The data book covered an event listed only as [The Derelict]. Approximately nine hundred thirty-nine billion years before, the [Home Away] station had picked up on some other, rather substantial structure entering the system. Except that it wasn’t so much entering as it was skimming the edge of the system like a rock skipping over the surface of a pond—along the opposite bank. It was massive, at roughly twenty kilometers in length, with a width of roughly eight kilometers, and a height of four kilometers. It was as if an artificial island was moving casually through space. The data book covered an event listed only as [The Derelict]. Approximately nine hundred thirty-nine billion years before, the [Home Away] station had picked up on some other, rather substantial structure entering the system. Except that it wasn’t so much entering as it was skimming the edge of the system like a rock skipping over the surface of a pond—along the opposite bank. It was massive, at roughly twenty kilometers in length, with a width of roughly eight kilometers, and a height of four kilometers. It was as if an artificial island was moving casually through space. The Derelict moved in a straight line going “forward,” but tumbled slowly as it moved, resembling a wobbly screw twisting slowly but unevenly through the cosmos. It emitted no signals and was noted to have been of a distinctly artificial shape—it was not an asteroid, a planetoid, or any part of a natural formation. Its shape was smoother, straighter, deliberate, and symmetrical. Upon its discovery moving through the periphery of the system, a detailed analysis was hastily performed to determine if it was active and if it was friendly. There were no signals from it of any kind, and the listless wobble of it indicated that it was either not functioning or at the very least, that it was not under intelligent control—but it’s apparent “forward” movement indicated that it had perhaps, at one time, been driven by someone. Several attempts were made to contact it through a wide variety of communications channels to no avail. Its velocity indicated that it was no longer powered by any artificial means—no engines, no drive system, nothing of the sort was clearly active. Scanning technology from both [Home] (once informed of the discovery) and [Home Away] had established that the [Derelict] was indeed a ship of some kind, that it no longer had power, and that there were no lifeforms alive anywhere on-board, however organic material was detected—albeit, in a notably cold, dead form. The temperature of the ship was no different than the space around it. The ship was deemed harmless and the decision was made to further study the ship by recovering it. Four small interceptor ships were launched from [Home Away] to get a closer inspection of the Derelict. These ships were relatively microscopic compared to the enormous object, being roughly three times the size of an ancient earth-based automobile. They were designed for reconnaissance and offense in the event it might be necessary. They were sleek, and shaped in a flattened spherical design. There are no visible openings or panels, no visible engines or weapons or tools. Nor were there visible doors or even windows, at least from the outside. Despite being roughly five billion kilometers from [Home Away], the highly advanced ships took only a fraction of a second to reach the Derelict. The small size of the interceptors belied an immense and deadly ability to destroy a ship the size of the Derelict almost single-handedly—such was the advancement of the potential—but largely unused—combat abilities of these humans. The interceptors approached quickly, yet cautiously, and circled the massive island-sized structure recording all new information found on it. Large sections were very clearly functional in their design—massive engines that appeared to be designed for outmoded Trans-Warp travel, other engines evidently noted for sub-light movement. Massive door-like panels indicated launch bays for smaller vehicles, however there was no obvious bridge, nor were there obvious weapon systems. Even windows were easily identifiable and the surface had at one time clearly been very smooth, perhaps to hide obvious points such as these, or to create a more stable design, or perhaps even for merely sleek design aesthetics. The surface was fairly heavily pock-marked with numerous dents, abrasions, and scarring. Clear signs of missing outer panels and visible structural damage give an impression of a vehicle that spent ample time moving through hazardous debris fields, if not a terrific war. A few rather large dents on the top of the port side would seem to be the impact points of some rather large astronomical debris, potentially that which caused the structure to wobble in the listless way it was seen upon its arrival. The Derelict was now quite obviously a ship, utterly powerless though it was. After the interceptors had determined a sufficient level of safety and analyzed how best to capture it, six rescue and tow vessels launched from [Home]. These were each roughly four times the size of the interceptors and carried a crew compliment of six individuals per ship. As with the interceptors, the rescue ships were also of a flattened spherical shape, though if seen from above, they were more egg-shaped than round. They were designed with different abilities in mind, as the interceptor is heavily outfitted with weapons, shields, scanning equipment, and is highly maneuverable. The rescue vessels are designed for power and propulsion. They have powerful tractor beams incorporated into the design allowing them to attach to very large objects, which the powerful propulsion systems can then tow said object. The rescue vessels arrived to the Derelict and then took up positions around the ship forming the shape almost of an enormous rectangle around it. They each attached tractor beams, stabilized the gigantic craft and slowed its movement to nearly a dead stop before turning and pulling it back toward [Home]. Even with their small size relative to the Derelict, and the roughly six billion kilometer distance from [Home], the rescue vessels were powerful and advanced enough to bring the entire derelict back in only a matter of minutes. Normally this may take only seconds, and could be done with as few as two rescue ships, but the heavy structural damage to the Derelict indicated higher caution. There was also the notable worry felt by most that the majority of these ships had not been flown in literally millions of years, as it had been long felt that they were no longer necessary. Pilots were un familiar, and several ships—both interceptor and rescue, had gradually been dismantled or degraded over time. The interceptors remained in close proximity moving around the ship the entire time scanning to acquire more and more detailed information. A great many people were involved in the study of the Derelict, which lasted for the next two thousand years before large-scale dismantling of it had finally begun. Eventually it’s technology and materials were added to and incorporated into both [Home] and [Home Away]. What was ultimately discovered was a tragic tale that brought no joy to the people of [Home]. Blink is a science fiction story envisioning a single event around the final star in the universe prior to Heat Death. An imagining of how this future may appear, what form humans would take should the species survive in some capacity. What does the end look like? What's out there? What are the people like? And how does survival even work?
An early short story, it's available at Amazon on Kindle for the bank-breaking sum of one dollar. This excerpt is taking from an early section of the story, but not the opening.
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About My StyleMy biggest inspirations are Rod Serling and various writers of classic E.C. horror, crime, and suspense comics, along with the inventive horror and science fiction of 80's and 90's cinema. So add George Romero, John Carpenter, and Stephen King to that list. This page gives a nice sampling of some of my narrative works. Archives
January 2021
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