Wings of Light., No L and no C this time. Ok, there is quite a bit of c. Options

[jack cloudy]

Next one. Ok, several things first.
1: THIS IS NOT FANFICTION. No, this is a story taking place in an original universe. I hope no one minds.
2: Don't expect regular updates. This is an attempt at a professional novel so I want to plan it out and get all the good stuff in it. Foreshadowing, multiple plot lines, character interaction, cool hardware and a god, or maybe two.
3: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Also known as: Technobabble and Handwaves explain everything.
4: The laws of robotics are not implemented here. Sorry Isaac, but I want them to drive the cool stuff. They don't have time to babysit some organic wimps.



WINGS OF LIGHT

CHAPTER 1: Lights, colours, not here.

Without a sound, the SS Hesphire moved to its destination. It would have been useless to expect any sound as such a phenomenon had a hard time travelling through the vacuum of space.
,,This is your captain speaking. We are approaching the wormhole leading to the Eden system. The estimated time for our arrival is approximately half an hour from now. There will be a short burn for course corrections. We advise that all passengers strap themselves in till we’ve entered the wormhole and stabilized our course. If you require any help, our crew is willing to assist you. Thank you.” The disembodied voice echoed through speakers all over the ship.

With this announcement, everyone dropped whatever he or she was doing and moved to the observation deck. Entering a wormhole was always an exciting event for those who were new to interstellar travel. There were also those who were not new to interstellar travel. They also moved to the observation deck, though for a different reason.

Belonging to the second group was Paul Anthony Detroit. Every single cell of his body revealed him as a true veteran of space. He smoothly sailed from wall to wall, without any of the awkward bouncing of the average tourist. His clothes were tight fitting like those worn by all true space farers, yet without looking like a diver’s suit, oversized pyama or any other kind of embarrassing outfit newbies wore. The passengers he passed were mostly less successful in their choice of clothing. Wide, flowing clothes were fashionable these days yet had the unpleasant habit of getting stuck between doors or flowing away from the areas they were supposed to cover. Easy to use belts for strapping down clothes to the limbs were standard issue on civilian ships carrying passengers.

Thanks to his skill at zero g manoeuvring, he arrived well before the other passengers and secured the best place of all, the ceiling. Instantly, a steward pushed off against a wall to reach him.
,,Please mister, you may want to sit in one of the seats. Free floating during course corrections are not advised.” The young man, barely in his twenties, warned. Detroit looked down at the traditional name tag and smiled.
,,Well mister Rein, I can assure you that part of a g is not going to be a problem for me. Unless the SS Hesphire is using an illegally rigged High-performance Fusion torch and will be running multiple gees. In which case I would have to arrest everyone onboard.” He responded with the cool tone of voice that could come from only one kind of person. Military officers, the high-ranking ones.

The steward wisely backed off, allowing Detroit to enjoy the view. The man looked how everyone else entered the observation deck and got strapped in. There was some chaos but the stewards managed to get their job done and everyone strapped into a chair. He smiled again as he thought of the faces they would pull upon seeing a wormhole.
,,This is your captain speaking. We shall initiate our burn in 30 seconds. Anyone who is not yet secured should grab the nearest support and hold on for the next few minutes. Thank you.” This time, Detroit did follow the advise. He reached out and grabbed a small handle jutting out of the glass dome that covered the observation deck at the nose of the ship.

Little puffs of hydrogen jetted out of the minuscule thrusters spread across the Hesphire’s hull. The long cylindrical vehicle turned its nose around slowly. Two minutes later, the thrusters fired again to stop the rotation. Now the main thruster at the far end of the ship fired. Unlike during the turn, the acceleration caused by the main thrusters was felt by the people onboard. It felt as if you were suspended in the air under a parachute with a gentle breeze pushing you along.
,,This is your captain speaking. We are entering the wormhole in five…four…three…two…one…entering now.”

Necks were stretched in awkward positions, eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets. The stars disappeared, to be replaced by pure darkness. Slowly, a hint of disappointment spread across the two dozen or so faces gathered on the observation deck. Detroits smile grew bigger.
,,No lights, no fancy colours, no humming sounds, no sudden acceleration. This ain’t your average holovision show. Welcome to real space. It is boring, it is slow and it rarely takes you anywhere interesting. At least you won’t find bad looking aliens with worse looking rayguns at every corner.” He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. Then, he laughed. Yes, the passengers would be angry with him for the rest of the trip but why should he care? It would only be a week or so and then he would be back where he was supposed to be. On a ship of his own. One with guns, big guns.
“And twenty-two wormholes away from the action.”

[jack cloudy]

Short one. The beginning of a new chapter.




Chapter 4: Uncharted.

All around it was a black void. The void was empty, yet full at the same time. It had always been intrigued by this feature. With a simple thought, it powered down its body to the edge between activation and shutting down. As it did so, it felt the resistance across its surface increase, making it impossible to move.

With another thought, it powered up again and felt how the resistance was pushed away, blocked by a spherical zone of pure nothing. It was an odd habit, completely useless for the machine’s purpose. Yet somehow, the habit persisted. It filed the thought and stored it in an electronic archive. It would continue its internal discussion at a later time. Right now, it had more important matters to attend to.
[Pulses detected, cross-referencing with archive. Match confirmed. Updating map. Analysis, ten contacts, six mobile and four immobile.]

It changed course rapidly, moving towards a new position before it’s presence could be confirmed.
[Commencing operation. Probes detached.] Several smooth shapes launched themselves away from its body. It waited for a while, before sending a precise command to each of them. Each probe sent out a signal, selfdestructing right afterwards. Its contacts would move the moment they got hit by the signals. They’d know it was here, but where exactly, they would not be able to find out. When it heard the echoes, it performed a mental frown.
[New contact detected, irregular shape. Previous contacts have likely been notified as well and will move to investigate. Conclusion achieved. Vacating area for closer inspection of new contact’s origin.]

A ripple travelled across the sphere it had projected. The shutters on its cameras opened, enabling it to see. Small pinpricks of light were all around it.
[Transfer successfully completed. Initiating scans.] As its sensors moved around, it gradually unveiled the details of its new surroundings. A large rock fragment lazily drifted past, held by the gravitational influence of its many brethren. Dust grazed past it at high speed, forcing it to retract the sensitive cameras but failing to even scratch its skin.
[Planetary object. Presumably destroyed through artificial means. Reference detected in archive. Continuing investigation.]

Again it projected his sphere of nothing and moved out of the silent storm. Once it no longer registered the pressure of dust hitting it at high speed, it opened its cameras again and looked around.
[Contact, not matching any known objects. Possible visual markings found. Beginning visual analysis. Propulsion unit, Fusion and Antimatter combination. Several facilities for the launch of projectiles. Several light amplification devices. Possible role of object: combat, optimized towards warfare with self-propelled projectiles. New spacefaring beings added to archive. Report to others required.]

it gave a mental sigh at its discovery. It would not be able to continue its internal discussion in the end. A small container deep within its body ruptured. The feeling of machinery being devoured felt oddly similar to going numb.
[Is this what organic beings feel when they die? Does that make me alive, or a puppet wit…….]