//------------------------------// // Prologue: In the Void Between Stars *Re-Write* // Story: Out of the Old, Into the New // by SentientHydra //------------------------------// Crew Member #1049 - Audio Log 81 Mark CXIV Exploration vessel New Dawn July 1st, 2159 -log begins- Hello log, this is Chief Medical Officer Susan McConnell aboard the New Dawn, though of course you already know that. As of 3 minutes ago, it has officially been 1 year and 6 months since the Dawn left the dockyards around Mars! Now that might not sound like a significant number, but it will when you remember that it means we're only 2 weeks of travel away from the anomaly this ship set out to explore! I can't wait to get there, not only because the captain promised to break out the champagne; but also that would mean we can finally get the Athena set up, turn this tub around and head home! See you all soon. -log ends- *Transmitted on frequency 2.02333345. Estimated pick-up - 0.74 solar years* * 0.75 light years from the Sun * The vacuum of Deep Space is almost completely empty, formless and dark in a way that a thing defined by its non-existence can be, barren but for the lights that flicker and gleam so very far away, telling of distant worlds and stellar reaches untouched by mortal eyes. But were eyes watching this stretch of space for this moment in endless march of time, they might see one of those flickering lights glow bright, the luminescence building to a painful burn that stuck on the retinas before fading again, the golden light's-source flashing past in a soundless roar of disturbed celestial dust. The mind's eye might turn to follow this bubble as it flew through the inky void, stars streaking with speed as they went by. The 'New Dawn' floated neutral inside the golden bubble of exotic matter, silver surfaces gleaming with reflected light all along the length of the 5.5 kilometre hull; a long angular nose-cone comprised the five decks of the command bridge, going from the captain's suite at the very tip, down to the sensors and communication hub at base. from there the ship deepened and widened into the barracks, 20 decks encased in titanium-alloy plating, designed to house every one of the ship's 3,500 crew, at the back the belly of the ship bulged still wider to accommodate the canteen, AI core and security hub. All followed by the medical, scientific and engineering centres. Along the very back rode the fusion reactors that powered the ship, along with their fuel-tanks. For the last two kilometres of hull the vessel shrank down into a long cylinder only 50 metres across, with thick docking spokes coming off and connecting with the six vast cargo modules, accompanying bulk lifter shuttles and the two scouting ships. At the very end of the ship were arguably the two most important part of the whole expedition, the first being the 'Super-nova' engines, a prototype set of space warping engines that brought the 'New Dawn' up to .5 of light-speed, spewing out a bubble of hyper-agitated plasma and converting it into a shell of exotic matter, allowing the vessel to break several laws of physics as it ripped through the nothingness of space's vacuum. The second set of equipment resembled little more than a folded silver umbrella, tightly held against the long tube at the back. Up on the bridge of the ship, old eyes gazed out at the rippling surface of the bubble, watching the tiny ripples zip over the surface as the exotic matter fought valiantly against the laws of the universe that attempted to tear it asunder, with a sniff of pride the old man turned away from the window, tapping out a report on his personal computer 'Observation Log No#567: Visual inspection of Exotic Matter Field, no visible fluctuation.' Sending the report down to be stored in the black box Captain C. T. Morgan stood up from his reclining chair and tapped another button; closing the panoramic window's shutters and sealing the room against any harmful radiation that came off the high energy field outside, a low enough risk that it was nearly negligible - but at 69 & a half years old you could never be too careful. Coming around the side of his real-wood desk the Captain opened up the personal intercom and opened a line to the sensor deck to get a full spectrum confirmation of the engine's continued function, holding back the smile in his voice as jubilant tones infected the voices of everyone on that deck, without exception nearly all personnel on the ship were excited to finally pass the 18 month mark, they could practically smell the champagne. Sending off the full-spectrum report with a smile as another day passed without incident, the captain decided to act on that celebratory air; he tapped the intercom again and opened up every channel save the emergency line. "Hello crew, this is your captain speaking. The last few weeks have been a trying time, what with fusion reactor 3 going critical, a few breaks in the field that let that micrometeorite swarm in and the hull breaches that followed.” Morgan paused to allow the sombre line to sink in before switching to a happier note. “But as you are no doubt aware, less than 5 minutes ago we officially passed the 18 month milestone in our voyage, in another week our tech-boys expect the anomaly to come into visual range, then we'll drop out of the bubble and go the rest of the way on our standard drives. Only 90 billion miles to go until the champagne is out people, make me proud and keep this thing going that much longer" Morgan had to turn down the volume on the intercom as the ship filled with cheers and shouts of exultation. Moving