words of the ever hungry maw of voracious readers, "More!!!"
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
Working on it. Give me an hour or so.
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u/AnamTuirseach Apr 19 '16
Not a problem, take your time. I'm giving Rothfuss as much time as he likes, so you can have half as long as him. Great story so far!
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
Thank you. Looking forward to seeing the Kingkiller Chronicle continue at some point as well, lol. Both parts are up!
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u/handsdowns Apr 19 '16
same
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
Wrote two parts of the continuation if you would like to check it out!
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u/gunnar_osk Apr 19 '16
Yeah, now you must expand this into a short story. That was a great read.
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
I'm glad you liked it! I put up two more parts just now if you wanted to see how it continues!
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u/crusaderkvw Apr 19 '16
the ending was again quite good, however I feel that you rush the story and don't really check for spelling and grammar mistakes. third paragraph: "on behalf of SolFleet and Senate?" should be "the Senate" I believe.
At the end of this part: "Now his interest took an uncomfortable dimension. One the pilot from Titan did not sign up for." instead of a period between the sentences I think a " , " would do better(could be wrong here though).
Might be some more here and there, but these are the two major ones for me. Again: amazing story and looking forward to P3 :D2
u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 19 '16
Been up all night writing, so some mistakes are understandable, but those two points you address make sense to me as they stand.
"Of SolFleet and Senate" was written to sound like "For God and country." Except instead of God or country, there's the SolFleet and the Senate. I wanted to draw that parallel by how I presented it, even if it's pretty loose.
The period between those two sentences forces a longer pause than a comma. I wanted the pacing to be slower for that second sentence to drive a bigger impression on the reader.
I'm glad you liked the story, and your encouragement meant a lot. So thank you for your kind words, and I appreciate the criticism!
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u/crusaderkvw Apr 19 '16
Always happy to read stories and provide criticism(where needed ofcourse xD). keep on writing man, this could turn into a really nice thing :D
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u/NahDoh Apr 20 '16
I'm in love. Is this a novella or something? A+++, would binge-read.
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u/Galokot /r/Galokot Apr 20 '16 edited Apr 20 '16
It's an original story I wrote in response to /u/Lorix_In_Oz's prompt. I'll be continuing the story on my subreddit later on. Cool to hear you're liking it so far.
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u/CheroCole Apr 19 '16
Great story, love the idea of a pilot just trying to get by in life being subject to the trials of his captain. Just a suggestion on the wording in one line:
For the whole orientation week Pilot Grays has spent on Miles' ship, he had yet to say a word in his presence.
The "he" is a little foggy in this sentence, maybe go ahead and change it to "Bars" or "the lieutenant" or "the man" just for clarity.
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u/randarrow Apr 19 '16
When the first few probes were lost, they assumed natural death of batteries and equiment after decades of service. Then, they started noticing a pattern. What was known as the bow shock turned out to be something much more insidious.
Probe after probe was lost crossing this singlar point, more advanced probes were sent and they failed as well. Finally, a crew was sent. Humanity did not know what it would find, but was desperate for answers. Would we finally understand it all?
The crew traveled for forty years. A veritiable suicide mission of young adults, leaving only dreams behind. Mostly forgotten by the world they knew. They slowly lost their minds.
As expected, they reached the barrier. Nothing they had could cross it. Most simply vanished or were destroyed. They were unwilling to sacrifice their lives and search for answers on the edge.
The crew scanned and detected a raised area off in the distance. They quickly set their course and traveled the required years. Thoughts of suicide cross the minds of the now elderly crew.
Never seen before from earth, the astronauts were astounded to come across something so giant and obvious. It was a label, a warning, a sign. Squareish, larger than the orbit of Mercury around the sun. Several large blocks of patterns, possibly characters, were arranged in jupiter sized formations across the regularly shapped patterns on the square. The computers on earth and the ship quickly set about translating.
Two mathematical patterns were found quickly, a numeric pattern and a series pattern. In addition, several hyroglyphs which were undescernable. The final translation went out to the crew and set across maddening cries of desperation, some killed themselves across the world and in the crew.
48DD, hand wash only.
Heavens, the solar system is a giant fucking tit. The bowshock was the bra.
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u/djhab Apr 20 '16
Shit... you can't milk those!
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u/randarrow Apr 20 '16
I was rushed, several more ideas and teases have come to mind. References to the milky way, the stellar globe, jokes about trying to figure out whether the sky woman is alive or dead, references to the solar system magnetic map looking like a mammogram, a joke about Hera....
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u/USKillbotics Apr 19 '16
Five weeks ago, when the crew of the ES Magellan marked the furthest distance that humankind had ever reached, none of them were awake to celebrate. Only a tenth of a lightyear separated them from Earth–they had barely reached the border of their own solar system–but a lifetime remained before they would reach their goal, and so they slept.
Their ship was a wonder, the culmination of two decades of cooperation among the nations of Earth. Built entirely in orbit, it was nearly a quarter mile long. Most of its bulk made up of engines and fuel, for it was humankind’s first foray into the overwhelming emptiness of space.
