Tales From The Dark Forest
I Don't Know Who Returned From Space, But They Aren't The NASA Astronauts We Sent!
An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save, too. With Medicare's Extra Help Program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or a married couple who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Make sure to download your favorite scary story on my Apple podcast and Spotify. Fall asleep and have a nightmare. A shout-out to the author. He also has a YouTube channel. His information will be down below. Now let's get spooky. Some wonder how reality came to be, and some wonder why. Before embarking on the Victoria 21 voyage, I was drawn to the latter question. If an answer exists, however, I now know that it would be too terrible to bear. Many outside the scientific world believe that the secrets of existence lie beyond it. Some may hope to find the creator past reality's realm that they would be horrified to learn the truth. Most in the scientific community, of course, claim there is no beyond at all. Nothing but our tangible plain. Still, even they have never publicly offered a fixed answer. After all, even if nothing exists beyond the universe, another question remains. Is reality finite or infinite? Cosmologists have long sought the chart the bounds of existence. Some say we simply live in an endless universe, but others claim it to be so colossal that it appears endless. Last month, following a three-year expedition, the "finite" argument was proven true. That may infuriate some scientific minds who stumble across my tail, but it is the truth. Earth, not wholly observable by the eyes of an ant, is still bounded. And the same is true to our universe. However, unlike our small planet, reality exists on a two-dimensional plain, one with an edge. That was what Dr. Alec Irwin explained on May 1, 2021. It was something he learned by using a piece of technology known as the A4 radar. "Are you truly proposing that we should believe this drivel?" Dr. John Macy scuffed. "That we should believe in an edge of reality?" If the universe were "finite," it would likely be an out-bounded hypersphere, not a bounded two-dimensional plain. "Yet, that is not so," Irwin replied. Macy huffed. "Nearly everyone in this room views the universe as infinite. You have made a baseline claim, Dr. Irwin. Given the A4 radar simply failed to detect anything, how do we know what lies beyond this edge?" "We don't," Irwin admitted. "That's why we need to send a team." The lead researcher received no immediate response. The dozens of NASA specialists simply exchanged silent looks. Then a few seconds later, the laughing started. A cacophony of hearty roars bouncing off the walls of the expansive meeting room. "A fantastic idea, Dr. Irwin," Dr. Macy chuckled. "It's a shame that team won't reach the edge of reality before, well, the end of time." Not with NASA technology. "That's why dozen-minus will supply the equipment," Dr. Irwin said, folding his arms. "You know, as well as I do, that they have taken enormous strides over the past century. That is why their technology has been kept from public eye, kept from the world's governments, when it comes to their classified projects." "Allegedly," Macy sharply replied. "Allegedly," Irwin nodded. "Listen, this wouldn't be the first collaboration. We've used their spacecraft before. Machines, far beyond our capabilities. Far beyond the capabilities of man. It is not a question of whether we can achieve this mission, Dr. Macy. It is a question of whether we will." Macy frowned. "Fine. I'll amend what I said. If we launch a dozen-minus craft today, we should reach the edge of the universe in a thousand centuries or so." Not if we use a splinter, Dr. Irwin muttered. Dr. Macy was immediately silenced. The room's wave of laughter faded, finally lapping against the shore. Faded as the scientists realized one by one that Dr. Irwin had not simply entertained a foolish notion. He had lost his mind. The splinters, which appeared decades ago in distant parts of reality, are anomalies. Anomalies are unknown origin with varying purposes. Most, of course, lead to galaxies beyond our reach. One in particular leads past all known galaxies, past the observable universe. "I thought we were here to hold a serious meeting," Dr. Lacy eventually said. "I am serious," Dr. Irwin replied. The S-79 splinter has fascinated me since it first emerged in late 2010. I used it, in fact, to send an A-4 radar to the edge of reality, to retrieve data trillions of light years away. And the evidence is undeniable. S-79 would propel the latest dozen-minus craft, Victoria 21, to a point far beyond our observable realm, a point near the edge detected by the A-4 