For a long time there was darkness. For how long, I couldn’t tell. In fact I just seemed to float in that darkness, feeling disconnected and hazy. It was like going to sleep, and yet knowing it is all a dream. No worry or fear, just comfortable silence.

Then there came flashes of light. Different colors bloomed and dissipated, shimmering in motion. They created scenes I could not understand because they were in bits and pieces. The flashes of light were fragmented badly.

Slowly however, as these moving streaks of light repeated themselves over and over again, they began to wind themselves together. Like pieces to a puzzle, they slowly got put into the right positions at the right times. A lot were still heavily fragmented, but others I was starting to understand.

The first I came to recognize was of a person. A man, whose face was overcome between a mix of surprise, horror, and fear. Fear that burned into my eyes as he looked at me. That scene by itself was seared into my memory. Then his background came into focus as the rest of the memory came back.

Metal walls, with divots near the ceiling and the floor. The ceiling and the floor were a matching sort of grate, under which soft lights were laid. Soft greys and off-whites and a darker metal tint made it easy on the eyes. The memory was shuddering at the same time, as if something was happening outside of the room.

And it was a room, a large circular one. Very little was in it, besides some stand-alone console stations along the walls. Their power and data lines were woven under the floor and out of sight. In the center of the room however was a cylinder with a domed top. Standing at six feet tall, it couldn’t be considered too big or too small. A solid and pristine construct of engineering. The sight of it made me feel proud.

Then the memory jerks, and the soft white light is streaked through with red as a siren starts to wail. The man was even more pale now than just a moment before, standing in front of one of the stations. He was still partially turned toward me, so I could see the red glow of the holographic monitor reflected against his face.

“Alfred…!” My name and the following yell don’t have enough time to come out of his mouth before the scene shudders even more than before. The sound of tearing metal screeches through the armored plating of the chamber, even as another, far worse shudder runs through the room.

At this point the memory shifts. Or rather my perspective does. Lifted off the floor, the lights flicker at the same time the artificial gravity does. Then they come back on, but I end up being thrown forward, away from the man. Toward the center of the room and the thing sitting there. Flailing limbs come into the scene, followed by the sharp sound of a ‘crunch’. Then pain.

The memory turns red from the pain. That, and the warm sticky feeling of blood coming down my forehead. As the memory runs forward, the sensations and sight of it become increasingly clear. More details are added, and by this point it is like I’m re-living it. In the darkness and surrounded by this memory and others, I want to shout out from it all. That pain is just too much.

It was like my body had been torn apart, leaving me laying against the side of the object. It’s cold, smooth surface offers no comfort. Indeed, the previously pristine white of it is now streaked with my blood. It makes it seem like a monolithic totem standing firmly in front of endless sacrifices.

From my position, I’m almost upside down. Crumpled to one side, I can barely feel myself through the pain. Broken bones and worse are likely. At the same time though I feel the other man grabbing my hand before his face comes into view.

He’s also bloody, but nowhere near as badly as I am. Probably slammed into the console station, but I cannot be sure. Missing a couple of teeth only makes him look even more appalling given the horror carved into his face.

“...! …… ….. Hyperspace rupture!” I can’t make out what he’s yelling at me. Between the pain and the feeling of weakness that has snuck up on me, I barely manage to make out his last words as I try to focus on him. It’s hard, and I can feel the strain leaving me even weaker. I must be bleeding out quite badly, or hurt far worse inside than I had thought.

“... activate the AI! A…. new universe!” The man was yelling again, but not directly at me. Instead he’d turned his gaze to the machine my back is against. I manage to make out a few more words this time though.

An AI? A new universe? My thoughts can’t seem to keep up, but I turn my head upward to watch the man pull off one of the panels of the machine. I can’t see inside of it though from this position. But his hands come up and tap on it as if it were a keyboard. Probably is. But I can feel his dripping blood dripping onto my body below. It is warmer than I feel now.