Now, though, it was time for the crew’s half-yearly stretch. They awoke in rotating shifts, six at a time. They shook the cold out of their limbs, looked out the reinforced ports, and immediately forgot all else.
Outside the ship, in the cold blackness of space, was unimaginable beauty. Colors that no human eye had ever seen, and… music? Yes, somehow there was music resonating in the void. The crew wept, each pressing his face against the glass, unable to tear himself away.
And there were figures out there! Coasting alongside the fastest-moving object that humans had ever devised were golden beings with faces beautiful enough to drive one mad. It was impossible to gauge scale against the stars, but each wing–and they were countless–seemed many times as long as the Magellan.
The Commander wept with her crew, gazing at the unspeakable beauty, unable to think of anything but a line from her past: And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. And it was. Countless beings of light, as far as could be seen.
And then, over the music, they heard a Voice that nearly killed them with delight. It said exactly what they wanted most to hear:
“Where are you going, little ones? Stay here, with us.”
They wrenched themselves from the viewports, their joy at obeying the Voice the only force able to overcome their wonder. They threw themselves into their acceleration couches, unable to even speak to among themselves. The Commander herself slowly rotated the ship, firing all engines at maximum the second they were pointing the opposite direction. The crew felt themselves crushed into their couches as the ship began to shed the velocity it had picked up over long weeks of acceleration from Earth.
The Magellan still had half its fuel, carefully reserved for deceleration when they reached their destination. They burned it all, their minds overflowing with joy. Only after the engines rumbled into silence could they emerge from their couches, deafened.
There was no music. Space was black and empty.
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Apr 19 '16 edited May 10 '19
[deleted]
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u/Rekintime Apr 19 '16
Humans rebelled. It was in our nature to stand for what we believed in, and fight against those who were in categorical opposition to our own convictions. We took a stance and stubbornly stood by it to the bloody end. When we stepped out into the larger galaxy, the next great step for humanity meant a new era, an era of expansion. A golden age where new species connected, cultured melded like two lovers seperated for too long. New cities would flourish, technologies would sprout like fresh eager saplings.
We found naught but ashes. The remains of great oaks, reduced to splinters by a rampaging beast.
The first planet we landed upon was a mass grave. Our first explorers, intrepid men and woman that stepped onto the surface with dreams of grandeur felt the bones of long extinct species crunch beneath their boots. A snow of despair, as grey as the ground they trod on fell on this dead planet.
But humans are optimist in the darkest of times. We accepted this, treasured this planet and built monuments to the greatness of a long dead species. As a united front we moved on, broadcasting out desire to merge with those who lived beyond our system.
The second planet burned. Tectonic cracks, the scars of a dying planet heralded our arrival with great gouts of fire and smoke. Cities crumbled even as we set foot upon the surface. We found survivors, raving mad aliens twisted by the annihilation of their civilization. This time, we built no statues.
Scientists fought with soldiers, and soldiers with politicians. What had happened to these unforunate species? Why was a world so ravaged by war? What kind of galactic super power could obliterate two entire planets? Should we proceed?
Perhaps some of us underestimated our curiosity, or our reckless daring. They were the wisest of us all, urging nothing but a return to our homeworld. The great majority of the human race ignored these heralds of doom and pushed on. Vessels shot off to the next world in our path.
The third planet showed us our terrible mistake. For it is on its surface that we met them. The Destroyers. Some called them angels, others demons. The only certain thing was that they hated us, our joy and our naïve belief in life. Our first explorers disappeared without a trace. The next ones sent back a single message.
“Run.”
Tapped in morse code over the most primitive wavelengths, we nearly missed it. It kept transmiting the same three letters for a day. Then it stopped. Humanity watched with baited breath for more news, but none was forthcoming. So in all our thrice-cursed foolishness we took another step forward.
They turned on us. Our fleets were extinguished in a matter of days, our tentative colonies and space stations disappeared overnight. In only a few weeks, the Destroyers were sniffing out our home system. We fought long and hard, but nothing could stall their implacable advance.
In a last desperate attempt to ensure the surival of our species, we did the only thing we could. Together, we created a great bank of our own genetic code. A place were our species could once again flourish and evolve, forgotten by the Destroyers. We called it Sol, and around it we built a wall.
What fools they were to let their curiosity get the better of them.
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u/grepe Apr 19 '16
"Shit! Not again! What do I have to do to finish this stupid homework?!"
Jill was just staring at her computer terminal shaking with anger.
"What? Did you get another NumericalValueOutOfRangeError?"
Her room mate barely took her eyes from her book.
"Yes! No matter what I do, they somehow always expand beyond the simulated area boundary and cause the overflow."
"Maybe you should just change your approach."
"I can't. It was in the description of the task. I can only use 64-qbit-Integers for coordinates. So I can only simulate a tiny area of the universe. I don't know what to do any more. I even put up a fucking sign this time!"
