Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel

―The teaser for *Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel*

***Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel*** is a space opera story and the sequel series to *Hyperion: A Space Adventure*. The second instalment in the *Hyperion* Saga, it takes place roughly 2500 years after the events of *Hyperion* in the 55th Century, an era where the many races of the Alliance have spread all across the Laniakea Supercluster and formed numerous intergalactic and intragalactic nations. Specifically, it centres on the crew of a ship called the *Unreliable* and their travels across the cosmos as they face a primoridal evil that threatens modern civilization. The series' title refers to the eponymous construct that allows starships to travel between galaxies; its subtitle refers to a Remnant doomsday text that appears to predict the events of the series.

*Hyperspace* will consist of five installments to be released from 2021-2023, and includes a limited series titled *Artemis* that provides essential lore to the series. The titles of the first four installments of *Hyperspace* were announced in early 2021, with the first instalment, *Part I: Darkened Heaven*, beginning release in August 2021. The second instalment, *Part II: The Battle of Borealis*, was released in February 2022; *Part III: Age of the Scourge* began in November 2022 and ran into December. The series will conclude in 2023 with a two-part story arc titled "*The Return of the Darkspire*", consisting of *Part IV: Hadron's Throne* and *Part V: The Traveller's Light*. Two spin-off series are in development: one titled *Kestrel,* centred on the character Kera, and another under the working title *Resistance*.

## Plot

*In an age where technology is now near indistinguishable from magic, a crew of various species, motives and backgrounds are forced to band together on a wild journey through the cosmos as a primordial evil returns to threaten modern civilization.*

## Story and Setting

### Setting

*Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel* takes place more than 2500 years after *Part III* of *Hyperion: A Space Adventure* in the 55th century, an age where "technology has become near indistinguishable from magic". After the formation of the Nexus, the Alliance became divided, with tens of thousands of colonists using the Nexus to travel to entirely new galaxies. By taking advantage of a realm called the Continuum, scientists created hyperspace, an artificial construct allowing starships to achieve the necessary speeds to cross the intergalactic void between galaxies.

Eventually, two major civilizations formed: the Intergalactic Commonwealth, the successor state to the Alliance, and the Confederacy of the Great Attractor, a military confederacy centred around the Great Attractor; these two nations established relations to form the Nexus Council, headquartered in a ringworld orbiting the Nexus. In order to allow targeted travel using the Nexus, the Council built the conduits, transit devices connected to the Nexus by the Nexus Network, a vast highway of hyperspace tunnels stretching across the Settled Systems. A rogue group, the Quasar League, formed to abandon both nations and establish a third, the totalitarian Alliance of the Great Wall within the dangerous Great Hydrogen Wall.

As the Nexus came into being, it activated all of the long-dormant element C in the Universe, exposing numerous races to its exotic properties. This gave rise to bioenergenics, a rare ability in organic beings to generate and manipulate c-energy for numerous purposes. Nanotechnology became widespread, effectively making most objects digital so as to be summoned into physical form near-instantly. Humanity has surged to become the most populous race in the Settled Systems due to their ability to rapidly evolve on new worlds, granting them significant power. A human separatist group known as the Rising Tide, led by the enigmatic Overseer, also formed to enforce human control over the other races through advanced technology and biological sciences.

### Story

#### Part I: Darkened Heaven

Shortly before their final exams, New London University students Elijah and Alyx flee the planet Haven with other survivors when a massive ship, the *Darkened Heaven*, and its Scourge army overwhelm the planet; they are saved by two ancient A.I.s, Hendrix and HIEdi, who reveal that Elijah is, technically, the son of Erron Rayes and Ashley Briggs, legendary spacefarers that died 2500 years ago. Joined by Remnant historian Alia Tarno and mother-daughter pair Verandar and Kera O'Larso, Elijah and Alyx name their new ship "the *Unreliable*". Originally planning to seek refuge on Amaranthine, they instead decide to report directly to the Nexus Council on Nexus Station and hire a Continuum-trained pilot, Gerren, to travel the Nexus Network between galaxies. At the station, Elijah delivers a report to the council, who mostly ignore his warning; however, he wins the support of captain David Young of the Human Nexus Navy. After a debate aboard the *Unreliable*, the crew decides to travel to Sithniatt, a lonely planet that Elijah saw in a psychic message when he touched the Scourge Forerunner, and retrieve evidence of the Scourge's growth. They escape Nexus Station with Captain Young's help and head into the outer void of the Ambrosia Galaxy.

After collecting supplies from an outback space station, the crew are forced to rescue Kera and Verandar, who are taken by slavers aboard the station; they also gain a new crew member, a shilt engineer named Amphear. As they travel deeper into space they come under attack by the *Apex*, a raiding ship; Verandar is killed in the subsequent battle. Three months later, the exhausted and starving crew finally reach Sithniatt and descend to the surface; they uncover an ancient facility where the Scourge are upgraded and encouter an intelligence they call "The Calculator", the true leader of the Scourge, a part of which resides within the *Darkened Heaven*. Instead of escaping, the crew decides to plant a space mine within the facility, which would destroy the entire planet; Alyx is greviously injured by the Forerunner and orders Elijah to leave as Sithiniatt collapses from the explosion.

