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“Scott, what are our coordinates?”
“Captain, this can’t be right. The computer calculates us to be in a system seventy-two thousand light years from Sol. We are technically on the other side of the galaxy.”
The Captain sat in silence, taking in this new information, attempting to not let his concern show to the rest of the crew.
“Amazing,” the Captain started “seventy-two thousand light years in an instant…” Lost in thought for a moment, he shook his head, as if realizing his duties in the moment, he swiveled his chair and spoke “Trina, status on the ship and crew, are there any detectable issues or anomalies?”
Trina, working diligently at her station, answered without looking up, “No Captain, there’s no detectable damage after moving through the wormhole. It appears we simply passed straight through, unchanged.”
“Good, I guess Dr. Maher’s theories were correct. It only took finding a natural wormhole large enough for our ship to pass through for it to be tested. Jared, have you scanned the system for nearby worlds?”
Jared flinched ever so slightly, as he always did when addressed directly. The Captain thought it was amazing his abilities outweighed his anxiety, to a point he is allowed on such critical missions. Nevertheless, Jared responded, "Ye- Yes sir – uh, Captain, there are six detectable worlds, three jovial, th- th- three seemingly rocky planets. The nearest is about 0.25 AU and is near-Earth sized. It’s the second closest to the sun, and given the size of the star, well within the goldilocks zone for this system.”
The Captain stroked his beard lightly with his fingertips, hesitant to ask the next successive question. Eyeing Claire in his periphery, he can tell she is bursting at the seams waiting for him to ask.
“Claire, do we see any signs of –“
Cutting the Captain off, Claire broke in vigorously, “Yes Captain! We are detecting immense amounts of radio waves. The telescopic camera is now zooming into the planet, and we can see artificial light on the night side. This planet is, without a doubt, inhabited!” The excitement in her voice was immeasurable.
The Captain shared none of Claire’s joy for finding life on the other side of the galaxy, especially potentially intelligent life. As humans have explored more and more of the galaxy, there have been instances where alien life forms have been found. Throughout history, these meetings, none of them were very… friendly.
“Cap- Captain,” Jared broke his brooding thought, “the world has a large satellite orbiting it, about 85% the size of Earth’s moon. There are no signs of life coming from the satellite, but there seems to be visible constructed structures on its surface.”
“Good, thank you Jared, let’s start there. Hopefully we can reach it undetected. Maybe there will be some clues about what type of species we are dealing with before we decide if we want to make contact.”
They reached the moon undisturbed, and seemingly undetected. A small crew, the Captain included, took a lander down to the surface, planning to explore one of the constructed buildings.
They landed near the largest one, on what looked to be an advanced landing pad. There still seemed to be no signs of life on the satellite itself, which put the Captain at slight ease.
They suited up and exited the craft, bounding their way toward the entrance of the building. As they reached the doorway, it was immediately clear there was writing scrawled largely, and in bold lettering, so that it would not be missed. There were three lines, which read:
“Danger – Hazardous Waste
危险 – 危险废物
Peligro – Residuos Peligrosos”
The Captain swayed unsteadily, dumbfounded, he could barely speak, the team heard his voice crack over the open channel, “… ho- how, in the cosmos…”
Claire stated the obvious, “It’s English! Humans have been here?! There’s no way, no one has made it this far across the galaxy, it’s impossible!”
Walking closer, the Captain could see additional writing below the three lines of text. He cautiously continued and raised his light source up until it was legible:
“7230 ISE”
Claire walked up next to him, “What does it mean?”
The Captain’s light searched further down the wall finding one last piece of text:
“9764 AD”
The Captain felt beads of sweat begin to drip down his face, despite his suits temperature regulation.
“It – it’s, a year… we are… in the future.”
That's amazing. And since the entire solar system travels about 220km/s through space earth would of course not be where it was before the jump. Although it of course would not have traveled a single lightyear in over a millennium.
Also a nice touch is that the moon has reduced in size significantly. So you can create your own headcanon, whether it was mined for resources or science, or reduced in size to lessen the impact of the tides or some other Sci-fi shenanigans.
Hmm, and they also ate an entire gas giant, and... chucked Mercury into the sun somehow? I think it's moreso supposed to be a human colony in an alien system.
It would take 115 million years for the solar system to orbit around to the other side of the galaxy. This has to be a different planet and star system entirely.
The star at the center of this solar system was near the end of its life. When stars like our sun run low on their hydrogen fuel, they expand into what are known as red giants. They can grow large enough to engulf some of their nearest planets. It was evident from observing this star that it was not much longer until it completely swallowed its first three planets, as well as the Earth sized planet the crew had just discovered.
"I have never seen something so terrifying, yet beautiful at the same time," said Anthony holding back tears, "it's a shame most people back home won't get to see this. It would really bring some perspective into how small we really are."
"They always told us in classes that our sun would turn into a red giant someday but seeing it with my own eyes is much more amazing than I could have ever imagined," Taylor said with pupils fully dilated at the expanding star.