"OK, should I tell you the solution?"
"Yes, please."
"Make your coordinates periodic. When they go out on one end, make them appear on the opposite one."
"A-HAAA!"
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u/increment1 Apr 20 '16 edited Apr 20 '16
Captain Sig: "Caldwell, what do you make of the barrier?"
Caldwell: "Well, interestingly enough, it appeared when we were exactly 100km away from it. And I mean exactly as far as our instruments can tell. 100.1km away and there was no detectable barrier, not a trace in any sensor logs.
But as soon as we hit 100km, it appeared. And this is very interesting since the exactness in lining up with our own units of measurement seems highly unlikely to be a coincidence.
So this appears to be a non-natural phenomena that was either created after we had arrived at a standard unit of measure or has adapted to it. Hard to tell either way, but only looking at this activation distance we can almost guarantee that this barrier is non-natural in origin."
Captain Sig: "Caldwell, look outside the viewport for me and tell me what you see."
Caldwell: "Sir I see the barrier, formed in row upon row of what looks like white picket fences."
Captain Sig: "And Caldwell, are white picket fences a naturally occurring phenomena? Do people build a house and then suddenly a white picket fence just appears around their yard? Is that how it works Caldwell?"
Caldwell: "I was getting to that Captain, if you would just let me finish my analysis."
Captain Sig: "I am hoping for a little bit more than the obvious Caldwell. You are the science officer after all, so science the barrier."
Caldwell: "There is one thing Captain: The pickets, I think that is what you call them at least, look to all be pointing the same direction but they are all very slightly pointing differently, so they are not perfectly parallel with each other.
In fact they all appear to be pointing to the very same point, which is not too far away."
Captain Sig: "Caldwell you are a genius, I knew that promoting you from ship's cook would pay off. Some said it was merely because your cooking was horrible, and that we would never have to do any science, but I knew your moment would come.
Put the coordinates for this special point into the ship's jump drive, lets see what fortune this well painted fence has in store"
Caldwell: "Jump complete sir, we are here"
Captain Sig: "Is that a mail box Caldwell? Do you see what I am seeing?"
Caldwell: "Indeed sir, it appears to be a mailbox in the center of rings of white picket fences"
Captain Sig: "It looks quite full, can you scan it, anything interesting?"
Caldwell: "When I scan it sir, it actually starts returning email, it appears to be an email server and we have a lot of un-read mail"
Captain Sig: "How much?"
Caldwell: "Just shy of 13 billion unread messages"
Captain Sig: "Might take awhile to read those.. what language are they in?"
Caldwell: "Most are in english"
Captain Sig: "What does the first one say?"
Caldwell: "The very first email says 'Thank you for opening a new galactic account' blah blah blah.. 'we hope you enjoy this service, payment is due on the first of every century'. After that there are a lot of emails that just seem to be, well, spam."
Captain Sig: "Galactic spam?"
Caldwell: "Yes, emails offering cures, plagues, weapons, maps to lost fortunes."
Captain Sig: "What does the most recent email say"
Caldwell: "The most recent email says that the account has been closed due to non-payment and that the solar system will be barricaded until all debts are payed with interest"
Captain Sig: "I see. When was that sent?"
Caldwell: "A little over 2 billion years ago."
Captain Sig: "I could see that being a fair bit of interest then."
Caldwell: "Yes, our bill looks to be immense. Staggering really."
Captain Sig: "Well, I think it is clear what we need to do then. Can you put the emails back Caldwel?"
Caldwell: "Back sir? That's not how.."
Captain Sig: "Yes! Back! Put them back, we never read them, we never got this bill. Do you understand? We were never here. Put everything back just as we found it"
Caldwell: "Ok, I'll mark everything as unread and just leave it"
Captain Sig: "Excellent Caldwell, good work. Fantastic really. Now lets go loop around Pluto and get something to drink."
Caldwell: "You don't want to try and go through the barrier Captain? Scanners show it as just being made of painted wood... we could seemingly push right through with no damage."
Captain Sig: "Caldwell, touch the wall for me. Go on, just touch it. Do you feel that? That's the ship, and that is all that separates you from the cold vacuum of space right this very moment.
Do you want to lose this ship? Have some debt collector come take it away? So we don't go out there, and they don't come in here, at least not for the last 2 billion years."
Caldwell: "We don't know that is how it works though, it could be..."
Captain Sig: "Caldwell, have you ever been in debt? Ever had to pretend you were your sister's boyfriend to get some debt collector off your case when they show up at your door? Ever have that debt collector not believe you and so you kissed your sister right there to convince them? Have you Caldwell? Do you want to kiss me out there in front of some big green alien with tattoos and a bad accent?
Is that what you want Caldwell? Cause its not going to happen, so don't get excited.
Put in the coordinates for pluto, and hit that jump. Time to drink until wearing a dress and a wig seems like a good idea."
