Post by Radrook Admin on Aug 14, 2021 19:26:51 GMT -5
The starship Infinity had been traveling at maximum warp for ten years, not because it had been intended to, but because it had suffered a serious malfunction and failed to shut down its engines and awaken its slumbering passengers after a month had elapsed as had been planned.
At maximum warp, it had been expected to travel beyond the detectable universe in a month and into those mysterious regions once deemed forever beyond mankind’s perceptions due to the limitations of the speed of light which never permitted their light from reaching us. But now, after ten years of warp, the ship had greatly surpassed its intended destination and had exceeded its designed parameters, causing the warp engines to break down.
Suddenly awakened from their deep artificially-induced slumber, the crew of fifty men and seven women, wondered exactly where they were. After all, warp-drive devoured the light years as if they were almost non-existent, and just one hour at full warp could take a passenger a distance of ten light years. Such a velocity extended for the duration of ten years was beyond their meager imaginations to conceive. So they had calculated that just a year at that rate would place them in the region of space they had intended to explore.
Slowly, as they regained their senses, they realized the magnitude of their situation and mostly wondered where they were. Standing before the ship’s viewing screen, there was a profound darkness behind and at their sides with no indications of stars. But what riveted their attention was the intensely white, yet soft wall of white luminosity directly in front of the ship, a luminosity that extended infinitely horizontally and vertically. Strangely, the ship had come to a full impulse engine stop just 1000 kilometers from it. It had been programmed to avoid endangering itself and the crew, so the crew assumed that the area ahead posed a danger.
Meanwhile, in the ship’s cockpit, George Remington the captain, short middle-aged man and Joseph Staunton a taller younger man in his mid-twenties and his second in command, discussed the matter in private:
“What exactly is that luminosity ahead, captain?” Joseph Staunton, asked with a frown of deep concern on his face as he gazed at the viewing screen.
“The computer records show that the ship detected nothing at all and simply shut down the warp drive and proceeded on impulse until that too was shut off. Then it slowed itself to a standstill a thousand kilometers from its border, the captain responded calmly.
“That indicates a detection, doesn’t it, sir?”
“So it would seem. But as I said, there is no indication of any detection. In fact, our sensors show that there is nothing directly ahead and that the luminosity does not consist of photons.”
“That’s an impossibility! All light consists of photons.”
“Yet there it is!”
“Well, we have two choices. We either attempt to breach the luminosity, or else attempt a return to Earth."
“Back to Earth after ten years at steady maximum warp drive without the help of warp? Do you realize the distance that this ship has traveled?” the captain asked rhetorically while gazing at Staunton quizzically as if he had gone insane.
“Everyone we knew back home will be dead for one. The society that exists, if we haven’t blown ourselves to smithereens yet, will be alien to us and we to it whenever it is that we arrive. Which we will not since space is expanding faster than light at this distance from Earth and our warp engines are irreparably damaged. No, I would say that we should try to enter the luminosity and face whatever consequences that entails.”
“Are the others in agreement with that decision? There are things far more horrible than death, captain. Have you considered that?” Staunton said in a quavering voice induced by fear.
“That’s risk I am willing to take”
“Well, Captain, then I suggest taking it alone. We can prepare one of the exploratory vehicles, and you can go and satisfy your curiosity.”
The captain stared at his second in command for a great while before responding. He knew that his decisions would not always be accepted, but he never expected such blatant insubordination motivated by religious intolerance.
“What do our probes detect once they enter that luminosity?” Staunton asked in order to defuse the tense impasse he had unintentionally created.
“They indicate nothing since they stop transmitting as soon as they disappear past its perimeter.”
“Then the region might consist of some type of antimatter, making survival totally impossible.”
“Or maybe, just maybe, within that luminosity is the region where myriads of other universes exist?”
“Well, if it is, then we have found what we came out here for, and are on the verge of the greatest discovery in human history? Finally, we will know!”
“Will we really?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, have you considered that we might very well have traveled to the very border that separates the biblical heaven from our material universe?” We might actually be hovering before the portals of heaven itself!” the captain said pensively, as if delving into an enigma pondered many times before, but had always abandoned as unsolvable until the warp drive had made the exploration attempt possible.
“What? That’s ridiculous!”
“Is it really? Why isn’t the idea of that other region where universes float around ridiculous?”
“Simple captain, because that is science and what you are suggesting is pure religious superstitious drivel.” Stanton’s ruddy face was contortion in anger, and even his fists were balled up as if he were about to attack.
“Should we put it to the test?”
“Put what to the test?” Staunton responded nervously.
“The concept, that in our hubris, we might have traveled to the very gates of heaven itself and are not being permitted access because only those who died and were glorified via the resurrection are permitted such a privilege,”
“That is utter nonsense!” Staunton said while pacing the cockpit floor impatiently like a caged animal. He couldn’t believe that the captain, a highly-educated man, would be entertaining such a concept.
