The Void

The Void

by: Dennis R. Humphreys

In the beginning, it is written, there was a great void. There was nothing. It was the realm of the supernatural because from it, matter was expelled, from which the universe was created. Nothing comes from nothing so there was something. It was the realm of the gods. If you want to call it heaven you can. Call it what you wish, but this was the domicile of the gods. This is where one god among the many who were part of the collective consciousness there, through his free will, exerted his independence. In the bible it speaks of the gods as 'we'. Then it speaks of the one who stepped forward and declared his independence through two words uttered to create the mass disturbance in the universe that continues to this day...'I am”.

From this simple utterance mass was created and it brought existence to the void starting a chain reaction and evolution that has been expanding since. The void is no longer as prevalent as existence encroaches into the spiritual void. Perhaps the other gods that still have the alliance as a collective consciousness fail to appreciate the work of this one rebel god who throughout the years has become revered and worshiped as the creator.

“I thought you might want to see this. I know you didn't want to be disturbed but I think this will change your mind,” the young astronomer told his supervisor Dr. Jeremy Stinz.

Jeremy looked at the man , four years his junior who he had hired directly out of a master's program at Berkeley because he showed so much promise. Jeremy had been working at Seti for five years now and was a team leader, searching the universe for extraterrestrial signals that would ;point to intelligent life on other planets because, as he often said, 'there wasn't any here'. He took the roll of paper covered with markings only a few of them could read. Several areas of interest were circled, with connotations written in red on it. Jeremy looked closer at these areas.

“All these signals came from one place in space and there are no planets, planetoids, asteroids or other masses out there to explain their origin?” he asked, as he continued scrutinizing other areas of the print out.

“And they seem to be different signals of intelligent origin...like they're coming from multiple intelligences,” Seth Bernhardt told his supervisor.

“You've double checked everything? You've confirmed the location of these signals?” the scientist prodded the young Bernhardt.

“I have, and it's not that far away which is what made me look closely at everything. I thought it was a joke. It's only on the other side of geocentric orbit...roughly thirty thousand miles away,” he alerted his boss.

“If I wanted to hazard a guess in the realm of science fiction rather than pure science, it looks like some kind of intergalactic trade route intersection where different intelligent species are communicating with each other while they do business,” he told the young astronomer.

“That's a big leap of conjecture,” almost mocking his boss who was highly respected in his field and had gained much praise over his papers written on the subject of other worldly intelligences.

“Why else would you have what appears to be three, maybe four different intelligent signals going back and forth between the others? This wasn't intended for us to hear. We're just the eavesdroppers,” he told him. “Let me clean up here and join you at the system. Start cross checking earlier files with these signals and see if anything comes up. I have to ask myself why do all these different transmissions suddenly show up at this one point in space and nothing beforehand?”

Jeremy joined the rest of his team twenty minutes later. So far nothing had appeared related in previous files. By the end of the night, they would verify that these signals were the first and only ones of their kind they captured, not just at this point in space but anywhere out there.

Jeremy' team consisted of four other astronomers other than himself...Seth Berkhardt, of course, Linda Sinclair, who also had a masters in astrophysics...Jon Tuttle, from Princeton, the only one not from Berkeley, and Fabrice Voltaire, who was probably the smartest of them all but had trouble staying awake on many of their late night searches. She was in a constant state of confusion when she awoke, appearing slow and unintelligent.

“How's it going guys? I understand we have a little excitement going on here,” Jeremy spoke as he joined the rest of the group in their work area.

Seth spoke up right away.

“:I started checking these transmissions against any previous transmissions out there to see if the system came up with anything similar and so far there's been nothing. I've also isolated this area to give me a printout of any transmissions at all within a conservative distance just to check activity,” he told Jeremy.

“Oh? Good idea, did that give you anything?” the lead scientist asked.

“Not a thing,” Seth replied.

“Hmmmm, that says a lot right there. Can you make any sense of any of the transmissions? There appear clearly to be four different intelligent transmissions and all four are responding so they must be able to translate what the other says. Hopefully this is like the Rosetta Stone and we'll be able to come up with some way for us to try an make contact rather than our normal mathematical jibe that could turn into months of translation.

“I've already started computer analysis of all the transmissions to see if there are any commonalities among them that we can interpret. Once we get a couple the system can go to work and establish the ABC's of all four languages,” Fabrice told Jeremy.