radar. This voyage would involve a one-month journey to S-79's entry point, followed by a one-year journey from its exit point to the detected edge. Macy shook his head slowly. "You're not the scientist I remember," Dr. Irwin, "not the one I thought you were, at least." "In what kind of scientist am I?" Dr. Macy, Irwin responded, narrowing his eyes. "One who actually seeks to advance mankind or one who simply writes thesis?" "I'm a man of principle," Macy growled in response. "I would never propose a mission that puts lives at risk. Let us not forget the results of your last expedition." "I anticipated that jab," Dr. Irwin said. "This isn't the same as the florist mission." Dr. Macy sighed. "Alex, when it comes to dozen-minus, everything ends the same way. They operate in a way that we do not fully understand. They offer gifts that should be impossible to not only in our lifetimes, but a thousand lifetimes from now." The man then turned to address the rest of the room. This is not a company to be trusted people. Do not let Dr. Irwin sway you. Do not let advanced technology sway you. Why is it when Stefan Blum provides support for projects? Things always seem the end bad. The interests of dozen-minus are not the interests of… enough. Emmet K. NASA's OTR director interjected. Dr. Macy, you know that these meetings are more than just the interests of any organization. After all, not all who work in this building are aware of this meeting, are they? Macy grimaced. But… listen, in two days, Senator Nelson will be our new administrator. Cade continued. "There will be changes in NASA over the coming weeks. There will be countless eyes and ears on us. I trust Dr. Macy that you won't be running your mouth in front of folk without T-level clearance." "Of course not, Mr. Cade," Macy gasped. "I take my job seriously." "So do I," Irwin said. "Do you not want to know, John?" "What?" Dr. Macy asked. "Know what lies at the edge of everything." Dr. Irwin whispered. "What lies beyond the edge of everything?" "If something lies beyond the edge of everything, then we haven't found the edge of everything," Dr. Macy said. "Don't be obtuse," Irwin huffed. "You know what I'm claiming. Not that nothing exists beyond our universe. Quite the opposite, in fact. Something lies beyond it. Something that the A4 radar did not know how to process. Whatever exists beyond the edge is nothing that abides by the laws of our realm. Nothing that…" "Exactly. Nothing. The A4 radar picks up nothing," Dr. Macy interrupted. "Even if we were to use the S-79 splinter as a boost propelled our team to a distant point to the universe, they may find nothing at all, or nothing that humanity has an equipment to record." After all, we only know of things within our realm, and that would mean that they'd be wasting over two years of their lives. "We know of more than our reality, Dr. Macy," Irwin said. "Have you forgotten what does it minus…" "We all have somewhere we're trying to get to." As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. An official message from Medicare. "A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's Extra Help Program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed us in Birmingham the "You should watch your tongue too, Dr. Irwin," Emmett Cade Bart. "Sorry, sir," Dr. Irwin mumbled. "And Dr. Macy, the project is continuing, regardless of your disapproval," Emmett Cade said. "This meeting wasn't a negotiation. It was an announcement." "You know what's coming, Calvin," Celine whispered to me. "Don't," I begged. We had long been embarked for a venture such as this, and I knew that before Emmett Cade locked his eyes onto the pair of us, we were cowering at one side of the room, but we hadn't escaped his stare. Calvin Beckenstall and Celine McGinnis, Emmett announced waving a hand in our direction. Two of our finest physicists. They will be joining Dr. Alec Irwin on the Victoria 21 spacecraft. "When," I meekly asked. "July 1st," Emmett answered. "Two months?" Celine breathlessly asked. "How on earth are we supposed to prepare in that length of time?" "I've been preparing for years. The longer we leave it, the greater the chance we are to miss our window," Dr. Irwin explained. And that was the only attempt Celine made at contesting the mission. "I was always more passive than her, so I simply nodded. I had accepted our fate before Emmett Cade had even confirmed it." Accepted it in 2015 when I first received clearance for T-level meetings. Accepted the possibility that, at some point, NASA's shadowy department would demand that I contribute, demand service. Celine was right, of course. Two months was hardly enough time to prepare, but Alec Irwin had been spending years planning for that very