Wings of Wax (Chapter 1-2)

“The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.”
- George Ripley, The Ripley Scrolls



Prologue

“Cosmic order cannot exist without perfect order. I do not believe in any order at all; that all is chaos. Therefore, anything is possible.”

This is the first line of Ari Kasaguri’s personal memoir, written shortly before what has become known as “The Esoteric Reality Incident”, or more commonly, “Kasaguri’s Folly”.

Not only did the experimental test that was conducted more than one-hundred years ago prove somewhat fatal to the pilot (although, fatality cannot be proved, as he phased from existence), it was also scoffed at by all scientists in his field. A less known fact, though, is that this scientific experiment and the research conducted into the Origin of the universe (not the ‘Origin’ as in that which all creation comes, but rather, the Origin, as in the exact center of the universe or 0,0,0 in three-dimensional space) greatly advanced FTL (Faster Than Light) Travel and prompted the human race to greatly develop all sorts of outer-space colonies in the coming century. It is theorized that after Kasaguri’s failure, he secluded himself to his research on the Origin, and, without any communication to the scientific community, found exactly why his experiment failed. It is also speculated that Kasaguri found much more to the Origin than he previously hypothesized. None of his personal documents after the Esoteric Reality Incident have ever been found.


Chapter One – Begotten Humanity

“In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?”
- Job 12: 10


“Ten minutes until initiation. All project staff please report to the bridge.” The PA system rang. Ari sat up from his chair, breaking his quiet contemplation. Looking in the direction of the voice he curiously tried to validate the command.

“I repeat,” the PA went on, “All project staff please report to the bridge. Ten minutes until initiation.” Ari was on his feet by now, strolling casually to the elevator, while trying to get his research documents in order. He really shouldn’t be late, as this was his experiment.

“I’m lucky this kind of lunacy is funded.” He mumbled to himself as he walked. Evading the mass of people, he finally came to the elevators. Selecting ‘1A Bridge’, he looked around in contempt at the starring faces. They knew who he was. He had guzzled up all their money for the past three months through the wonders of income tax. He waited anxiously for the elevator to open. It had taken to long to begin with.

Riding to the top floor of the Rephaim, Ari fumbled through his stack of research, attempting to organize it before he reached to bridge. As he was doing this, the elevator jarred to a stop and the metallic doors opened quickly. Ari looked up from his cluster of documents at the bridge. Taking a deep breath, he proceeded to walk forward out of the elevator but was caught by an unfortunate circumstance. As if he was being pushed by an invisible external force, Ari tripped, his documents chaotically falling every which way. Ari kneeled to the ground, attempting to re-organize his papers into a neat pile.

Finally, he stood up, documents in hand, and walked towards the crowd at the bridge. Ari’s staff excitedly greeted him. He looked around, spotting a few Commanding Officers that were not involved, but only curious to the outcome of this experiment. He was lucky the Terran Council had granted him the right to perform his experiment within a massive Federation Cruiser, and a famous one at that. The bridge was lit with computer terminals and readouts, filled with a vast amount of crewmen fiddling with various machines and conducting many procedures via the variety of systems. Each person was allocated a different task, as maintaining a ship of this size was a very complex matter. Currently, most of the crewmen had adjourned their normal posts to adhere to Ari’s current experimental procedure on the Rephaim.

The Rephaim was the Terran Federation’s pride and joy, equipped with the highest level of technology available, and the flagship of both the Military and Scientific Academia. Not only was the Rephaim the ship of the Federation, it also was largely a moving space colony were many lived including both scientists and those in the military. This ship was three-fold: a prime war vessel, a moving space colony, and a up-to-date research laboratory. Kasaguri was lucky he had a chance to conduct his experiment on this ship, as it most likely may have failed anywhere else.

Housed in the Rephaim were the only two space-vehicles capable of reaching 99% of light-speed in the universe, the Essex and the Maine, both single-manned, small-scale vehicles used only in scientific research. The Federation was hell-bent on gaining Faster Than Light travel, and they tried to ascertain it at any cost. Ari, was one of the leading Physicists of his time, although he was scarcely respected as he proposed wild ideas of FTL Travel based on distorting time through an area of zero mass, zero length, and zero time. But the Federation was desperate. Humankind’s population was vastly increasing every year, and soon, there would be little or no space for the remainder of humanity to dwell. Space Stations required time and time and effort, something the Federation didn’t have. And Space Stations are not near as large enough when compared to the rapid increase of human population. They would have to build, on average, twenty per year, for the remainder of civilization. This was a task no one desired to do, as, not only did it require money, but also time, effort, and a vast array of materials. The Federation, and no other Terran Organization was willing to handle that.



