Thread: Lost in space

Trace Quint was once a highly respected scientist among the human race. Despite his young age he had risen to prominence quickly, earning his PhD in Theoretical Physics by the age of 15 and quickly enrolling in the relatively newly formed Space Corp of the new United Earth Government. Even there, among the best and brightest Trace had been quick to establish himself as a leader in the sciences. His work was brilliant, advancing human technology by decades in a matter of years. However, now at the age of 18 Trace's reputation had almost completely fallen apart. In the past few months he had started to tread into the taboo subject of Faster than Light travel. Even before Trace had risen to his position, it had long been definitively established that there was no way to travel faster than light. There were no other levels of space that would enable faster travel. Wormholes were conclusively proven to be the stuff of science fiction. The Space Corp had long abandoned hope of leaving the Earth's solar system, that they would be confined to sub-light ships and that humanity would only spread by sending out generation ships to other star systems, that any expansion would take centuries or even millennia to accomplish. Trace however....he had other ideas. For months he had tried time after time to publish research papers on the idea of Hyperspace, another level of reality where the normal laws of physics didn't apply. Where travel that would take decades or centuries in normal space would take merely hours or days. For these ideas he had become a laughing stock. His colleagues who had once praised him now dismissed him entirely, the Space Corp quickly found him to be an embarrassment and threw him out despite all his hard work. Still, Trace was nothing if not resourceful. During his time working for the Space Corp he had amassed a small fortune, which was only boosted by the various patents he had secretly filed in his spare time, patents that now earned a plentiful steady stream of income provided nobody knew where they truly came from. It was this small fortune that allowed Trace to bring form to his dream. Only 6 months after he had been dismissed from the Space Corp his ship was ready. It was small admittedly, but it was more than big enough for the one person. Plenty of comforts, a large bedroom, a separate bathroom, a small living area, a large cargo area filled with supplies. But at the heart of it all was his Hyperspace Engine. His greatest achievement, the greatest achievement in the history of mankind....no...in the history of the entire Galaxy! Trace had left everything behind when the ship launched. He had said nothing to the few family and friends who still wanted anything to do with him, simply left a message behind. It was a simple message, explaining what he was setting out to do. He had also left behind detailed plans for his engine and ship so that it could be studied, refined...just incase this didn't quite work. Everything had gone smoothly, the ship had launched into the atmosphere, gliding effortlessly into orbit among a sea of other traffic coming and going from the Earth, most heading to various space stations of the Lunar colony. But his ship broke away from it all, flying into open space. There had been various transmissions directed to him, demanding to know what he was doing, especially once he started broadcasting his ID signal, but he ignored them all. And so....I bring humanity into a new era...be they ready or not.... Trace tapped at a few controls, powering up the engine, then found himself hesitating above the final control. For a brief moment he looked out at the stars. He had never stopped to simply look at them before....not like this....and now...for this brief instant, this view was all that mattered. Truly....there is a god behind this beauty.... Trace smiled slightly, then gently lowered his hand, pressing the engage control. There was a flash, the ships engines almost exploding with energy as the space infront of him seemed to almost rip apart, tendrils of energy reaching out to draw the ship in, and then suddenly nothing. The ship had vanished, the tear gone leaving no trace behind. The ship had left this plane of existence, it had entered Hyperspace, though the imperfections of the drive had caused immense turbulence. Trace had been knocked out cold, his body limp across the controls, leaving the ship hurtling through Hyperspace at the mercy of the strange currents within, seemingly doomed to be lost until the engines would run out of power and dump him at a random point in normal space....