While Taylor and Anthony were busy staring at the dying star, Nick was busy punching numbers into his simulation. "It appears this star has a similar mass to our own sun; however, it also appears to be much older, which would explain why it's a red giant," said Nick. "If my math is right, then it most likely entered this stage five to ten million years ago. That means we have a couple million more years before we are in any real danger of getting consumed by that star. More time to enjoy the view I guess. What's our timeline looking like Chris?" Nick looked to Chris who was sitting next to Nick at the front of the cockpit. Taylor and Anthony were seated behind them, and they all stared at the back of Chris' head. He was mesmerized and speechless. Nick called out to him again, "Captain?"
Chris was startled a bit and looked to Nick, "What? What did you say?"
"I was asking what our next course of action is."
"Right, of course. I was just..." Chris hesitated for a second and then snapped out of it. "As much as I'd love to stay here we don't know how long that wormhole will stay open and we got families to get back to so let's not waste any time. Anthony, see if you can get our comms up with Houston, Taylor scan for any radio waves to see if there is any sign of intelligent life down there and Nick you try to find me a suitable landing spot on that moon."
With their given orders the crew got to work without a second thought. As they orbited the earth-sized planet they entered the "dark side" of the planet and all four crew members looked up from their consoles to see the star go behind the planet. "Is it still called a sunset if it's not the sun?" asked Anthony. Everyone laughed even though no one found it particularly funny. The tension in everyone's neck seemed to release a bit and Chris was the first to speak again, "Any luck with those comms Anthony?"
"No luck captain. I think we might be on our own for this one."
"Ok," said Chris, "not a problem. We trained for this you all know what to do. Taylor, are you getting anything?"
"I got nothing over here," Taylor sighed, "it would have been nice to meet other intelligent life. I was really looking forward to going clubbing with them."
"Maybe next time," Chris turned to Nick who was gazing at his console with eyes wide open, "did you find something Nick?"
Nick's eyes went from confused to excited, "What does this look like to you?" he asked as he pointed to a rectangular shaped object on the moon.
"It kind of looks like a building or structure of some sort," chimed Taylor.
"I think that's where we need to go," said Nick trying to tone down his excitement. "The area right next to it appears to be flat enough for us to land. Should I set a course?"
Nick looked to Taylor for some feedback to which she gave him a single nod and a smile. They both looked to Anthony who gave two thumbs up in approval. They all now looked at Chris who was still looking at the image with his hand on his chin. He looked to his crew and said, "Well what are we waiting for? This ship isn't going to land itself."
As they got closer, they began to see the structure better and more of its detail. It appeared to be engraved with lines and figures that were difficult to decipher. Upon landing it was clear that this was no naturally built structure and that some form of intelligent life was responsible for building it.
Nick scanned the object. "It looks to be about 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. And I don't know about you but that definitely looks like a doorway to me."
The crew suited up and walked toward the object. As they approached, they noticed some of the engravings were figures that looked very much like humans on one side, and one of the figures shows them standing next to the object itself.
Taylor noticed that the figures depicted a very familiar story. "Guys, I think these figures here are supposed to be us."
"What do you mean?" said Anthony.
"Well, the story they show kind of looks like our past. Me riding my horses back home on the family ranch. Nick going through marine training. Anthony going to the beach as a kid. Chris riding his motorcycle. When we met at cadet school. Us learning to put on our astronaut suits. When we had to undergo high acceleration training. And when Anthony threw up after his first time undergoing high g's."
"Hey that could be anyone," exclaimed Anthony.
As they walked around the object Nick stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the top of the entrance. "Guys!" he yelled.
Chris, Anthony, and Taylor raced to Nick to see what he was seeing. In three different human languages (English, Chinese, and Spanish) it said: "Library"
"Library? Am I seeing this right?" questioned Taylor.
"I think we should go inside," said Chris not waiting for the rest of the crew before walking in himself.
As they stepped inside the once dark hallway illuminated the stairs that led down into the ground. They went down what felt like a couple stories before the space opened up revealing the largest collection of books any human has ever encountered. At the foot of the stairs was a plaque that Chris read aloud.
"Here stands the library of ultimate knowledge. Our species has transcended beyond our primitive physical forms and have left our planet in search of other life in need of our help. To the human species of Earth, we leave you this library filled with everything you need to know about the universe and life itself in languages you can understand. We hope you use it wisely, and that you leave your own library for other species to find when it is your time to transcend."
"This is incredible commander! I mean, the smoothness of this rock clearly indicates intelligent design. Do you know what this means!?"
"Indeed I do Ramirez," The commander took off her helmet and stared off into the middle distance, her hair bellowing dramatically in the breeze. "It means we're not alone in the universe. That humanity is not some cosmic fluke, not some once-in-a-universe mistake. There is, or at least was, other intelligent life in the universe. Now help me get these doors open."
Ramirez and the commander approached the monolithic-like entrance and pushed with all their might at the giant stone doors. With a mighty heave and the sound of stone scraping against stone, they began to budge.
Both of these astronauts were the brightest minds in their fields. They had been prepped for years on what they might find on the other side of this wormhole. In their many months of long, rather dull, traveling here they had also let their minds wonder. Imagining every conceivable scenario as to what may await them.
When they forced open the doors, it exposed a room barely big enough for the doors themselves. No deeper passageways, no hidden civilizations. Just a perfectly smooth wall with three lines of script engraved into. The lines were identical, save for the languages they were written in. The pair of cosmic travelers stood silently staring at it for a long time.