silently across the room and sinking into his cushy chair the old veteran snickered to himself as reports came in from security teams, confiscating a few contraband alcoholic drinks and low-level narcotics... nothing worth disciplining on this happy occasion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ * A universe away from The Sun * "Spike, take a note. There's something in the sky I want to ask Princess Luna about" Twilight called out the side of her mouth, her gaze glued to the eye-piece of her telescope. Moments later the light patter of feet on the stairs behind her signalled the arrival of her assistant with quill and notepad in claw and an ink-pot held between his teeth, the portly little guy was a little out of breath from the run but he sounded happy, if a bit muffled, as he tried to speak round the ink-pot. "You might want to put the ink down first" Twilight commented, failing to hold back a giggle as her assistant continued trying to talk. Once the ink-pot had been placed carefully on a nearby side-table Spike tried again "I said, 'Sure thing Twi, What are you asking Luna about?" He got ready to write, flicking Twilight with ink to stop her giggling. She shrieked in protest and flailed her hooves at him as the black droplets splattered her from top to tail. "I'll stop, I'll stop!" Spike stopped flicking with a smirk on his face and held the quill as it was meant to be used, Twilight stuck her - now splotchy- tongue out at him and spat out a little wayward ink into a plant-pot, turning back to the telescope she dictated. "Right then, get this down if you have any ink left. Dear Princess Luna, I'm writing today to ask about a strange phenomena I spotted in the night sky. I'm sure it's nothing, but I can't help but be curious. What exactly is the object at NCP 050, 200? It looks like a spatial distortion, or a... Spike, you need to note this down." Twilight raised an eyebrow at her assistant, who was looking back in abject confusion with the quill resting just above the page. He queried "uh.. How d'you spell 'phenomena'?" Twilight sighed a little and spelled it out, waited for Spike to catch up writing, and began to speak again when he stopped once more with confusion again etched on his face, hesitating and crossing something out before asking "um... 'spatial distortion?'" Twilight face-hoofed and spelled the two words out slowly, rolling her eyes as the little dragon with the quill stuck his forked tongue out to concentrate on memorising the new vocabulary, once the difficult words were scrawled out she continued her dictation. "... or a dimensional tear perhaps" The quill ceased scratching and the look of confusion returned. Twilight repressed a growl of frustration and asked. "What?" flatly. Spike looked sheepish "Sorry Twi, 'Dimensional?" The purple unicorn patted the shoulder of her purple scaled friend. giving him a reassuring smile. She felt a little guilty for making him nervous. "It's fine, you're just a baby after all. 'D-I-M-E-N-S-I-O-N-A-L'." The dragon nodded and went back to writing, when the rest of the letter passed without incident, Spike handed the scroll over to Twilight to sign her name, seal it with wax and enchant it with a spell; he took it back with a smile and huffed flames onto the paper, watching as the sparkling smoke flew up and out the window on the way to its destination. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Luna was bored to tears and frustrated beyond reason as more and more of her time was wasted. How did her sister do this every day? How did she stop herself going mad? The nobles were arrayed against her, hooves clacking on the floor as they all vied for her attention on whatever trivial matter they decided to bring to the Night Court, with all the common petitions and truly important decisions made during the day, the night was filled with the boring minutiae that her bigger sister overlooked. Lounging on her throne with a glazed look in her eyes Luna tried unsuccessfully to separate any one voice from the incessant babbling, she could always use the Royal Canterlot Voice or call in her guards to force some order upon the rabble, but the nobles would be outraged and the scandal would be unbearable; still it would be nice to finally tell Celestia that she had got all the business of the court done, instead of sitting through yet another smirk as the paperwork and requests piled up on the breakfast/supper table. But luck saved the day, just when one indignant noble forced his way to the head of the pack and began his demands, just when Luna's patience finally snapped and the goddess stood and began calling for the guards, there was a gentle 'POP' as a puff of smoke that floated inside swirled into a ball of flame, vanished with a flash and left a wax sealed scroll in its place. All eyes in the room followed the roll of paper when it dropped onto the floor in front of a startled Luna, rolling slowly away from the throne. The foremost noble raised his perfectly trimmed eyebrow and flared his horn, picking up the scroll in a mauve magical aura and raising it up to his eyes. "To Princess Luna, From Twilight Sparkle?" He read the scribbled text aloud, and seemed about to form a question when the scroll was suddenly enshrouded in a dark blue aura and pulled quickly away, the stallion winced at the pain in his horn as his magic was overwhelmed. But his indignant protest was cut off as Luna calmly stated "Mine Sister's pupil, Twilight Sparkle, has written me a letter! It is bound to be important, we declare Court closed until further notice" Court forgotten and scroll