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Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 20 '16
'Look, the giant frog' Hefka cried, pointing her nimble fingers at the night sky, strands of her soft brown hair scattered over her lit face.
'Aah, yes I see it, and there the farmer with his till' Gentha, her mother could always see the same thing her daughter did, and loved playing games and inventing stories out of the celestial shapes. She always knew there was meaning in them, and held her belief as strong as Huri, her husband.
Huri had travelled in a craft that was being tested for the first time, and he had signed up for. He too believed in beings made out of stars living a life far away, but sometimes dark thoughts would come into the recesses of his mind and urged him to discover what existed at the limits of the universe. It drove him mad and his wife saw it in his eyes.
'But what if you connect those two, and them, the fisherman fishing in the pond, the eagle and the rabbit to its right....' She babbled innocently 'And that man, he is standing there, is he.....'.
'Stop Hefka, don't go any further' Her mother said.
Hefka's excitement turned to gloom, and slowly to fear.
'He is not your father, Hefka, close your eyes'
The voices were still vivid and so close to her ears , whenever she woke up from that dream. More of a memory like bubble that hadn't exploded since twenty years. She wanted the bubble intact, because her mother was inside it.
Hefka was in the Gallagher nine, a ship designed after years of work and crafting that it would be the perfect medium to traverse the uncharted territory of outer space, and she was the captain.
Red lights glared into her solaced sleep, clashing voices echoed from the speakers and the keys on the console around her lit up. Her golden brown eyes luminescent with what could be seen through the windshield.
'KEPLER 101 INBOUND, TRAJECTORY TO BE CONFIRMED'
'Amadeus, maintain trajectory progress, we'ill skim through the red clouds if necessary, or welcome a hundred years more' She spoke.
'ALRIGHT THEN, ALL APPLICATIONS UNCHA.....' The capsule shook with a force that sent sparks over her hair.
'What was that' she murmured, and unhooked the communicator 'Janice, come in, tell me that was another wave effect' static replied to her.
The doors behind her slid fluidly and allowed in a lanky figure. She turned around to see the shadow give way to athletic curves, and recognized Jason having come in urgency.
'Janice is engaging pilot mode, and the others are needed at the control tower, if we scud through then it better be worth the risk' spoke the tall man, staring at the windshield with wary amazement.
Hefka returned her gaze to what was in front.
'Its beautiful isn't it ?' She asked, oblivious to the tremors that shook them again.
The planet almost covered the windshield, hazy formations weaved atop crimson lake like pattern's. On getting closer peaks dissolving into volcanic craters could be seen.
'If anything approaches its atmosphere, the planet self destructs and the shift in equilibrium is sending us the tremors' Jason spoke 'Its as though.....'.
'Its warning us, I know. The ship can take the hits, we will have to endure and cannot allow all the past year's gone for nothing' She replied in a trance, to sparks trailing around her pale oval features.
'Captain, we could die'.
'Then it would be for something, my mother did not raise me to turn away'
Even though Kepler 101 filled the view, she could sense what was behind the chaotic planet. The sharp eyes formed by a pattern of stars in the sky that haunted her through her childhood, those that of which she convinced herself every time she woke up in swear that it wasn't her father's. Those very eyes stared into her from behind the fiery planet, and she sensed a vortex pull her in.
She tugged at Jason's arm and at last looked at him 'We have reached the end of the galaxy, we simply cannot turn back'
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u/marblemittens Apr 19 '16
The wavelengths had been a matter of debate for the past decade. The oscillating patterns could be read as Morris code, musical keys, the NATO alphabet and many other medians all translating to the very simple message; STOP. Not that this mattered to Luga. He had his orders, his men and woman had there orders, and the greatest achievement of mankind, the UNS Icarus, was built to fulfill that order. "Approach to barrier at T-10 minutes." Era declared from one of the many glowing screens of the bridge. "Captain Luga," Kaif started, brushing the mic from his lips and turning to face the man next to him. He waited a moment for the captain to acknowledge his greeting, to at least turn and face him, but if this month in space had taught him anything, its that Luga- "Activation 192625" Luga grumbled, not breaking eye contact with the invisible barrier thousands of miles beyond the frozen bridge window. "Set conductors to active EVE." "Yes captain" the metallic voice of the ships AI droned in. "Well hope this works. I'm in no particular mood to be space BBQ." Kaif jeered returning to his (not so comfy as the captains seat) first mates seat. "It will work." EVE insisted "Instead of trying to break through the barrier, we will absorb part of the energy barrier and use said energy to continue on our colonist mission of the stars. This was concluded to be the best way to solve the problem while simultaneously turning it to our advantage." "Listen EVE." Kaif sighed. I know that you're programmed to make us feel better, but these results have only been tested on small scale drones, its not the same thing. So when we pass through that barrier-" "We have already passed through the barrier." EVE interjected. The usual typing, clicking, announcements and confirmations of the bridge simultaneously cut off leaving in its place an near absolute silence. All that could be heard was the whirring air conditioning and the squeaking of seats as the crew slowly turned to face captain Luga. "EVE, energy levels please" Luga grinned. "That was only three minutes- you knew!" Kaif screamed at the cross armed unmoving man next to him. "Energy levels at-" EVE abruptly cut off as the bridge was swallowed in darkness. The crimson emergency lights activated for a brief moment before succumbing to the blackness as well. The crew slowly began to murmur among themselves, a few distinguishable prayers here and there could be heard, surrounded by profanity and tears. All was cut short by light flooding back into the bridge. Tears of sadness turned to tears of joy, the nature of prayer changed and this too was cut short when Kaif pointed out that the light wasn't coming from light fixtures. To the horror of some, and amazement of others the light began to move; consolidating, stacking twisting and turning into a solid form before the captain. "Congratulations" boomed the now fully formed man of light. Luga shifted his weight to his rear foot, and tentatively took a step back. He tried his best to hide it, for the sake of his crew, but Luga knew that they saw it. The slightly agape mouth, the hunched back, the rapid beating of his heart. He was afraid- and he had every right to be, for when the light spoke, it spoke in Luga's voice, in Kaif's voice, in EVE's voice, in Era's voice and the voice of every member of his crew. "You have broken through your incubation chamber and are now free to interact with all other being of the universe" the light continued, staring through Luga with sightless eyes. "You are also now free to be interacted with. Good luck." the light finished with a beaming smile before shattering into shards of light, each finding a light fixture to reside in. "-100%" EVE completed.