And thsuly, Kasaguri and his obscure ideas were funded fully anyway. Although many argued that Federation was uselessly throwing money at him, the Council did not care, as they needed a solution to their over-population problem, and quick. It seemed to them that FTL Travel was the only way, as it would open up a flurry of inhabitable planets for the remainder of humankind to settle.

Kasaguri had the Rephaim for a good couple months, conducting preliminary experiments most of the day. The Ship’s officers were not pleased with this, but had to yield to the Council’s orders. That, and many of the Ship’s inhabitants had to pay even higher taxes to partly fund Kasaguri’s Timeskew Project, as it was called. Because of this, Kasaguri and his team were looked at with contempt from most of the Ship’s inhabitants. But that would soon be over.

Today was culmination of three months of strenuous research by Kasaguri and Team. The project, as explained by Ari, was to send a pilot in the Essex towards what Ari called the ‘Origin’ in an attempt to prove is Timeskew Theory accurate. If proved correct, travel would be radically changed, with almost instantaneous travel to anywhere in the known or unknown universe.

With this experiment, Kasaguri was only vaguely sure of where the pilot would end up, which was based on a theory in which the force of the ship when it struck the origin was proportional to the distance traveled. On the other hand, Ari explained, the craft could travel at an infinite distance instead since through skewing time (and speculating that the origin is an area of zero time) would produce and endless distance because the time was infinite, or zero.

Ari’s Timeskew Theory states that the origin of the universe (as in 0,0,0 in three-dimensional space) not only has the properties of a black hole (infinitely dense, little to no mass, and little to no length) but also has an area of zero-time or infinite time. In his theory, he states that if an object accelerating at a rate that will eventually reach light-speed (but never actually will, as in at the exact moment it hits the origin it will be at 99.99% the speed of light) strikes the origin (or goes through it), it will result in a skew the area of zero-time in the origin. Since there is no time, and therefore an infinite acceleration (a = ∆v/t; where t = 0; such that acceleration is infinite, as anything divided by 0 is ∞.), the craft instantly accelerates to the speed of light (the highest possible speed), and because of the fact that light speed is constant in a vacuum (and also a black hole), the area of null-time would be skewed forward by a magnitude proportional to the force that the craft struck the origin (going at 99% light speed would result in the furthest possible distance traveled). This, of course would instantly transport the craft to across the universe to an unknown location.

The pilot, courageous Nathan Yggdrasil, has willingly accepted the task in the name of modern science, readily aware of the dreary consequences. Curiously, the Federation awaits news of the experiment. Most do not know what the outcome will actually be, or if anything will actually happen in the first place. Most believe that he will just accelerate through it, and there will be absolutely no effect on anything. For the Federation’s sake, everyone aboard the Rephaim hopes something will happen, or else their tax dollars were a waste.

“Are we ready, sir?” A shrill voice said. Ari woke up from his unconsciousness. Ari looked up. “Quite.” He said, “We are indeed ready. Where is Nathan?”

Almost on cue, the pilot walked in through the sliding doors. “I heard my name.” he said. “I hope I’m not late.”

“You cut it pretty close.” One of the men explained. “We were planning on launching in three minutes.”

“That is quite close.” Nathan said. “But you know me, I like to make an entrance.” Ari looked at him quizzically. A couple men quickly walked over to Nathan after Ari made a gesture. They began to suit him up for the task.

“How close are we to the origin?” Ari asked, hoping that it was a sufficient distance. “3 AUs.” One said. “We couldn’t have asked for something more perfect.”

Too far, and the flight would take too long, and the craft would reach 99% acceleration too soon. Too short, and they wouldn’t be able to accelerate to the velocity before striking the origin. 3 AUs (or Astronomical Units) was a pretty good distance, and quite close to their Alpha Time (in which they start, which is approximately 2.65 AUs). The announcement of ‘ten minutes till initiation’ referred to when they calculated the Rephaim to reach 2.65 AUs from the origin. And now they had three minutes, just enough time to finalize the preparations.

“Suited up and ready.” One man said. Nathan was now being escorted to the docking bay where he would board the Essex. “2 Minutes until Vector Consistency.”

“We can only hope that this will work.” Ari said, “Let’s all hope, for the sake of mankind, that it does.”

“I’m confirming that Nathan has boarded the Essex, sir. Awaiting your instruction. One minute and 24 seconds remaining.” Ari walked up to the front of the bridge, scanning various computer terminal readouts. He reached for the Com-Link to the Essex, picked it up, and cradled it in his hand.