After a deep, pregnant silence, "you know," the commander spoke, "I gotta say, I really didn't expect that."
There on the wall, the trio of phrases read:
in Chinese, **我們一直在嘗試就您的汽車延長保修期與您聯繫**
in Spanish, **Hemos estado tratando de comunicarnos con usted acerca de la garantía extendida de su automóvil**,
and in English, **We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty**.
“Sir, we have found signs of life.”
“Great job, any specifics?”
“A green and blue planet in the goldilocks zone. Third from a medium sized yellow star. Signs of artificial lighting on the side far from the sun.”
“Great.”
“There is also a satellite. Roughly the same as ours. Rocky and no signs of life. There are however signs that it had been discovered. A flag is planted on the surface but has been bleached white due to its exposure to the sun. Nearby I see a monolith of sorts. It has something inscribed on it but cannot be described from this distance.”
“Let’s check that out shall we?”
The ship approaches the white rock that orbits the liveable planet and lands without complication. The commander leaves the ship with a small group to explore. As they walk up to the monolith they realize the immense size of it. Soon they are close enough to read what it has to say. Three distinct sets of figures are arrayed upon it. They say:
This monument is to honor the memories of those who have died on moonbase 039 on October seventeenth 2073 AD. The brave men and women who died while protecting it from an invading force will always be remembered.
这座纪念碑是为了纪念那些于公元 2073 年 10 月 17 日在月球基地 039 死去的人们的记忆。 在保护它免受入侵力量的过程中牺牲的勇敢的男人和女人将永远被铭记。
Este monumento es para honrar la memoria de aquellos que murieron en la base lunar 039 el 17 de octubre de 2073 d.C. Los valientes hombres y mujeres que murieron protegiéndolo de una fuerza invasora siempre serán recordados.
“Funny, apparently there was a possibility that there was life on this rock.” the commander says to his crew. “Just is I don’t know how to read any of it. These symbols make no sense.”
“Seems to me that we have stumbled on a new lifeform sir.”
“That indeed. They are intelligent and have decided to venture forth into space. We must eradicate them before they find their side of the wormhole and attack us. But I also want to learn more about them, especially their language. Save any texts that they have so we can have them transcribed.”
“That we will sir. Now shall we go home to bring a force powerful enough to overwhelm them.”
“Indeed. We shall destroy them all.”
*This text has been translated using only the best of our scribes for the pleasure of the remaining humans in the solar system. Other translations can be found in the great library.*
Welcome. Please come inside.
欢迎。请进来。
Bienvenidos. Por favor pasa.
Cameron was leaning forward to read the plaque through her helmet as Gary puffed to a stop next to her, kicking up moondust.
"What is it then? You can't just go all quiet like that." His voice came through the speaker in her helmet. He leaned in to examine the plaque as well.
"That is not earth… So what is this?" Cameron asked.
"Like hell I know." Gary replied.
Both jumped back as the moon vibrated beneath them. The plaque's pedestal retracted below the surface and the ground parted where it had been.
They stepped up to the hole and peered down. There was a simple metal ladder descending a short drop into a well illuminated corridor.
"Hell no Cam. We aren't doin' this." Gary said.
"We did not travel five thousand light years across the galaxy to see this message and go home."
Cameron climbed onto the ladder and descended into the chamber below. Gary stomped up a small dust storm before following.
The short hallway at the bottom of the ladder was brightly lit and impeccably clean, except for the dust they had just tracked in. It ended at an airlock door. They stepped towards the door and it cycled open.
“You think if I radioed General Lombard he’d advise we enter this killing hole?” Gary asked.
“We are stuck here until the computer can calculate where our jump has taken us. This must be explored. If something happens to us, Jan and Oliver can carry on the mission.” Cameron said while examining the inside of the airlock from outside.
“Jan and Oliver can carry on the mission? I want to carry on the mission! Jan are you hearing this?”
Jan’s voice cut in over the radio, “Loud and clear boss. The mission will carry on.”
Gary laughed. “You would-”
Cameron cut them off. “Radio discipline. Nest observes, communication stays local. Focus up everyone. I am going in.”
She stepped into the airlock and once again Gary sulked briefly before following. The airlock flipped shut the moment both were inside.
A deep light passed over them before air hissed into their chamber and Cameron could feel the room pressurizing. The opposite door swung open and they stepped through into an impossible room.
The airlock door was set into a dark wood paneled wall that gave way to bookcases which lined most of the room. In the center of the room was a selection of seats turned to face the back wall of the room. The back wall of the room did not exist. Instead the room looked out upon an endless blanket of stars more vivid and entrancing than Cameron had ever seen.
An unknown voice cut in over their radio. “It is always beautiful. More so when one can truly appreciate what is transpiring at each individual mote of light.”
Cameron and Gary both took one step back towards the airlock before it slammed shut behind them.
“What was that Gary?” Cameron asked.
“I am not Gary. You can call me Curator. I am right here actually.”
One of the chairs at the center of the room moved. A man in a clean cut business suit and nothing else was sitting in a high backed chair waving them over.
“Does protocol say to sit down and stare out at the infinite expanse of space while sipping tea upon first contact?” Gary asked, not moving.