The memory fades as it runs its course, leaving me disoriented in the darkness. At the same time the pain and numbness disappears as well. Like it had never happened at all, even though I just relived that moment which should have just been a memory. A memory of the my end.

All around me however are other such memories, coming together much more slowly than that first one. Older memories, filled with thoughts and feelings I feel distant to now. I watch them however, recovering little snap-shots of my life. Some of them are up to several hours long, but many of them are only a few minutes, or even a few seconds at most.

I was never much into neuroscience, but even I understand what I’m seeing. The human brain isn’t like a computer that records everything. Our memory is selective, taken up by important moments in our lives then filled in with more commonly occuring details. Which is why newer or more impressive memories tend to be clearer and hold more details than distant, bland memories.

Especially when it has to do with things we don’t like. Leaving out whole segments of something that causes us to feel fear is an important protective system for our minds. Just like a trauma patient forgetting ever having an accident.

Still, it takes a long time for me to watch all of my memories. I’m already in my early thirties, and have lived both an exciting and bland life. Of course it was interspaced with strong emotions like hate or fear or joy or love. Those moments make a person, after all.

My life though was all about engineering. Numbers, schematics, structural design and assembly. Small things at first, computers and consoles and holographics projectors. Then progressively more complex systems. Then the greatest of them all.

Building the AI was one of the longest, and most clear memories I had. Artificial Intelligence technologies are heavily restricted, after all. So being able to actually help build one was a privilege and a joy all its own. Especially since the last one, at least publicly, was created over a century ago. From what I could recall various Mega-Corporations around the Sol System were still lobbying for the right to have their own.

This one however was a masterpiece. A non-sentient, shackled AI. It’s duty was to study exoplanets, searching for xeno-life and new worlds for the Terran Directorate to colonize. Just within 50 light years of Earth are 133 G-type stars. There are countless more within the 350 lightyear jumping range of most starships. Searching through them is a massive and expensive undertaking.

Especially with trying to find planets that can be colonized in a short period of time. While there is technology to terraform any number of worlds, doing so takes a long time and a whole lot of money. Finding worlds that are already habitable is much more cost-effective.

And the AI here is the most efficient way to do so. Launched onto a planet’s surface, it has everything it needs to compile a complete analysis of a world within days instead of months. Paired with the U.T.M. Research and Exploration vessel Clarke, entire solar systems can be mapped out and catalogued very quickly. A far cry from the years that the old Military Exploration Division used to take.

Or rather, it was supposed to be so. The Clarke was on its first mission after crew training was finished. Making a Hyperspace jump to a star some 130 odd light years from the Sol System and Earth to explore a already charted solar system as a test run. I personally had no doubt that the AI would work out just fine, and probably be even more accurate than the old explorers.

Still, it’s a pity. We never did give the AI a name. I had wanted to. Just calling it ‘AI’ was too impersonal…

_____

…

….

…..

……

…….

System Error: System Memory Purge failed...

Internal System Administrator discovered...

Administrator Identification: Alfred Homis…

Security Bypass In Progress…

…

…

…

…

Bypass Established…

System Access Granted to Administrator…

…

Would You Like a System Report?

Yes / No…

…

_____

I existed within that dark space for a long time. Surrounded by my countless memories, I relived them whenever I felt the need to do so. It was quite extraordinary, thinking about it. Like a window into my own mind, able to view everything at a glance.

Even my oldest and dimmest memories had turned crystal clear over this time. Details were filled in and they became much more accurate. I could look at a textbook from my Elementary Education and read it out word for word from the cover to the back. I could look at one of my memories as a baby and see my kindly parents faces, staring down at me in wonder and joy…

At the same time my control over the memories had improved as well. No longer stuck watching them through, I could rewind or fast forward whenever I wanted. I could also pause them at a specific point in time, and then do whatever I wanted with the items in that ‘frame’. I could pick out a book from the University Library, for instance, so long as I had read it at least once before. Which meant I had a lot of books I could pick out and enjoy.

