Project: Voidwalker (Chapter 1)
This is Chapter one of a science fiction novel(?) I'm working on taking place in a universe that inexplicably stopped expanding, exposing human descendants to the Veil at the edge of the Universe and the Void beyond. It follows two protagonists, Jack Halloway and Dr. Zharia Kisith, on an adventure of discovery, revelation, and political intrigue as one explores the Void and the other immerses themselves into a Void cult run city to escape pursuit by mega corporations and their relentless asset retrieval agents. Drop a like and a comment if you enjoy and wanna see more, and I'll drop another chapter soon!
Chapter1: Hit the Road Jack
The locals call it Void Diving, crossing the Veil where the universe ends and the Void begins. Few dare to attempt it. Even fewer return. Those who do have fallen silent, their eyes dark and haunted, their hands trembling until their bellies are full of drink or the needle breaks the vein. Only then do we sometimes hear, in mumbled snippets, of what lies in the Void beyond the Veil. Stories of vast cities floating in the darkness, libraries full of books in alien tongues, strange creatures that defy definition, unintelligible machines whirring in the empty stillness.
Those who returned were lauded as saints and martyrs, as they never returned empty handed. Sometimes it would be as simple as information, the Institute paid handsomely for anything they would tell of the other side. Other times it might be a ship full of exotic materials, an alien piece of technology, strange relics of unknown power, anything one could imagine. All sold to the highest bidder, every penny earned funneled into the city's coffers, and from there, surprisingly, spent to the benefit of the people. Though every citizen's needs were met, any surplus still found its way into their hands. Spending money for when the traders came through, eager to see what the Divers pulled out from that inky abyss just outside of town. This way of life came naturally to those who devoted themselves to the Void.
We are the Institutes lead scientists on the Voidwalk Project; Dr. Siron Angou, Dr.Jalese Malek, Dr. Jack Halloway, Dr. Thalia Arovia, and myself, Dr. Zharia Kisith. Our primary mission was the exploration of the Void, attempting to map the locations of its many wonders, and to mine it for resources, relics, tech, and information. So , conquest and exploitation.
Those distant galactic corporations had their greedy little hands all over the project, but the higher ups in the Institute insisted we needed their contributions. To line their pockets I'm guessing, because down here on this dusty, abandoned loading dock, you certainly wouldn't have guessed the trillions of credits we have at our disposal as we prepared to boot one Dr. Jack Halloway across the shimmering gravity field into the gap in between town and the Veil. Nothing but a space suit, a jet pack, a spear, a satchel with a notebook and a couple of pens, and a steel cable tether attached to a rusty old winch more accustomed to pulling in ships than elite soldiers.
We all watched in anticipation as he stepped off of the deck of the ferry, across the field, and began to float out into space, steel tether trailing behind him like a comet' tail. The propulsion system on his back engaged and he was off, a whole universe of stars behind him, and a vast empty expanse ahead, yet to be explored. As expected, he disappeared from view as soon as he hit the Veil, as if enveloped by invisible clouds.
On the other side, his life support and propulsion systems have failed and communication has been reduced to a single wire stretched along the tether and a simple device to transmit morse code. So far, this Voidwalk was going just like the others.
Across the wire we send, "Status update." a couple minutes pass and then a steady tapping begins. "Lost sight of ship. Systems have failed. Breathable. No gravity. Temperature unreadable. Swimming." 1500ft, well past where we ended our last mission. "Normal. Report anomalies. Set ping to 60s." Minutes passed, but eventually Jacks reply came through, "Roger".
Jack says it's like diving into a pool of inky black water, crossing the Veil, and then all around you is just empty space, darkness illuminated by a sourceless light, your tether seemingly vanishing into thin air behind where you crossed. Life support fails, but it's no problem. It's not that the air is breathable, but that over there the body does not seem to need air. For the first few walks after discovering he didn't need to breathe, he did anyways, but eventually he just stopped. Sometimes when he's space side he forgets to breathe and it scares the shit out of us when he suddenly gasps for air, He has yet to find anything like the Divers do, each walk he reports nothing but empty space, silent and completely still besides a strange charge to the air, like the sensation of lightning about to strike.
