Science fiction. The trail

 

Science fiction. The trail

“No, that is not where we are traveling! Because that is where the abyss of the Universe lies. We are attempting to travel a bit farther than that and avoid the abyss. And right now we are dealing with the fear that is not letting us overcome our lack of technology to deal with the realities of the abyss. Because reaching the other end of the universe where he lives, there is no other way, but through the abyss. And I have always wondered how they are able to bypass the abyss and still travel into our world.

There is no trail, no clue, and no navigation system so advanced that it would lead us into his world. The world of AmTotal, where more than 5 galaxies share many solar systems with multiple planets that lie in the Goldilocks zone. And with so many habitable planets available, the people of AmTotal are highly advanced. Because they can access a vast pool of resources. And the best proof of their technological advancement lies in the fact that they can travel across the abyss. Somehow they can.

They are ruled by an interplanetary collegium with members representing each planet. Who are chosen from the guild that exists on each planet. However, last year they elected a new president and he plans to claim new territories as a part of his expansion plan. Under this plan our planet happens to be the first on his target list. And when it comes to AmTotal under the rule of the new president. Today it is about yield or perish!

And I, along with a few men and women will be launching our attack on AmTotal. Sometimes, when you are too mighty, the very belief of being mighty becomes your weakness. Because you tend to ignore many minute details. 

And I have detected one such weakness in the kingdom of 5 galaxies. But for me to be able to execute it and surprise them. My team needs to cross the abyss. Which as of today is beyond our technological possibility. That is why we will be following the trail of the president's spaceship when he travels to our world on the coming Saturday. 

The purpose of his visit is a secret and he does not know that we know about his secret voyage. Based on the input received from our intelligence he will be entering our planetary system to determine ways to cancel gravity and disrupt everything for a few seconds, until all our systems malfunction. And then in the next moment he will launch a full scale attack. At that point we shall have no choice but to yield. And we protest being slaves and live under his tyrannical reign.”

These were my commands if you may, or the explanations offered by me to my team. I am the one who will lead the mission on behalf of my planet and its residents. And today I just concluded my first official briefing with my team. As I was about to walk out of the room, one of them asked a very good question. It startled me then as much as it is startling me now.

“So what plan do we have? If any at all!”

I didn't say anything, and he too did not leave his chair. He stood there glued to it; adamant to know the answer. And rightly so, because if he has volunteered to be a part of a mission that demands extreme technology, he at least has every right to know how we intend to use the current technology and cross the abyss. 

And I knew I had to deal with this situation right away and without further procrastination, because the more I delayed, the less confidence they would have in me as their mission leader. So, I asked one of my team members, who also happens to be a very close friend of mine. To highlight the details about the abyss and the president’s travel time history and coordinates.

In a second the screen with these details was flashing before our eyes. Today it was the 15th time we were trying to make sense of these details. Something was different today, slightly different. The team members were mostly looking at me, than at the screen; and I was trying to make sense of visuals, maps, and equations floating across the screen.

Every detail was like a fish, floating freely in a rough sea where I was the kingfisher who had not caught even a single fish for many weeks, hoping, and sincerely believing, that I would be able to catch one this time. And the fish began swimming, I stood there like a brooding and sharply contemplating kingfisher, waiting for the right moment to dive and catch a vagrant fish.

“There it is! Can you see it? Oh my God the abyss is beginning to reveal itself.” These were my words pouring out of my mouth as bursts of joy, and my audience, who had now transformed into astounded spectators, were transfixed, still wondering what it was that I was referring to.

The same person who had asked the question earlier interrupted me, “What are you referring to?”

And I began explaining:

“The abyss is like a huge gulf of space between two galaxies, and it prevents galaxies from consuming each other. The vast gulf of space has mysterious forces originating in few regions, it somehow absorbs these galactic forces and never lets them cross over. If these forces cross over, which would be the case in absence of these mysterious forces residing in the gulf, then galaxies will swallow each other. And in these voids of space where these forces seem to disappear, as if they were pouring into an abyss, traveling to another end is impossible. Few galaxies are larger than normal galaxies, and in case of these galaxies the gulf exists as a ring around them and it is the same with few galaxies that exist and behave as if they were a single galaxy. Which is very rare, but not impossible.

