The SOS
Aug 21, 2023 17:38:58 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Aug 21, 2023 17:38:58 GMT -5
The SOS
By Radrook
By Radrook
The starship Infinity had been traveling at maximum warp for a ten years, not because it had been originally intended to, but because it had suffered a serious malfunction and had 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 a 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 most was the intensely white, yet soft wall of luminosity directly in front of the ship, a luminosity that seemed to extend infinitely horizontally and vertically. Strangely, the ship had automatically come to a full impulse engine stop just 1000 kilometers from it. Not unusual since the ship had been programmed to avoid endangering itself and the crew, so the crew rightfully concluded assumed that the area ahead posed a serious 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 mesmerized 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 as he stared suspiciously at the phenomenon.
“That indicates detection, doesn’t it sir?”
“So it would seem Stauton. 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 doesn't consist of photons.”
“That’s an impossibility sir! All light consists of photons.”
“Yet, there it is!”
“Well, we have two choices. We either attempt to breach the luminosity, or else attempt to get back to Earth." Staunton responded in a voice tinged with fearful desperation.
“Back to Earth after ten years at steady maximum warp drive without the help of warp?" the captain responded. "Do you realize the distance that this ship has traveled?” he asked rhetorically while gazing at Staunton quizzically as if he had gone insane.
“Everyone we knew back home will be dead, for one." he continued. "The society that exists, if mankind hasn'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, Staunton, I would say that we should try to enter the luminosity and face whatever consequences that involves.”
“Are the others in agreement with that decision?" Staunton replied after an extended silence. "There are things far more horrible than death, captain." he added. "Have you seriously considered that?” Staunton said in a quavering voice tinged with fear.
“That’s risk I am willing to take”
“Well, Captain, then I suggest you take it alone. We can prepare a vehicle, 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.
“What do our probes detect whenever they breach the luminosity?” Staunton asked, attempting to defuse the tense impasse he had unintentionally created.
“They indicate nothing at all. They desist transmitting as soon as they traverse its perimeter.”
“Then the region might consist of some type of antimatter, making contact 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 he had pondered profoundly many times before, but which he had always abandoned as unsolvable until the warp drive had made the exploration attempt possible.
“What? That’s ridiculous!” Staunton replied staring a the captain as if he had sudden taken leave of his senses.
“Is it really Staunton? Why isn’t the idea of that other region where universes float around ridiculous as well? Eh?”
“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 that we 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 who had suddenly found incarceration intolerable. He couldn’t believe that the captain, a highly-educated man, would be suddenly 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, and all our relatives have passed on during our suspended animation, then some of them might be just beyond that luminosity Staunton. In fact, they might even be keenly aware of our arrival here and might be able to help us. So communication with these should be attempted. I think that we should put that hypothesis to the test.”
“Communication with dead people? Captain?" Staunton was glaring at the captain as if he were an escapee from some insane asylum. "Anything beyond that luminosity is unreachable, as I explained before! Nothing that has entered 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 sir.”
“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 communicate now."" the captain said matter of factly, knowing full-well just how ridiculous his statements were being perceived by his atheist second in command.
In response, Staunton threw up his hands in frustrated resignation.
“Do as you wish then sir! But I sure as hell am not wasting my precious remaining 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.
Within an hour, the captain had all crewmembers assembled in the ship’s auditorium, and had patiently explained the situation to them in detail. As was the case with Staunton, the atheists among them mocked the idea, and requested to be dismissed. However, those who had religious faith along with some agnostics, remained seated, and ready to pray in the manner that they were told to do. The prayer, the captain had explained, would be an urgent request for assistance, or an SOS, and it was to be directed at whomever might be in charge within that luminosity.
Finally, the auditorium's lights were slowly dimmed, and everyone kneeled with eyes shut and waited as they prayed for assistance. They could here the rest of the crew in the adjacent corridors snickering and murmuring in mockery.
For a long while, approximately twenty minutes, absolutely nothing occurred and some crewmembers began feeling silly. But then, on the large rectangular viewing-screen positioned, directly above the auditorium’s platform, the luminosity began to change. A dark, rectangular portal with myriad of points of lights resembling stars began to coalesce directly in front of the ship. Then suddenly, as if attracted by some irresistible force, the ship was gently nudged in its direction.
The captain had not expected this reaction and in panic, he ordered a reversal of impulse engines, but it was ineffective. The ship continued to be was gradually drawn inside, and the points of lights suddenly began swirling past becoming elongated streaks on each side of the ship. There was absolutely no sense of motion. Yet, as quickly as the phenomenon had commenced, it ceased, and the vast luminosity which had formed a barrier to any further exploration, had been replaced with the familiar and comforting view of normal space.