“That's good. Check the signals against any unknown signals we captured over the last twenty years, that were suspicious,” Jeremy told them as he sat at the table next to the system. They didn't have to look at the paperwork trail to know what was happening. It was mostly the same boring blips and bleeps all the time. When you heard that unusual combination of blips and bleeps it stunned you into awareness.

It was mostly sitting and waiting...listening. It was pretty boring actually but it only took a second or two of interesting signals to gave you that adrenaline rush that made it all worth doing.

At about 2am, there came more transmissions from the same area as before and once again there were clearly four different ones. This gave Fabrice more to work with and she was ecstatic over the bonus. The signals, so far, appeared to be unique. No others, since the beginning of Seti had been experienced in this area of space. So far no other similar transmissions had ever appeared in any area of space. Why suddenly four different ones in this location?

The rest of the night was quiet. Nothing new came over the system. All went home in the morning eager to get some rest from being on a high all night long but knew rest would probably be hard to capture.

Jeremy lived alone, except for the old German shepherd he had since high school. She was always there to greet him when he came home, somehow psychically knowing when he was about to show up at the door. Lately, it had been an effort for her to keep up the tradition since she was unable to steady herself on her legs anymore. Jeremy feared coming home one day to her lifeless body more so than having to have her put to sleep. She was in pain, he could tell but it was hard to justify having her put to sleep after the years of loyalty and unconditional love she showed him.

“Hi girl. How are you doing? I have some exciting news. We have four different transmissions of four different intelligences communicating with each other we are going to try and decipher so we can communicate with one or all of them. What's that? I know...if they were four different t breeds of dogs you could help me out there. I know you would,” he jokingly told Venus, the shepherd.

Outside of his staff she was the only one worth talking to, he felt. Definitely one of few that understood him. Jeremy drank a glass of iced tea, which he was hooked on and rarely drank anything else, then went to bed. Within a minute or two, Venus hopped onto the bed and laid down at his feet which was her normal location when Jeremy rested.

The next evening couldn't come fast enough. Jeremy got to Seti a little earlier than the rest of his team. The previous group was still there. He wanted to say something to them about his group's findings but he was reticent to. They found the signals under their watch and if there was a reasonable translation to their meaning he wanted to try and make contact regardless of protocol. He should have written everything up on his daily report before leaving last night to alert the others but he couldn't do it. He also instructed everyone else not to say anything to anyone. He'd worry about the reprimands later, but he didn't want someone else up the ladder controlling everything when they weren't involved.

The others started filtering in shortly after he got there, an unusual occurrence which didn't go unnoticed by the previous team. The shifts were pretty boring by any account and no one got there early. By the looks on a couple of the faces they knew something was up. Jeremy decided to circumvent the questions by throwing out a question he hoped no one in his team challenged, Since Linda wasn't there yet she was the fall guy.

“So are you ready to throw Linda her surprise birthday party?” even though her birthday was a month away, no one else knew that. He gave his group the 'go along with me on this' look and everyone did.

“Yeah, I've got to go pick up the cake in a couple of hours,” Fabrice announced adding a more authentic touch to the lie. It was a good addition by the looks on the faces that were questioning their early arrival.

After a bit the other team left and Jeremy's group was left alone.

“Fabrice, let me know the minute you get a hit on any of the signals in the transmissions,” Jeremy told her.

“If you wait a minute and let me go to my office, I'll check. I left the program running all night but I locked my door for any prying eyes from the day team. Hopefully we have a hit,” she said pulling out her office keys as she went to the far wall.

Jeremy and the others went on talking about the possibilities in general of making contact while Fabrice went to her office. By the excitement in her return she had something and everyone fell silent, waiting for her report.

“We've had three hits guys,” she said excitedly. “Three hits! You know what that means? It will get easier and easier for the program to decipher other information because it has better building blocks on which to construct. We might have a dozen more hits by the end of the night.”

“Let me see that. It's incredible,” Jeremy announced. He could hardly contain his excitement when he read the words and started to tell the others. His voice was trembling. “Three words...scientists, studying and wormhole.”