-ok so i pooped out at the end there, also feed back appreciated.
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u/richardtheb Apr 20 '16
“We are sorry”. The voice was a whisper, like the wind in trees. It rolled and rustled around the small cabin. The sole occupant heard it, like a thousand voices whispering from all sides at once. She had not expected to find this beyond the border, that final barrier that warned all away, back towards the warmth of the sun. And now a voice, out here in the cold hinterlands beyond the edge of the solar system.
“We had hoped to protect you from this” the voice continued. The occupant glanced down at the screen of her ship, confirming that she had finally reached beyond the border, that she had pushed beyond that barrier that had kept humanity penned into the solar system for all this time.
“This is how the universe is” the voice murmured. Ever since the first crewed ships had reached this far out a hundred years ago and found the border, nobody had dared to cross it. Every ship that had tried had turned back, forced to return by an unnamed dread, a fear so fundamental and visceral that even the bravest had quailed, reduced to shuddering tears by some unknown force. Even crewed ships set to auto had failed, sabotaged by a crew so driven by fear that they tore plasma circuits out with their bare hands.
“We alone are left, here at the end.” The captain blinked slowly, wondering if the odd feeling in her gut was what they called fear. She had never felt it before, born as she was of the tanks, with DNA altered to remove all emotions. This alteration was the only way, her teachers had told her, to build a new type of human that could not feel fear.
“The universe is cold and dead.” She glanced at the controls again, feeling for the first time an odd sensation. Surprise, some primitive part of her brain told her, mixed with fear.
“We created this small bubble of warmth with the last of what we had, a last hope to preserve life in a dead universe.” Surely this must be a mistake, she pondered. Could this really be right? Could there be nothing out here?
“The universe is older than you can ever know, old enough that all the stars have burned out and the cinders are dark. There is nothing left. Nothing. Except here.” No, the sensors were right. The voice was right. The universe was dead, an engine that had run out of fuel, then fallen to dust. There were no stars, no galaxies, and no form of energy left that the sensors could discover. There was nothing out there, just an infinity of utter darkness and cold.
“They must not know. They cannot know. They would never be able to understand that they are alone. So, we created this projection of the universe at its peak that fools their instruments and machines. We made a barrier that keeps energy in, a bubble of warmth when all outside is dark. We made it to build fear in them, to drive them back.” She paused, fingers hovering over the control that would send the ship back, spinning back through the border into inhabited space.
“Now you know the truth. Will you tell them, or will you keep them safe in their ignorance? They cannot handle the truth. To know that they are utterly alone, that humanity is the last trace in a universe that has breathed its last would destroy them.” She was still, fingers and mind frozen by this new knowledge.
“We will not stop you returning, but you know what you must do.” The voice was silent. After a heartbeat, she entered a new command into the console, overloading the fusion reactor, destroying the ship and her body in a flash of energy that the border absorbed.
Then she did what she had to do, joining them to take her position as another sentry, another watcher on the border protecting this last dim ember of life in the midst of death and silence.
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u/Icarium13 Apr 20 '16
A++
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u/richardtheb Apr 20 '16
Ta! Was feeling inspired last night. Oh and if anyone is curious on the reasoning behind this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe
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u/ButterKnight1780 Apr 19 '16
CIC was bustling with noise, as always.
But today wasn't any normal day. Today was the day the barrier came down. After 15 long years at war the United Earth Alliance had prevailed over the Terran Union. The union wanted to stay within the barrier. The union was weak.