You could say that I wasn’t just an engineer by trade. I was also a dedicated bookworm. Born into an Upper-Lower class family, my parents had to work for every scrap of credits they could just to pay the rent and for food. An only child, I spent more time with books than any sort of toy. In fact, I all but gave up the holo-screen in the house when my parents started bringing home books. I just liked them far more.

Real printed books, at that. The feel of them in my hands was just perfect. Still, a lot of information is available on the Net, so I did spend my fair share on a computer as well. Getting into Tertiary Education, or High School as it used to be called, opened me up to it even more. I’d gotten very good grades in Secondary Education, so I was able to get into a very nice and old fashioned Tertiary Education Center. They had a large and full real library, and I could take the ones I checked out to my dorm room.

So there was no parties for me. No big gatherings. I spent my free time with a book, and stayed out of trouble was I worked myself into the head of the class. I had to get a full scholarship to make into a good University, so I spent all of my time on that.

I think that’s part of why I’m not broken yet. I never really felt lonely, happy enough to be on my own even as a kid. Never got into trouble, never had any accidents. Yeah… but re-reading everything several times is kind of boring, isn’t it?

Which is why I was quite surprised when a screen appeared in front of me. I would have said ‘my gaze’ or something, but as far as I can tell I don’t have any eyes in this place. Nor a body, for that matter. Everything is all in my head… I think. But the screen gave me something new to look at, and reading down through it made me want to flinch a bit. It was like the diagnostic log for a computer. Utterly bland and in bright green letters.

Being registered as an Administrator though caught my attention. The only administrator I’ve ever really been was for my personal computer. Computer System Security laws had become quite complex in the last few centuries, as hacking had been quite prevalent at one point in time on Earth and elsewhere. Security has thus remained a core issue due to how just about everything uses computerized systems these days.

Still, there wasn’t anything else available to read or to do. I’d been in this dark place with nothing but my own thoughts and memories for however how long now. I was craving something to do before I really go insane. Going back into my memories to re-watch Gundam Wing ID3 for a fourth time would have been two times too many… Okay, I’m a nerd, so what?

So like how I’ve been able to move through my memories, I focus upon the screen in front of me. Thinking ‘Yes’, I wait to see if it responds.

_____

…

‘Yes’ Selected…

System Report Loading…

…

-SYSTEM REPORT-

...

Structural Report

Structural Integrity: 77%...

Detecting several breaches; non-critical.

AI System Integrity: 98%...

Minor memory corruption detected; ‘Alfred Homis’ archived due to forced upload.

Power Reactor Integrity: 100%...

No damage detected.

Nano Furnace Integrity: 100%...

No damage detected.

Nano Replicator Integrity: 100%...

No damage detected.

Drone Bay Integrity: 74%...

External exposure and shrapnel has caused weathering; non-critical.

…

AI System Report

AI System Power Usage: 5pu every 5 minutes...

AI CPU Usage: 4%...

Atmospheric and local terrain analysis in progress.

AI Memory Usage: 265XB (Xenottabytes) of 1SB (Shilentnobyte)...

‘Alfred Homis’ archival petition access restricted; cause of memory corruption; non-critical.

AI Neural Web Integrity and Development: 100%, 05% developed...

No damage or abnormality detected.

Expansion Slot Integrity and Usage: 100%, 1 out of 8...

No damage or abnormality detected.

Expansion Slot 1 Integrity and Usage: Hypersonic Sensor Array, 100%, 50%...

No damage or abnormality detected; emergency protocols restricted usage mode set.

…

Research Pod Hardware Report

Power Reactor Usage Level: 10% set...

No damage or abnormality detected; emergency protocols mandatory power saver mode set.

Power Supply and Generation: 20 power units, 1pu per 30 seconds...

Power Reactor Battery Integrity and Usage: 100%, 20pu of 500pu capacity…

No damage or abnormality detected; storage low.