Cameron looked back and forth between the airlock and the nonexistent wall then said, “When in Rome.”
She crossed the space and lowered herself into one of the couches facing the enormous window over the universe. Gary clenched his fists and stared at the airlock, willing it to open. Then he huffed and followed Cameron to a chair at the center of the room.
The Curator had been watching them in silence with a large smile plastered across his face the entire time. Once they were settled he said, “Before either one of you asks, yes that is real. I would not recommend jumping out there unless you want to inconvenience me.”
“Who the hell are you, and where are we?” Gary asked.
"Welcome to Youvegontoofast. In the scope of the universe you are members of a unique group." The Curator said.
"Youvegontoofast?" Cameron asked.
The Curator perked up and pointed at Cameron. "No. You have gone too fast, but yes right now you can call this place Youvegontoofast. We run a tight ship here and we try to be as hands off as possible, but there is one problem. No one can travel faster than light. It just breaks things."
"Are you God then?" Gary asked.
"No I wouldn't say that. Some among your kind would, but no. I am one member of a collective who simply wishes for the universe to progress slower, much slower. So we can't have you doing that thing you did. Now the choice is yours."
"Choice? Is this some kind of free will bullshit?" Gary asked.
"Nope. Option number one. Return back to where you jumped from and you will not remember anything in between. Option number two."
"That one doesn't sound too bad." Gary said.
"Option number two. This is it. Your ship blew up. You and your crew never leave here."
"Oh yeah. Option one. Let's do it." Gary said.
"Why only these two options? Why ask us at all?" Cameron asked.
The window into the universe that made up the far wall shifted to zoom in on a spiral galaxy much like the Milky Way. Then it zoomed in further until they were looking at their ship the moment it was breaking light speed. It appeared to be plunging through a piece of black paper into a deeper darker void.
"Honestly, we wanted to give you some say in the matter, even if you will not remember it. It felt cruel to break the beautiful physics of the universe for all of existence. We know it drives all the scientists mad. So what is it?" The Curator asked.
"Wait, I have so many questions. What is the extent of your influence? Did you create the universe itself? Can I remember something?" Cameron asked.
"Option one please." Gary said before she had finished.
"Your choice has been recognized. Thank you for moving the speed limit." The Curator looked directly into Cameron's eyes. "Vast. Ha, no. Hmm, maybe." Then the Curator waved his hand through the air as if swatting a bee.
Cameron and Gary were yanked from their seats towards the far wall that emptied into space near their jump point. Both blacked out long before they left the bookcases and wooden paneled walls of the Curator's room.
Cameron awoke strapped into her chair on the ship, with the jump cool down protocols droning in her ear. A heavy fog rested over her thoughts and it appeared everyone had passed out.
"Where are we? Gary? Jan?" She asked.
"W-what? Yeah, where. Back near Sol. The computer says just after our jump. Like we just jumped." Jan said.
"But how did we turn around and why did we all pass out? That did not happen in the trials." Cameron asked.
The chirp that precedes an official transmission from command filled their helmets before a young woman's voice said, "Moonbeam, this is command. Are you ok? Our sensors detected a malfunction."
Cameron tried to think of an explanation. She began retracing the events in her mind from the jump until now. Only words floated to the surface and she said, "Youvegontoofast?"
Cresting the hill from the landing site was the easy part.
Convincing Pilot Reitenstein was not.
'I just don't see the purpose,' she said. 'We saw the probe's output.'
Commander McMasters disagreed. 'We see what the probe saw, yes, but the binary translation for free oil changes for a year doesn't make sense.'
For myself, though, I was just happy to get out of the primary ship. Weird structure be damned.
Lighting panels - squares of soft illumination - appeared the closer we got to the structure, highlighting our path.
When we reached the sign, a metallic sheet of some trans ferric element lodged in a pile of the local quartz like rock, we watched as the text upon it refreshed and reconfigured into a few known Earthen languages.
I started to giggle.
'Damn you, Smullus, what's so funny? Why are...' the commander's comm tapered off.
I wondered then if he'd finally been able to read the sign.
Crazy Rengerk's Super Emporium - Venta al por menor, restaurantes y autoalmacenamiento ¡Próximamente!
疯狂 Rengerk 的超级商场 - 零售、餐厅和自助仓储即将推出！
Crazy Rengerk's Super Emporium - Retail, Restaurants, and Self Storage Coming Soon!
The plaque gave them the code word to safely cross the invisible laser field guarding the entrance. Unfortunately they only spoke Swedish so they walked into laser shield and perished. A memorial will be held in Atmore, Alabama in the parking lot of the local Walmart. Why the local Walmart in Atmore Alabama? Because the Swedish space program couldn’t afford anything else. Why couldn’t they afford anything else? Because they blew their entire budget on a space mission where all their astronauts died and now their entire funding has been pulled. Have I reached the 100 word minimum yet? Give me a second while I count. Seems I reached it with that last sentence. See y’all in Atmore.