AmTotal being a galactic system comprising 5 galaxies, this ring is the largest and most dominant. And AmTotal has the technology that enables them to cross this void. And so far no other civilisation has ever been able to cross this gulf and enter their galactic system.

Now take a look at this graph. Do you notice something?

Let me explain.

Every galaxy has a unified motion or movement, because everything within the galaxy is moving. Every planet , every meteor and other celestial bodies but they move in a certain orbit. And in this system of galaxies, their movement causes this gulf to shift and warp.

That is why in this graph one of the spikes is very insignificant.

It means, the gulf experiences less traction from the galaxies, therefore lesser forces interact with the gulf, and it is at these intervals, and at these lean spots of galactic interactions, that we can cross the abyss. Because the forces active in the gulf at these points are either weak or very low in density.

I am not sure about this, but I am certain it cannot be anything else other than either of these two possibilities.

Now tell me, who among you are ready to travel with me to AmTotal, and tell them they are not invincible because we are not vincible either? Once we have followed the president’s ship and noted its coordinates of voyage through the abyss, this theory will be either proven right or wrong.

But based on my calculations I am confident about my judgement."

They all offered me the look of an extremely enchanted audience of a magician. Who are mesmerised by seeing him perform the impossible act called the disappearance of God. What an oxymoron!

And I knew instantly that now they were willing to travel through the abyss and reach the galactic system of AmTotal. A combination of 5 super-sized galaxies. With this mutual confidence and affirmation we all dispersed to our rooms and waited, while assessing the data, until it was Saturday. 

It was early afternoon and I received the message from one of my team members that the spaceship travelling from AmTotal had been spotted at the fringes of the Gulf, and the nano dust particles. Which actually are location detection transmitters, have attached themselves with the spaceship, and they are sending every coordinate on the trail of the president’s voyage. 

I ran and joined my team in the control room. Then, instantly the tracking maps flashed a few points in circular formation. Instantly the spaceship began moving in circles. Then it retreated. As it entered the abyss, the data received from our transmitters confirmed the accuracy of my theory. 

The density of the gulf from where the spaceship travelled was very low ( whatever its blend of energies and matter ) and sometimes, the transmitters on the side edges of the spaceship showed an increase in the density of the matter/energies in the gulf. It meant that the movement of galaxies caused this shift in densities of the gulf. Since the spaceship was travelling through it, it at times entered extremely narrow gullies in the gulf, where the density was low but beginning to get denser, as the force of galaxies acted upon it to establish the standard value of density.

Now we had the proof that the gulf experiences phases where the gulf loses its density and regains it again after sometime. And this discovery now posed another question, what if we were travelling through the gulf with low density and a galaxy with higher energy interfered with its density and increased it while our spaceship was within it? Then what could happen?

We all thought about it and all of us concluded the following:

Scenario 1: We will be consumed by the gulf just like the exhaust energies spewed by galaxies. 

Or

Scenario 2: We will disintegrate into two halves, one consumed by higher density of the gulf, and the other one still floating in the gulf where density is still low and trying to stabilise. 

And space experts at AmTotal planet seemed to have perfected this art with great accuracy, and our transmitters proved it. They were the ultimate masters of the abyss or the gulf, that we also refer to as void sometimes.

There was no time to probe the data further. So, we decided to enter the gulf at the same time and follow the trail of the AmTotal’s spaceship.

And to avoid any further risk, we agreed to travel into the AmTotal Galactic system on Saturday at the same time and on the same trail as that of the spaceship we had tracked.

Today is the day!

We all got ready and occupied the best spaceship owned by us. We reached the abyss, and as a precaution we launched a mini spaceship ahead of us and we followed from behind. We had spent 2 minutes in the abyss and everything was working perfectly fine. 

Then strangely, we lost the signal of the mini spaceship and it perished because the gulf began to narrow down and turn denser, and we could feel the side edges of our main spaceship being rubbed by something very strong. It was being shredded on its sides and the core metal of the spaceship was now fully exposed, because it had lost all 4 layers of protective metal.

“Now nothing can save us, this is it!” reacted one of the team members who could see the forces of the gulf interacting with the core metal of the spaceship and devouring it like an invisible monster. Who had a taste for eating the toughest and strongest metals known to any civilisation.