It was the last interpretation that sent a shock of excitement throughout the group. The word 'wormhole' occurred six different times across the four languages. The program could be wrong in interpreting the word but it was unlikely. There were algorithms it used to interpret certain words that may not have the same meaning or counterpart in another language just as there were in ancient languages on earth that could change the entire meaning of the context. However, this program had a consistent accuracy of ninety eight point nine percent...but that was with earth languages, both ancient and modern. That was good enough to hang your hat on in any event.

“Since the term 'wormhole' has appeared in the transmissions several times across different alien communications are we going to assume that's why they are where they are?” Jon Tuttle asked coming out of his normally quiet shell.

“Well, I don't want to jump to conclusions but I think that's a good supposition. In any of our conversations if we were discussing a subject or topic, it would come up in our conversation several times between all of us. That would be normal so I don't think it's a big leap to make that assumption,” he surmised hardly able to contain his anxiety.

“So when we get enough to send a message, just what are you planning to say?” Jon continued.

“I have absolutely no idea but a dozen things are going through my head, non of which are, 'take me to your leader,' Jeremy joked sending some laughter through the group.

“I suppose you'll be asking in some fashion, why four different alien groups are together at that one point in the universe?” Seth interjected, “especially when they're not that far from this planet. I'm sure there are others besides us on this planet that are aware of them right now...like the military, who are probably better equipped than us.”

“You can't assume that. They might have better hardware because of their budgets but do they have the capabilities? Like software, and the people to operate the hardware and software. How many times have the military missed the boat in the past?” Jeremy countered.

“Then there's foreign governments, like China and Russia,: Linda suggested having come into the room a few minutes before but hearing enough of the conversation to add her two cents.

“This is all true, but it gets down to funding and ultimately the people, like you, sitting in some lab somewhere. Let's do what we do. Again, not a word to anyone. I'm leaving most everything out of my daily report so not only will you open our work to everyone if you say something, you'll probably get me fired.”

The day went boringly slow. Fabrice sat in her office with her system running the entire time. She started getting a hit about ever two hours which she would hold a thumb up to Jeremy when she did. Jeremy didn't want to see anything until mid day because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to contain himself but by twelve thirty when Fabrice came to Jeremy and the group to share her progress, Jeremy was a wreck.

“I see you have something. You hit me with four thumbs up since we got here so I assume you have at least four new interpretations to share?” Jeremy asked Fabrice. “Tell us, if I read it I will only repeat it to everyone. Let's get it from you first hand.”

“I have five new words...universe, other universe being two words, travel and opening,” Fabrice told them that started conversations between all of them.

“OK, people...I'm as excited as all of you but let's keep anything we have to say in the open so everyone can hear and share. At this rate, how long do you think it will be before I can send an intelligent communication to these people?” asked Jeremy.

“I'd give it at least five days...more likely a week,” Fabrice answered him acting as conservative as she could. “By then you should be able to construct something meaningful.”

The next several days went slowly. Everyone was anxious making first contact with an alien race. The political and military consequences were outrageous but they all felt, along with Jeremy a sense that first contact should be among scientists, not politicians or someone in the military. The flavor of that first encounter would be set and irreversible. It was the fifth day after Fabrice announced a week for something meaningful to be established for communication. As expected, the system's interpretation and understanding of the signals rose exponentially with each interpretation. What helped was having four different t languages that were interfacing with each other. Fabrice had been able to assemble a thirty two per cent understanding level among the languages as an average. The lowest was a twelve percent understanding of that language. The message would be constructed from the highest level of forty one percent...plenty to communicate with all of them. The understanding level would increase even more if they established a one on one level of communication between them and one alien species.

“OK, Fabrice I want you to be with me now as I put that initial communication together. We're going to transmit so the signal arrives on that location around the time we've picked up their communications. We'll sending out a signal in about two hours. The other group here is pointed completely away from our direction in the galaxy so they shouldn't pick up any response,” Jeremy told everyone as both Fabrice and him left the others to speculate and go to her office.

An hour later they had the very first transmission ready to begin a communication.

This is Jeremy Stinz, astronomical scientist from the planet Earth...third planet from our sun. We are nearby your position. I assume by your transmissions we are monitoring that I am communicating with fellow scientists. We have no political or military interests and prefer keeping it that way. We are interested in why you are where you are and where you come from, “ Jeremy read aloud to everyone and everyone felt it was a good first transmission. He and Fabrice had already transposed things to a signal level to be broadcast, which would take only a second. If everyone agreed and there was nothing to be added, he was going to put the chip into the system and broadcast.

