NovaCarpeDiem
12-04-2007, 21:18
Space
It is sometimes said that the Cosmos keeps its secrets.
Little could be farther from the truth; every event, from the tiniest motion of atoms and chemical reactions, to the destruction of stars, is carefully recorded and does have an effect -- however insignificant -- on the universe around it. It is a butterfly effect; and those with an infinite amount of time and resources can track every event that has ever occurred to another event that caused it. However, most people do not have an infinite amount of time and resources; not everything can be tracked down.
It is sentience that believes the Cosmos secretive. This may be because sentience, almost universally, forgets; memory of things that occurred before that being's immediate time is absent, and even within the immediate time there are not more than a third of a lifespan's worth, if that. And sentience will be foiled once more today; here in intergalactic space, a broad expanse across which light takes millennia to travel.
It is lonely and remote; far from most standard trans-realspace corridors. And no surprise; the nearest galaxies are scarce in population, only a few nations dominating their planets and stars. Perhaps they are grown old, their resources spent; perhaps they are warlike and most spacefaring inhabitants of the universe avoid them; whatever the reason, this is not a well-travelled area of space. Yet any ship chancing to pass through may detect a small object floating here, if floating is the correct word.
One may alter course to approach it, attempt to analyse it. It is a small pod of metal, about large enough to fit an adolescent human; inside it is an atmospheric mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, and trace amounts of hydrogen and ozone. There is also a single life form, although it appears to be in a deep sleep or otherwise unconscious. The interior is maintained at a temperature of thirty Kelvin; and the mystery here is what exactly it is supposed to be doing.
Apart from the life-supporting atmosphere, indicating Earthlike life, there is no food, no stores. The pod lacks sensors or signals. Not to mention, it is over a thousand light-years from the nearest planet, and that planet (if you check your archives) is inhabited by a decidedly different species. It is drifting, its engines only emitting stray ions; and they are engines of a variety that has never been seen before.
By all rights there shouldn't be anything here in intergalactic space. But the object that has appeared here now could change history forever.... or it could keep it exactly the same.
[OOC: For responders, I've emphasized the isolation of this area, so I'd rather not have 20 different ships jump in. Actually, that's part of the reason I didn't post it in II :P]
It is sometimes said that the Cosmos keeps its secrets.
Little could be farther from the truth; every event, from the tiniest motion of atoms and chemical reactions, to the destruction of stars, is carefully recorded and does have an effect -- however insignificant -- on the universe around it. It is a butterfly effect; and those with an infinite amount of time and resources can track every event that has ever occurred to another event that caused it. However, most people do not have an infinite amount of time and resources; not everything can be tracked down.
It is sentience that believes the Cosmos secretive. This may be because sentience, almost universally, forgets; memory of things that occurred before that being's immediate time is absent, and even within the immediate time there are not more than a third of a lifespan's worth, if that. And sentience will be foiled once more today; here in intergalactic space, a broad expanse across which light takes millennia to travel.
It is lonely and remote; far from most standard trans-realspace corridors. And no surprise; the nearest galaxies are scarce in population, only a few nations dominating their planets and stars. Perhaps they are grown old, their resources spent; perhaps they are warlike and most spacefaring inhabitants of the universe avoid them; whatever the reason, this is not a well-travelled area of space. Yet any ship chancing to pass through may detect a small object floating here, if floating is the correct word.
One may alter course to approach it, attempt to analyse it. It is a small pod of metal, about large enough to fit an adolescent human; inside it is an atmospheric mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, and trace amounts of hydrogen and ozone. There is also a single life form, although it appears to be in a deep sleep or otherwise unconscious. The interior is maintained at a temperature of thirty Kelvin; and the mystery here is what exactly it is supposed to be doing.
Apart from the life-supporting atmosphere, indicating Earthlike life, there is no food, no stores. The pod lacks sensors or signals. Not to mention, it is over a thousand light-years from the nearest planet, and that planet (if you check your archives) is inhabited by a decidedly different species. It is drifting, its engines only emitting stray ions; and they are engines of a variety that has never been seen before.
By all rights there shouldn't be anything here in intergalactic space. But the object that has appeared here now could change history forever.... or it could keep it exactly the same.
[OOC: For responders, I've emphasized the isolation of this area, so I'd rather not have 20 different ships jump in. Actually, that's part of the reason I didn't post it in II :P]