Whispers of the Silent Prophet E-Book

Holger Sontag

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 161

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

The crew of "The Silent Prophet" was sent to chart the stars. Instead, they uncovered the unthinkable. For Captain Astrid Wolf and her crew aboard the Silent Prophet, the Orion Nebula was supposed to be the pinnacle of human exploration. But as strange distortions ripple through their ship, dreams turn into nightmares, and an unknown force begins reaching out from the void, it becomes clear that they are not alone. The nebula is no mere celestial phenomenon. McKinney, the ship technician, begins to unravel the truth behind humanity's ancient connection to the nebula and the mysteries that lie tethered within. As reality warps around them and crewmates fall to their madness, McKinney must confront his own transformation. What lies at the heart of the nebula? Will humanity survive its touch?

Leseprobe

Contents

Prologue

1. End

2. Memories

3. Dreams

4. Alteration

5. Leap

6. Stormfront

7. Storm

8. Shadows

9. Patterns

10. Confrontation

11. Ancient

12. Madness

13. Aggression

14. Medication

15. Revelation

16. Influence

17. Incursion

18. Desperation

Epilogue

Prologue

Galileo Galilei loved the evenings in Florence. February had already brought in the first harbingers of summer. He knew that soon the very first buds of the leaves would start to grow on the trees again. But for now, a thin layer of snow softened the sound of the horse carriages passing by his window. The air was filled with the rich aroma so typical of the end of winter. The cool moisture of the night had claimed the walls of the buildings in the streets. As he looked up, he saw not a single cloud hiding the small dots crowding the night sky. The church could say whatever it wanted. He knew that those were all distant suns and other worlds revolving around those suns, just like this one was revolving around its sun.

Last year had been exhausting for him. The church had put shackles on him, made him unable to speak the truth that he could prove. The system designed by Copernicus was worth fighting for in his mind, and his time would come. For now, he had to lay low, and that frustrated him. For tonight, he made the conscious decision to not think about it and focus on the task at hand.

The night was absolutely perfect. It was now or never. He had envisioned a new idea. It had come to him in something of a dream. The Jupiter moons were interesting, but this was so much more than that.

He went back into his study. Piles of papers and notes had accumulated on the desk in the room. He went to the observation window where he had placed his telescope. He picked up the 1.2-meter-long tube and looked at the sky. From his dream, he knew where to turn. Standing on the little balcony, he held his telescope up to his eyes and slowly adjusted the two lenses.

Today, on the fourth of February in the year 1617, Galileo looked through his telescope and saw something new. He did not look at the moons of Jupiter as per usual these days. He looked in a different direction. A direction that up until recently had not been of any interest to him. Recently, when the dreams had started.

He looked in the direction he had learned about. No, he had dreamed about it. It was shown to him in his dreams. A cluster of stars, distant but bright. There they were. But he was astonished as he only saw three of them, not four as he remembered from his dreams. Two were brighter than the third one. He took them down in his notebook: three circles, two closer together and one further away.

1. End

Not every story has a happy ending. Many stories try to make us believe that in the end, every change leads to a resolution—hopefully a positive one. In reality, such an outcome is a rare coincidence. Most real stories do not end on a resolution of any kind. Most don’t end at all. They continue long after the events of interest have played out in unforeseen ways. They may affect the protagonist in ways that diminish all that was gained when the story reaches its last page. They cause happiness after a tragic ending and pain following a happy ending. Only sometimes, in rare cases, can we grasp what will follow once we leave the story. Not because the protagonist dies or a change for an ultimately better world has occurred. We know because the hinted outcome allows us a slight peek into the world that the protagonist must now face. However, we often only understand that we could not possibly begin to understand. Yet, we do get a glimpse of the impact such a situation would have on us just before we leave the protagonist abandoned and hopeless. We put down the book and return to our peaceful lives. We remain in ignorant oblivion of the suffering, confusion, and unfathomable fear that the protagonist could experience as his story continues without prose.

-<>-

The view of the vastness of space all around him was breathtaking and humbling. McKinney knew he could never find the words to convey the depth of his feelings at that moment to anyone. The amazing image his eyes were processing only intensified his sense of dread. He tried to shake the thoughts out of his head and refocus on the task at hand. A spacewalk does not permit slander. Yet, McKinney took the liberty to allow himself a moment of respite before commencing his work. He hoped it would go unnoticed.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty! Ship to Ian, are you still out there?" The earpiece crackled a bit. Yet, McKinney clearly understood the message that Gonzales had tried to convey. Both men had known each other since the academy. They built their bond on mutual trust. It had been unbreakable since their first mission together. In fact, McKinney would likely not even be on this mission if it weren't for Gonzales. He had made a clear request for McKinney to be part of this.

"I am focused, Carlos. I just needed a minute…" That last part was more mumbled than spoken. The dreamscape that had captivated McKinney's mind for that one peaceful yet saddening moment tore him away.