No one could suggest anything additional so Jeremy began the transmission through the system and everyone waited. The silence was annoying...well it was just the same old signals constant in space they listened to day in and day out, straining to hear that anomaly. Ninety minutes later that anomaly happened in response to their transmission.

“We are from the small planet near Sirius and are called the Bottens. We are part of a intergalactic group of scientists here to explore a rare anomaly that recently formed in this part of the galaxy. The energy it created when formed alerted our scientists as to its existence. Another group with us are the Noki from the Pleiades area. There is another group from the same area known as Gantucars and then lastly the Sensars from a planet called Planar. We all interface with each other in our scientific explorations. This was an exciting moment for us to explore a wormhole which is large enough to enter. We've all explored several wormholes over the years but they were much too small to enter. We are looking to do that shortly. It is a pleasant surprise to hear from another intelligent life form nearby. We knew there were hominoids in your part of the solar system but had no idea you were intelligent enough to communicate. We agree, first communication should be between scientists and not politicians or military minded people. Both have a tendency to botch things up without trying,” the transmission ended, causing the group to laugh at the final words.

The transmissions would go faster now, not having to weigh those initial words to set the flavor of things. The transmissions only took a minute for a reply and most of what was communicated was scientific in nature. Eventually Jeremy was surprised to read the latest transmission the translation of which was read as it came from Fabrice's printer.

“Would you care to join us?” the transmission read from a man that Jeremy began speaking with, Lysar.

Jeremy was shocked by the invitation. It's not what he expected.

“I would love to but I do not have a ship to get there. If I were to approach either the government or the military I would just end up doing what I am trying to avoid. There are a couple of private companies I might be able to go with but I think it would take too long to do anything with your time frame,” Jeremy replied. “Plus, it would raise suspicion as to why we want to go out there and we'd probably have the government and the military visiting us.”

“We can come get you. You aren't far at all. We only need some discreet coordinates. I can only take two of you, so think about it. We plan on entering the worm hole in forty five hours. We have been here testing it to make sure our ships can withstand the forces that are inside. We have sent robots into it and they've come back today unharmed,” the message read.

There was a stir among the group. The thought of being able to explore something only mathematically proven with groups of advanced scientists was beyond imagination. Everyone wanted the opportunity to go there. Jeremy knew whatever decision he would make would let the others down. He would go as the leader. He wouldn't assign anyone else first that might put them at risk without him assuming that as the head of his group. The next logical choice was Fabrice since she had a rudimentary understanding of the four languages involved.

An hour later after discussing things with the others Jeremy was ready to send the aliens his answer, and the coordinates in an isolated area of the desert east of them. They could get there in forty five minutes and there were mountain ranges on three sides so there could be a covert landing. The arranged meeting would occur later in the day in daylight, seven hours from now in the early morning. There was time to get ready but coming up with a story for both of them to be missing in action was something else if the director or one of his cronies showed. They rarely saw him. They were left on their own, so a couple of days they might be able to get away with it. He or someone else could show up at any time and ask where they were. A manufactured story had to be supplied. You couldn't just say they're exploring the universe with aliens they contacted, there would be lynch mob waiting for them when they returned. Jeremy had no idea of when they might return,

“Tell them, Fabrice and I ran off to get married,” he finally told them sending Fabrice into shock and the rest into a fit of laughter. “I'm serious any other lie wouldn't work. It's a crazy enough thing they'll believe. That should end any other questions as well. We just decided to elope and get hitched. We can even go on a short honeymoon to buy more time.”

Finally after discussing it, the group came to the conclusion it was the most viable lie. They'd cover for them as long as they could by clocking them in and out until someone needed to see them.

Jeremy left for his place to get a few things including his digital camera and he ran Fabrice by her place a few miles away to get what she needed, packing a small gym bag with things. Then they headed east towards the meeting point. It was forty five minutes away but they had an hour and a half to the rendezvous time. They didn't say much to each other because they were too excited. Jeremy kept stopping his car to pee he was so nervous.

“Honey, you need to get that problem looked at by the doctor. I can't have my new husband keeping me up at night going to the bathroom,” she joked.

“You'd better watch the jokes, I'll be asking for a divorce before we even go on our honeymoon,” Jeremy retorted.