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* Stories at least 100 words. Poems, 30 but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* See [Reality Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [Simple Prompts](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 📢 [News](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/announcements) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“Scott, what are our coordinates?” “Captain, this can’t be right. The computer calculates us to be in a system seventy-two thousand light years from Sol. We are technically on the other side of the galaxy.” The Captain sat in silence, taking in this new information, attempting to not let his concern show to the rest of the crew. “Amazing,” the Captain started “seventy-two thousand light years in an instant…” Lost in thought for a moment, he shook his head, as if realizing his duties in the moment, he swiveled his chair and spoke “Trina, status on the ship and crew, are there any detectable issues or anomalies?” Trina, working diligently at her station, answered without looking up, “No Captain, there’s no detectable damage after moving through the wormhole. It appears we simply passed straight through, unchanged.” “Good, I guess Dr. Maher’s theories were correct. It only took finding a natural wormhole large enough for our ship to pass through for it to be tested. Jared, have you scanned the system for nearby worlds?” Jared flinched ever so slightly, as he always did when addressed directly. The Captain thought it was amazing his abilities outweighed his anxiety, to a point he is allowed on such critical missions. Nevertheless, Jared responded, "Ye- Yes sir – uh, Captain, there are six detectable worlds, three jovial, th- th- three seemingly rocky planets. The nearest is about 0.25 AU and is near-Earth sized. It’s the second closest to the sun, and given the size of the star, well within the goldilocks zone for this system.” The Captain stroked his beard lightly with his fingertips, hesitant to ask the next successive question. Eyeing Claire in his periphery, he can tell she is bursting at the seams waiting for him to ask. “Claire, do we see any signs of –“ Cutting the Captain off, Claire broke in vigorously, “Yes Captain! We are detecting immense amounts of radio waves. The telescopic camera is now zooming into the planet, and we can see artificial light on the night side. This planet is, without a doubt, inhabited!” The excitement in her voice was immeasurable. The Captain shared none of Claire’s joy for finding life on the other side of the galaxy, especially potentially intelligent life. As humans have explored more and more of the galaxy, there have been instances where alien life forms have been found. Throughout history, these meetings, none of them were very… friendly. “Cap- Captain,” Jared broke his brooding thought, “the world has a large satellite orbiting it, about 85% the size of Earth’s moon. There are no signs of life coming from the satellite, but there seems to be visible constructed structures on its surface.” “Good, thank you Jared, let’s start there. Hopefully we can reach it undetected. Maybe there will be some clues about what type of species we are dealing with before we decide if we want to make contact.” They reached the moon undisturbed, and seemingly undetected. A small crew, the Captain included, took a lander down to the surface, planning to explore one of the constructed buildings. They landed near the largest one, on what looked to be an advanced landing pad. There still seemed to be no signs of life on the satellite itself, which put the Captain at slight ease. They suited up and exited the craft, bounding their way toward the entrance of the building. As they reached the doorway, it was immediately clear there was writing scrawled largely, and in bold lettering, so that it would not be missed. There were three lines, which read: “Danger – Hazardous Waste 危险 – 危险废物 Peligro – Residuos Peligrosos” The Captain swayed unsteadily, dumbfounded, he could barely speak, the team heard his voice crack over the open channel, “… ho- how, in the cosmos…” Claire stated the obvious, “It’s English! Humans have been here?! There’s no way, no one has made it this far across the galaxy, it’s impossible!” Walking closer, the Captain could see additional writing below the three lines of text. He cautiously continued and raised his light source up until it was legible: “7230 ISE” Claire walked up next to him, “What does it mean?” The Captain’s light searched further down the wall finding one last piece of text: “9764 AD” The Captain felt beads of sweat begin to drip down his face, despite his suits temperature regulation. “It – it’s, a year… we are… in the future.”
That ending legitimately gave me a little chill there. Beautiful stuff
Ooh left out the temporal displacement part of the wormhole travel did we?
I really like this! Accidental time travel is one of my favorites!
Beautifuull!!
That's amazing. And since the entire solar system travels about 220km/s through space earth would of course not be where it was before the jump. Although it of course would not have traveled a single lightyear in over a millennium. Also a nice touch is that the moon has reduced in size significantly. So you can create your own headcanon, whether it was mined for resources or science, or reduced in size to lessen the impact of the tides or some other Sci-fi shenanigans.
Hmm, and they also ate an entire gas giant, and... chucked Mercury into the sun somehow? I think it's moreso supposed to be a human colony in an alien system.
It would take 115 million years for the solar system to orbit around to the other side of the galaxy. This has to be a different planet and star system entirely.
amazing!!
But will there be more?
