Sometimes the absence of something is more terrifying than the presence of it
2019-01-01
”From Earth you said? What the fuck do they want with us?”
“It wasn’t a message sir. It was an unidentified signal. Filled all the descriptors of a class 6 event.” My supervisor nonchalantly takes drag from his cigarette and scratches the back of his head a bit. “Well the protocol is to notify the GEB and then investigate, but I reckon it’s easier if you report it at the HQ on earth. If some uptight collar gets all antsy about it tell them I ordered you. No chance that any of those bureaucrats will travel to the ass end of the galaxy to give me a stern talking to.”
It’s not every day that you get to have a work trip in this occupation, and since I heard the signal, I’m the one that gets to go. In history class we learnt of Sol, obviously since everyone’s ancestors are from the system. We are taught of how Earth was once nearly uninhabitable, but it was terraformed to restore the planet. Of how humans found their way onto new planets one by one. The tale of Jovian separatists who wanted independence from the earth government, and how that lead to the establishment of the Grand Sol Republic, that eventually became the Human Galactic Council.
My colleague Derrekk stops me in the hangar and hands me bottle of liquid that looks frankly very unpleasant. “Look don’t let the color of it get to you. Hyperspace sucks dick, but several tens of thousands of light years worth of hyperspace sucks more dick than an entire Gliesian brothel sucks in a year. This is my grandmother’s recipe. It looks, smells and tastes awful but it numbs your senses to make the experience a bit more bearable.” I thank him for his gift and continue towards the hangar.
The ship is a small old hunk of scrap called the H.G.S.S. Rapture. It rarely has use but when it does it gets the job done. I load up what little gear I take with me. Mostly the essentials, food, water, my PDA, and my writing equipment. I give my superior a salute and he returns the favor. Albeit quite lazily and sloppily, but it’s the thought that counts.
I look at the flight plan towards Sol. The navigation system has plotted a course of 6 jumps to Sol. Out of a combination of impatience and sheer stupidity I punch in the override code and plot a course of 4 jumps, each the duration of 6 hours. Medical doctors suggest not being in hyperspace for any longer than 4 hours a day. After 4 hours the risk of internal bleeding and neurological damage increases drastically. I want all the time I can get for myself on Sol, so 4 jumps it is.
I eye the repulsive looking bottleful of sludge Derrekk gave me, but ultimately decide to not drink it, imagining that the taste of it is far worse than hyperspace could ever be. It took me about 20 minutes before I started to regret that decision.
Imagine that head splitting headache you have the morning after drinking a whole bunch of Proximan vodka. Imagine that pain extending to your entire body, that is what hyperspace is.
I exit hyperspace near a white dwarf. I align my ship so that I can see the star from the small table the ship has on the aft side.
For whatever reason I have always had an interest in apocalyptic stories, especially ones from the early 21st century. Unfortunately after that the genre fell out of favor and few really good books have been written since. So I’ve taken it upon myself to keep the genre alive with my own stories. I write small bits of stories, none getting much past 10 pages before I decide to move on to something new.
Learning from my experiences, I decide to try Derrekk’s potion. It’s undoubtedly bad, but I manage to get it down and keep it down. Time to jump. At first hyperspace feels just as awful as before, but after about 10 minutes I feel myself getting more numbed and relaxed. It seems to make being in hyperspace almost bearable.
The next day I wake up with the sudden need to throw up. It seems the potion comes with some side effects. Once I finish emptying my entire body quite violently, I take another gulp of the toxic sludge and strap in for another jump.
Past that I can’t even remember much. It’s all a haze of nausea and dreadful throbbing combined with being just horribly tired. Until I reach Sol. I look out of the window into the nothingness of space. Glad to finally be at my destination I lay back and close my eyes. Finally, my ordeal is over and I can rest. I think about the stories I have heard of the green plains and forests of earth. The beautiful red surface of Mars. The first star that our ancestors ever gazed upon. The star which should be right in front of me. I jolt up from my chair and look out of my cockpit window to see nothing but darkness. I run to the aft window then the port, to see the same. Slightly panicking already, I look at my navigation console. “Location: Sol System. Sol 3, Earth. High Earth Orbit.” I immediately try to hail the Galactic Exploration Bureau. No answer. Just static. H.G.C. No answer. I try to hail home. It takes a few minutes due to the immense distance but eventually the message goes through and I hear a response. Not words but rather a kind of strange static. One that sounds very familiar. The very same static I heard 4 days ago that led me to Sol.
Some say they fear we are not alone in the universe, but far more frightening is to know how alone we are.
Written in 2019 for the prompt “Humans have taken to the stars, exploring other planets for resources and other intelligent life but no matter how suitable the planet may be, there is none to be found anywhere. You’re sitting through a shift as a radio watchman when you see an unusual signal. Strangely, it came from Earth.” from u/osmium76 in r/WritingPrompts