His last pit stop was close to where they were going. Jeremy had sent the aliens the coordinates and a map of the world so they were in sync and understood the satellite longitude and latitude numbers.

Pulling up to the right spot they parked and emerged from the car with their things they were taking. They had a little over a half hour wait and the sun was hot. They both sipped from their bottles of water and watched the skies. Fabrice opened the back door of the car and sat sideways on the seat to wait. Jeremy was too nervous and fidgety to sit but constantly walked from the front to the back of the car staring at the ground and then the skies.

“Shit it looks like a storm is brewing. Those clouds look menacing and they came out of nowhere,” he told Fabrice looking in the air.

Fabrice stood up leaving the car and searched the skies.

“Those aren't storm clouds. They seem to be fabricated. They just suddenly appeared and are surrounding the whole area.

There were volumes of the grayish clouds building a wall of cover where they couldn't even see the mountain ranges surrounding them on three sides. The clouds reached from the upper atmosphere to the ground making it look like not just clouds cover but a thick, heavy fog as well. Then there was a low throbbing hum coming from above them and a metallic object burst through the clouds on the way to the ground, stopping about four feet above it. They looked at each other in amazement realizing this was their ride. A ramp opened up in the belly of the craft and the end of it rested on the ground. A figure emerged, looking like anyone you might see on earth on the street except the clothes he was wearing were different. He went right to them to speak,

“Jeremy...Fabrice...I am Lysar. Are we ready to go?” he spoke in perfect English surprising both Jeremy and Fabrice.

“How do you know our language so well?” Fabrice asked Lysar as they walked up the ramp. “Why didn't you communicate with us in English if you know it?”

“We have visited your planet before but I am wearing a voice synthesizer to communicate with you. It translates as we speak,” he explained,” but I wanted to see how well you did translating our language.”

“You say you visited Earth before, when was that?” Jeremy inquired, as the ramp shut behind them.

“My people required certain minerals from your planet at the time for our needs and we mined there in the area of what you call Egypt. We built large pyramid structures to produce the energy to send unmanned transports hauling the materials back to our planet,” he told them.

“That's what the pyramids were built for?” Fabrice asked.

“Yes, we built something that could withstand time and natural disasters so our materials we needed could be sent back continuously to our planet without interruption. It was a very simple way to do it and the most efficient,” he explained. “We used solar sails.”

“Did your people then create our race,” Jeremy asked, taking a leap in reasoning based on all the conjecture about how homo sapiens happened to be.

Lysar laughed a bit but answered immediately, not trying to evade the question.

“Primates were already plentiful on Earth. There were eight different species at the time and all we did was to take the most viable one to work in the mines for us and mix our gene pools to improve the biology so they would more easily adapt to our needs. We didn't create you, we manipulated you. Here sit down and strap yourselves in, some of the forces you'll experience might disorient you. We'll control gravity so you don't experience gravitational forces you'd normally expect but until you get used to it you may experience some discomfort. Once in space you'll feel a normal gravitational pull,” he alerted them as he himself sat in the cushioned chair looking like an enhanced Lazy Boy recliner.

They sat there strapped into position as they took off from the ground. Lysar explained it would only take several minutes to join the others.

“Do you have such a thing as teleportation?” Fabrice questioned their new friend. “You know, disassembling a human into its molecular parts to send them somewhere and then reassembling that at the other end.”

“We developed the technology but it wasn't foolproof and too many deaths occurred trying to use it. Even a small thing like a meteorite passing through the molecules of someone being reconstructed was enough to kill them. We could keep from reassembling someone as part of a rock or some inanimate object but if an animal of some sort disrupted a reassembly they might become part of a person. Now we could disassemble again and extract those foreign molecules from it upon reassembly but there were just too many problems with the process to make it worthwhile using except for shipping inanimate objects. The technology could also be used to clone something molecularly once you have the molecular map over and over again...like food. We don't mine anymore for our needed minerals because we can produce them this way once we have the molecular map,” he went on to explain.

The large plasma window in front of them gave both guests a wide view of where they were going and there were three other ship ahead just floating in space.

“We're here,” Lysar exclaimed, arising from his chair. “Everyone...these are our guests from Earth...Jeremy and Fabrice. I'll leave you up to your own introductions as we go so you more easily remember the names. Go ahead and explore the ship with Mydia here. She'll answer your questions and get you acclimated. We're going to be entering the wormhole in thirty six hours so I have things to do. I am not supposed to leave the control deck when I'm on duty and can only disembark when I assign someone else in my place even for a minute.. Strange rules that I'm sure you have.”