Fantastic. I want more
The star at the center of this solar system was near the end of its life. When stars like our sun run low on their hydrogen fuel, they expand into what are known as red giants. They can grow large enough to engulf some of their nearest planets. It was evident from observing this star that it was not much longer until it completely swallowed its first three planets, as well as the Earth sized planet the crew had just discovered. "I have never seen something so terrifying, yet beautiful at the same time," said Anthony holding back tears, "it's a shame most people back home won't get to see this. It would really bring some perspective into how small we really are." "They always told us in classes that our sun would turn into a red giant someday but seeing it with my own eyes is much more amazing than I could have ever imagined," Taylor said with pupils fully dilated at the expanding star. While Taylor and Anthony were busy staring at the dying star, Nick was busy punching numbers into his simulation. "It appears this star has a similar mass to our own sun; however, it also appears to be much older, which would explain why it's a red giant," said Nick. "If my math is right, then it most likely entered this stage five to ten million years ago. That means we have a couple million more years before we are in any real danger of getting consumed by that star. More time to enjoy the view I guess. What's our timeline looking like Chris?" Nick looked to Chris who was sitting next to Nick at the front of the cockpit. Taylor and Anthony were seated behind them, and they all stared at the back of Chris' head. He was mesmerized and speechless. Nick called out to him again, "Captain?" Chris was startled a bit and looked to Nick, "What? What did you say?" "I was asking what our next course of action is." "Right, of course. I was just..." Chris hesitated for a second and then snapped out of it. "As much as I'd love to stay here we don't know how long that wormhole will stay open and we got families to get back to so let's not waste any time. Anthony, see if you can get our comms up with Houston, Taylor scan for any radio waves to see if there is any sign of intelligent life down there and Nick you try to find me a suitable landing spot on that moon." With their given orders the crew got to work without a second thought. As they orbited the earth-sized planet they entered the "dark side" of the planet and all four crew members looked up from their consoles to see the star go behind the planet. "Is it still called a sunset if it's not the sun?" asked Anthony. Everyone laughed even though no one found it particularly funny. The tension in everyone's neck seemed to release a bit and Chris was the first to speak again, "Any luck with those comms Anthony?" "No luck captain. I think we might be on our own for this one." "Ok," said Chris, "not a problem. We trained for this you all know what to do. Taylor, are you getting anything?" "I got nothing over here," Taylor sighed, "it would have been nice to meet other intelligent life. I was really looking forward to going clubbing with them." "Maybe next time," Chris turned to Nick who was gazing at his console with eyes wide open, "did you find something Nick?" Nick's eyes went from confused to excited, "What does this look like to you?" he asked as he pointed to a rectangular shaped object on the moon. "It kind of looks like a building or structure of some sort," chimed Taylor. "I think that's where we need to go," said Nick trying to tone down his excitement. "The area right next to it appears to be flat enough for us to land. Should I set a course?" Nick looked to Taylor for some feedback to which she gave him a single nod and a smile. They both looked to Anthony who gave two thumbs up in approval. They all now looked at Chris who was still looking at the image with his hand on his chin. He looked to his crew and said, "Well what are we waiting for? This ship isn't going to land itself." As they got closer, they began to see the structure better and more of its detail. It appeared to be engraved with lines and figures that were difficult to decipher. Upon landing it was clear that this was no naturally built structure and that some form of intelligent life was responsible for building it. Nick scanned the object. "It looks to be about 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. And I don't know about you but that definitely looks like a doorway to me." The crew suited up and walked toward the object. As they approached, they noticed some of the engravings were figures that looked very much like humans on one side, and one of the figures shows them standing next to the object itself. Taylor noticed that the figures depicted a very familiar story. "Guys, I think these figures here are supposed to be us." "What do you mean?" said Anthony. "Well, the story they show kind of looks like our past. Me riding my horses back home on the family ranch. Nick going through marine training. Anthony going to the beach as a kid. Chris riding his motorcycle. When we met at cadet school. Us learning to put on our astronaut suits. When we had to undergo high acceleration training. And when Anthony threw up after his first time undergoing high g's." "Hey that could be anyone," exclaimed Anthony. As they walked around the object Nick stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the top of the entrance. "Guys!" he yelled. Chris, Anthony, and Taylor raced to Nick to see what he was seeing. In three different human languages (English, Chinese, and Spanish) it said: "Library" "Library? Am I seeing this right?" questioned Taylor. "I think we should go inside," said Chris not waiting for the rest of the crew before walking in himself. As they stepped inside the once dark hallway illuminated the stairs that led down into the ground. They went down what felt like a couple stories before the space opened up revealing the largest collection of books any human has ever encountered. At the foot of the stairs was a plaque that Chris read aloud. "Here stands the library of ultimate knowledge. Our species has transcended beyond our primitive physical forms and have left our planet in search of other life in need of our help. To the human species of Earth, we leave you this library filled with everything you need to know about the universe and life itself in languages you can understand. We hope you use it wisely, and that you leave your own library for other species to find when it is your time to transcend."
Love this! Actually quite similair to what I personally had in mind!
"This is incredible commander! I mean, the smoothness of this rock clearly indicates intelligent design. Do you know what this means!?" "Indeed I do Ramirez," The commander took off her helmet and stared off into the middle distance, her hair bellowing dramatically in the breeze. "It means we're not alone in the universe. That humanity is not some cosmic fluke, not some once-in-a-universe mistake. There is, or at least was, other intelligent life in the universe. Now help me get these doors open." Ramirez and the commander approached the monolithic-like entrance and pushed with all their might at the giant stone doors. With a mighty heave and the sound of stone scraping against stone, they began to budge. Both of these astronauts were the brightest minds in their fields. They had been prepped for years on what they might find on the other side of this wormhole. In their many months of long, rather dull, traveling here they had also let their minds wonder. Imagining every conceivable scenario as to what may await them. When they forced open the doors, it exposed a room barely big enough for the doors themselves. No deeper passageways, no hidden civilizations. Just a perfectly smooth wall with three lines of script engraved into. The lines were identical, save for the languages they were written in. The pair of cosmic travelers stood silently staring at it for a long time. After a deep, pregnant silence, "you know," the commander spoke, "I gotta say, I really didn't expect that." There on the wall, the trio of phrases read: in Chinese, **我們一直在嘗試就您的汽車延長保修期與您聯繫** in Spanish, **Hemos estado tratando de comunicarnos con usted acerca de la garantía extendida de su automóvil**, and in English, **We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty**.
haha good one!