“Nathan…” he started. “Your about to take part in what could be greatest advancement in human exploration…and civilization.” Taken aback by the magnitude of Nathan’s sacrifice, he was inclined to, for the last time, assure that his pilot was ready and willing. Cringing at the fact that this was all but his dream, professor Ari spoke the question: “Are you sure you are willing to do this?”

“Of course.” Nathan replied. “I’ve got a purpose.” He explained. Ari sighed a deep sigh of relief. His courageous pilot was not backing down, no matter what circumstances came about.

The on-looking crewmembers that were not of Ari’s staff looked in contempt at the conversation, sensing false emotion.

“How dramatic…” one said sarcastically, while rolling his eyes. “Let’s get on with this soap opera.” he said, obviously unaware of the implications.

For all they know, Yggdrasil could be swept away to a far-off galaxy never to be seen again. He was a martyr for science and humanity, a man that could spawn a whole new era of humankind, in which, through this leap in human discovery, humanity could advance not only understanding, but also existence. This experiment was more vital for the existence of mankind than readily observed. It’s no wonder the Federation did not reveal their reasons for funding it.

“Thirty Seconds remain till Vector Consistency.” One crewman chimed. Ari checked the Essex readout. Everything looked fine. “23 Seconds till we reach 2.65 AUs from the Origin. All engines are functioning at maximum capacity. All systems go.”

It is a little known fact that mankind’s colonies reside quite close to the origin. It has been theorized, that life closer to the origin is more intelligent than life farther away. Although it has not even been proven that life outside of humanity’s dominance exists (that is, life that originates from somewhere other than earth) it is still widely thought that if other life existed, its intelligence would be somewhat based upon how far it existed from the center of the universe. Therefore, through Kasaguri’s experiment, Nathan may very well discover intelligent life on the other side of the origin (as in, on the other side of the universe that mankind has not explored).

“Ten Seconds until Vector Consistency. Thrusters engaged. All systems go.” The crewman spoke. “Countdown initiated.”

As he spoke the countdown, Ari’s mind raced. All his research had culminated up till now: the climax. And soon, the falling action would begin. All crew starred at the large silver screen that monitored the Essex’s progress.

“Three…Two…One…” He rang out loudly. “Launch.”





Chapter Two – Lapse of Existence

“What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.” – Job 6: 17


The bridge rattled with life. The Essex, with an atrocious sound and a blinding light, had sped out of the docking bay at a surreal sped. A bright light had appeared on the silver screen which the crew men were watching, slowly dulling in luminosity. Instantly, as if on cue, the screen switched to a mark-up of the Essex short-lived journey from the Rephaim to the Origin. It was accelerating at an astounding rate, one which was pre-calculated to reach Sub-Light Speed (99% the speed of light) at the exact moment it entered the Origin.

After the initial shock of the launch subsided, the crew rejoiced in its so-far success. But Kasaguri kept quiet, knowing this was only the beginning of what could be a catastrophe. He promptly quieted everyone down.

“I need the statistics...” he spoke softly, as if to induce silence in the room. “Someone bring it up.”

The silver monitor flashed again, dismissing the Essex mapped path, and brining up a full read-out of the Essex and pilot’s condition. What looked to be the head crew man surveyed the monitor.

“Everything is on schedule sir.” He began. “Yggdrasil should enter the Origin and reach Sub-Light Speed at exactly the same moment.”

“Perfect.” Ari said softly. It seemed there were no hitches in his experiment…yet. “How is Nathan doing?” he inquired.

The same crew man typed quickly, pulling up yet another screen on the silver monitor. “He is withstanding the force pretty well. No health issues as of yet. His Resistance Suit seems to be holding him up.”

“How long until he reaches the target, Anders?” asked Ari.

“Approximately three minutes.” The crew man replied.

The whole assembly was holding their breath, waiting for the results of this absurd experiment. All acknowledged the fact that the experiment was going well so far, but no one voiced their concern about the unknown results. Even at this level of science, anything could happen.

“Bring up the Multi Readout.” Ari said, breaking the silence.

Anders typed quickly on the keyboard, while the other crew men watched him as he sped. Suddenly, the silver screen shifted again, this time revealing a four-part split screen of the previous read-outs. This way the crew could have an eye on everything going on.

The crew’s eyes followed the Essex icon on screen as it followed the pre-set path on the map, indicating its current position in relation to their ship and the origin. It came closer and closer to the origin at a faster and faster rate, constantly accelerating.

“Two minutes till entrance.” Anders said for formality’s sake. Everyone could easily read the timer on the screen.