“From your atheistic standpoint yes, it is impossible” the captain continued, "but not from my standpoint and those of some others on this ship. If indeed we are actually there, some of our relatives that have passed on might be just beyond that luminosity. In fact, they might even aware of our arrival here. So communication with these should be attempted. I think that we should put that hypothesis to the test.”
“Communication with dead people? Captain? Anything beyond that luminosity is unreachable, as I explained before! Nothing that enters and ever returns. Contact is lost and whatever went beyond can be assumed to have been destroyed! So no communication can take place. The rational response to this situation is to distance ourselves from this region before we might become engulfed by this anomaly.”
“I beg to differ with you on that Staunton,” the captain said as he paced the cockpit floor from bulkhead to bulkhead.
“Christians have been communicating with heaven for ages via prayer! I see no reason why we cannot employ that method of communication, in order to communicate now.
The second in command finally threw up his hands in frustrated resignation.
“Do as you wish then! I sure as hell am not wasting my time either trying to communicate with the dead or else kneeling before a fictitious God and begging for his help! As for those who died, they are dead, and the sooner everyone on this ship accepts this, the better.” the second in command said and marched off to his quarters in a huff.
In an hour, the captain had all crew members assembled in the ship’s auditorium and had explained the situation to them in detail. As was the case with Staunton, those who were atheists mocked the idea and asked to be dismissed. Those who had religious faith, along with some agnostics, remained seated, and ready to pray as told. The prayer was a request for assistance or an SOS, and it was directed to whomever was in charge within that luminosity. Ship lights were dimmed, and everyone kneeled with eyes shut and waited.
For a long while, nothing occurred and some crew members began to feel silly. But then, on the viewing screen directly above the auditorium’s platform, the luminosity appeared to be showing signs of a disturbance. Some sort of dark, rectangular portal with a myriad points of light resembling stars was beginning to form directly in front of the ship. Then suddenly, the ship lurched in its direction. In panic, the captain ordered a reversal of impulse engines, but it did no good. As the ship was gradually drawn inside, the points of lights suddenly began swirling past became elongated streaks on each side of the ship. Then as quickly as the phenomenon had started, it ceased, and the luminosity had been replaced with normal space.
The ship’s computer indicated that they were back at the Solar system in the vicinity of Jupiter and that their new trajectory was towards Earth at 65,000 MPH. The computer also reported something else that was peculiar. The members of the crew that had been in the auditorium praying were no longer on board but all seemed to have vanished without a trace. Only their uniforms remained on the floor where they had been kneeling. Atheists reported them as dead. Christians knew better.
At maximum warp, it had been expected to travel beyond the detectable universe in a month and into those mysterious regions once deemed forever beyond mankind’s perceptions due to the limitations of the speed of light which never permitted their light from reaching us. But now, after ten years of warp, the ship had greatly surpassed its intended destination and had exceeded its designed parameters, causing the warp engines to break down.
Suddenly awakened from their deep artificially-induced slumber, the crew of fifty men and seven women, wondered exactly where they were. After all, warp-drive devoured the light years as if they were almost non-existent, and just one hour at full warp could take a passenger a distance of ten light years. Such a velocity extended for the duration of ten years was beyond their meager imaginations to conceive. So they had calculated that just a year at that rate would place them in the region of space they had intended to explore.
Slowly, as they regained their senses, they realized the magnitude of their situation and mostly wondered where they were. Standing before the ship’s viewing screen, there was a profound darkness behind and at their sides with no indications of stars. But what riveted their attention was the intensely white, yet soft wall of white luminosity directly in front of the ship, a luminosity that extended infinitely horizontally and vertically. Strangely, the ship had come to a full impulse engine stop just 1000 kilometers from it. It had been programmed to avoid endangering itself and the crew, so the crew assumed that the area ahead posed a danger.
Meanwhile, in the ship’s cockpit, George Remington the captain, short middle-aged man and Joseph Staunton a taller younger man in his mid-twenties and his second in command, discussed the matter in private:
“What exactly is that luminosity ahead, captain?” Joseph Staunton, asked with a frown of deep concern on his face as he gazed at the viewing screen.
“The computer records show that the ship detected nothing at all and simply shut down the warp drive and proceeded on impulse until that too was shut off. Then it slowed itself to a standstill a thousand kilometers from its border, the captain responded calmly.
“That indicates a detection, doesn’t it, sir?”
“So it would seem. But as I said, there is no indication of any detection. In fact, our sensors show that there is nothing directly ahead and that the luminosity does not consist of photons.”
“That’s an impossibility! All light consists of photons.”
“Yet there it is!”
“Well, we have two choices. We either attempt to breach the luminosity, or else attempt a return to Earth."
“Back to Earth after ten years at steady maximum warp drive without the help of warp? Do you realize the distance that this ship has traveled?” the captain asked rhetorically while gazing at Staunton quizzically as if he had gone insane.