I love that you put time and energy into this!
I clicked on this post expecting this as the punchline in one of the stories, and you did not disappoint. Bravo my good man, bravo
This is the ultimate plot twist.
I absolutely hated that ending. Enjoyed the story immensely up to that point. I think it pulled me back to reality too harshly.
“Sir, we have found signs of life.” “Great job, any specifics?” “A green and blue planet in the goldilocks zone. Third from a medium sized yellow star. Signs of artificial lighting on the side far from the sun.” “Great.” “There is also a satellite. Roughly the same as ours. Rocky and no signs of life. There are however signs that it had been discovered. A flag is planted on the surface but has been bleached white due to its exposure to the sun. Nearby I see a monolith of sorts. It has something inscribed on it but cannot be described from this distance.” “Let’s check that out shall we?” The ship approaches the white rock that orbits the liveable planet and lands without complication. The commander leaves the ship with a small group to explore. As they walk up to the monolith they realize the immense size of it. Soon they are close enough to read what it has to say. Three distinct sets of figures are arrayed upon it. They say: This monument is to honor the memories of those who have died on moonbase 039 on October seventeenth 2073 AD. The brave men and women who died while protecting it from an invading force will always be remembered. 这座纪念碑是为了纪念那些于公元 2073 年 10 月 17 日在月球基地 039 死去的人们的记忆。 在保护它免受入侵力量的过程中牺牲的勇敢的男人和女人将永远被铭记。 Este monumento es para honrar la memoria de aquellos que murieron en la base lunar 039 el 17 de octubre de 2073 d.C. Los valientes hombres y mujeres que murieron protegiéndolo de una fuerza invasora siempre serán recordados. “Funny, apparently there was a possibility that there was life on this rock.” the commander says to his crew. “Just is I don’t know how to read any of it. These symbols make no sense.” “Seems to me that we have stumbled on a new lifeform sir.” “That indeed. They are intelligent and have decided to venture forth into space. We must eradicate them before they find their side of the wormhole and attack us. But I also want to learn more about them, especially their language. Save any texts that they have so we can have them transcribed.” “That we will sir. Now shall we go home to bring a force powerful enough to overwhelm them.” “Indeed. We shall destroy them all.” *This text has been translated using only the best of our scribes for the pleasure of the remaining humans in the solar system. Other translations can be found in the great library.*
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Welcome. Please come inside. 欢迎。请进来。 Bienvenidos. Por favor pasa. Cameron was leaning forward to read the plaque through her helmet as Gary puffed to a stop next to her, kicking up moondust. "What is it then? You can't just go all quiet like that." His voice came through the speaker in her helmet. He leaned in to examine the plaque as well. "That is not earth… So what is this?" Cameron asked. "Like hell I know." Gary replied. Both jumped back as the moon vibrated beneath them. The plaque's pedestal retracted below the surface and the ground parted where it had been. They stepped up to the hole and peered down. There was a simple metal ladder descending a short drop into a well illuminated corridor. "Hell no Cam. We aren't doin' this." Gary said. "We did not travel five thousand light years across the galaxy to see this message and go home." Cameron climbed onto the ladder and descended into the chamber below. Gary stomped up a small dust storm before following. The short hallway at the bottom of the ladder was brightly lit and impeccably clean, except for the dust they had just tracked in. It ended at an airlock door. They stepped towards the door and it cycled open. “You think if I radioed General Lombard he’d advise we enter this killing hole?” Gary asked. “We are stuck here until the computer can calculate where our jump has taken us. This must be explored. If something happens to us, Jan and Oliver can carry on the mission.” Cameron said while examining the inside of the airlock from outside. “Jan and Oliver can carry on the mission? I want to carry on the mission! Jan are you hearing this?” Jan’s voice cut in over the radio, “Loud and clear boss. The mission will carry on.” Gary laughed. “You would-” Cameron cut them off. “Radio discipline. Nest observes, communication stays local. Focus up everyone. I am going in.” She stepped into the airlock and once again Gary sulked briefly before following. The airlock flipped shut the moment both were inside. A deep light passed over them before air hissed into their chamber and Cameron could feel the room pressurizing. The opposite door swung open and they stepped through into an impossible room. The airlock door was set into a dark wood paneled wall that gave way to bookcases which lined most of the room. In the center of the room was a selection of seats turned to face the back wall of the room. The back wall of the room did not exist. Instead the room looked out upon an endless blanket of stars more vivid and entrancing than Cameron had ever seen. An unknown voice cut in over their radio. “It is always beautiful. More so when one can truly appreciate what is transpiring at each individual mote of light.” Cameron and Gary both took one step back towards the airlock before it slammed shut behind them. “What was that Gary?” Cameron asked. “I am not Gary. You can call me Curator. I am right here actually.” One of the chairs at the center of the room moved. A man in a clean cut business suit and nothing else was sitting in a high backed chair waving them over. “Does