I was too worried and peeped from the small pigeon hole like window. What I witnessed was nothing like I had ever seen. And I knew this was the end of everything because our spaceship's core metal base had been exposed and all its protective shields had been debarked. In a few seconds the spaceship disintegrated and now we were left at the mercy of our core life pod. We call it life capsule that can withstand extremes of anything : pressure, heat, cold, literally anything. And we were totally wrong because the forces of the gulf began eating on its surface like a huge sandpaper that had wrapped itself around the capsule and was rubbing it vigorously and with no mercy at all.

And in another second or so this is what we all heard, zooooshhhhhh zooooshhhhhh, and bang. 

Our pod was resting on a solid floor. And the territory belonged to AmTotal. We had landed on AmTotal but now we had no means to travel back. And their systems had detected our landing. In a few seconds we were surrounded by robots, drones, and a spaceship unlike any other. And from it descended someone. who by his stature appeared really important.

“Here you are! Here you are! Our neighbours from the small galaxy. Welcome to our galactic system where the abyss is our protection against any outside invasion.

We have always wanted to test its efficiency and how much we can rely on it. And so far nobody has been able to cross the abyss. It has taken us 5 generations of sacrifices and research to know the secrets of the abyss.

But you did it in your first attempt. And I am sure in your second attempt you will know the actual secret of the abyss as well. Am I correct Miss. Sophia. By the way we like civilisations that seek knowledge and pursue science for the betterment of the Universe and for maintaining its delicate balance. And of course for the greater good of their own kind. We at AmTotal feel you are very zealous about science and technology and we want to share our technology with you.

Many civilisations look at us as outlandish rogues, but that is not true, we all have the right to protect our territories and promote peace, and we are doing the same by enhancing the forces that reside in the abyss. 

We actually had not visited your galaxy to invade your planet, we wanted to tempt you and see if you have the courage to cross the abyss. And you indeed have shown great courage. And acts of great courage shall be felicitated with equally great rewards. And our reward to you shall be this spaceship that will lead you back home. And my team will accompany you and teach you advanced space technologies.

By the way Sophia, your trackers detected our trail, but you missed something. Your assessments were accurate, only that you misjudged this fact. When we entered the abyss, your transmitters plotted our trail, but if you look at the dots carefully there is a sequence of dots missing at regular intervals. You did not notice them. Though no doubt you have been the sharpest of all because you guessed it accurately, that these were loops of low and high density energies being formed whenever galactic forces acted upon them based on their motion.

But what you could not realise is when you enter the abyss, the energy within the abyss where its density is low, is actually moving in streams of elliptical form, and for safe passage through the abyss, you need to avoid few elliptical paths and switch to other paths after proper examination of the nature of these energy streams.

That is why few dots are missing. It is then that we move to a different elliptical path ( from a low density path that is turning into a high density path. And in nanoseconds we transition to another neighbouring path with low energy density. ) And whenever we perform these switches, we very briefly overlap with a narrow stream of very dense energy, which shuts down every advanced communication transponder. And that is what you did not recognise.

But you still did an exceptionally commendable job. Because the abyss consumed nearly 1000 spaceships of ours before we could know this secret. So Sophia, science, and real science comes with a lot of sacrifices. And you, through this brave act have proven, your civilisation is ready to receive vast and highly advanced transfer of knowledge as soon as you and my team travel to your galaxy.

What do you think?”

Hearing  this from the president of AmTotal, I thought it would be better to keep it short, “ I don't want to think right now, I just want to do something. I want to shake your hand because there could not be anything more honourable than learning advanced space technology from your civilisation.”

The president shook my hands, stood there as long as all of us had not boarded the spaceship and disappeared into the abyss only to appear on its other end. Our end. The side of the abyss we all call home!

Well, we learned a lot from AmTotal civilisation, and they warned us about the harm Global Warming and Climate change can cause to our planet in 2075. And I have summarised it in my science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. Which is a romance science fiction novel, where the plot is packed with excitement. Excitement of all kinds: romantic, technological, futuristic warfare, evolution of human societies at various levels, and a lot more.

If you do not want to miss the excitement, read the romance science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. And I am sure we shall meet someday on the other side of the abyss.

Until then, travel well and do not forget to recognise the value of dots. Dots are minute, but they have a significant impact when it comes to scientific accuracy!