moment. In fact, Celine and I only really achieved one thing over those eight weeks. We learned just how unwell the man had become. It was clear that, psychologically, Dr. Irwin had already crossed the boundary at the edge of the universe. His mind no longer seemed to entertain any thoughts about our planet, our reality. And only one thing frightened me more than that. Deep down, I shared his perturbing delight, his hunger for what lay beyond all. On July 1st, 2021, Victoria 21 launched with Irwin, McGinnis, and me on board. The initial month of the trip took us past all known galaxies. Took us to the intimidating chasm past all that had been observed from Earth, but not at the edge of all that exists. And as we approached the splinter, that gurgle in my gut only grew. As if something from the other side were pulling us towards it. Splinters are aberrations beyond Earth's observable reality, detected by dozen minus technology in the late 20th century. Time will tell whether these rips bode well for our universe, but the unknown has not deterred mankind from using the splinters, even if that risks the end of all we know. An S-79, the splinter in question, was even more terribly alluring than it appeared in photographs. The rip in reality's fabric did not present itself as something akin to a black hole. It was a jagged wound, the result of some cosmic blade tearing into existence itself. Whether from another universe or our own, we still do not know. All we knew at the time, according to Dr. Alec Irwin, was that S-79 would lead to some distant place in reality, some place near his supposed edge of reality. Why are we wearing that expression? Irwin asked me. I gulped, the butt of my jeans squelching in the pilot's chair. I'm just thinking that we still have time to turn around. "We've almost entered the eye," Irwin said. "The hard part's nearly over. Leave your fear this side of the hole, Captain Beckinsall." "I just don't know whether I trust the data," I said. "The AR radar may have survived the trip to the other side, but it was made of titanium, not skin and bones." "Pull yourself together," Irwin tutted. "You're our captain, and you need to act like it." "I am acting like it," I firmly retorted, tensing as the edges of S-79 started to engulf our ship. "That's why I'm wondering whether we should stop." "You may be the captain of this vessel, but I'm still the leader of this project, Beckinsall," Irwin snarled. "Don't make me use that card. I will, if necessary." I huffed, tightening my grip around the lever and pushed it forwards without another word. Moments after the ship accelerated, the splinter fully encompassed us. I expected a near-endalist tunnel, expected the field, the tug-of-sum, unimaginably oppressive external force, fling my flesh from its skeleton. But there was only a split second of nothingness, in absence of sight and sound. S-79 had greater depths of colorlessness and silence than space itself. I became horribly aware that we were in a place between two points of reality. A rip revealing what truly laid beyond the borders of everything. Now that our eyes can see that revelation, I only sensed for the briefest moment that Irwin had been right all along. There was something beyond our universe. And that did not fill me with awe. It filled me with terror." Then, reality rushed back in the view. We were faced with the blackness of a distant starless part of the universe. Black, but not colorless. Silent, but not in the same way as S-79. Though we had passed all galaxies, stars, and planets, it was clear that we had turned to reality. There was nothing but darkness around us, yet it was space. It was physical, not as absent as the splinter. "Well done, Captain," Irwin laughed, patting my shoulder. "Now we pursue the edge as it flees from us. Let us hope the Victoria could warp at the speed that doesn't mind us promised. We have made excellent time, Captain Beckinsall. That's why you're the best. By my estimations, we should find the edge on June 29, 2022." I sighed, nodding. There's a long stretch of nothing ahead, Dr. Irwin, and then real nothing after that. "No, not nothing, Captain," Irwin said. "If there exists an edge, then there exists something beyond it." The man left, and I suppressed the urge to respond snarkily. I was well aware that nothing, as a concept, did not exist. And if there were an edge to reality with something beyond it, then that something would not be nothing. But I didn't fancy an argument. Dr. Irwin did not recognize my expertise. He seemed to forget that Celine and I were physicists, too. In his eyes, he was the smartest man on Earth, and any dissenting opinions came from lesser mortals. "Nice work today. We made it to the other