6 Billion A.D./The Search

Tentative Synopsis: As the new dark age sets in Rigel wanders the galaxy for 200 years until encountering the mysterious Sentience.

Resuming

Somehow, things went on. Even after the chain reaction, people carried on with their business. Things seemed surprisingly normal.

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Rigel, who had escaped from the chaos after the chain reaction undetected, floated off in space for a while.

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9.2

The...

9.3

The... ... ...

Quiet

Eventually my engines gave way. I floated with thrusters no end in sight. Then I entered a patch of graviton radiation. The darkness seemed to dance. “Computer status.” There was no answer.

The Orb

All I could see was light. It was warm and comforting. I was floating but grounded. Where am I? A familiar voice replied, “somewhere, nowhere, everywhere; let’s just say you’re here.” It can’t be, you’re ....” “dead. The voice interjected, “but very alive in you.” A figure appeared resembling Sophiy. “This is a trick, this isn’t real!” Real, as thoughts are real, I suppose, but it is true that I’m something else. Would you rather me take a different form?” “No!” I replied, “please stay as you are.” Love, what a thing, to love so much, such beauty; as beautiful as star light, movements of atoms, first breaths, life itself. How many times have I seen it, only for it to go away, extinguish. “What are you talking about?” After so long are you really still so indifferent to the passing of time, the momentum of things, whats coming. “The end” Well an end, the end of this amazing spectacle, this miracle, this brilliant dance. But I don’t want it to end. Not this time. The fear of the unknown; I don’t want to be afraid anymore. What are you afraid of? Death I suppose. But I’ve been long enough. I need to sit down. A chair appeared. I sat down. What are you? A dream, a flicker of consciousness, a manifestation of it all, I don’t even know. But it’s your time now. It’s time to see where it all goes, to leave it to chance. It’s time for me to go. But I’m nobody. Maybe that’s what we need. One act to set things into motion. Are you willing to touch the fire, knowing you will never come back? Sleep now, you have a big decision to make.

I awoke from the best sleep I had ever had. My ship looked different. What had happened? I looked at the screen. A thousand years had passed. “What!” I gasped. The readings must be wrong. It can’t be. And I was at the center of the galaxy. Have I lost my mind. Yes, it was all a delusion. What was in my hand. A tiny orb. It seemed weightless.

The orb was like a shimmering silver orb, but it had a decidedly artificial look. Like it was created by a God rather than sentient hands. It was in this moment of contemplation that the power in my body surged initially into the orb before subsiding. My hand transferred no warmth to this uniquely amazing device.

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With some more chance to think back, things seemed different. Somehow, the perspective shifted how he felt. Now, Rigel was still sad, but at least he could see that this somehow fit into a larger plan.

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Rigel felt something tugging at his chest. Thinking it was his uniform caught against his skin, Rigel tugged back. Yet, the feeling remained.

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As he kept spinning through space, alone, Rigel thought back. To Vespa, but much more so to Sophiy. How these people had shaped him as a person. The tugging feeling kept pulling at him.

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Rigel looked around. For lightyears, he didn't see anyone around. What could it be? Was there a spy probe stuck in his uniform, attempting to autonavigate and continuing to bump into him?

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Rigel thought of his decision to set off the chain reaction. Had it been the right choice? Now with hindsight, Rigel could see clearly that there was no right choice. He had already come this far. No matter what he did, it would not change the past. In either case, he could live with the decision. That was a relief. After so much suffering, Rigel hadn't been sure that he even wanted to live. And yet, now he could see that he was only making whichever choices he could, and the universe would go on.

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With that thought in mind, the tugging suddenly made sense. Rigel felt the patterns of the tugs, and he understood. There was nothing stuck in his uniform. Instead, it was a Sentience. It had been there all along.

Back when Rigel had struggled to win over Sophiy, he had ignored those tugs on his chest. Back when Vespa was trying to woo him, Rigel had ignored those tugs, or at best chalked them up to awkward nervousness. And perhaps most of all, back when he was pulling the trigger on the chain reaction, he had felt -- and again ignored -- those tugs on his chest.

Now they made sense.

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