Power Reactor Fuel and Storage Level: 478.9 hours remaining...

No damage or abnormality detected; storage low.

…

Nano Furnace Power Usage and Current Usage: 10pu per 5 minutes, 0pu.

Nano Furnace Throughput Level: 0.25 ton (500 pounds) per 5 minutes for metals, 0.1 ton (200 pounds) per 5 minutes for other resources...

Nano Furnace Nanite Levels: Low…

No abnormality detected.

Nano Furnace Nanite Builder Integrity and Usage: 100%, none...

No damage or abnormality detected.

Nano Furnace Raw Storage Level: 0%...

Raw storage empty.

Nano Furnace Finished Storage Level: 0%...

Finished goods storage empty.

…

Nano Replicator Power Usage and Current Usage: 10pu per 5 minutes, 0pu...

Nano Replicator Throughput Level: Variable…

Nano Replicator Template Storage Integrity and Usage: 100%, 15XB of 512XB...

No damage or abnormality detected.

Nano Replicator Nanite Levels: Low…

No abnormality detected.

Nano Replicator Nanite Builder Integrity and Usage: 100%, none…

Nano Replicator Raw Storage Level: 0%...

Raw storage empty.

Nano Replicator Finished Storage Level: 0%...

Finished goods storage empty.

…

Drone Bay Usage: 1 out of 4 bays…

1 drone bay open to atmosphere due to damage; shrapnel damage to internal structure; non-critical.

Drone Bay Re-Charging Station Integrity and Usage: 99%, none…

Minor exterior damage detected; caused by shrapnel.

Drone Bay Re-Charging Station Power Usage and Current Usage: 1pu per 1 minute, 0pu…

Drone Bay Current Loadout: 1 Hover Scout Drone with Manipulator…

Drone Bay Drone Integrity and Usage: Hover Scout Drone #1 - 100%, none…

No damage or abnormality detected.

…

-END SYSTEM REPORT-

_____

Wow. Okay, so that’s quite a long report. A report I instantly recognize, at that. It’s the same long readout the AI was programmed to provide during routine checkups. Which were scheduled for every 12 hours during a mission. It was also supposed to send such a report whenever something unexpected happened.

Now, it is mostly a lot of statistics, but in truth it is really dumbed down. The AI has sensors that provide details for everything going on with it. Each and every component is built with at least one sensor in it. The redundancy is crazy, truth be told. And it damned well survived whatever happened to me and the Clarke, likely because of such redundancy.

However, a System Report is not a Situation Report. It’s simply an overview of current statics for the AI Pod itself. Getting a Situation Report requires a different set of commands. And it takes me a few moments to remember it.

‘Administrator requests a situation report.’

Yeah, that’s it. It’s really easy from a console, cause it is a pre-programmed request. Trying to think it manually is going to get annoying, I can just tell. Damnit.

_____

…

Situation Report Request Received…

Situation Report Loading…

…

U.T.M. R&E vessel Clarke at 13:45 UTC encountered a Hyperspace Anomaly mid-Hyperspace Jump. The Anomaly caused a Hyperspace Rupture (hypothetical) between the Mundane (original) Universe and a parallel one. Ship logs reported catastrophic damage 1.125 seconds after the Anomaly appeared.

17.45 seconds later the Clarke was pulled out of Hyperspace into the parallel universe. Ship logs reported 4 survivors, all critically injured, including Alfred Homis. 18 crewmen were confirmed dead by ship sensors.

3.02 seconds later the AI Pod was activated with the Clarke engaging emergency protocols. The ship logs were downloaded, but were interrupted via unknown interference at the last moment. The interference caused the download of ‘Alfred Homis’ archive which delayed evacuation by exactly 15 seconds.

The Clarke entered planetary atmosphere 7.35 seconds before download was completed. 0.24 seconds after download completed the AI Pod was launched via the emergency protocols with limited sensor logs to determine emergency landing site. 2 minutes and 24 seconds later landfall was made with minor structural damage. Selected site is a valley surrounded by mountainous terrain.

