by Ryan Frieda
“Holy-” Captain Steele said as he hit the ground.
When Captain Steele's left foot landed his ankle twisted and his leg slipped as his right foot landed. His left hip took a hard hit from the jagged rock where he slipped and fell.
“Are you all right John? I noticed your heart rate spike abnormally high for a second.”
“Yeah, I'm fine. I just landed and slipped on a ledge. Just caught me by surprise,” Captain Steele said through clenched teeth.
Captain Steele stood up and was sore. His DSSM administered some pain medication and he was ready to get walking again. He looked at all the rocks and saw they were spiked at such odd angles.
“Hey Jamie, what natural phenomenon would cause rocks to bend at such angles?”
“Massive cataclysm of a powerful nature. Because of the location of the brown dwarf and its location far outside a galaxy it is unlikely natural and therefore strongly suggests the doing of sentient beings but even that is really reaching for an explanation.”
Captain Steele walked around with his gun at the high ready, ready to engage should a threat emerge. He walked around and noticed that the rocks were not all pointed in a single direction. They were pointed in all directions. Unless he was at the point of impact for a powerful weapon there was no chance that this was made by sentient beings. This had to be some freak natural phenomenon.
Captain Steele walked over to one of the rocks and touched it. He was able to break the tip off of it and mercury came spilling out before becoming cool and hardening. He watched as the mercury cooled then hardened into a new rock before breaking a piece off of that rock and seeing the same thing happen all over again. The final result was a rock that was spiked in a new direction. He continued to walk away from it and toward what he believed to be north. He walked for 10 miles before sitting down. There was nothing out here. This planet is some where outside a galaxy, with a star that failed to ignite properly, and no reason as to how or why. Maybe a galaxy lost a solar system at some point in time when it crossed by here. That doesn't line up with any of the other laws of science though.
Captain Steele decided to keep walking. He wanted to see a large pool of mercury.
“John we have a problem. I have been analyzing the star this system is orbiting. The star is still rotating and giving off heat. It is about to rotate to it's dead side. You will experience a cold spell,” Jamie said.
“This suit can survive in the coldness of empty vacuum. It should theoretically be able to survive absolute zero. Nothing gets colder than that.”
“That's not the problem.”
“Then what's the problem?” Captain Steele asked.
“You will be experience cold spells that are colder than absolute zero, think negative absolute zero. When the brown dwarf rotates it will cause the little bit of atmosphere that the planet does have to change. This will cause the planet's completely calm weather to change drastically. Right now the weather is calm because there is heat entering into the atmosphere keeping the weather calm. When the heat ends because the brown dwarf isn't giving off any heat there will be no heat and therefore all energy will stop moving.
“The problem here is that the planet will cool as the brown dwarf turns to its dead side and heat already on the planet will be transferred to the cooler parts of the planet, as according to the laws of thermodynamics. At absolute zero all molecules stop moving. If they are suddenly and violently reheated the molecules will start moving again. The reheated molecules will then repeat this process of reheating and cooling over and over again until both the warm and cold side of the planet is the same temperature. Due to the planet's already cold temperature this cooling and reheating process will continue until the planet is at absolute zero. This reheating and cooling will create a thin line of storms across the planet and because the air is so cold already the storm it creates will be technically colder than what there already is. Your looking at temperatures hundreds if not thousands of degrees colder than absolute zero, if that were even possible.”
“How much time do I have?”
“About 10 minutes.”
“Your just telling me this time frame now?”
“Yes. I just detected this. Please hurry.”
“Alright then, where can you pick me up?
“Unknown. The jagged rocks are blocking my radar. You need to find a high point now.”
Captain Steele started to climb the nearest jagged rock he could find.
“How long will I have to get into the ship and get off the planet by the time the brown dwarf turns to its dead side? Also, what exactly happens at below absolute zero?”
“Unknown. Absolute zero is set by the laws of thermodynamics and its stated that absolute zero is the point of when molecules no longer move. Protons, electrons, and neutrons become unmoving. All matter in the universe stops moving at absolute zero. If matter moves above absolute zero and matter fails to move at absolute zero one can theorize that at temperature's below absolute zero all matter starts to disintegrate to some degree and it ceases to exist in any form we know of. This has the potential to create violent storms by processes on the quantum mechanical level. These violent storms would explain the rocks being pointed in different directions and would explain why the planet appears to be completely made of mercury. The planet is simply a core of what it once was, slowly being denigrated to nothing.”
Captain Steele continued to climb until he reached a spot where he could look for miles into the distance. He looked around and he knew he would have to climb some more if he hoped to have a gap big enough for the ship to fit into.
“How long will this last?” Captain Steele asked.
“Unknown, but the cold side of the brown dwarf could easily last years.”
“What direction will the storm come from?”
“The storm will come from the east and follow the exact line of where the brown dwarf's warm side and cold side meet.”
