Written by RF Wilson –
Isaac Chernov kissed his wife, Zela, on the cheek. “See you in a while.”
“When do you think that will be?” she asked.
“There’ll be a lengthy debriefing afterwards, I’m sure. Back by dinner, anyway.”
“You nervous?” she asked.
“Excited. I image it’s like what those ancient explorers heading off to the end of the earth, must have felt. Going on faith that their calculations of what was ahead of them were correct. Like the first guys leaving Earth’s atmosphere. They didn’t know what it is was going to be like. You remember in those centuries old ‘Star Trek’ movies? ‘To boldly go where no man has gone before’?”
“You will let me know as soon as you’re back, won’t you?”
“Of course,” he said. He knew she was doing a good job of covering her fear. He raised the door of the transporter and stepped inside. After a wave, he was gone.
Isaac joined the two other “uni-nauts,” a term meant to indicate the inter-universe nature of the mission. Each represented one of the three earth federations. Their task was to make the trip backward in time approximately 13.8 billion years to the occurrence of the Big Bang, slip through the barrier at the edge of the universe, make some rudimentary observations of what was on the other side, and return. The explorers would spend five minutes of earth-time beyond the known universe, a decision based on the astronomical cost of each minute spent and the minimum amount of time felt necessary to collect any worthwhile data. The unspoken other reality was that the mission might not reach its destination.
Their uniforms were constructed to mimic Earth’s atmosphere. The original design called for all three explorers to be wrapped as a unit. Later, it was decided to outfit them individually. Although almost triple the cost, the hope was that there could be one or more survivors if disaster struck. The trickiest part, as in past space exploration, would be the return. The atmosphere in their suits would last five minutes, at which time each suit would automatically create its own hyper-transporter and return them to Earth.
The uni-nauts had been working to get to this point for three years, after the first successful unmanned mission had broached the Big Bang barrier and returned. Since then, three more unmanned trips were completed. The inter-universe travel community had pushed for more exploration to heighten the safety of the manned trips which would follow. Given the on-going costs of recovery from the early and mid-2000s environmental and economic disasters however, the United Council decided that the expense of more exploratory missions could not be justified. A manned journey, they hoped, would excite the public enough to override the “why are we spending money on space when there is so much work to be done on earth” sentiment.
Isaac stood on the hyper-transporter platform as a ground crew member carefully slipped his uniform over him. The material was so fine that the least snag or catch would ruin it. Less than an ounce, it felt weightless. As soon as the other two had been similarly robed, each held up two fingers, indicating they were ready to go.
When they got a thumbs up from the ground crew chief, Isaac closed his eyes, anticipating a bright flash, perhaps brighter than any known to any other living being. They would essentially be present at the formation of a new universe. Traveling backward in earth time, they would be propelled at some unknown rate of speed once the barrier was broken. Although, the trip would be experienced as a few minutes by the explorers, if all went as projected, they would return in less than a second of elapsed time on earth.
A shield dropped over the hyper-transporter. Almost immediately Isaac heard an explosion and felt his body shake. The shield went up. He felt bathed in warm light. He lost all physical sensation. Panic began to build as he felt himself losing his mind. The light disappeared.
*****
The dream kept repeating. His body flew into the dark and he panicked. It stopped and started, over and over, in an endless loop. When after an eternity, it didn’t repeat, his eyes opened. He had no idea how much time had passed, although he was sure it was more than five minutes. He was reclining on a hospital bed with an IV in each arm. A woman was seated next to the head of the bed. She looked vaguely familiar.
She smiled at him. “Hello.”
“What happened?” he asked.
“You kind of disappeared. Each of you. Your bodies came back as they were supposed to but none of you were conscious. All your vitals were depressed. Nobody knew what happened or what was going to happen.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Three months.”
“Three months?”
She nodded. “Yes. It was scary.”
“You’re Zela, aren’t you?”
Her smile broadened. “I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me.”
“I don’t remember much more than that.”
“It’s a start. You need to rest easy. It’ll come back.”
A man Isaac thought he recognized came into the room.
“I know you,” he said.
“Yes, you do. I’m Delio Thampson. The ground crew chief. Glad to see you’re back with us.”
“Where was I?”
“We were hoping you could tell us.”
An hour later, he remembered something. “What about Tersi and Nadal?”
“Tersi’s fine. She came to about three hours ago. Nadal’s still out. We’re hoping that since you’re back, he’ll be back soon as well.”
“So, what did we learn?”
“Won’t know until we debrief the three of you. Anything to say off the top of your head?”
“Yes. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Zela looked scared. Delio looked worried.
Isaac said, “When can we do it again?”
RF Wilson writes in Asheville, NC, where he lives with his wife, Beth Gage. He is the author of the novel, “Killer Weed,” recently published by Pisgah Press. His short story, “Accident Prone,” appears in the anthology “Carolina Crimes” published by Wildside Press, which has been nominated for an Anthony Award as Best Mystery Anthology of the Year.