side," Celine said when I crawled into my bunk later that evening. "Did Dr. Doom have much to say? Was he a good copilot?" "Congrats, Celine. You managed to spend the whole day away from him, running analytics or whatever nonsense you made up," I said, slipping my hands behind my head and resting on the pillow. "You're a jammie dodger, you know that?" "Oh, I'm sorry, Governor," Celine smart, poorly imitating my British accent. "Whatever, Yankee Doodle," I said as the woman peered over her top bunk. "You really know how to flirt, Calvin, don't you?" She replied, slipping down the ladder. I laughed. "Of course I do. It's that classic English charm. How about you come over here and yankie my?" "Let me stop you right there before you ruin this," she softly interjected, clambering onto my bunk and silencing me with her lips. "I'm not sure why we were so secretive about our relationship. Nasha officials were likely aware of it, and they were also likely not the care." "Well, I lie. I do know why we were hiding it. It was a secret that we were keeping from Dr. Erwin. The man's temperament was less predictable than a violent gust. He was sometimes energetic and likable, but other times lethargic and lacking empathy. One thing was constant, however. Erwin's focus on the mission at hand, and I had a- "We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand, so everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived." That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Horrible feeling that he'd react badly to knowing about Celine and me. Months rushed by. Only the passage of time reassured me that we were moving ahead, rather than being stuck in some perpetual purgatory. Blackness gushed past the viewports of the ship, so it was difficult to measure distance with eyes alone. Surprisingly, however, the journey did not make us as irritable as I had imagined it would. Irwin was giddy about finding the edge. Celine and I were giddy about each other. On occasion, we even shared joyous moments with Alec himself. He was not a monster. Back at NASA, I hadn't even had a reason to dislike the man. Since passing through the splinter, however, he had begun the change. Purpose could be a wondrous thing, but it could also be the death of a person. One night, as we neared Irwin's purported edge, I was awoken by a voice. Celine was sleeping soundly, so I delicately scooped her arm off of my chest and slipped out of bed. As I tip-toed along the ship's main walkway, the voice loudened, and I found Dr. Irwin near a side viewport, staring into the abyss of the cosmos. "Just let us see," the man mumbled. "Dr. Irwin?" I said. "It's there," he muttered. I looked at the man's face and realized he wasn't staring at all. His eyes were closed. He was sleepwalking. Of course, that didn't make his ramblings any less disquieting. As I looked into the blackness, I was sure I could see it too. Beyond all, the thing I had seen in the splinter, if it was anything we could call a thing. Again, I did not see it with my eyes, but my flesh. Goosebumps coated me, and I knew that we were approaching the edge. I didn't tell Celine what I saw. I crawled silently back in the bed, closed my eyes, and stayed awake for the rest of the morning. Or rather, failed to sleep. When her alarm clock sounded at six, I pretended to wake alongside her. "You okay?" she asked. I nodded, trying to shake off the stodginess of my body. "Yeah, tired." "Well, wake yourself up. It's another day in Paradise, sweetie," Celine sarcastically said. She was wrong. That morning was different. It wasn't just Erwin's sleepwalking, which made me feel unwell. It was a throbbing sensation in my chest. One that had accompanied me since we passed through the splinter a year earlier. And when I found Erwin on the flight deck sitting in my chair, I already knew what he was going to say. "We found it," he whispered. I called Celine, and the three of us gathered in the cramped cabin to eye the darkness ahead. "What's the latest analysis?" Celine asked. Erwin tapped a monitor beside him. "We've reached it, McGinnis. The edge that the A4 radar detected, the last point of our reality at which matter is detected, one mile ahead of us, it all ends there." "Why aren't we moving?" she asked. Captain Beckinsall brought us to a halt. He wanted you in the room before we did anything. Erwin gruffly responded. I sighed. "We need to think about this, Erwin. What are we going to see ahead of us? Nothing but more blackness?" "Nothing," Erwin scuffed. "What have I told you about that word? If we see blackness, then something exists out there beyond the edge." "I don't know what I say," Celine said. "Not an edge, just more, just…" "What did you expect?" Dr. Erwin