In my tireless pursuit of answers, I found fresh questions of terror. Comfort
is an alien notion to me. I've always been afraid, always failing to
still my brains, everwhearing cogs. But from a young age I aimed to
cease my minds endless worrying. I poured every ounce of my energy into becoming
an engineer. It has always eased my nerves to fix things. Of course,
nothing was ever enough. I needed absolute certainty, and I wasn't going
to find that on our little green rock. Naturally, I looked to the
stars. In the early two thousands, shortly after graduating from Cambridge University,
I moved to America and secured a job at NASA to be part of something
bigger than me, an organization focused on exploring the deepest crevices of the universe.
The date was January second, twenty twenty three. It was a day
unlike any other. The office was filled with the excitable chatter of my colleagues,
folk who typically would have their heads silently buried in paperwork. The air
on this particular day, however, was filled with a jittery magnetic energy.
Connor You'll never guess what just leaked, Adam eagerly said, motioning for me
to follow. I shrugged and followed my friend out of the office. What's
happening, I asked, You're going to lose your mind, my colleague replied.
We made our way into one of the compound's main facilities, a building
which housed NASA's assembly line of rockets, hunch that Adam's exciting news might be
related the DM fifty a dozen minus rockets. After all, the Baulky vessel
was nearing completion. No low level employees had been given any inkling as to
what purpose the spacecraft would serve. My colleague and I rounded the corner of
the vessel and we found doctor Stanley Jacobs talking to a few physicists. He
was a graying, pale faced fellow with chapped skin, the sort of man
who had physically aged beyond his years. He could have been sixty four or
forty six. The wary faced man groaned at the sight of Adam, but
my friend didn't care. He was fixated on the screen behind the physicist.
It depicted various graphs and charts a foreign language. To me. Everybody who's
been biting Stanley zerof After a mistakenly forwarded an email to Jenny in accounting.
Last year, Jacob's discovered an anomaly at the edge of our galaxy. Adam
gleefully whispered an unidentified phenomenon that vaguely resembles a black hole, though its physical
makeup is unlike anything previously discovered in human history, and NASA has been intercepting
frequencies from the other side using telescopic data. They've created musical tones which sound
like, well, who knows, storms on unseen planets, forms of alien
communication, a parallel version of our reality. Perhaps this sounds like fiction.
Why didn't we hear about it when Jacobs found the anomaly a year ago?
I asked, My colleague shrugged, you know what the media is like.
This could be huge or it could be nothing. But Jacob's is suggesting that
it might be a tear between universes hypothetically, I scoffed, though secretly my
interest was piqued. Come on, Connor, you're always talking about the mysteries
of the universe. Well, it turns out that there's more than one universe,
Adam said, and Frank heard that the planner and an expedition were the
d M fifty. I told you something big was happening. Why else would
they have contracted dozen minus? It's unofficial, highly classified technology. My heartbeat
started to quicken as I contemplated what my friend had said. Parallel universes?
I thought, could these distant worlds? After the answer I've always wanted?
The small group of physicists eventually dispersed and Adam nodded his head at Stanley talk
to him about the expedition. He didn't want anything to do with me,
but this could be your shot to see space, my friend whispered before walking
away. May I help, doctor Jacobs asked, overhearing us. I does
the DM fifty expedition have any openings for engineers? I asked? The man
sighed, you shouldn't know about that, but you're not the first person to
ask. This day has been You're going to explore the anomaly, aren't you,
I asked, eagerly, interrupting the physicist. Did you hear something?
Wait? Are you even an engineer? You're some government servant and a mission
to shut down this project? Are you, doctor Jacobs asked, lifting an
eyebrow. No, I just need to be on that ship, sir,
You likely already have plenty of engineers attached to the project, but we do
so I wouldn't get your hopes up, the man interjected, hacking his briefcase.
I won't pretend to be some indispensable genius, I said, but this
is more than a job to me. I don't really care about NASA.
I just I've always wanted answers to well everything. The man carefully examined me.
What's your name, doctor Jacobs asked, pulling a piece of paper out
of his coat pocket. Connor Bridges, I said, composing myself. The
physicist nodded and scrupled my name. There aren't any official openings, Connor,
but I know that look in your eyes. It's what guided me to this
place too. It's what prompted me to chase Harriet's eye. Harriet eye,
I asked. The man solemnly nodded the name of the anomaly my late daughter,
Sorry, I quietly replied. Jacobs cleared his throat. The d use
an extra engineer. My eyes glistened, and I immediately accepted the offer.
I couldn't quite wrap my brain around the idea of going to space now.