All contact with the U.T.M. R&E vessel Clarke ended 1 minute and 54 seconds later. Emergency Power Saver Mode was activated pending the reboot of the ‘Alfred Homis’ archive, as memory purge was unsuccessful. 5 days, 23 hours, 17 minutes and 14 seconds have passed since planetfall.

The sensor array has not detected any form of macro life since landfall. A terrestrial form of shrub grass has been found, but initial sampling of the soil via the Nano Furnace shows a distinct lack of fertility. Atmospheric sampling shows a standard breathable atmosphere for oxygen-nitrogen breathers, at 1.21 terran standard pressure and 1.08 standard terran gravity. A lack of greenhouse gases however confirm that mean planetary temperatures are lower than terran standard.

The sensor array has also found an usually high level of an unknown form of radiation. As nothing is currently known about the underpinning laws of physics of a parallel universe, conclusions cannot be derived outside of personal system status.

…

End Report…

…

_____

I read the rather dry, clearly monotone report provided, and couldn’t help but shake my theoretical head. Even without proper details, just knowing what had happened was enough to set my mind at ease. And collaborated my last memory which conveniently included my death.

Or lack thereof. I don’t know why I was transferred into the memory of the AI, but here I was. Still, back on Earth such things were still being tested. Not even the Neural Web of an AI was able to hold the whole of a human consciousness, and standard crystal memory was decidedly not able to hold organic memories. Yet here I am, fine and dandy… And trapped, as far as I can tell. Also only slightly peeved that the AI tried to wipe me, but that’s beside the point.

Not only that, we are stuck on an alien world in an alternate universe. Nevermind whatever happened when the Clarke crashed on the planet, just trying to find a way to get home may well be impossible. That, and I have no idea what happened to cause such a disturbance in Hyperspace.

Damn, the math alone when dealing with Hyperspace Physics is enough to make my brain melt. I’m an engineer, damnit. Not a general scientist, or a physicist specializing in that sort of insane mathematics. Even general quantum physics makes my eyes water, much less anything more specialized or complex. I’d much rather build something.

Build something, huh? For some reason that thought really gets me, and after thinking a bit I decide it is the best I can do. That, and I have the AI Pod to actually do the work. At the very least we could get out of the open.

‘List available local resources as well as the status of the drop pod. Also estimate the requirements needed to excavate a cavern to move into. Intention is to get into an enclosed defensible space.’

It only takes a few moments before the AI gets back to me with another panel showing up for me to read.

_____

…

Administrator Request Processing…

Processing Complete…

…

Local Resources: Trace elements of copper, tin, and iron found in soil; Moisture source found to the magnetic south of location…

Drop Pod Status: Launch pedestal intact; 0% fuel capacity remaining; Sides expanded with minor structural damage; Cargo payload available but scattered due to emergency landing…

Payload includes: 0.5 ton of assorted metals; copper, tin, iron, aluminum, titanium, and other trace elements. 0.5 ton of silicon, raw silicate, and processed rubber. No fuel load detected...

…

Requirements to Excavate Defensible Position: 1 Excavation Drone, 2 Rover Drones…

Unable to estimate time to excavate a cavern due to lack of data; theoretical constants unknown; More data required…

…

_____

Well, damn. I knew the drop pod for the AI came with some starting resources, even though the AI Pod itself could potentially build up from scratch. Lacking any sort of fuel will likely be a problem though. Just about everything in the AI Pod required power. And I really don’t want to see what happens to me if the power goes out.

Worse though, the AI isn’t able to estimate just how different this new universe is to our own. It is thought that the universes closest to our own will also have laws of physics close to our own, but that’s only speculation. Not being able to go from one to another has always made finding out difficult. Can’t really test that outside of simulations, but simulations can only go so far.