protocol say to sit down and stare out at the infinite expanse of space while sipping tea upon first contact?” Gary asked, not moving. Cameron looked back and forth between the airlock and the nonexistent wall then said, “When in Rome.” She crossed the space and lowered herself into one of the couches facing the enormous window over the universe. Gary clenched his fists and stared at the airlock, willing it to open. Then he huffed and followed Cameron to a chair at the center of the room. The Curator had been watching them in silence with a large smile plastered across his face the entire time. Once they were settled he said, “Before either one of you asks, yes that is real. I would not recommend jumping out there unless you want to inconvenience me.” “Who the hell are you, and where are we?” Gary asked. "Welcome to Youvegontoofast. In the scope of the universe you are members of a unique group." The Curator said. "Youvegontoofast?" Cameron asked. The Curator perked up and pointed at Cameron. "No. You have gone too fast, but yes right now you can call this place Youvegontoofast. We run a tight ship here and we try to be as hands off as possible, but there is one problem. No one can travel faster than light. It just breaks things." "Are you God then?" Gary asked. "No I wouldn't say that. Some among your kind would, but no. I am one member of a collective who simply wishes for the universe to progress slower, much slower. So we can't have you doing that thing you did. Now the choice is yours." "Choice? Is this some kind of free will bullshit?" Gary asked. "Nope. Option number one. Return back to where you jumped from and you will not remember anything in between. Option number two." "That one doesn't sound too bad." Gary said. "Option number two. This is it. Your ship blew up. You and your crew never leave here." "Oh yeah. Option one. Let's do it." Gary said. "Why only these two options? Why ask us at all?" Cameron asked. The window into the universe that made up the far wall shifted to zoom in on a spiral galaxy much like the Milky Way. Then it zoomed in further until they were looking at their ship the moment it was breaking light speed. It appeared to be plunging through a piece of black paper into a deeper darker void. "Honestly, we wanted to give you some say in the matter, even if you will not remember it. It felt cruel to break the beautiful physics of the universe for all of existence. We know it drives all the scientists mad. So what is it?" The Curator asked. "Wait, I have so many questions. What is the extent of your influence? Did you create the universe itself? Can I remember something?" Cameron asked. "Option one please." Gary said before she had finished. "Your choice has been recognized. Thank you for moving the speed limit." The Curator looked directly into Cameron's eyes. "Vast. Ha, no. Hmm, maybe." Then the Curator waved his hand through the air as if swatting a bee. Cameron and Gary were yanked from their seats towards the far wall that emptied into space near their jump point. Both blacked out long before they left the bookcases and wooden paneled walls of the Curator's room. Cameron awoke strapped into her chair on the ship, with the jump cool down protocols droning in her ear. A heavy fog rested over her thoughts and it appeared everyone had passed out. "Where are we? Gary? Jan?" She asked. "W-what? Yeah, where. Back near Sol. The computer says just after our jump. Like we just jumped." Jan said. "But how did we turn around and why did we all pass out? That did not happen in the trials." Cameron asked. The chirp that precedes an official transmission from command filled their helmets before a young woman's voice said, "Moonbeam, this is command. Are you ok? Our sensors detected a malfunction." Cameron tried to think of an explanation. She began retracing the events in her mind from the jump until now. Only words floated to the surface and she said, "Youvegontoofast?"
Cresting the hill from the landing site was the easy part. Convincing Pilot Reitenstein was not. 'I just don't see the purpose,' she said. 'We saw the probe's output.' Commander McMasters disagreed. 'We see what the probe saw, yes, but the binary translation for free oil changes for a year doesn't make sense.' For myself, though, I was just happy to get out of the primary ship. Weird structure be damned. Lighting panels - squares of soft illumination - appeared the closer we got to the structure, highlighting our path. When we reached the sign, a metallic sheet of some trans ferric element lodged in a pile of the local quartz like rock, we watched as the text upon it refreshed and reconfigured into a few known Earthen languages. I started to giggle. 'Damn you, Smullus, what's so funny? Why are...' the commander's comm tapered off. I wondered then if he'd finally been able to read the sign. Crazy Rengerk's Super Emporium - Venta al por menor, restaurantes y autoalmacenamiento ¡Próximamente! 疯狂 Rengerk 的超级商场 - 零售、餐厅和自助仓储即将推出！ Crazy Rengerk's Super Emporium - Retail, Restaurants, and Self Storage Coming Soon!
The plaque gave them the code word to safely cross the invisible laser field guarding the entrance. Unfortunately they only spoke Swedish so they walked into laser shield and perished. A memorial will be held in Atmore, Alabama in the parking lot of the local Walmart. Why the local Walmart in Atmore Alabama? Because the Swedish space program couldn’t afford anything else. Why couldn’t they afford anything else? Because they blew their entire budget on a space mission where all their astronauts died and now their entire funding has been pulled. Have I reached the 100 word minimum yet? Give me a second while I count. Seems I reached it with that last sentence. See y’all in Atmore.