clutched under a wing like a prized treasure Luna trotted out of the room without another glance towards the enraged crowd, when the now furious nobles trotted after her to raise a complaint they were promptly cut off by two of Luna's guards, flaring their wings and putting out a hoof to block his path. Before any of the nobles could begin ranting a dozen of the black-armoured, bat-winged guards emerged and herded them from the court with cold efficiency "Night Court is closed, bring any complaints you have to Princess Celestia in the morning." Inside her study Luna tossed her crown into its case and pulled her glimmering shoes off with a quick spark of her horn before pulling herself giddily into a chair at the desk, a letter opener shot from the drawer and flashed across the scroll to break the wax seal, in her excitement Luna simply released her magic mid-flow and let the tiny dagger bury itself up to the hilt in a nearby wall as she unrolled the letter. She read quickly, murmuring to herself as her eyes drank in the cursive and quite elegant hoof/claw-writing, a few words scratched out and rewritten with the correct spelling. As the Night Princess read on her eyes went from giddy excitement and inquisitive curiosity, to mild concern and befuddled confusion "at higher magnification, the anomaly appears to be nothing less than a hole in the sky?" Luna read aloud, her mind reeling with consternation. With a flash her horn ignited and objects flew to her as she ran to the balcony, letter tucked back under her wing while her mind focused on the task at hand, aligning her telescope (A birthday gift from Celly, it was the very best optical telescope the astronomers could provide, the already magnificent spell-work reinforced with enchantments personally cast by Luna's older sister) to the North Celestial Pole and focusing on the coordinates given, she gasped in both outrage and wonder as she spotted the 'hole in the sky', a swirling whirlpool of light above Polaris; Luna cranked the magnification up to the maximum, bringing the hole into sharper focus and seeing that it was what she feared, at the very centre of the whirling rainbow lights she could see the glimmer of stars that were not her own. The Alicorn backed away from the telescope with nothing but worry in her eyes, she bit her lip and thought carefully on her options. She hesitated only a little before deciding on the easiest, galloping out of the room without a care for shoes nor crown and her guards jumping in shock when she bulled past them, turning the corner while they gave chase she opened her mouth and shouted with the full power of the Royal Canterlot Voice behind her "TIAAA!!!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ New DawnMed-bay, CMO(Chief Medical Officer)'s Office Soft white light glinted off the tiled carpet, gleamed off the varnished synthetic oak of the desk, glittered on the array of doctorates and certificates covering one wall and gently glistened in the bottle on the desk. Susan smiled as she rounded her desk, finger flicking out to trace the neck of the object before picking it up, she sat on the edge of her desk and re-read the label again 'Three Oaks Finest - Premium Brandy - Brewed Sept. 2099 ' before holding the clear container up to the light and examining the liquid inside, Her eyes flicking absently to track a few tiny air-bubbles rolling around the inside. She was interrupted in her examination by a feminine voice from the door. "I wouldn't think you the type to be a booze-hound Suzy, I've never seen you drink anything stronger than an Irish Coffee" Susan lowered the bottle a bit quickly back to the desk and smiled a little guiltily at the newcomer, a smartly dressed woman in a red jumpsuit. raven black locks growing out of one side of her head, the other half nearly bald and dusted with stubbly new growth The slightly flustered officer answered quickly "Well the Captain was very generous with the one and a half year milestone gifts Madeleine, it would be a shame if I didn't appreciate mine." Hoping that would be the end of it. 'Madeleine' saw to that, stepping forward and sliding herself onto the desk, picking the brandy bottle back up and tossed it from hand to hand as she spoke. "Really did go all out with the gifts didn't he? I mean this is the real deal brandy, not that synthetic crap you usually get. Did you see that suit of power armour he got the CSO*? It looks like a tank with legs." Susan smiled at the memory, then swiftly moved to change the subject. "Now I'd like not to forget the real reason you're here Madeleine. Put the bottle down and let me get a proper look" Madeleine sighed, setting down the bottle and sliding off the desk "Okay okay... Can you call me 'Madox'? Madeleine is a stupid name." She didn't even close her eyes when Susan leaned in so very close to examine a pale line of discolouration on the other woman's head, a region covering half her face where the skin was much paler and newer looking, sharing none of the tan or weathered look the other side displayed. "Looks like the skin graft is doing well Madeleine, You're very lucky that you weren't closer to the reactor when it blew, if you had been that half of the face would not have been recoverable." 