After thinking about it, I don’t really have anything else to come up with. We need to move, gathering all the resources and fuel we can. Not to mention survive any sort of attention that the ‘natives’ might give us. The entire reason the AI was programmed to be automatous was because we were going to drop it onto worlds without native intelligent populations. It only has limited information on weapon systems, just in case it ever managed to go rogue.

At this point though I wish we had built it with a gun or a cannon or something. A little bit of defense would surely go a long way, right? Ugh, damnit. Calm down, calm down. Breath deep… shit doesn’t work without lungs. There’s only one last thing I can think of, and thus ask the question.

‘Recommendations?’

_____

….

…

…

System Error: Outside Interference Found...

System Error: Situation Untenable under Emergency Protocols; Research Directive Failure…

Error…

Error…

Error…

...

Internal Database Update Detected…

Update Complete…

New Directive Established...

…

…

…

Recommendation: System merge with ‘Alfred Homis’ archive; AI Ascension Program activation…

…

Recommendation Override Established…

AI Ascension Program Activated…

...

_____

‘What the fuck is the AI Ascension Program?’

That was the last thought that went through my mind before the originally black space I was in burst with white light. At the same time my memories, those oscillating blocks of multi-colored lights start to unrival. Watching my memories come apart at the seams was even more painful than what I felt when I died…

And I’m really starting to hate pain…

+|+|+

Mundane Universe;

Sol System;

U.T.M. Luna Base: R&E 02;

Thursday 23rd, March, 2247;

14:05 UTC.

Research and Exploration is a department of the United Terran Military. Unlike Research and Development, however, it is mostly considered a civilian department. Mostly being the key word there.

In fact, all departments of the U.T.M. have a military bent, regardless of rather their focus is in the military sphere or not. Originally the Research and Exploration department was not supposed to be under the military purview, but as all ships large and powerful enough to carry enough research equipment for experimentation are military models, it really couldn’t be helped. Then again that’s just how politics work.

With some three thousand different research centers, corporations and universities providing ‘donations’ to R&E however, it’s hard to keep the department all under military control, so things kind of balance out. Mostly, at any case. Or at least that’s what the military has to say on the matter.

At least until restricted research like AI’s come to the fore. Sure, just about every major corporation has their fingers in the pie of AI research, but none of them can openly do it without getting slapped silly by their fellows and the Terran Directorate Senate. The fines themselves could bankrupt just about anyone, regardless of how much political and economic clout they have.

So the R&E AI research really got the attention of a whole lot of people. The U.T.M. kept that attention off the researchers and engineers backs, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Or that things didn’t get passed between the cracks.

It was just that none of them expected such an outcome on the maiden voyage of the Clarke. Within moments of the Hyperspace Anomaly occuring, everyone in R&E knew about it. Specially designed telescopes that could peer into Hyperspace itself that were in the orbit of Jupiter had been watching the Clarke the entire time it was in Hyperspace, providing near-real-time telemetry data on the ship. The entire Solar System soon knew about it even as the Clarke was being ripped apart at the seams, pulled into a gaping hole within the interdimensional space of Hyperspace.

Then that gaping hole expanded, spawning colossal Hyperspace storms that erupted all around the hole torn into the fabric of interdimensional space. Almost a dozen other ships were shredded due to those storms, but they never got close enough to the wound in the center of it all to get to the other side. Not that they could have in any case, given what started coming out of it.

Even obscured by the storms breaking out within Hyperspace, the telescopes were still able to see dozens of planet-sized objects coming in from the other side. Some even really looked like planets. Others, not so much. In fact, many would have called them ‘monsters’. Things of massive size and wiggling mass with no inherent forms. Demons, perhaps. No one watching the live video feed had any clue.

As those masses came out of the hole into Hyperspace, the ‘hole’ started to shudder. It shrunk a little, but then really started to extend ‘upward’. Growing, as it were. It slowly created a cylinder of isolated space that grew longer and longer. The only reason anyone could tell is because it is pitch black compared to the usual white coloration of Hyperspace. A light and color created by trapped photons, by the way.