Mydia smiled and asked them to follow her. Jeremy was ready to follow her anywhere she led him. She was beautiful and exotic and her uniform clung to he like a second skin revealing what appeared to be the perfect body you might see created digitally on a poster somewhere. Fabrice noticed the attention he was giving her.

“I can see where this marriage will last with your roving eyes,” Fabrice told him as he continued to stare steadfast.

“Are you two a couple?” Mydia asked slightly turning at the comment.

“No. It's just an inside joke,” Jeremy told their guide.

“Inside joke, what's that?” she asked.

“Something funny that's hard to explain unless you were there when it first happened,” he told her not really saying much in the way of explanation but Mydia accepted it as an answer.

“You speak perfect English too. Do you have one of those voice translation things?” Fabrice questioned.

“We all have them and wear them all the time when we're with others that speak different tongues,” she told Fabrice.

“Are there many that do?” Fabrice continued.

“We deal with seven different planets, some inside the galaxy and some outside. We do some trade but not much because of our ability to clone things. We've given the other planets the same ability so there isn't much need for trade anymore. Just reproduce it. Everything we do is basically for the sake of learning and knowledge,” Mydia explained to her.

“Just like Star Trek. That would be a great place to be at. I'm just not so sure how the average teenager on Earth would go for it,” Fabrice told her sarcastically.

Mydia introduced them to several people along their path as they looked over the ship. There were forty five people aboard with science labs taking most of the space. There were sample rooms as well. The ship was a myriad of research facilities and museum. Both Jeremy and Fabrice could spend twenty four hours around the clock studying the things that were there and die of exhaustion.

They ended back on the control deck where Lysar was standing looking out the plasma window. He had just gotten finished talking with the other ships in a joint conference call about their plan entering the worm hole.

“Did you enjoy the tour?” he asked turning to his two guests as they came into the room.

“It was fascinating and informative,” Fabrice complimented the commander.

“I ditto that,” added Jeremy watching Mydia as she went back to her station.

Lysar noticed the attention Jeremy was giving her and commented.

“I'm afraid Mydia is not available,” he told Jeremy.

“Oh, she's married then?” Jeremy wondered.

“We don't have marriage on our planet but she has a biobot that she custom designed some years ago to her specifications that takes care of her every need. She's completely satisfied with it so I think you'd be wasting your time to try and get her interested,” he informed Jeremy.

“A biobot. What is that exactly?” Jeremy asked, thinking he surmised what it was but didn't want to have a false impression.

“It's a biologically designed robot...an artificial man with some very specific design features its owner can make,” he explained.

“Oh...I see,” Jeremy replied simply.

“Honey, I want a divorce. I think I'll go back with them to their home planet,” Fabrice said light heartedly

Lysar overheard her comment, and thinking she was serious, answered her.

“I'm afraid, Fabrice we aren't allowed to take anyone from outside our planet to our home. There are genetic anomalies that might wreck havoc with future generations should they be introduced even with our ability to molecularly map everything. Our chromosomes are close enough where we can produce offspring together but the negative impact might far outweigh the positive,” he enlightened her.

“Wow, don't tell a democrat that on our planet. I was just kidding anyway. I liked the idea of genetically designing your spouse. It might be fun having everything you want them to be under your roof,” she told Lysar who then understood and laughed.

“Feel free to do whatever you want while you're on board. We upped our time schedule to enter the wormhole since we've done everything we could possibly do before we enter it. There's no reason to wait. It would be just a waste of time. We will be entering the wormhole in three hours. In the mean time go to wherever you found to be most interesting and ask questions...spend time there learning. I'll call you when we're ready to start,” the commander announced.

Fabrice went back go the room where various species of plant samples were growing. Her hobby was gardening. It helped release the stress she felt with her job. She had a large garden at home with both edibles and non edibles growing there. Having the chance to look at alien plant species to make comparisons, especially being able to pick the brain of the horticulturist that was there, would be incredible.

Jeremy on the other hand preferred to sit with Mydia at her console but under the competitive circumstances decided to head to the library there and browse various subjects. It was a worthwhile move for the information there was priceless and it seemed he had just sat down to study when a voice came from somewhere in the room from Lysar, telling them it was time to come back ta the control deck.

