lost in spacetime

8/10/2019 Lost in Spacetime

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Time Over Lost in Spacetime

This was like nothing he had ever before experienced. He was spinning, his suit

quiescent after dropping into the wormhole, not knowing if reactivating it wouldlead him to his death. At one end his destination he saw stars bowing towards

him as if seeing through a lens, the other a timer, clearl! visible above the

wormhole generator. "a!be this had been installed for his benefit, and that this

effect had been anticipated. All the numbers were changing wildl!. He could #ust

make out the hours, the minutes were a blur.

$orandi knew that this time%differential was normal. To the observer in the

lab he had entered the event hori&on in a fraction of a second, onl! to appear

suspended in time upon entering. 'egative energ! surrounding him, a vacuum of

dilated space%time stretching to a &ero%point singularit!, spun to form a ring. 'ot

something he could see or know when he passes through it.

'ow, though, $orandi had to focus. He gave the voice command to deactivate

the counter field.

(ub#ect to the full force of the expanded singularit! he shot towards the mid

point. The suit)s inertial dampers were not enough to prevent him almost losing

consciousness. Onl! as his momentum passed him through the singularit! did heregain some awareness of the stars before him.

He was alread! out the other end* the suit had ensured the smoothest possible

transition. +t rela!ed to him a star map showing before him the distance from the

stranded ship a mere two point four million kilometres. He deplo!ed a rela!

beacon, to constantl! record his transmitted position and vital signs and

broadcast to him an! changes in the local environment.

Activate eight! percent burn,) he instructed the suit. -ift!%two mini fusion

thrusters fired up, sending him surging forward like some children)s animatedsuperhero. ithout the extra load of power cells he was carr!ing to revive the

ship his acceleration could have been a hundred gee instead of a mere ten. (till,

he was due to rende&vous in less than two hours.

/et something was causing him to drift off course, strange eddies in the

surrounding space.

Then his location #umped as if he)d been caught up in one of these eddies.

Anal!se an! spacial anomalies.) $orandi instructed.

High levels of gravitational distortion. 0annot identif! possible cause.)

He wondered if somehow the wormhole was still having an effect. 1ut when


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he checked with the beacon, it had gone* curiousl! the suit had omitted to rela!

that to him. 2id it think this was extraneous information3 He knew the

wormhole couldn)t be sustained for the #ourne! back, in an! case, and would

have to wait it out in the ship. A ship full of humans never sounded ver!

appealing, but out here was something exceptional.$orandi was having trouble keeping a stead! course, his suit)s fusion units

were constantl! correcting deviations. At least this suit was designed for most

t!pes of gravimetric disturbances, maintained at 4.5 percent light speed.

After an endless two hours the ship was in visual range and he was rapidl!

decelerating.

0oming to a halt at a kilometre from the vessel he made a check with the

transponder beacon, needing the reassurance that it was still functioning. 1ut

when he requested the rela! signal something appeared ver! wrong. The dela! of five minutes was worr!ing enough, its chronometer readings were even more of

a concern. According to the beacon twent! 67arth8 da!s had passed since his last

transmission request, and his time dilation was becoming exponentiall! greater.

'o relativistic effect could account for this kind of discrepanc!. +t was

something he had no understanding of* his suit was certainl! unable to give an

explanation. He hoped the ship had been affected to the same degree that their

sub#ective time was onl! counted in da!s otherwise their corpses should have

been retrieved b! the 1)tari recon crew.

$orandi moved ver! slowl! towards the Farquest . The beacon was set now to

give a constant update. +n what should have taken mere seconds to rela! info was

now taking nearl! ten minutes* the last update told him four months had passed.

The effect must have been getting stronger nearer towards the ship.

T!pical 7arth design, he thought all hard angles, to give the impression of

solidit! and robustness reassurance that this vessel can withstand the most

extreme conditions space can offer it. A false impression easil! discounted withthe most cursor! knowledge of the cosmos.

He was so caught up in observing the ship he hadn)t noticed what was

happening to the constellations, until his suit told their position had shifted.

hen he looked, he knew exactl! what this was the water! effect shimmering

over them before the! vanished to reappear in the state the! had been tens of

millions of !ears earlier. The !ounger stars even showed signs of shifting their

output spectrum to the bluer end.

Temporal erasure.+n this time frame it would be too late. He)d never make it back before the


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erasure spread to (ol and wa! be!ond. All life on 7arth no more advanced than

primates. All of human histor! how unique and fascinating it had been* the

richness of its culture, its art and literature merel! wiped out in a

meaninglessl! short time. as that reall! what these aliens wanted3 Their idea of

a clean slate, perhaps 9 and for what3hat about me3) he said in the 1)tari home language. Are !ou #ust hoping +

will die3)

He wasn)t reall! expecting an answer to this desperate plea for the self.

+nstead he continued edging towards the ship, wondering how the passengers

would react to being told the! were the onl! humans left in existence, if the!

were indeed alive.

