Slip Off Into The Night
Preparations had been made in secret and innocuously. Some scientists were tasked with calculating a realtime path into a giant black hole, under the guise of determining a way that it would be possible. This path had been taken from them and programmed into a computer by others who knew not of what they programmed. The computer was then installed by others into a spacecraft, unaware of what had been programmed into it. Someone had been tasked with making a cryo-freezing chamber that could withstand extreme environment and gravity. Since the technology was still a one way trip, they had assumed it was for research purposes for future generations. Others took this unfamiliar new object and hooked it up on the ship. Some had been tasked with disguising a vehicle, presumably a tank, to look like a rock. These panels were affixed to the side, undeployed, under the guise of additional shielding that could be released later in the trip if necessary. Still others filled and decorated the ship with observation equipment and other computers.
The day finally came for the research probe to be launched, to examine the outer reaches of the solar system. It was a day celebrated among scientists, but largely ignored by the general populace because there was a fashion show that day as well. Some knew who had funded the mission, an eccentric billionaire who seemed to rise to wealth overnight, through what some would consider extreme luck, but it quickly became clear he was either intelligent to an unearthly degree or blessed to the same level- truly it was a combination of both. He had then developed cures and remedies for problems the world over. Anyone else would have made trillions by now, but he only kept a small portion for himself, preferring to make the technology as inexpensive and as readily available as possible in each case. He had brought about the Golden Age they all enjoyed now. He had indicated why he took the world stage, it had been for love, but alas she would not have him, and so he became reclusive, only showing at certain times, and less and less now. The probe was launched. Soon out of the atmosphere, they tried sending their first command to it, and a critical failure occurred. The probe floated lifelessly into the dark, to the disappointment of the scientists on the project, but of little concern to anyone else, and of no great concern to anyone.
The world moved on. A few more technologies were produced over the next few years, but the man behind them had not showed for any of the unveilings. He was still hotly debated in the tabloids, right up until the time when he stopped producing anything at all. Papers were curious for a time, but felt that he may have run out of ideas, despite the fact that world hunger, disease, and extra solar space travel had now been unlocked, amidst the other accomplishments. No one guessed the truth.
Their world was sitting atop another. It was one he had hinted at in earlier days, but one that seemed so foreign to their observations that many first considered it the ravings of a madman, and then the way a genius organized his thoughts. He knew that time went on after death for everyone, and through his efforts here this other world had been made much kinder and gentler. He knew God had a plan for bringing it all together in the end as well, and he had held out hope that it would be one he could see firsthand, looking forward to a partnered eternity with his love. At first she would not have him, which was surprising, but not entirely unexpected. He wooed her in the only way he thought appropriate- healing reality all around them in grand gesture after grand gesture. She did not seem to notice though. The world had not pieced together that this research pod had launched precisely the number of days it would have taken to put together after her wedding. It now floated deeper into space, having not failed and then becoming forgotten as once thought, but completing its mission as intended.
The ship traveled near the speed of light. As such, millennia passed on earth, and humanity journeyed to the stars. Record that the pod even existed was lost to history fairly quickly as planets rose and fell all around. Teleportation became well known, and people eventually became aware of the realms they found themselves between, drawing inspiration as he had done before, via whispers from above and below. Space had become a giant sandbox, and morality continued to dance in between the extremes as it always had, now even to the far stretches of the universe and other realms. The truth of soulmates remained locked though, the critical lynch pin that would bring everything together. It was replaced with gravity engines and zero point energy, methods to keep the universe cohesive while those all throughout it advanced with intelligence but without wisdom. All the while he floated through space at a leisurely pace, hidden from view, toward the enormous black hole he had chosen for his final rest. Time passed slowly on the ship, and in a sense did not pass at all for him in cryo-stasis, but outside that bubble it screamed into the future, having forgotten he ever existed.
He approached the event horizon, and the effects amplified further. He made a couple of passes, taking months or thousands of years to do so, depending on your perspective. People had long since developed the technology to come and get him, but his ship had been disguised, so that even one still searching intently would have had no idea where to start. He knew of the "round trip" concept, but assumed no one would ever be able to decipher his meaning, much less pull it off, so the assumption was that the universe would be perpetually filled with bright eyed new humans every generation, blissfully unaware of their connection with each other, as he slowly shuffled off, hoping she would be able to move on as well, having broken his heart without even realizing what that might mean in the grand scheme of things. Without so much as a horn blast to announce it, he slipped beneath the event horizon, still fully alive and unaware, as the cryo-freeze held and he approached the singularity, the great unknown, and the only thing he could conceptualize that might free him from an eternity without her.