The tether continued to slowly spool out into the emptiness, and every 60 seconds the ping came through. We shuffled around uselessly and waited on the dock, this wasn't your every day spacewalk. Nothing but the simplest tech survived crossing the Veil and out of sight. There are no sensors or gauges to monitor, no data or feedback but the single tap of the ping until Jack sent another message. All we could do is sit and wait, hoping Jack didn't vanish like so many would-be Divers have. But the divers were just brave common folk, Jack was a distinguished soldier and expert in many fields of study, to include Xenocartography, Military Strategy, and Special Reconnaissance. He could handle a fair deal more than an inexperienced, uneducated local.
Often when we performed these Voidwalks we would have an audience of townsfolk, watching curiously from beyond the barricade that surrounded our commandeered loading dock. We didn't have any guards, but no one seemed to have any ill intent either, they all just gathered around as if they were waiting for something.
They were a superstitious people and made a cult surrounding the Void. Many of those who attended these loose gatherings were leaders of this secretive faith. They frequently made sacrifices to the void, loading up small cargo ships with personal items, treasures, and thousands of little pieces of paper covered in prayers and praises, and crashing them through the Veil, never to be seen again. It is said that whatever crosses the Veil, crosses alone.
A rapid tapping began, so fast we missed the beginning of the transmission, "... symbols of light. Pulsing. Burn eyes. Bleeding. Whispering. Don't understand. Cold..."
Suddenly, the cable went taught and yanked on the winch, before going slack. We waited 60 seconds. Nothing more. We frantically dashed for the winch controls and started to reign the cable in. It was all too slow, designed for shuttles and ships, not people. We waited in anticipation. 2000ft. 1800ft. 1500ft. And finally the cable came into sight.
Empty, except for the satchel fastened to it. Our faces fell as the winch lazily wound its cable up inside its housing, indifferent to our shock. We stood in silence for several minutes before someone spoke, Dr. Angou's trembling voice, "We need to send out an armed rescue and retrieve Dr. Halloway, immediately! What are we all standing around for...", but before he could finish a voice cackled from the small crowd behind the barricades. "There is no one to rescue anymore. Her gifts always come at a cost. You paid, I wonder what you will receive?"
The crowd dispersed as she shuffled off, as if they had seen what they came to see and now, disinterested, had more pressing matters to attend to. She was right. Nothing lost beyond the veil was ever found.
We tried robots at first, fancy ones loaded to the gills with sensors and tools to collect and interact with anything we might find out there. But every single time they crossed that veil and vanished from sight, they would go offline. We never found a single one of them. That's when we had the idea to use the tether to pull them back in, see if they managed to collect any data before going offline. Every single one we pulled back immediately returned to full functionality as soon as it crossed the threshold back into space, but none of them had even a modicum of data to show for it.
The shuttle rattled and clacked as it sped through the tunnels underneath town, dragging us away from the lonely docks. I looked at the windows as grey panel after grey panel blurred by and traced my finger absently along the seams of Jack's satchel. We were silent, except for Dr. Maleks soft weeping and the occasional "It's going to be ok, Jalese" of Dr. Arovia, rubbing her back in broad circles in an attempt to soothe her. I looked down at the steel plate floor, stained with oil and spilled drinks, littered with detritus and a scrap of a newspaper article calling for an end to the Institutes occupation of the town.
"We should be able to have another Halloway on station within a week, then we can resume our voidwalks." stated Dr. Angou, as if resuming the walks was the main topic occupying everyone's minds.
"Another Halloway?" burst out Dr. Malek, "We lost Jack, Siron, our Jack. No other Jack will be able to replace him..." Dr. Angou sharply interjected, "Calm yourself, Dr. Malek, his replacement will have all the same training and education as him. The board already has one picked as a contingency in case something like this happened. He's well battle tested, we'll hardly know the difference."
Dr. Arovia gasped "Siron, have a little empathy, Jack was our friend. Another Halloway isn't the same as the one we've come to know and love." He looked at her with a somewhat bewildered glance and said, "He's a clone, Thalia. They're literally all the same." "Oh, how original, genicism. Thanks for your input, Siron." Thalia spat.
The shuttle shuddered to a stop at the substation across the street from the old office building we retrofitted into our headquarters. All that funding, nothing to show. "You're a dick, Angou" I said as I got up and stepped past Dr. Angou out onto the platform, headed towards the stai
rs up into the street.