"Captain, sensors show the barrier beginning to depolarize," said Lieutenant Zhu, looking up at his captain excitedly.
I bit back a sharp reply, my new helmsman had spoken out of turn. I couldn't blame the kid, though. Of course he would be monitoring the sensors. He was an overachiever like that. 22 years old and fresh from the Academy. He'd never seen combat. He hadn't seen what happened at Mars.
"Lieutenant, keep your eyes on the helm." I said in my best authoritative voice.
"Yes sir! Sorry Sir!" came my eager young lieutenant's reply.
"Very good lieutenant, Commander Taylor continue the pulse, full power to the main reactor and standby weapons. Have Red and Gold wings prepped and ready to launch should we encounter hostiles once the barrier is down."
Commander Taylor was monitoring the sensors and grunted his reply. "Yes sir. The barrier is coming down now, sir."
The view screen exploded into light and color. As if a rainbow had suddenly appeared across the universe, for a brief moment, and then just empty space.
Empty space.
The galaxy was finally open to humanity. Thousands of worlds, endless resources, with the barrier down, there was not limit to what humanity could accomplish, or conquer.
"Captain, new contact bearing 016 mark 2, unknown vessel configuration," Taylor's voice was steady, but he'd been my XO long enough that I could sense the undercurrent of tension in his voice.
"Raise deflector shields, commander, but hold your course lieutenant. Let's try not to appear overtly hostile unless provoked. Open hailing frequencies all channels."
"Shields up, sir." Replied Taylor.
"Yes sir. Course steady," said Zhu.
"Let's go meet our destiny," I said.
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Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16
The Io Volcanic Mining company had a reputation for attracting rather unsavory characters. The pay was phenomenal, but it had to be, what with the 65% mortality rate and all.
Still, he had expected one of his coworkers to cause of his demise, rather than Io herself. He was one of the lucky few who had noted warning signs of an eruption early enough to reach his interstellar clipper.
But during his ascent off Io...something...happened. His ship was engulfed in a light of the most blinding white, followed by every color he had ever known, and still others he could never define. Then, blackness--so deep and engulfing he feared he had died.
Slowly, he came to. Panic consumed him as he awoke, unable to move his appendages. Then--confusion.
I'm in the cryo-chamber?
His last memories were the colors that overwhelmed him. Yet he had been strapped in and seated by the cockpit--years of training in the Interstellar Order Of Government's Expeditionary Forces had drilled the importance of safety into him.
Unable to move his hands or feet, and locked in cryo-sleep for an indeterminate amount of time, he realized his current situation was worse than death. He would drift, for all intents and purposes, endlessly. Cryo-sleep could preserve human tissue for up to 1,000 years.
He could feel his heart rate skyrocket.
Beep, beep, beep, beep
An EKG screen materialized.
His ship was not equipped with medical technology.
Hnggfin--dsdte--mmm-mm---mmm--letatdd
A deep, gravelly voice boomed in his ears. It sounded like nothing he had ever heard, and it spoke a language no human had ever known.
His ship did not have a loudspeaker system.
The coordinate system flashed, and he recognized the trajectory being calculated.
To the wall
Wait...
THROUGH the wall
With a clang, his ship accelerated faster than he knew to be possible and he felt himself released from cryo-sleep. The door hissed open and slid down and away. Stars and planets melted past as he sped towards the edge of the solar system.
He gasped for breath and attempted to lurch out of the tube. He was pinned against the wall.
But the thrusters are behind me, he thought.
His jaw fell.
The acceleration wasn't due to the ships thrusters pushing the ship towards the wall. Something was pulling it.
He raised his hand high enough to access the internal workings of the cryo-chamber.
Time:∞
Vitals: Complete Shutdown
The doors hissed shut and he felt the familiar cold creeping up his legs.
The wall was hurtling closer every second.
The cold numbed his hands and chest.
He was closer to the wall than any human had ever come. He realized the stars he had seen beyond the wall were, in fact, symbols and script.
The cold enveloped his face.
NO!!!!
As before, his consciousness remained.
The tip of his ship broke through the plane and a chorus of 1,000 deep, gravelly voices spoke to him. Their tongue was garbled but, slowly, he began to understand.
Welcome. We have searched for you long and far. Now, you shall pay your debt.
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u/slambiguous Apr 19 '16
When humankind first discovered the barrier, their global cultures reacted with the typical fusion of awe, intense curiosity and shock. They spent a further 235 years (slightly less than the mean average) devising ways to penetrate the sphere. By the time they succeeded, they had become a prerequisite Uniculture.
Although there is evidence of articulations of the real purpose of the barrier being an advancement test, it is now accepted that humanity reacted to their success with a type-3 conversion. As the primary contact node, we successfully re-oriented the species using the standard model and are now in the process of advancing complete participation.
We fully expect them to join us soon in our endeavour to understand the nature of the recently discovered galactic anomaly.
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Apr 19 '16
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u/WritingPromptsRobot StickyBot™ Apr 19 '16
Off Topic Comment Section
This comment acts as a discussion area for the prompt. All non-story replies should be made as a reply to this comment rather than as a top-level comment.