asked, swiftly defaced her. "A line in the sand? A border between our reality and whatever lied beyond?" "We are stepping into the unknown, McGinnis. We have no idea what we may find, what we may see or not see." "Which is exactly why I think we should send a transmission home," I said. "We need to discuss our findings with ground control, collect data, and then…" "Twindle our thumbs?" Erwin interrupted. "I've been doing that for years, Captain Beckinsall, collecting endless readings, conducting analysis. And what did I find?" "Nothing that could be read by the A4. Nothing that anyone at NASA understood. We've exhausted all our options. There's only one way to find any sort of answer, pushing onwards." I paused, keeping my eyes on the viewport to avoid the gazes of Celine and Alec. They were waiting for me to make a decision. I knew Dr. Erwin hungered to explore the beyond. So had I, before the splinter worked its way into my mind. Before it made me realize that horror were awaited, I looked at Celine and I thought crossed my mind. I had masked her. Over the past year, I hadn't asked her whether she felt it too. The something that laid beyond all. The thing that had seemed so close during the second that we had spent within the splinter between two points of reality. Perhaps I had been too afraid to know. "Captain?" Dr. Erwin said gently. "It might crush us into oblivion," I whispered. "You know that McGinnis and I didn't volunteer for this mission, don't you? We didn't volunteer to die." "You could have walked away," Erwin said. "But you didn't." "Nobody walks away from T-level," I replied. The doctor shook his head. "Don't make it sound like a prison. You chose to be involved with the T-level department. You chose to learn the things that NASA doesn't want anyone to know. You and McGinnis. You joined because you wanted more. You wanted to see something that hadn't been seen." "He's right, Captain," Celine said timidly. "No longer meeting my gaze. This is our legacy." "I'm starting to think that a legacy doesn't matter," I said, begrudgingly scooting Erwin out of my chair. After we die, nothing matters. I don't think death exists in the beyond, Erwin whispered, clutching my shoulder as I sat down and placed a hand on the lever. And I think you know that too." I eyed the monitor as I propelled the Victoria 21 forwards, and I watched as we approached the edge of all that our craft's radar could detect. The edge of matter. As for what existed in the beyond, we were about to find out. I was certain that we were about to be obliterated. My fingers curled firmly around the lever, trembling as the ship's radar displayed less and less of existence. And then, without a bang, we experienced it again. Something not dissimilar to the nothingness of the splinter, yet far worse, far more terrifying. A blackness that did not devour us but swallowed us nonetheless. We passed the edge. "My word," Erwin whispered, "we're alive." "My knuckles whitened atop the lever. I knew it. I knew you weren't as certain as you claimed to be." "To be certain of anything is the poison of a thinking mind," Erwin said. "I am never certain Captain, and no matter what we experience from here onwards, we must be discerning. We must not trust our senses." For a man so seemingly uncertain, Dr. Erwin sounded confident to me. Strangely so. As if he were to privy to some knowledge beyond me. I thought back to his unnerving sleepwalking, and I started to think that, when we entered S-79, he may have experienced more than me, might have seen, heard, or felt something that gave him a reason to say such things. My thoughts returned to reality when the lever retracted, snapping backwards with such force that it sprained my wrist. "Shoot!" I yelled, removing my hand and nursing it. Celine ran forwards as the ship lurched then halted. "Are you okay, Cal, Captain?" "Yeah, I," I panted heavily, noting that some unseen force in the darkness had obstructed the Victoria 21. We had not landed, not crashed. It was as if we were encased in some black gelatin, dark and dense muck that stalled the ship in its tracks. And no matter how much I died, we all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Tried the tinker with various controls. I saw no way of fixing the problem. After all, there was nothing to be fixed. No way of moving the Victoria. The engines and all other systems were in working order. We had simply been compressed by a black blanket. "We have to exit the craft," Erwin said. "I'm running tests," I replied. "We'll see what's outside and..." "It won't detect anything, Captain," Erwin promised, shaking his head. "You haven't accepted it, have you? We are beyond reality. We must step outside and see what we find. It