Ari, while scanning the screen, walked over to Ander’s station and reached for the Comm-Link to the Essex. It was time for the last word, as they may not be able to contact Nathan for a while afterwards. Ari looked up at the screen, verifying normality, and picked up the Comm-Link, gripping it in his hand.

“Nathan, this is Ari. Do you read?” he spoke monotonously.

“Yes, I read you.” Nathan responded, his voice accompanied by choppy radio static.

“Set your ERP to activate at entrance to the origin.” Kasaguri said. “We may not be able to contact otherwise.”

“Already done.” Nathan quickly responded, still in static.

They were interrupted by Ander’s voice, calling out the obvious yet again. “One minute till entrance.”

“This may be our last transmission for a while. Make sure your ERP is coordinated with ours.” Ari was making sure everything was going smoothly, and that there would be no mistakes or lapses of judgment. “Synchronized time: 21:32; ERP transmission ever three minutes after initial activation. Don’t worry about us, we are already set with yours as long as it activates at the entrance.” He said.

And then a short pause.

“Done.” Nathan responded. “Everything is running properly now. I’m fully coordinated with the Rephaim.”

“Thirty Seconds.” Anders chimed.

“One you get close to the Origin, we’ll loose radio. Hopefully we’ll be able to communicate through short ERP bursts.” Ari said, loosing his monotonousness.
“I won’t let you down, Captain.” Nathan said, reassuringly.

Kasaguri tried to hold in a smile, but couldn’t. Nathan really believed in this mission. If one could call even it that. “Captain” was an interesting word choice.

“Your one hell of a guy.” Said Ari. “We all here hope for the best. Good luck, and Godspeed.”

“Time to live.” he chimed, almost inaudibly. The radio transmission was full of static. And with that, Nathan switched off his radio.

The next ten seconds were completely silent, as Nathan and the Essex accelerated toward the origin, on a mission for mankind, or the Federation’s version of it.

The silver screen switched quickly to the map read-out, revealing Nathan’s position. The screen showed that the ship was accelerating at an un-heard of rate, closing in on Sub-Light Speed. Ninety-five percent, ninety-six percent, the number quickly grew.

Suddenly, the screen flashed white, alerting contact. The vehicle reached Sub-Light speed in one split second, while flashing the words ‘Target Contact” on the screen. The Essex had just entered the origin and would now be theoretically accelerated instantly to Light speed and then travel a pre-calculated distance.

But the screen was blank. There was no sign of the Essex anywhere.

“Anders, what’s going on?” asked Ari, concerned.

“The Essex is out of our reach. There are no signals from it as of yet.” He answered.

“What about the ERP?”

“I’m picking up an ERP wave from the Essex now. It was transmitted exactly 2.56 AUs from our current location.”

“That’s no good.” Said Ari. “That’s the wave he sent as he entered the origin. Are we getting anything after that?”

“No, sir. I’m not picking up anything.”

“How’s that possible? Could he have really traveled that far?” Ari asked, rhetorically. He was the scientist; no one else could answer to that. “Focus all operations on receiving an ERP. We should eventually pick one up, no matter how far he traveled.”

The experiment seemed to be successful; Nathan had entered the origin at such a speed that he instantly traveled to an unknown region of space in a insignificant amount of time. Ari’s theory seemed to be true. But this was the last thing on the crew’s mind. Their pilot, no matter how far he traveled, was missing.

The ERP, or Erkshire’s Radiating Pulse, is a pulse that is so high in velocity that it causes a disturbance in the fabric of space, altering the dark matter around and ‘wrinkling’ the spatial plane. It causes a ‘ripple’ effect through the non-existent area of space (which only it can travel since it is in wave-form) and can thusly travel across the universe at an infinite distance at a velocity greater than that of light. It is used as a type of SONAR that can pinpoint the relative location of an object in the universe that is also emitting ERP Wave. By coordinating ERP Wave bursts with most ships in the universe (one every 5 seconds, in collaboration with Cosmic Standard Time), any ship can calculate the location of another by finding when the two ship’s ERP waves meet. It is also possible to send short burst transmissions through ERP waves that can be received by other ships on the same ERP Frequency.

In the Timeskew Experiment, the Rephaim and the Essex set their ERP frequency independently, so that they would not pick up transmissions from other ships sending out a pulse.

The bridge was still silent, awaiting an ERP signal from Nathan and the Essex.

“What’s the status? Anything yet!?” asked Ari, very concerned.

“…He’s…” started Anders. “He’s Passed the Cosmic Threshold.” The crew men gasped, awestruck at what Anders had just reported.

“…Wh-What!? That’s impossible!” shouted Ari. “What the hell is going on!?”