The outside hatch to the airlock could not be opened in the normal wa!. He

tried the remote interface port a simple gold node* his suit emitted an 7"signal in an attempt to communicate with the ship)s control s!stems and pump in

enough power to activate the lock mechanism. 1ut it came as no surprise to

discover the electrical rela! was fused be!ond use. The hatch lock would have to

be lasered through.

7ven with its violet spot held still the laser failed to make an! impact, as if it

were no more that a presentation pointer. He felt ridiculous for being so sure of

its effectiveness. /et curious such imperviousness for human technolog!.

(urel! the! weren)t anticipating the risk of an alien invasion3

+n a final act of frustration $orandi fixed a micronuke over the hatch lock

area, and then retreated b! about a hundred metres.

At first he thought the explosive had failed after the timer on his suit reached

&ero. Then after another twent! seconds the hatch blew awa!, but it was like

watching a slowmo repla!. The temporal anomal! must be concentrated around

the ship, !et his sensors were telling him nothing, as if the ship were in normal

space.He exited the outersuit tethering it to the nearest grapple loop leaving a

standard 7:A suit, allowing him to easil! enter the hatch.

Once be!ond the airlock, the view inside was pitch black, indicating that

there was not even reserve power remaining. There was alwa!s the possibilit!

that something, or rather one of the aliens, had infiltrated the ship and killed the

passengers. (till, rather than use infrared or echo location $orandi opted for a

simple wide beam spotlight. +f there was an!thing;an!one aboard it would surel!

alread! know of his presence, and his fate was probabl! sealed in an! case. Atleast he could see the interior in stark detail.


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He reached a control panel near the flight%deck door, which was alread!

opened, told the suit to make a remote power%assisted interface. 'ow at least that

would gain the attention of an! intruder. 1ut $orandi knew he was stalling,

putting off the inevitable moment when he would discover the fate of the

passengers.+n the meantime the interface console was telling him all s!stems were at

&ero power. Once the console gained enough charge it gave him some more

detail ?,@ 5 hours ago. That was about twent!%five !earsB

Time inside seem to exist in its own bubble.

Im too late. /et, until he saw time being unravelled, he)d clung to the vague

hope thoughts of how he would save those passengers, return to a hero)s

welcome.

$orandi felt the panic rise within his stomach, becoming a bile in his throat.He desperatel! wanted to remove his helmet, but then he would die within

seconds. His own air was due to run out in about thirt! hours. +t was not

something he)d even thought about before. 1ut he couldn)t risk connecting his

power packs at this stage.

Got to move on.

On the floor of the corridor was an 7:A suit, what had clearl! been the last

reserve for one of the passengers. $orandi leant down so that the full beam

illuminated its bubble helmet. There was no one inside. A sharp exhalation of

breath followed. Then $orandi continued on to the main passenger deck,

sweeping his light over the luxuriant chairs and couches the epitome of human

extravagance, although this was the pride of 7arth)s space endeavours.

Two more vacuum suits about three metres apart on the blue carpeted floor.

1ut again neither of them were occupied.

$orandi looked about for a few more minutes through the other rooms until

he was satisfied the passengers were no longer there."ost ships, even a moderatel! si&ed one such as this, have some kind of

escape pod* !et his searches revealed no evidence of an!. And even if the! had

escaped it seemed a futile act of survival.

7ventuall!, when his suit was becoming unbearabl! claustrophobic, he

decided to connect up one of his power packs. The interface console did not

accept such high level input. +nstead the! had to be connected in the

maintenance ba! below the flight deck.

Cower restored after a shak! start bright white overhead lights came on,da&&ling at first the stark restoration of a sudden return to life. This should


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create enough power for not onl! all environmental s!stems but all secondar!

including a limited engine thrust, depending on the level of damage.

7ven before he went back up to the flight deck, $orandi got out of his suit.

-or the first few seconds all his fear and apprehension vanished, onl! relief at

this sense of freedom. +t was #ust a ritual that reminded him of some faintmemor! of having returned to safet!.

Then logic kicked back in.

The flight deck)s control panel appeared damaged be!ond use, but he found a

portable unit that b!passed ever! other interface. He considered tr!ing to

manoeuvre the ship to see if it could shake off this strange temporal field.

Cointless at best, he realised. 7quall!, activating a distress beacon would onl!

advertise his presence to the aliens, perhaps viewing him merel! as the leftover

detritus to clean up the onl! sentient being to survive the wave. /et a moresinister alternative presented itself. He was unique in having gone through

temporal erasure, the onl! 1)tari out of his time living it twice. (urel! he was

of value to the 7lusivers, a curiosit! to be studied3

+f the aliens have enough control of this ship to keep it isolated from the

surrounding universe then the! had control over him. Cerhaps observing him,

deciding the fate of the last remaining b)tari.

$orandi collapsed to the ground. The standb! bleeping of the portable unit

taunting him.

All those efforts to prevent them, failed?

He considered the true nature of his motives. How much was it reall! about

rescuing those humans3

lost in spacetime

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