Captain Steele continued to climb upwards. He reached up to grab a rock and it broke as he was using it to lift himself up and he fell 350 feet onto a jagged rock that hit him just left of his spine in the middle of his back. He tried to get up and couldn't. His DSSM did a shock call and gave him pain medication and he was able to move again.
“John, we have three minutes. Throw the plasma flare. I'm coming to get you,” Jamie said.
Captain Steele got up and started to climb. He then realized that there was no opening large enough for the ship to get through and he probably wouldn't get up 350 feet, into the ship, then have the ship leave the atmosphere before the storms catch the ship.
“Can you build the gate Jamie?” Captain Steele asked.
“With the robots I can but it will take a long time and it won't be stable.”
“Do it. Leave, I'm done. I'm not going to make it.”
“Throw the plasma flare,” Jamie said.
Captain Steele threw the plasma flare and it lit. There wasn't a large enough hole the ship to fit in.
“Move John. I can't fit through there.”
“Go Jamie, I'll try to wait it out down here. This planet has survived somehow, I will too. Either finish the mission or wait outside the atmosphere until you hear from me.”
Captain Steel took his rifle and started to fire at the rocks. He could hear the storm and see it moving in in the distance. The little light disappeared from the distance and a terrible screaming sound came with it. The lack of light and the screams were coming his way. He knew it was only matter of time.
“Go Jamie. Now!”
“I won't leave you John.”
“Go now Jamie! We don't have time to debate this.”
“I won't”
“Do it!”
“I won't leave-”
“Go! Now!”
Jamie paused for a second.
“I'm sorry John,” Jamie said.
“No hard feelings,” Captain Steele replied.
Captain Steel continued to fire at the rocks. He took a g
renade and placed it in the small hole he made with his rifle that was in the rocks. The grenade exploded and a large chunk of rock fell to the ground and a very large pool of mercury flowed from it. He ran into the mercury falling from the rock. He was hoping that his suit could withstand the heat until the darkness came and cooled it off. He was hoping that with the heat of the mercury and the coldness that was coming he could preserve himself in the same manner as the planet preserved itself.
As Captain Steele stepped into the pool of mercury his DSSM's readings went off the charts. He knew that if he stepped a second too early into the stream of mercury he would burn alive and a second too late freeze to death and dematerialize. He could feel the intense heat burning through his suit. He could hear the screams of the storm coming with the darkness. He knew it was only seconds away. He could feel his skin starting to burn. He felt a tingling sensation that he knew was his skin starting to liquify. He only had a a couple second left with the suit before he would melt. He heard the screaming just seconds away. If only he had stepped in a second later. His entire body was on fire. It was being liquidized. The tingling sensation was all around him. He started to scream in pain when the darkness hit and he could feel the cold envelope him. He could feel the effects of being suddenly frozen. He was blacking out. He knew that his time had come and that he was dying.
Chapter 11
Hope Deferred
Jamie was scanning for Captain John Steele. She wanted anything. Any sign of hope. She had been scanning for so long. She had been counting the seconds, minutes, and hours. She had analyzed the prospect of him being dead and moving on with the mission without him. There were robots to help him in his old age that would help him build the Instant Teleportation Device. She could leave and then return after the mission was done to continue searching for him. She could even bring a scouting ship. She could still save him. She didn't want to abandon him.
Jamie knew a log needed to be done every other week before hope was given up by people in the Milky Way. She had all the other recording and radio traffic that Captain Steele had used and she had been making fake logs by using them to fake that Captain Steele was still alive. She had enough evidence now to let them know that Captain John Steele had died or gone Missing In Action.
Jamie analyzed the brown dwarf's rotation. It had been three years since she had last heard from Captain John Steele. Three years she had counted. She knew what it was like to be alone now. She knew how Captain Steele often felt. The brown dwarf had 320 years of rotation left before the hot side of the brown dwarf would rotate to face the planet again. If she saved enough energy on the ship and went into standby until a transmission from Captain Steele then he could still be the one to finish the mission. Maybe the races in the Milky Way had stock piled enough resources so they could live long enough for this to happen. She just wasn't sure of the Milky Way's situation and the experimental FTL communications the ship had only allow for good information to be sent over long distances. It wasn't good enough to send and receive information. Mankind didn't put a receiving one on the ship because when they did tests, information was being fractured and they couldn't work out how the signal was being fractured so they decided to leave only one that could only send information.
Jamie made the decision to move on without Captain Steele. It was the best option. She knew that the mission came first and that there was little time to waste and she has already wasted three years. She started to work on a video log saying that he was dead. She needed to push forward. She started a log, the last log for Captain John Steele.
“Captain Steele, Date, year 4035, Month 2, Week 2, I have come across much. Much has been explored and the battles I have waged were great.