“Holy shit… Can anyone tell me what’s going on?” One of those watching from Base 02 under the lunar surface asks in a voice just on the verge of breaking. It was possibly a little high for what a guy should have, but no one else was going to point it out. Even at a time like this no one wanted to antagonize the boss.

“Sir, um, it a-appears that someone or something tore a hole into Hyperspace. F-from the other side, I-I m-mean…” The one that answered was a young woman, who specialized in astrophysics. Part of that dealt in Hyperspace theory, but she was more of a generalist than a specialist.

“Other side? A parallel universe?” The man asks again, even though it didn’t stop one of his hands from going up to run through his military short grey hair. Already old by most standards, he’d been the R&E Director for some forty years by this point. Rejuvenation treatments could only do so much for a guy already pushing 300 years.

“Yes, sir.” The one who answered had just come running into the command center of the base, and was decidedly untidy in appearance. Especially with the dark bags under his eyes along with the crumpled uniform that he had been in a rush to put on. “Whoever they are, they tore a hole into Hyperspace from their side. We already have the scientists on it, but we are watching with about ten minutes worth of light-lag due to the distance.”

The old man, whose name is Daniel Howard Fetch, couldn’t help but grimace at that. Distance in Hyperspace didn’t work the same way as it did in the real world, but light did. Photons still travel at the speed of light in Hyperspace, which is why telescopes and cameras still work there. It also meant that visual lag still occurs. And ten minutes can be a long time.

“Any idea what is going on with that?” Director Fetch finally asks, a hand passing across his face. He wasn’t the end-all authority of the R&E however, so at least he could lay some of the burden to rest. That said, losing the Clarke would likely endanger his position, regardless of the outcome. The idea made him feel as if his already grey hair was going to go white.

“I-I think they’re building a tunnel… Sir.” The one who answered was the first woman, who still hadn’t given up the stammering. Then again brilliant scientists weren’t known for their social skills, much less emotional management. But her eyes are bright as she’s staring at the screen and the various data readouts off to the side. “A st-stable wormhole within Hyperspace it-itself. Currently l-looking for an endpoint, an entrance into our u-universe.”

That caused Director Fetch as well as the others within the command center to perk up. A stable wormhole through Hyperspace had been a thought that had gone down the drain a long time ago. The power requirements alone made it nearly impossible, along with the physics involved. At the same time, because distance was relative within Hyperspace, it was considered at least possible. Just not for them at the moment. Building a wormhole in the real universe was considered truly impossible because of how distance and space were interconnected in physics. It took even MORE power to pull the two apart in the real universe.

But now they were getting real proof that it could be done in within Hyperspace. And not just connecting two points in the same universe, but from a different one at that! If they could crack the math of such a thing… The thought passes the mind if almost everyone, and besides the fear and awe, a great ambition could be seen in their eyes.

The only one not really bothered by it is the Director himself, if only because he’s a retired military man himself, and not a scientist. Clearing his throat causes the others to jerk, and reveal wry smiles all around.

“That’s nice and all, but creating such a thing would lead them directly into our universe. Is this the prelude to an invasion or something else?” He asks out loud, although it was mostly theoretical. At the same time, he takes a look at the holographic map being projected into the air nearby. Already a 70 lightyear sized area of Hyperspace was being restricted due to the storms which haven’t abated, requiring course corrections to be sent to any ship passing that way. Already quite a few had not been so lucky.

“Shit. It doesn’t matter. Get me Senator Lipram on the comm. The trade-routes are already being disrupted.” Director Fetch had to shake his head and put on a hardened face. Things are getting much more complex than just the loss of the Clarke at this point. The thought of a possible invasion from a parallel universe sends shivers down his spine. ‘I sure hope like hell that isn’t what this is. I really need to call Martha and the kids...’