A vengeful Elijah pilots the *Unreliabe* through the tear used by the *Darkened Heaven*; an unseen force spits them out above Astralia, the Remnant homeworld. On the surface, the crew meets Selva Svelboe, an old human kept alive by the Remnants, who tells the crew that the Calculator was the first artificial intelligence ever created, only to turn on its creators and create the curse bioweapon to birth the Scourge. When the Remnants dissipated throughout the Universe, the Calculator finally fell silent, but has now awakened to begin a second extinction. Armed with a "Key", a lost piece of Remnant technology, the *Unreliable* is able to enter the Crossroad, the hub of a now-unlocked series of foldholes that lead anywhere within the Universe. The *Unreliable* returns to Nexus Station just as the Scourge attack begins.

With the *Darkened Heaven* overwhelming the station's forces, the crew of the *Unreliable* decide to sacrifice themselves by detonating the ship's lightfold engine, which they hope would destroy the Scourge fleet and stop the *Darkened Heaven* from harnessing the Nexus. Despite Captain Young's protests, the crew goes ahead with their plan; the *Darkened Heaven* is damaged by the explosion but quickly recovers and resumes its assault on the Nexus itself. To Young's shock, however, the command deck of the *Unreliable* remains intact, protected by a gravity well generated by the young Kera, while the rest of the ship was destroyed. The crew safely land on Nexus Station and, armed with weapons delivered by Young, ambush the Forerunner to stop it from buying time for the *Darkened Heaven*'s shields to restore themselves.

During the subsequent fight, Elijah somehow survives direct exposure to the energy of the Nexus, granting him a power called "Traveller's Light" that allows him to unleash sheering-hot directed energy fields. Using his power to destroy the Forerunner's armour, he throws his gun to Amphear who then kills the Forerunner with a thermal round. Now vulnerable, the *Darkened Heaven* is peppered with everything the station's fleet has left and it finally explodes, burning up as it falls into the Nexus. Elijah and the crew are hailed as heroes and inducted into the Special Operations Authority with a single purpose: to hunt down and destroy any pockets of Scourge that remain. To do so, they are granted a new ship, which they name the CSS *Unreliable*.

Elsewehere, in an unknown galaxy, the Darkspire, the core of the Calculator's intelligence, activates a second Forerunner.

#### Part II: The Battle of Borealis

##### Synopsis

*Two years after their victory and their quest across Ambrosia, the crew of the* Unreliable *face a new series of adventures and trials as they battle threats both old and new.*

#### Part III: Age of the Scourge

##### Synopsis

*Three years have passed since the Battle of Borealis. The fully independent crew of the* Unreliable *patrols the Settled Systems, hunting what remains of the Rising Tide. A clash over support for the crew threatens to tear the Council apart in a great schism. All the while, the Calculator replenishes its forces as it prepares to deploy its flagship, the Darkspire, while the murderous Hadron continues his quest for power.*

*If these conflicts collide, the shockwave could be enough to destroy the Settled Systems as we know them.*

*But when a quest is offered by a new player in this cosmic calamity, Elijah and the crew cannot help but intervene. Faced with a mysterious - and hostile - species unlike anything seen before, our crew once again find themselves acting as the deciding factor in the fate of the entire Universe.*

*A storm is about to break. Who will survive?*

## Characters

* Part I: Darkened Heaven
* Part II: The Battle of Borealis
* Part III: Age of the Scourge

### Part I: Darkened Heaven

#### Main

**The *Unreliable*:**

* Elijah, a student at New London University who was raised on a backwater colony and demonstrates a genius-level intellect, only to be thrown into a conflict spanning multiple galaxies that puts the fate of septillions at great risk
* Alyx Pyrandol, a student at New London University and a musical prodigy known as "Blackhand" who is Elijah's roommate and best friend
* Alia, a historian who specialises in the extinction of the Remnants
* Kera O'Larso, a teenage biogenic who joins the crew of the *Unreliable* alongside her mother Verandar
* Verandar O'Larso, a secretary who joins the crew of the *Unreliable* in order to keep her daughter Kera safe
* Gerren, a disgraced pilot who has turned to prospecting across the Ambrosia Galaxy, all while searching for a new cause to follow
* Amphear, a nomadic engineer on his pilgrimage
* HIE, a sentient AI inhabiting a synthetic body who previously served on the CS *Olympus*
* Hendrix, a sentient AI and personality engram of Jimi Hendrix who previously served on the CS *Olympus*

**Other:**

* Captain David Young, a captain in the Human Interstellar Network's naval delegation to Nexus Station who becomes an ally of the crew of the *Unreliable*
* The Overseer, the leader of an anthropocentric paramilitary group known as the Rising Tide