The Orion Nebula had been the subject of many speculations. Some of which lacked hard evidence. That is until about 5 years ago, when mankind first developed spaceships capable of faster-than-light travel. This made exploration of places that had been too far away for field research now possible. What McKinney saw was something no other human had ever been confronted with. He was the first person ever to come this close to the fantastic dreamscape that was the nebula. While human eyes could not make out all the vibrant colors that were assigned by deep-space photography, it was still a humbling view. All that was because of the monthly post-hop routine maintenance work on their communications array.

Many different missions had been discussed. Some had even already been planned for planets that would be closer and just as interesting. Maybe even able to sustain life. Yet, in a final decision for the first long-distance mission, the committee ultimately made its decision. The decision was to tackle the Orion Nebula first. The explanation was sparse. Funding was brought up. The photogenic appeal of the nebula had raised hopes for more impressive reports. The committee at central command wanted to sell science to fund the mission. Thus, part of their mission was providing visually stunning imagery. McKinney didn't really care for the reasoning. He understood that it would certainly spice up the new and often rather dry findings. To him, it was a grand opportunity to get a sight no human had ever had before him.

The four-man crew had started the endeavor one year ago on board the Silent Prophet. It was one of only three space vessels capable of faster-than-light travel. This, however, was the furthest expedition ever attempted, and it was not without its risks. The ships were capable of traversing great distances faster than light. But the technology was still in its infancy, and this trip was considered a trial by fire. They used a time bubble forming around the ship and tearing it out of the known universe into another space-time continuum. This concept had one detrimental flaw: the bubble did not last forever. With a buffer ensuring that the system would not overload, a distance of around 100 light years could be traversed safely. Therefore, the whole distance of around 1,350 light years was separated into fourteen hops. Each covering a specific predetermined distance. After each hop, the crew needed to check and, if necessary, repair all equipment. There was no field test for how such a prolonged exposure to the time bubble would affect the material. So after each hop, a waiting time was issued to properly ensure that the vessel was fully functional and in working order. Central command back on earth recommended a month between each hop. There was no technical reason for this.

They were on their own out here. Communication with Earth was difficult and took a long time. The last communication relay station was in the orbit of Neptune. Even with the superluminal communication the ship was capable of, it would still take years for any communication to reach Earth. The comms array made use of quantum nonlocality to cover light years within relatively short time frames. This method was incomplete. A dataframe would have to retrigger a quantum entanglement regularly to cover the full distance. It was a lifeline and a way to send regular reports, but not a way to get support for unforeseen events. The silent prophet was designed for basically maintaining itself. The crew worked through their checklists to ensure all systems did what they were designed to do. It was a protocol that was meant to be followed. However, McKinney felt his maintenance tasks were more symbolic than true necessities for the mission.

With every hop, the goal had become more visible. The crew grew increasingly excited about the prospect of performing the first real investigation of this area. The team was assigned to investigate several points of interest within the 12-light-year radius of the nebula. They would reach each point with another hop.

The Orion Nebula has been an inspiration for many myths in the past. Most notably, the Maya regarded it as the cosmic fire of creation. This was not so far from the truth. The nebula contains an unbelievably vast and ever-increasing number of new stars being born.

McKinney had the maintenance of the communications array down to a science. He knew every cable and bolt and had the exact plan of action and order of hand movements in his head. He made no unnecessary muscle contractions, and no unnecessary thoughts filled his mind. On the job, McKinney was more machine than human. Off the job, people knew him as a calm, factual, and collected person. That put him in direct opposition to Gonzales, who had always been the more lighthearted one of the two. McKinney had often thought that it was exactly because of their very different character traits that they got along so well.

"Maintenance check of the communications array complete; nothing to report." McKinney was moving back to the airlock when Gonzales's voice crackled an "affirmative" into his ears.

Before entering the ship, he once more turned towards the stunning image of the nebula that had unfolded before him. Awesome and intangible for the human mind. A colorful cloud illuminated by an unfathomable amount of flaming spheres hung in the black nothingness of space. He felt as if he could reach out his hand and touch it. His brain was not able to comprehend the distance that was still between him and the beautiful cosmic object. Then he opened the hatch door and slipped into the airlock. As the artificial gravity of the ship pulled him to the floor, the outer door closed. A hissing sound signaled a successful start to the air-cycling process.

2. Memories

It was always quite a long way down the central corridor of the ship from the airlock to the bridge. At the back of the ship was the engineering bay between the two FTL engines. The airlock was out to the right side. As he walked up the corridor, he first went past the first cross-section with the lab and med bay to the right and the crew quarters to the left. As was the case for all sectors, large pressure doors were in place to separate a section if it was damaged. The crew quarters had a large anteroom right behind the door, followed by the four small crew rooms. As McKinney walked on, he came past the second cross-section. He peeked into the mess hall that was to the left and found it to be empty. To the right was the pod room. A few meters ahead now came his destination: the bridge.