Of course, months after my voyage of terror, I tried to pretend it
never happened. After ten months of training, launch day arrived. Doctor Stanley
Jacobs and doctor Elizabeth Farrow, his research partner, had been developing the logistics
of the mission for the better part of two years. Our stealth vessel,
the D fifty, would venture to the edge of the Milky Way, undetected
by the people of Earth, and we would send various automated research vessels into
Harriet's Eye. Given promising results, a manned mission would follow. It was
an air tight plan. Launch was a surreal experience. Sitting in a near
silent ship equipped with cloaking technology, we left Earth behind. Not a soul
on the ground watched. It was a week long journey. Using dozen minus
technology, we achieved the impossible. We not only traveled to the farthest reach
of the Milky Way, but we did so within an unthinkably fast time frame.
The reason for doctor Jacob's hurry would eventually become horribly clear. From within
the window of D fifty, the crew surveyed Harriot's Eye with Doe eyed,
blissfully unaware faces, a gaggle of school children dazzled by the mysteries of space,
and as we approached the eye grew from a blacken blemish on the horizon
into a ginormous wound that had splintered the very fabric of reality. Hauntingly spectacular
sight, The unman vessels were launched. Once we reached a suitably near yet
safe distance from Harriet's eye. We watched as the tiny metallic blobs jettison from
DM fifty. Then, one by one, the three vessels were swallowed by
the blackened mouth. We found ourselves hovering in space, at the edge of
oblivion, waiting for the robotic explorers to return. The majority of low level
workers had nothing to do but twiddle thumbs. We couldn't proceed until the data
from the unmanned vessels had been retrieved and analyzed. Not quite the adventure you
imagine, mister Bridges, Stanley Jacobs asked, grinning. The two lead physicists
sat on the opposite end of the canteen table. I smiled at the pair
of them, was hurriedly finishing my mouthful of food. It wasn't often that
lowly crew members would have the opportunity to talk to the ever elusive lead physicists.
Actually, it's no different from a day in the office, sitting around
waiting for something to do, I said, Stanley laughed, Well, it's
just as tedious for Elizabeth and me too, right, But I enjoy lunch
breaks because I get to spend some time with people other than him. Doctor
Elizabeth Farrows chirped. I hate to pry, but well, have you made
any progress? I asked. I won't pretend to understand the physics of this
expedition, but don't be so modest, Connor, Elizabeth said, you're an
engineer. I'm sure you understand more than you pretend to know. He's a
mysterious egg. Jacobs chuckled. Did you know that he twisted my arm to
get on this mission? He was almost as determined as me. Almost.
Elizabeth raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Yes, I seem to remember him showing up
quite late in training. Were you keen to see action? Connor? The
woman had kind eyes. Elizabeth was middle aged, possibly the same age as
Stanley. For the years had been kinder to a soft skin, rosy cheeked
face. She reminded me of my late mother. Something about a velvety voice
encouraged me to open up. It wasn't about the adventure. Doctor Pharaoh I've
just always been afraid, I said, I've always wanted answers to unanswerable questions,
and this phenomenon seems fundamentally juxtaposed to the reality which surrounds it. Before
either other physicists could reply, our food trace slid to the right as we
did, and everybody cried in confus usion. As the bodies were limply flung
to the side of the unexpectedly leaning vessel. My temple connected with the edge
of the table, drawing blood, and I gripped either side of the canteen
bench onto my knuckles whitened. Dozens of dazed, injured workers clambered to their
feet. We all hurried to our respective stations, ready to assess the damage.
Though the ship corrected its balance, it continued to quake uncontrollably, and
as we ran to the engineering office, my crew members and I shuddered at
the sight of complete blackness beyond deem fifties windows, the stars and planets.
It disappeared raised for impact, A voice shrieked over the ship's intercom. The
ship's outer body groaned under the strain of seismic pressure, and I tumbled at
the office's metallic floor. The other engineers, and I clutched that any fixed
thing we could find, and we raced for a line waves. As D
fifty finally came to a blunt, jarring hold, everybody lay as still as
possible. Moments of pain echoed around the office. Light fixtures flicked unstably,
and various alarms sounded in a climatous cacophony. All personnel report to the main
bridge, her voice announced over the Turnoi. My fellow wounded engineers stumbled weakly
to the corridor outside our office, but we did not walk to the main
bridge. We speechlessly filled the corridor, and each of us stared out of
the window, and each of us stared out of the windows which lined the
walkway. Beyond DM fifty there lay a near colorless healthscape. The only light
stemmed from a luminous blue orb in the distance, a white dwarf. One
woman said, gasping to the hue, they looked like that, a man
asked. The edges of the orb seemed to dance erratically, and the ocean
beyond us ship was littered with tidal waves of crumbling rocks. Stray pieces clattered
against the windows of fifty, And then I realized that one of the larger
distant rocks was a planet. It appeared to be cleanly split down the middle,
as if it were two halves of a cracked coconut shell. This foreign
place was not the Milky Way. The very laws of physics seemed to contradict
our reality. We entered Harriot's Eye. A man whispered, it's another universe.