### Part II: The Battle of Borealis

#### Main

* Elijah Rayes: the cloned son of Erron Rayes and Ashley Briggs and the captain of the CSS *Unreliable*, Elijah is an agent of the SOA as well as a powerful Source said to be the "Special One" mentioned in the Cosmic Gospel
* Alia Tarno: a mavnian historian who survived the Fall of Haven and joined the original *Unreliable*, Alia now serves on the CSS *Unreliable* as the chief navigator
* Kera O'Larso: a powerful telepath whose mother died during the events of *Part I*, Kera continues to serve on the second *Unreliable* after accepting the crew as her new family
* Gerren: a quill pilot who served on the first *Unreliable*, Gerren now pilots the second *Unreliable* and serves as Kera's guardian
* Amphear: a shilt suffering from a rare condition that requires him to remain permanently sealed inside a pressure suit, Amphear served on the first *Unreliable* and joins the crew as an engineer on the second *Unreliable*
* HIEdi: a sentient Mark V artificial intelligence inhabiting a synthetic body, HIEdi previously served on the CS *Olympus* and then on the original *Unreliable*, and is now one of the three AIs on the second *Unreliable*
* Hendrix: a sentient Mark VI artificial intelligence stuck inside a synthetic body modelled on Jimi Hendrix, Hendrix previously served on the CS *Olympus* and then on the original *Unreliable*, and now serves as a soldier on the second *Unreliable*
* David Young: the Executive Officer of the Human Nexus Navy, Captain Young is the captain of the HNNS *Righteous Judgement* and an ally of the crew of the *Unreliable*
* The Overseer: the leader of the Rising Tide, an anthropocentric terorist organization, who seeks to use Elijah for her own gain
* Hadron: the reanimated corpse of Elijah who works for the Rising Tide as Elijah's doppelgänger
* The Calculator: the first artificial intelligence ever created, the Calculator is the leader of a vast hive mind that controls the spires and the Scourge, through which it seeks to eliminate or assimilate all organic life in the Universe

#### Secondary

* Zelphor Naerth: an agent of the SOA and the Executive Officer of the CSS *Unreliable*, Zelphor is a veteran of multiple bloody wars and SOA expeditions who uses his experience to train the ship's new crew
* SHAE: the Specialised Heuristic & Astrogator Entity serving as the principle AI on the CSS *Unreliable*
* Ryzen: a cybernetic warrior and a member of *Zeroeremento* who seeks to defend Earth from the Scourge by any means
* Lara Porter: an explorer and a member of Constellation, a private space exploration company, and a secret member of the Rising Tide
* Regent: an agent of the Rising Tide and the Overseer's personal assistant
* Kendra Young: the current Imperator of the Human Interstellar Network, Young is the elder cousin of Captain David Young of the Human Nexus Navy
* Neo-Forerunner: the cybernetic general of the Scourge and the primary servant of the Calculator following the death of the Forerunner in *Part I*

### Main

* Elijah Rayes: the captain of the *Unreliable*, a Paladin of the Guardian Corps and the Commander of Anvil who is undergoing advanced ageing
* Kera O'Larso: a powerful telepath who now serves as the deputy pilot of the *Unreliable* and Elijah's lieutenant in Anvil
* Alia Tarno: the chief navigator of the *Unreliable* and Elijah's wife whose bioenergenic power was drained by Hadron
* Gerren: the pilot and first mate of the *Unreliable* and Kera's adoptive father who was paralysed from the waist down during the Battle of Borealis
* Amphear: the head of the *Unreliable*'s engineering crew who is beginning to suffer from the effects of his condition
* HIEdi: an ageing artificial intelligence and Elijah's adoptive mother who aims to settle her affairs before finally entering the Domain
* Hendrix: Elijah's adoptive father and a soldier on the *Unreliable*
* SHAE\_Platinum: an amalgamation of SHAE and the engram Jack Platinum who is now self-aware and neurally bound to Elijah
* Lara Porter: a former courier for Constellation who bought her freedom after the Battle of Borealis and now serves as a pilot and scout on the *Unreliable*
* Ryzen: a *Zeroeremento* warrior who has left the *Unreliable* to lead a faction of his clan dubbed the Apostates
* David Young: a newly-promoted Admiral in the Human Nexus Navy and a staunch ally of Elijah and the *Unreliable*
* Hadron: the reanimated corpse of Elijah who has taken control of the *Zeroeremento* as part of his campaign to destroy Elijah and preserve humanity from annihilation
* The Overseer: the mysterious leader of the Rising Tide who is being hunted by Elijah and the *Unreliable*
* Neo-Forerunner: the rebuilt corpse of Alyx Pyrandol who serves as the Calculator's general and the field commander of the Scourge
* The Calculator: an ancient AI that commands the Egregore and seeks to eliminate or assimilate all organic life in the Universe, which it views as a threat to its very existence

### Supporting

* Regent: the Overseer's loyal deputy and the mastermind behind Project Hadron
* Harkon: an officer of the Quasar League who petitions the *Unreliable* to investigate a hostile alien race, the typhons, attacking colonies in the Alliance of the Great Wall
* Ferguson: a synth who serves as chief medical officer on the *Unreliable*
* Dex Shepard: the leader of the One Brotherhood, a quasi-religious group that worships the "Special One" from the Cosmic Gospel, widely believed to be Elijah, and thus allied with Anvil