The day finally came for the research probe to be launched, to examine the outer reaches of the solar system. It was a day celebrated among scientists, but largely ignored by the general populace because there was a fashion show that day as well. Some knew who had funded the mission, an eccentric billionaire who seemed to rise to wealth overnight, through what some would consider extreme luck, but it quickly became clear he was either intelligent to an unearthly degree or blessed to the same level- truly it was a combination of both. He had then developed cures and remedies for problems the world over. Anyone else would have made trillions by now, but he only kept a small portion for himself, preferring to make the technology as inexpensive and as readily available as possible in each case. He had brought about the Golden Age they all enjoyed now. He had indicated why he took the world stage, it had been for love, but alas she would not have him, and so he became reclusive, only showing at certain times, and less and less now. The probe was launched. Soon out of the atmosphere, they tried sending their first command to it, and a critical failure occurred. The probe floated lifelessly into the dark, to the disappointment of the scientists on the project, but of little concern to anyone else, and of no great concern to anyone.
The world moved on. A few more technologies were produced over the next few years, but the man behind them had not showed for any of the unveilings. He was still hotly debated in the tabloids, right up until the time when he stopped producing anything at all. Papers were curious for a time, but felt that he may have run out of ideas, despite the fact that world hunger, disease, and extra solar space travel had now been unlocked, amidst the other accomplishments. No one guessed the truth.
Their world was sitting atop another. It was one he had hinted at in earlier days, but one that seemed so foreign to their observations that many first considered it the ravings of a madman, and then the way a genius organized his thoughts. He knew that time went on after death for everyone, and through his efforts here this other world had been made much kinder and gentler. He knew God had a plan for bringing it all together in the end as well, and he had held out hope that it would be one he could see firsthand, looking forward to a partnered eternity with his love. At first she would not have him, which was surprising, but not entirely unexpected. He wooed her in the only way he thought appropriate- healing reality all around them in grand gesture after grand gesture. She did not seem to notice though. The world had not pieced together that this research pod had launched precisely the number of days it would have taken to put together after her wedding. It now floated deeper into space, having not failed and then becoming forgotten as once thought, but completing its mission as intended.
The ship traveled near the speed of light. As such, millennia passed on earth, and humanity journeyed to the stars. Record that the pod even existed was lost to history fairly quickly as planets rose and fell all around. Teleportation became well known, and people eventually became aware of the realms they found themselves between, drawing inspiration as he had done before, via whispers from above and below. Space had become a giant sandbox, and morality continued to dance in between the extremes as it always had, now even to the far stretches of the universe and other realms. The truth of soulmates remained locked though, the critical lynch pin that would bring everything together. It was replaced with gravity engines and zero point energy, methods to keep the universe cohesive while those all throughout it advanced with intelligence but without wisdom. All the while he floated through space at a leisurely pace, hidden from view, toward the enormous black hole he had chosen for his final rest. Time passed slowly on the ship, and in a sense did not pass at all for him in cryo-stasis, but outside that bubble it screamed into the future, having forgotten he ever existed.
He approached the event horizon, and the effects amplified further. He made a couple of passes, taking months or thousands of years to do so, depending on your perspective. People had long since developed the technology to come and get him, but his ship had been disguised, so that even one still searching intently would have had no idea where to start. He knew of the "round trip" concept, but assumed no one would ever be able to decipher his meaning, much less pull it off, so the assumption was that the universe would be perpetually filled with bright eyed new humans every generation, blissfully unaware of their connection with each other, as he slowly shuffled off, hoping she would be able to move on as well, having broken his heart without even realizing what that might mean in the grand scheme of things. Without so much as a horn blast to announce it, he slipped beneath the event horizon, still fully alive and unaware, as the cryo-freeze held and he approached the singularity, the great unknown, and the only thing he could conceptualize that might free him from an eternity without her.
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