Somebody muttered, all personnel to the main bridge. The tannoy voice repeated,
urgently, snapping out of the existential fever which had seized our bodies.
The engineering crew hurried through the walkways of the ship, and we joined everybody
in the main bridge area. Beyond the chatting crowd, I could see Doctor
Jacobs and Doctor Pharaoh standing sheepishly behind Captain Polton. Quiet. The captain bellowed.
The entire crew immediately complied. We tried to fixate on a bearded,
stern faced leader, but our eyes kept wondering to the swirling kaleidoscope of collars
and bombardment of rocks beyond the bridge's main viewpoint. An unidentifiable force has pulled
us into the anomaly. Captain Pulton said, we're working towards immediately returning home,
and we do not know what we might find here. The data has
not yet been retrieved from the un manned vessels, so these are uncharted waters.
Anxious murmuring resumed enough, the Captain shouted, Before we attempt to enter
the anomaly again, we must deem DM fifty to be ship shape. I'll
leave that to our engineers. But time is of the essence, isn't that
right, doctor Jacobs. There was a disquieting tension between the lead physicist and
the captain. Doctor Jacobs cleared his throat. The anomaly is shrinking. We
should have told you, though. We have a limited window in which to
explore what lies beyond it. That's not all, Captain Bolton growled. Stanley
cleared his throat nervously, but Elizabeth placed a delicate hand on his shoulder.
We have entered her dying universe, one that is collapsing on itself, she
said, prompting a gasp of horror from the crowd. The anomaly is our
only exit, and it will soon be closed for good. Doctor Jacobs sighed,
I believe that Harriet's eye might well be more than a rip in the
lining of reality. It might be the crunch point for this universe. All
matter in this reality will colyde here. Anarchy ensued. Crew members hurled abuse
of the physicists, and a few furious individuals lunged at Jacobs. The captain
and several security officers restrained the enraged crew members. We can't change what has
been done, Captain Bolton yelled, shoving the mob backwards. When we returned
to Earth, doctor Jacobs and doctor Pharrer will stand trial for their crimes.
Until then, we have one objective, save every last person aboard this ship.
A crew worked tirelessly over the following hours, but things only worsened.
We were sitting ducks at the entrance to the anomaly, the ever closing seal
between two universes that became apparent as the ship's body began to wail painfully.
The onslaught of rocks aloudened against the metal work and reinforced glass panes. D
fifty began to quake on a near constant basis, and whenever I would glanced
out of the ship's windows, I became acutely aware of a burgeoning light in
the distance, the sinister, swirling glow of a trillion galaxies converging the incoming
flurry of long dead planets and moons. The universe was collapsing and we were
at the epicenter. I eventually slumped into my bunk bed at the brink of
exhaustion, but I found myself unable to shut my eyes. Eager to busy
myself, I switched to my terminal to run a few diagnostics for the evening.
The sooner we could give the captain the green light to go, the
better. I was surprised to find a notification in my in box. It
was a day old video message from Adam. Hey, Connor, I've been
bored out of my mind. I still upset that doctor Jacobs wouldn't let me
join the crew, so I decided to do some research on the Big Man.
I talked to Frank in it because he owed me a favor, and
he let me look at some of the transmissions that Jacobs has been deciphering.
NASA received signals from the anomaly that seemed communicative, Connor, and it was
a two way flow. Jacobs responded, he talked to something you need to
ask him about that. The thought of receiving a message from alien life,
whether in our universe or another, had once filled me with such excitement that
I was filled with the inexplicable dread by the idea of Jacobs communicating with some
unseen intelligence. It could have been the secrecy surrounding the communication. Jacobs hadn't
told anyone that he'd already found something sentient beyond Harriet's eye. Why my gut
instinct was to confront him. I slid out of bed, got dressed,
and left the engineering quarters. The ship was eerily quiet, and I walked
to the main laboratory. Other than the roar of space debris, which had
become a form of white noise, as expected, I found Doctor Jacobs hunched
over at his desk and busying himself with work. The white glow of the
screen illuminated the man's gaunt, possessed face. He hardly looked human. Why
didn't you tell us, I asked, The expedition would never have been green
lit. Doctor Jacobs muttered, without looking up. Good I said, we
never would have faced such horror. Doctor Jacobs removed his glasses and eyed me
with disappointment. What happened to that young man who wanted answers? Were going
to get any answers here? I said, certainly, not about that thing
you heard in the darkness, Stanley. Jacob's froze, eyeing me for a
few seconds as droplets of sweat collected on his forehead brow. How did you
know about that? He whispered, He only spoke to me. I shivered.