As McKinney entered, he pushed back his sweaty orange hair in a futile attempt to not look like he had been through the wringer. Reporting came first; that was protocol. A shower could be had later. As the door closed behind him with a clean swishing sound, he noticed that Gonzales was there to greet him with a wide smile. At the other end of the room, Wolf was analyzing some of the output from the ship's sensors. As usual, she was wearing the captain's uniform. Even being so far away from Earth and after so many months of travel, formality was important to her. Sometimes McKinney thought it was also because the blue uniform with gold stripes complemented her gray hair. It added some fresh color.

At the control, he saw Duong doing a final check of the ship's routing configurations. She had tied her long black hair into a knot as per usual. She was wearing the pants and shirt of her soldier uniform but had left the jacket behind. She looked up to greet McKinney. War and conflict shaped her face. Still, her beauty remained undeniable despite the small scar underneath her eye. She carried it with pride—and rightfully so.

"Welcome back, dreamer!" Gonzales was being funny. As usual, a broad smile dressed his face in delight. He had grown a well-kept beard that showed the same signs of gray hair here and there as his black hair did. McKinney knew that this would not bother Gonzales in the slightest. He was a walking sunshine.

"You have to admit, even from here, it's an astonishing view," McKinney replied as he combed through his short orange beard. "From out there, it truly is indescribable." With the other two in the room, he would normally not have been so open about his feelings. However, he was still taken aback by his experience. Already, the last few hops had been special. The closer they got to the nebula, the more extreme his feelings toward it were. He could not explain why.

"I need to report to the captain," McKinney said. He put his hand on Gonzales's shoulder and slowly walked toward Wolf. It was a gesture that reflected brotherhood.

Seeing him approach, Wolf looked up from the ship's readouts. Her eyes were friendly and her smile warm. She had been in service for so many years, and this was likely to be her last flight. She was regarded as one of the most experienced captains the academy had ever known. Captain Astrid Wolf had more medals to her name than McKinney had years to his age. The rest of the crew regarded her almost as a mother.

"McKinney reporting back from the spacewalk. Comms are fully operational, and no repairs are needed." As he spoke, he straightened his back and made a salute with his hand. It had been a decision to uphold the least amount of militaristic discipline among the crew. It kept the people alert and prohibited slacking. Out here, in isolation, this could become a lifesaver.

Wolf returned the salute: "Thank you for the report." She said with a smile. After a moment, she added, "That must have been quite the experience this time around. I almost envy you."

McKinney tried to smile, but here it was: the situation that he had seen coming. He so wished to share his experience, but he could not possibly find words in any language ever created.

He nodded. "Impossible to describe. It was... humbling." Then he turned around and looked for Gonzales.

He found him talking to Duong, seemingly overlooking a star map. McKinney decided not to disturb the two. Gonzales did have interest in Duong despite her rough and unapproachable militaristic shell. But Gonzales was convinced that that was just for show and deep below he would find - as he put it - the heart of an angel. Additionally, Wolf had made clear that relationships between crewmates were strictly forbidden. So it remained a flirt at best. This could not stop Gonzales. This journey would end at some point and then they would not be crewmates any longer. So now he was "laying a foundation," as he would call it. McKinney did not know if Duong was interested or not. She kept her stone face and focused on the mission. Her long military training had made her not just a good pilot. She was disciplined to the core.

McKinney left the bridge. The door opened automatically and let him through before closing again after him. Doors on this ship could never stay open. This was one of the many safety precautions. Should an air leak occur in any section, then the doors would withstand the pressure easily.

Taking a rest felt like a good idea to him. He had found himself to be rather restless in the past few weeks. Sleep did not come as easily to him as it used to. Stressful situations could cause this. Gonzales had told him that in his capacity as the ship's medical doctor. Yes, stress had certainly weighed on him - on them all for that matter. However, currently this was only getting worse and pulling down his spirits. He did not want to burden the others, so he had not talked about it with anyone else.

-<>-

The crew quarters were the place he usually tried to avoid the most. They had been kept purposefully barren and cold. The crew needed motivation to stay together. Loneliness and isolation could become serious issues. Yet, a small amount of privacy was just necessary on an operation spanning many years. So a middle ground was found. Crew members got their own rooms, but they did not get much additional comfort.

As McKinney stepped into his room, the double sliding door closed behind him. He found himself in the shoebox that had been granted to him. On the left wall was a small closet. It was just big enough for the four sets of standard-issue clothing. On the inside was a small locker for private belongings. The opposite side of the room contained the bed with a frame welded into two ships' inner casings. The right side offered space for a small desk with a lamp and a small computer terminal on it. A chair in front of it was now circumvented by him to reach the bed, onto which he threw himself.

He did not want to sleep, but he did want to lie down. He felt exhausted. The impressions of the nebula still had not left his mind. He wanted to go out again, see it again, get closer to it. He turned to his side and tried to think of something else. However, the images kept coming back to him. With every time he felt as though he was getting closer to the nebula, he could never quite reach it. Finally, he gave up on the idea of resting and went to his desk. Focusing on something else could maybe drive away the thoughts—hopefully.