“I have found a solar system outside a galaxy orbiting a brown dwarf. I set foot down on the planet and I found rocks containing liquid mercury. I walked across the surface looking for answers about how such a system could exist out here in intergalactic space. I was unable to find anything for miles. Little did we know that the brown dwarf was about to rotate causing temperatures below absolute zero. Explained in this file are the documents on how that could be possible, but I will give a brief summery. The conditions were just right to create an environment where the energy that was in the environment was used then ultimately destroyed as it cycled back to the low temperatures, thus decreasing the entropy. Considering the extreme circumstances that existed and that the energy isn't going to be used again it might as well be considered destroyed. This ultimately created a temperature colder than absolute zero. The planet had rocks at such odd angles and because of that it created a hole too small for the ship to go through to pick me up.
“When we were made aware of the brown dwarf's rotation I tried to make it to the highest point and out in time but was unable to. I am now presumed dead. Last transmission from the suit I was wearing was a video of me shooting rocks. Liquid hot mercury poured out and I doused myself in it. I was hoping that the cold of atmosphere and the temperature of the mercury could freeze me in the rocks keeping me safe. My current status is unknown. It is my AI, Jamie, who is sending this message. From this point out, until otherwise stated, it will be her in charge of the mission.”
Jamie thought that was good enough. She then decided to see if she can send one of her voice.
“I am Jamie, Captain John Steele's Artificial Intelligence that was sent on this mission to help him. I will continue the mission and I will not fail. I am moving on from this solar system. I have waited three years for any sign from Captain John Steele and I have had none. Not even his vital signs show up. If he was in a statis-like condition something would be showing up but it hasn't. I will not fail.”
Jamie ended the log, powered up the ship, started the faster than light drive, and headed in the direction of the Overlapping Galaxies.
“I'm sorry John,” she said “But I have trillions of people relying on me now. When I am done with this mission, if I can complete it, I will return and find you. Good bye my friend.”
Jamie activated the FTL drive and left.
Jamie continued in the direction of the Overlapping Galaxies knowing that any exploration would have to be marked in the navigational computer and someone would have to come back to it later with another exploration ship. She could send a droid to explore it but it wouldn't really be the same as an organic being.
Jamie wasn't built to be emotional but she felt almost sad. Captain John Steele and her had already seen so much and learned so much. There was so much scientific discovery out here in intergalactic space. There was just too much unknown space to go back and explore it again. No race would come back out here and explore it. No one would venture out here to explore again. There was just too much nothing, and it would take far too long to get back out here.
Mankind and all other races of the Milky Way had set their eyes out into the void between galaxies looking for things out here including looking at other galaxies. They hadn't discovered anything existing between the space between galaxies. It was called a void for a reason. She thought about it for a while before wandering the ship.
Jamie went to the bridge and saw the seat that Captain Steele had sat in so often then looked out into the dark void of space seeing only a twinkle of a galaxy or two in the distance. There was no light coming from anywhere except from the all the stars in a galaxy shining as a single dot far away in the distance. Stars were often so far from each other, but here they were just a single twinkle and that single twinkle was an entire galaxy. The galaxies themselves were also so far from each other. She looked off into the distance at the several galaxies and pulled up the navigation interface and looked at which galaxies they were. The navigation interface couldn't properly calculate the distance because they were so far from her.
Jamie then moved on to the armory. She looked at the three spare DSSM suits. Several quintrillion dollars gone and never to be used. She looked at all the guns, ammo, and spare pieces for the combat equipment that was never going
to be touched or used again. She wondered why there was so much. Best estimates of anything being out here were slim to none. The only thing that could be out here were intergalactic space conditions. No one knew exactly what those were or what the effects would be. Nothing had ever made it past the Galactic Edge and no one wanted to step up and try. It was certain death. Only Captain John Steele would dare try. She concluded it was best that the ship was prepared just in case there was something terrible lurking in the shadows of intergalactic space. No one would have ever thought there could be anything out here, let alone so much.
Jamie then went to the med bay. She looked at the cot where she had fixed up Captain Steele numerous times. The toughest time was when he took that ape-like creature down. That took weeks to properly treat. A few hour to get him up and running, but weeks to completely physically fix. Then the psychological effects of the darkness and the lack of human interaction was also something she had to help him with. It was hard to believe a captain in the special forces that did what he did would have a hard time bearing the burden of the void between galaxies. It was telling of the invisible horrors that didn't exist but yet lurked out here in the void.
Jamie moved down the corridor, her holographic image gliding above the floor. She stopped and looked at the starboard bulkhead. She could see Captain Steele's shoddy workmanship replacing it from when they were leaving the Galactic Edge when the ship started to buckle.
Captain Steele had a theory about why the ship started to buckle. He said it probably had to do with the theory of relativity. The fact that galaxy has mass means it has gravity and that is why all the star systems stay together while the galaxy rotates. At some point the gravity of the galaxy ends up not reaching outside of the galaxy and therefore when you leave you encounter vast changes, sort of like how a planet eventually looses its atmosphere the further away you get from it. The galaxy is moving at an approximate speed of 900,000 miles per hour, or about 400 kilometers per second. When you leave the galaxy that speed and gravitational pull all stops causing extraordinary stress on the hull of the ship as part of it is within the gravitational pull of the galaxy and part of it is not.