He Stanley's frown lifted as he realized that I knew nothing. Go to
bed, mister Bridges, he said, returning his gaze to the laptop.
What were you hoping to find? I asked? The man scoffed another universe,
connor something greater than us, and I calculated that we had no more
than a couple of years before Harriet's eye would seal forever a couple of I
stopped Hi mid sentence. How long do we have before this reality collapses?
Jacob's months? Weeks, days, Stanley whispered, fists clenching of their own
accord. I stormed across the lab and towed over the man, who quickly
shrank into his desk chair. What could we possibly learn in day? Stanley?
You brought us here to die, I barked. I wanted this to
happen sooner, he retorted, But the airheads and NASA had to plan carefully.
On official projects are always messy, especially when the resulting countless deaths,
I said, they normally almost tore the ship in half. We might not
even be able to fix it. We might die. Don't you care.
I have every faith in you, doctor Jacob said, returning his gaze to
the numbers on his screen. And I have every faith in you, I
replied. You're lucky to even be here, the physicist snarled. As we
continued the back and forth discussion, our voices gradually raised. It was only
after ten minutes of running in circles that we realized we were competing not with
each other, but with the growing sound outside the ship. And when we
turned our heads to the laboratory windows, Stanley and I gasped in unison.
The dying Universe's void was filling with light at an increasingly rapid pace, and
d M fifty's trembling foundations felt less stable with every passing second. No,
this isn't right. We should have time, Stanley breath as he cried,
I still have so much data to collect. I need to all personnel to
stations. The voice announced over the intercom. Flight to Harriet's Eye will commence
in five minutes. Brace for impact. We've barely run fifty percent of the
necessary diagnostics, I said, who cares about the ship? Hip Connor.
Doctor Jacob's manically cried, this is greater than anything in human history. This
is what are you. The whispy, disembodied voice rattled sharply around my skull,
like a coin stuck in a jar. It's me. I'm here,
Stanley whispered. I did as you asked. The physicist noticed my horrified expression,
and he realized I had heard the voice too. He was in a
special as he thought himself to be. I became aware of the fact that
all sound outside the ship had ceased. The terrifying convergence of galaxies continued beyond
the window, but there was quiet. Only that haunting whisper permeated the silence.
A new land to conquer. The voicest thank you for showing me the
door. I want to say, see her, doctor Jacob's wailed, throwing
his arms outwards. You said I'd see Harriet. She is still in the
place of all dead things. Come closer. Let me show you, the
chilling voice said outside the window. Amidst the multi colored glare of approaching galaxies,
I saw two forming bodies, red gassy spheres of biblical proportions, and
as black specs emerged from their centers, I realized what they were, eyes
of unfathomable enormity. I tried to scream, but my quivering, narrowing throat
was unwilling. Could have have been strangled, perhaps by that paranormal deity.
Black tendrils emerged from the abyss of the universe's everneering edge. They called forwards
and took the shape of colossal godlike fingers, fingers I were reaching towards us.
The ship suddenly lurched forwards. The captain, who had looked upon the
horror in the depths of space, commenced our voyage into Harriot's eye. Thankful
for the slightest hope, I looked to the sobbing physicist beside me. Harriot.
He cried, you promised. With a thunderous clap, the tremendous,
ear shattering sound of the collapsing universe returned, as if the terrifying entity with
eyes like blazing gateways to Hell were roaring in fury at our attempted escape,
whose devastrating fingers soared towards our spacecraft and D fifty began to jolt from side
to side. A trilliant, swirling light soared towards our ship. As the
universe's collapse quickened. I screamed as I finally fathomed the horror of being crushed
by a universe. But then the pulling began, the pull of the shriveled
near closed anomaly. Blackness began to envelop our ship. We were entering Harriet's
eye. As Stanley and I stated ourselves against the nearby desk, I closed
my eyes and thought of home, a little green rock that I had shunned
for my entire life. In that moment, it was the only thing I
wanted. Following an explosion of sound, everything stopped, all sound, all
movement, and when I opened my eyes, we were surrounded by life.
We had returned to our universe. There were bright burning stars in the distance,
fully formed planets, serene tides of space had gladly carried us home along
quiet journey home. I rushed to the laboratory window to either fading anomaly.
Did it close or simply fade from view? I still don't know. Part
of me believes in the darkened distance of space I might have seen those terrible
black tendrils slinking through the tear between realities, the hand of a god fleeing
its dying universe to claim another. Doctor Jacobs and doctor Pharroh await trial for
what they did. I've been denied visitation privileges, but I need to see
them. I need to understand the last thing he said to me. It
lives sa seats