“Everyone we knew back home will be dead for one. The society that exists, if we haven’t blown ourselves to smithereens yet, will be alien to us and we to it whenever it is that we arrive. Which we will not since space is expanding faster than light at this distance from Earth and our warp engines are irreparably damaged. No, I would say that we should try to enter the luminosity and face whatever consequences that entails.”
“Are the others in agreement with that decision? There are things far more horrible than death, captain. Have you considered that?” Staunton said in a quavering voice induced by fear.
“That’s risk I am willing to take”
“Well, Captain, then I suggest taking it alone. We can prepare one of the exploratory vehicles, and you can go and satisfy your curiosity.”
The captain stared at his second in command for a great while before responding. He knew that his decisions would not always be accepted, but he never expected such blatant insubordination motivated by religious intolerance.
“What do our probes detect once they enter that luminosity?” Staunton asked in order to defuse the tense impasse he had unintentionally created.
“They indicate nothing since they stop transmitting as soon as they disappear past its perimeter.”
“Then the region might consist of some type of antimatter, making survival totally impossible.”
“Or maybe, just maybe, within that luminosity is the region where myriads of other universes exist?”
“Well, if it is, then we have found what we came out here for, and are on the verge of the greatest discovery in human history? Finally, we will know!”
“Will we really?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, have you considered that we might very well have traveled to the very border that separates the biblical heaven from our material universe?” We might actually be hovering before the portals of heaven itself!” the captain said pensively, as if delving into an enigma pondered many times before, but had always abandoned as unsolvable until the warp drive had made the exploration attempt possible.
“What? That’s ridiculous!”
“Is it really? Why isn’t the idea of that other region where universes float around ridiculous?”
“Simple captain, because that is science and what you are suggesting is pure religious superstitious drivel.” Stanton’s ruddy face was contortion in anger, and even his fists were balled up as if he were about to attack.
“Should we put it to the test?”
“Put what to the test?” Staunton responded nervously.
“The concept, that in our hubris, we might have traveled to the very gates of heaven itself and are not being permitted access because only those who died and were glorified via the resurrection are permitted such a privilege,”
“That is utter nonsense!” Staunton said while pacing the cockpit floor impatiently like a caged animal. He couldn’t believe that the captain, a highly-educated man, would be entertaining such a concept.
“From your atheistic standpoint yes, it is impossible” the captain continued, "but not from my standpoint and those of some others on this ship. If indeed we are actually there, some of our relatives that have passed on might be just beyond that luminosity. In fact, they might even aware of our arrival here. So communication with these should be attempted. I think that we should put that hypothesis to the test.”
“Communication with dead people? Captain? Anything beyond that luminosity is unreachable, as I explained before! Nothing that enters and ever returns. Contact is lost and whatever went beyond can be assumed to have been destroyed! So no communication can take place. The rational response to this situation is to distance ourselves from this region before we might become engulfed by this anomaly.”
“I beg to differ with you on that Staunton,” the captain said as he paced the cockpit floor from bulkhead to bulkhead.
“Christians have been communicating with heaven for ages via prayer! I see no reason why we cannot employ that method of communication, in order to communicate now.
The second in command finally threw up his hands in frustrated resignation.
“Do as you wish then! I sure as hell am not wasting my time either trying to communicate with the dead or else kneeling before a fictitious God and begging for his help! As for those who died, they are dead, and the sooner everyone on this ship accepts this, the better.” the second in command said and marched off to his quarters in a huff.
In an hour, the captain had all crew members assembled in the ship’s auditorium and had explained the situation to them in detail. As was the case with Staunton, those who were atheists mocked the idea and asked to be dismissed. Those who had religious faith, along with some agnostics, remained seated, and ready to pray as told. The prayer was a request for assistance or an SOS, and it was directed to whomever was in charge within that luminosity. Ship lights were dimmed, and everyone kneeled with eyes shut and waited.
For a long while, nothing occurred and some crew members began to feel silly. But then, on the viewing screen directly above the auditorium’s platform, the luminosity appeared to be showing signs of a disturbance. Some sort of dark, rectangular portal with a myriad points of light resembling stars was beginning to form directly in front of the ship. Then suddenly, the ship lurched in its direction. In panic, the captain ordered a reversal of impulse engines, but it did no good. As the ship was gradually drawn inside, the points of lights suddenly began swirling past became elongated streaks on each side of the ship. Then as quickly as the phenomenon had started, it ceased, and the luminosity had been replaced with normal space.
The ship’s computer indicated that they were back at the Solar system in the vicinity of Jupiter and that their new trajectory was towards Earth at 65,000 MPH. The computer also reported something else that was peculiar. The members of the crew that had been in the auditorium praying were no longer on board but all seemed to have vanished without a trace. Only their uniforms remained on the floor where they had been kneeling. Atheists reported them as dead. Christians knew better.
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