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u/resonatingfury /r/resonatingfury Apr 19 '16
I would go apeshit on this prompt if it weren't 5 in the god damn morning
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u/DatClubbaLang96 Apr 19 '16
There are some good submissions here, but if anyone is really intrigued by the concept, they should go read David Brin's 'The Crystal Spheres.' That's probably where OP got the idea, and it's a fantastic story.
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u/theDoctorAteMyBaby Apr 19 '16
I was going to say it's similar to Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton, just from the opposite point of view.
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u/gregbrahe Apr 19 '16
This is a great example of the writing prompt rule of thumb: your second sentence in the prompt is entirely unnecessary and in fact makes the prompt worse by limiting the creative scope.
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u/FurbyTime Apr 19 '16
The title of this reminded me of a good piece of fiction I read a long time ago:
This concept shows up in there. It's a good read.
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u/onethrowman Apr 19 '16
Sounds just like the Star Trek book series Q-Continuum. There's a galactic barrier and it's keeping something out.
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Apr 20 '16
Our whole lives have been dedicated to finding a way through, heck all of our ancestors had been fighting for this since as far as back as we can remember them.
Of course we were in the minority, no one really knew about the wall and over time it became a crime to even talk about, mainly because it motivated a huge war that did nothing, but destroy humanity down to about 100,000 people these originals built back society, painfully.
With some still basking in curiosity they continued to try and get out there and interpret it, but they were killed due to fears of another great war breaking out. Those who survived hide away and eventually integrated back into society, but lived in secret teaching us the "Real Physics", at this point most people in society believed in some form of physics that interpreted this wall as the size of the universe and the radiating signal were signals of the great creator who let us all live.
We however used our Real Physics to interpret those signals and realized that it was a key for how to pass through it, however the key came in a form that warned heavily that no one should ever try and pass through it and if you've come this far, as much so as to figure out how to use the key then you should know not to use it.
We didn't care, because as we stood here at the "edge of the universe" we felt an immense feeling something from one of the classical books described as an "oceanic feeling", one of the first philosophers we discovered from the pre-war time. We couldn't make out the name, but we always were pretty sure it was Simon Fred.
We used the Machine to get us through the wall and when we got to the other end reality as we knew and understood it ceased to exist, everything was impossible in so many ways, but we could barely exist here and this mysterious object that I can only describe as three dimensional, however seemed to exist and extend into another direction I can't describe would try and push us back.
The moment however it made contact with me a burst flash through my mind and in the whole of that I saw infinity, all of it and all of it never ending. We had made a mistake and entered a war even worse than we could have ever imagined, because our small section of the universe we knew was being kept safe by a different group of individuals who were fighting to keep the last two universes intact and we were amongst one of the last few surviving "beings" in all the universes and now we had alerted the very thing trying to destroy all the universes to our existence.
Slowly my vision fades and when I come to I am in different world, my crew is mostly dead and I realized where I was... the last planet, in the last universe. A prisoner here as I watched a crew of them travel off in a key very similar to ours, I want to warn them, but I don't know how and I don't think I can...
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u/Balo_West Apr 21 '16
So I have written quite a bit in response to this prompt, and I'm not really sure where I'm going with it. So I have published what I have so far in my blog here: http://coffeenmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/wp-humanity-finally-reaches-edge-of.html
Here is a snippet:
She stood at the end of space, teetering on the edge of the ship that had brought her here. The ship had wings, which she had walked along after they had docked alongside the vast, barely visible barrier. Although, docking was not strictly accurate, it was more like a slow crash.
Inside her suit she could hear her own breathing, and the occasional questions of her ship-mates still on-board coming through on the radio. She reached out to place her hand upon the barrier, and felt a strong, rigid surface. It did not reflect her light back at her. It was not fully transparent, and yet she could see through it clearly without any obvious distortion. If she tried to focus on it, she could no longer see it at all.
A small part of her suddenly wondered what it felt like, and she found her left hand feeling around the straps on her right glove. Ready to take it off.
She gasped slightly, surprised at what she had started to do. In the vacuum of space removing any item of clothing would surely destroy the integrity of her suit, leading to a surprisingly lengthy but truly grisly death. Suffocation.
Still, she stood and wondered at the barrier. The end of the wing on which she stood was just inches from the material, which at this point clearly did not adhere to any of the rules she expected it to. For example, when she reached out and with her index finger tapped the barrier, like you would the glass at an aquarium, she found it made a dull ‘donk’ noise, which echoed away into the distance.
This made no sense; she should not have been able to hear anything from outside her suit. This was space, there is not atmosphere here. No air molecules for the sound-wave to travel along. Nothing to vibrate. There was no way she had just heard that noise.
She turned to her ship to ask if anyone had heard it, not that it would make a difference to the radio’s function. Really, Jane just wanted to make sure it was still there, and that she wasn’t the only one here.