In fact, the ship’s computer announced 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. Of course, the atheists reported them as dead. But 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 a 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 most was the intensely white, yet soft wall of luminosity directly in front of the ship, a luminosity that seemed to extend infinitely horizontally and vertically. Strangely, the ship had automatically come to a full impulse engine stop just 1000 kilometers from it. Not unusual since the ship had been programmed to avoid endangering itself and the crew, so the crew rightfully concluded assumed that the area ahead posed a serious 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 mesmerized 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 as he stared suspiciously at the phenomenon.
“That indicates detection, doesn’t it sir?”
“So it would seem Stauton. 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 doesn't consist of photons.”
“That’s an impossibility sir! All light consists of photons.”
“Yet, there it is!”
“Well, we have two choices. We either attempt to breach the luminosity, or else attempt to get back to Earth." Staunton responded in a voice tinged with fearful desperation.
“Back to Earth after ten years at steady maximum warp drive without the help of warp?" the captain responded. "Do you realize the distance that this ship has traveled?” he asked rhetorically while gazing at Staunton quizzically as if he had gone insane.
“Everyone we knew back home will be dead, for one." he continued. "The society that exists, if mankind hasn'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, Staunton, I would say that we should try to enter the luminosity and face whatever consequences that involves.”
“Are the others in agreement with that decision?" Staunton replied after an extended silence. "There are things far more horrible than death, captain." he added. "Have you seriously considered that?” Staunton said in a quavering voice tinged with fear.
“That’s risk I am willing to take”
“Well, Captain, then I suggest you take it alone. We can prepare a vehicle, 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.
“What do our probes detect whenever they breach the luminosity?” Staunton asked, attempting to defuse the tense impasse he had unintentionally created.
“They indicate nothing at all. They desist transmitting as soon as they traverse its perimeter.”
“Then the region might consist of some type of antimatter, making contact 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 he had pondered profoundly many times before, but which he had always abandoned as unsolvable until the warp drive had made the exploration attempt possible.
“What? That’s ridiculous!” Staunton replied staring a the captain as if he had sudden taken leave of his senses.
“Is it really Staunton? Why isn’t the idea of that other region where universes float around ridiculous as well? Eh?”
“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 that we 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 who had suddenly found incarceration intolerable. He couldn’t believe that the captain, a highly-educated man, would be suddenly 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, and all our relatives have passed on during our suspended animation, then some of them might be just beyond that luminosity Staunton. In fact, they might even be keenly aware of our arrival here and might be able to help us. So communication with these should be attempted. I think that we should put that hypothesis to the test.”
“Communication with dead people? Captain?" Staunton was glaring at the captain as if he were an escapee from some insane asylum. "Anything beyond that luminosity is unreachable, as I explained before! Nothing that has entered 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 sir.”
“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 communicate now."" the captain said matter of factly, knowing full-well just how ridiculous his statements were being perceived by his atheist second in command.
In response, Staunton threw up his hands in frustrated resignation.
“Do as you wish then sir! But I sure as hell am not wasting my precious remaining 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.
Within an hour, the captain had all crewmembers assembled in the ship’s auditorium, and had patiently explained the situation to them in detail. As was the case with Staunton, the atheists among them mocked the idea, and requested to be dismissed. However, those who had religious faith along with some agnostics, remained seated, and ready to pray in the manner that they were told to do. The prayer, the captain had explained, would be an urgent request for assistance, or an SOS, and it was to be directed at whomever might be in charge within that luminosity.
Finally, the auditorium's lights were slowly dimmed, and everyone kneeled with eyes shut and waited as they prayed for assistance. They could here the rest of the crew in the adjacent corridors snickering and murmuring in mockery.
For a long while, approximately twenty minutes, absolutely nothing occurred and some crewmembers began feeling silly. But then, on the large rectangular viewing-screen positioned, directly above the auditorium’s platform, the luminosity began to change. A dark, rectangular portal with myriad of points of lights resembling stars began to coalesce directly in front of the ship. Then suddenly, as if attracted by some irresistible force, the ship was gently nudged in its direction.
The captain had not expected this reaction and in panic, he ordered a reversal of impulse engines, but it was ineffective. The ship continued to be was gradually drawn inside, and the points of lights suddenly began swirling past becoming elongated streaks on each side of the ship. There was absolutely no sense of motion. Yet, as quickly as the phenomenon had commenced, it ceased, and the vast luminosity which had formed a barrier to any further exploration, had been replaced with the familiar and comforting view of normal space.
In fact, the ship’s computer announced 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. Of course, the atheists reported them as dead. But Christians knew better.