'Madox' winced at the memory, her skin twitching with phantom pain "They're still finding chips of shrapnel in the wall I was been leaning on" After a reassuring glance from Suzy Madeleine let out a tiny sigh of relief. "That's awesome to hear, I wasn't looking forward to getting 'borged' if you couldn't get my face back, Chrome and wires don't suit me." She chuckled " And I'm serious Suzy... Call. Me. Madox." The smile turned into a frown and her tone took on a serious air when enunciating the last three words, but the grump never reached her eyes, which sparkled still. Susan just tutted and gently shooed the woman from the room "Come back if you have any problems Madeleine." When the red-suited woman had been gone for a minute Susan sat at her desk and began sorting out paperwork, trawling through medical records and filling in forms to deal with the last few patients from a minor depressurisation. The CMO couldn't help but keep glancing at the brandy, eventually leaning over and stowing the thing in a secure drawer on her desk. *= 'Chief Security Officer' (CSO) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Canterlot Royal Observatory Despite being rudely awoken from her slumber at an ungodly hour by the booming voice of her younger sibling, Princess Celestia still maintained a warmly enigmatic smile as she walked calmly along, there had only been time to slip her crown haphazardly atop her royal head before Luna had unceremoniously shunted her from the royal bedchamber, babbling something about holes in the sky and angry nobles. Celestias' unshod hoofs clopped on the marble floor in a slow rhythm in contrast to the nervous tip-tap of Luna's own, still maintaining a calm tone (with a tiny tremble of irritation) the older alicorn asked a little sleepily "As much as I do love you sister, perhaps this would be made simpler if we all calmed down, and you explained exactly what made you abandon your courtly duties and rush to drag me from my bed at this hour?" Luna danced in place with a mix of impatience and worry as her sister made her slow way down the corridor towards the observatory, at times the sedate pace at which the sun princess approached problems irritated her. "It is terrible sister, something or someone has been playing tricks with my sky" Celestia quirked an eyebrow "Playing tricks? I have been awoken from my slumber for somepony's skyward jokes?" Though her voice betrayed nothing but calm bemusement, the goddesses' eyes gave away no small annoyance. Pushing her sister the rest of the way Luna quickly adjusted one of the royal telescopes to the right angle and focus, near enough shoving her sister into the viewing screen in her haste. "Nay Tia, it is no jest or jape that causes my worry. See there just above Polaris, a hole hast been opened where before there was naught, in its centre thou can see stars that are not mine. I might never have noticed were it not for thine student's letter" Celestia's eyebrow quirked again, Luna pulled the letter from under her wing and held it in front of the other alicorn for her to read. Glancing between Twilight's letter and the optical screen she ran a few quick calculations and tested a few theories in her head whilst her counterpart of the night stood watching anxiously. Finally she hummed and spoke "Do not fret Luna... Everything is fine. This 'hole' is nothing but a dimensional tear, a wormhole. As Twilight guessed" Luna gaped in shock "A Wormhole!? I shall indeed 'fret' sister, thou speaks naught but idiocy if I am expected to be calm when mine own sky is pierced by some monstrous worm!" Celestia couldn't help it, she laughed then at the sheer naivety of her younger sibling, peals of humour washing away her exhausted irritation and her mask of indifference"Oh Lu-Lu, you know just how to make me laugh" Luna's outrage only grew "Stop this! Thou shows annoyance at but the suggestion of a joke, but then laugh when I attempt to be serious?" "It is nothing to be serious about sister, for all your endless studies and intellectual prowess, you are ignorant of a millennium's progress in the study of the sky. A 'wormhole' is but a nickname for this 'hole' you have seen, a small rip in the fabric of the universe that allows you to see to distant places and other worlds beyond our own" The giggle in her voice died away and her face resumed its mask before Celestia went back to her explanation, Luna sitting silent and fuming with indignant anger. "I am quite serious now sister, I will admit that I have never seen one grow quite so large or remain quite so stable, but a wormhole is nothing to worry about; the magic surrounding our solar system wears the dimensional barrier thin in places, so they crop up quite often. It will no doubt collapse in its own time." Luna sat back on her haunches, lip stuck out in a tiny pout as her thunder and fury was stolen, picked apart by her sister's calm logic. Her voice quavered slightly when she protested "But if this 'Wormhole' doth pierce through to another world, could some monstrous creature not come through and wreak havoc?" Celestia smiled gently again “Given that this one seems to open up into deep space, I would guess not. But if you are so worried sister, then I will pen a letter to the Royal Astronomers Society and ask them to watch this wormhole until it collapses, if anything comes through then we will know” Luna brightened up then, springing onto her hooves “Huzzah! I shall fetch your quill and ink and-” Celestia cut her off. “In the morning, I will pen the letter in the Morning. Good Night Sister” She finished with an air of finality, turning away and teleporting away before Luna could raise a protest. The younger alicorn simply wagged her chin soundlessly for a moment, sighed in resignation, and trotted from the room with Twilight's letter left on the floor behind her. Perhaps she could catch up on her paperwork... Maybe apologise to the nobility before they brought the scandal to the newspapers.