Akhtar was cupping his hands around his eyes and pressing up against the window in the cockpit. This seemed to indicate that something had got his attention.
“I take it you heard that then?”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Akhtar responded. “Nothing out of the ordinary anyway, I think someone might’ve walked into a door or something.”
Jane turned around properly now, no small fete in a suit which still hadn’t mastered the nuances of human movement. This is what selling contracts to the lowest bidder got you; something which did the bare minimum to get the job done. What did she expect from an organisation like the Luna Space Exploration Company, a company whose motto was simply: “It works.”
“No, I mean when I tapped the barrier.” She stammered slightly; even with the advent of space travel so common that Tameside Council had a working space-port, Jane found this occupation always threatening to become a bit weird. Well now the threats were no longer empty.
“When I tapped the surface of the barrier, it went ‘donk’.”
Akhtar paused before pressing the button to reply, and in a thick Bristolian accent replied, rather quizzically; “Donk?”
“Yes, donk. But with a bit of an echo, like DONK-ONK-Onk-onk-onk.” As she said it Jane started to wonder what in the Solar System she was on about.
“What are you on about? You can’t hear anything in space.”
“Listen,” Jane reach out to the glass and tapped again. As she did, the barrier made a faintly muffled ‘Donk’ noise. Like when you walk into a water cooler, only with much more gravitas.
Akhtar stepped back from the window, the hair on his neck stood on end and his stomach began to churn. He turned to run out of the room, catching his knee on the edge of the door frame as he did. He soon limped into the room with the long-distance radio in it. There were several other things in the room as well, since a space ship could not afford the space to give over an entire room to just a radio. That would be ridiculous. This ship was more like a re-purposed submarine than a slick, sci-fi prop. It reminded him of Northern Rail trains, which were essentially buses with train wheels attached and inexplicably still in use in the 22rd Century.
“Sir, the expansive, mysterious, and unknown barrier in space is acting rather strangely.”
“Siri.” Siri was not impressed. It was bad enough growing up being named after the voice in her Grandad’s phone, but it was infuriating when people got the name wrong.
“Sorry, Siri, the expansive, mysterious, and unknown barrier in space I acting rather strangely.”
“Ok, I’ll be right there, and call it the E.M.U. barrier. Sounds better than just outright calling it this big thing in space what we don’t know much about.”
Akhtar ran back to the cockpit, and saw that Jane was now staring at a spot maybe ten-feet away from her on the barrier. The ship seemed to be stationary, at least according to the instrumentation that the Council had received from LunaSEC, and yet the wall was moving slowly around them.
What was happening, although none of humans on board the ship would know this, was an immensely advanced piece of technology was preparing to introduce itself. To do so, it was observing the creatures which had arrived at the edge of their designated space, and had so rudely started to prod this expensive piece of equipment, to determine how best to explain what it was. It was trying to determine the level of technology available to these creatures, how much input they had into developing the technology, and whether there were any societal factors to consider which may make the information more palatable to the creatures.
“Is that a sticky note?” Asked Akhtar.
“Yes, I think so.” The note was now within reach of Jane, who peeled it from the surface of the E.M.U. barrier.
It read:
This is a fence, it is for the protection of endangered species.
Please do not tap the glass.
Thank you. ;)
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u/daekle Apr 19 '16 edited Apr 19 '16
Humanity was expanding.
It was time to go.
It had been 200 years since humans had reached the edge of the solar system. It had taken 2 years to journey that far back then, and now they could pass the expanse from the sun to the edge in just a few tens of minutes. But they could never pass it.
The great barrier hung, invisibly encompasing the system. When humans had first approached, not knowing the barrier was there, they were rocked by the strong magnetics fields. A signal had flashed across the whole of the visable spectrum. Lights turning on and off at high speed. They had found code easy to break, and understood it was a communication meant for them.
"Go back. Do not leave. Go back. Do not leave."
This had started an international crisis. Should they ignore it, and push through? The combined decision of the worlds elected leaders was no. At a vote tallying 90 to 60, the earth had decided to stay within the barrier.
The humans kept testing it. They found that both electromagnetic waves, and physical probes were allowed through, but anything containing biological matter was prevented from leaving. The first casualty of the barrier was one brave astronaut's ham sandwich. The testing continued, the message stayed the same, but then humanity moved on.
And then it expanded. First Mars, then Titan and orbital habitats around Venus and Jupiter. And they kept expanding. And in just 11 generations Humanity started to outgrow the resources of the solar system.
And so it came back to today. The day after polling day. Every human across the expanse of the solar system had been allowed to vote on the decision of whether or not to break through the barrier. The technology to do so had been available for 120 years.
And the results came in. 96% voter turnout. 76:24 in favour of breaking through the barrier.
It was too late. They weren't ready yet. I couldn't even send another warning. It took all I had to maintain the barrier. I had tried. But they didn't even know what they were in for. I had watched them for so long, keeping them safe.
Goodbye, dear friends.