He and Fabrice got back at the same time, entering the sliding doors simultaneously to the control room. Lysar turned to them after they entered suggesting they take their seats, He had no idea what to expect, if it would be a rough ride or not. He didn't think it would be based on the feedback from the robot, but no one had ever been inside a wormhole before, so no one could hazard a guess what it would be like.

Everyone on the deck took their seats and strapped into them. The commander sat in his and input some things on three dimensional constructs of light that floated in front of him. He gave voice commands as well to steer the ship to the opening. Since his group were the first to discover the wormhole and get to its location he was automatically assumed to be the leader to enter it. The others followed in line as they entered the large hole. It appeared completely black, similar to a black hole, void of any light...stars, planets suns, or anything that emitted or reflected light. Just what were they looking into? The main difference between this hole and a black hole was the gravitational pull. There was none while the black hole would exhibit a tremendous force from which there was no escape once this close.

There was no bumpy ride into this hole, no sound no bright lights, only complete and utter darkness. Behind their ship you could look and see the other ships with a backdrop of stars and other heavenly bodies resting in space. Ahead was desolate and nothing to see. The speed of the ship increased significantly. It was riding the wave of expansion.

“Sir...I believe we have left our universe. Our system has no information here on where we are but it recognizes the effects of our expanding universe we just left. I believe the wormhole has taken us to a different universe or place ahead of the expansion that started with the creation,” she told him, :but that's an educated guess.”

“If that's the case, we are in the Void...the Void that existed before time, before substance, before anything material was. We are ahead of the birth of the universe,” he surmised looking out the window.

“Something had to exist before the universe began because nothing cannot create something. We're in the realm of the supernatural from which material forms were created. Is this the realm of God? Is this heaven?” Fabrice wondered out loud adding to the conjecture of those standing looking at nothing.

“Should we even be here? Are we welcome here in corporeal form?” Jeremy questioned thinking of his upbringing as a Roman Catholic. He wondered about the punishment that might ensue, remembering how the Tower of Babel came to never being finished because of the arrogance of its builders who wanted to build a pathway to heaven and sit at the same level as the Creator.

“Our people were told how to create your race in a dream that our leader, Elo had many years ago by the creator,” Mydia told the room but specifically to Jeremy and Fabrice. Was nothing said or was there no warning about coming here through the wormhole?” she asked to everyone in the room.

“I had a dream three nights ago not to enter the wormhole but I thought it was my own mind and fear dissuading me,” Lysar spoke.

From nowhere a voice spoke.

“What are you doing here in my realm? You are not allowed here. I created your realm for you and can go there anytime,” the voice spoke powerfully. Everyone heard it and was filled with fear. They were well within the Void when the lights in the ship began a rapid flickering and the control system went down for a moment. All direction was lost in that moment and never came back on. The language translation system crashed and became unusable. The people on board ship could not be understood by Jeremy and Fabrice. Neither could they be understood by Lysar or Mydia, or anyone else on the control deck.

Lysar switched on the communications with the other ships and no one could understand the other as they tried to talk to each other. Blank stares on the screens appeared as all those looking into the screens at each other realized they had no idea of what the other was saying.

“I think we're in trouble here, Fabrice,” Jeremy told his companion. “We have no idea where we are or how to get back and we can't communicate with each other to see if any of the other ships have any idea what to do or if they have an idea where we are. We're doomed,” Jeremy told her.

“Can't we just stop and face the expanding universe until it catches up with us?' she asked her boss.

“In theory that might work but when we came through that wormhole, we picked up a lot of speed. We are riding a wave of expansion. The expansion will probably never catch up with us. It will most likely keep pushing us ahead of it like a wave in the ocean and a surf boarder at incredible speed. We won't even be able to break away from it with our engines.. We have no idea where the entrance to that wormhole is to take us back to where we started. We don't know where it's pushed us or know where we are in it, especially without any directional abilities. We might be clear on the other side of the universe, thousands of years away from ever reaching Earth again,” Jeremy sited,

“Great, I'm on board ship who knows where, with an unlimited food supply with my nerd boss ahead of the universe expansion before time exists,” Fabrice complained,” I guess that means an eternity of this, our own hell that we blindly created...not exactly the honeymoon I was hoping for...”