wants us to step outside." "It doesn't," Saline whispered. Shocked, "I twisted my head the phaser, and she offered me a sheepish expression." "What do you mean?" I asked. "You're not going to question him," Saline asked, raising an eyebrow as she nodded at Erwin. He talked about it, too. "Yes, but I didn't think you had seen it or felt it," I said. "Well, I knew that the two of you had," she responded. "You talk in your sleep, Calvin." "Captain," Erwin corrected. "There's a proper procedure, McGinnis, when it..." "Just stop it for a moment, Alec," Saline softly urged. "We need to talk about what happened. We all saw something in the splinter, didn't we?" "There was nothing to see," Erwin said. "No," Saline agreed. "It wasn't a thing that human senses know how to process, yet I know it was there, and I know you two felt it, too." "I don't know what I felt," I said. "I don't even know why I'm here." "We are here for the same reason as Dr. Erwin," Saline said. "We pretended to be different from him, but we are all lying to ourselves, Captain. We could have turned around, should have turned around. Absolutely no doubt about that. But it isn't in our nature, is it? It has nothing to do with the splinter, nothing to do with what we did or didn't feel. The three of us are broken in some way, and we hope to find something in the beyond, an answer that might fix us." "I don't know what you mean," Erwin said, rising to his feet. "This is about the progression of mankind. It is about the discovery of all discoveries. It has nothing to do with me." "It has everything to do with you. It has everything to do with Calvin and me. We've always saw it something bigger than us, something that might make us feel whole. Why else would we reach for the stars? Earth wasn't enough." Saline said. "We brought ourselves here. That thing in the splinter didn't call to us. It told us to stay away, and we didn't listen." "I turned to face Saline, and my mouth failed me. My entire body failed me as I struggled to process my surroundings. I was outside the ship." Victoria 21 sat behind me in the darkness. Not on a grounded surface, not on or in anything, and I too did not walk the ground. It was not a place in which ground existed, not in a place where known Sykes existed, yet the ship existed. I existed. "Do I exist?" I wondered. "Is this even real?" There is no time in that blackened nothingness, but I believe a lot of it passed before I realized I was alone. Realized that Saline and Alec were gone, and from what I distinguished, squinting through the primary viewport of Victoria 21, they, like me, were no longer on the flight deck. I tried to call to them, but there was no sound in that place, though I certainly tried to produce sound. And then a door creaked. The first noise in that silence existence, something in the nothing. I turned rapidly and droned in a wave of motion sickness as my surroundings entirely changed a second time. I was standing in a room, one with a floor, a ceiling, and walls of mahogany planks. A couple of grimy window panes revealed not blackness, but a white void outside. Every surface was decorated with various scribblings and paintings. Depictions of humanoid things and creatures I had never seen. Mostly, the sheets displayed barely legible writing, "Who is my maker?" That question was handwritten across numerous sheets of paper. Sometimes, scrawled atop whatever other writing had already been on the notes. The sloppily written query seemed to deteriorate as my eyes danced across the walls towards the door. These documents revealed the musings of something mad. I immediately wanted to try the door, but my neck itched. It told me that something awful lurked within the place, but it also told me that something lurked behind me. I rotated sharply, preparing to meet my doom, but I was greeted by something far worse, something far beyond anything I had ever expected my mortal eyes to behold. Atop a cluttered wooden desk which was pressed against the wall, there sat a crystal globe. Within its unblemished, spherical shell, blackness swirled, harboring pinpricks of vibrant colors. An ever moving gaseous fog which felt like the only warmth in that place, the universe itself. My mind swam with fearful thoughts as my eyes flitted between the frail, glassy ball and the white expanse visible through the window pane above it. Reality seemed so terribly small and insignificant. More horrifyingly, I thought of the thing that had carelessly left an item so precious on a wooden desk, resting unsupported on a pile of notes. I did not even want to meet that thing. While my eyes were lost in the miniature representation of reality, a scream sounded from beyond the door. I spun shoulder shooting upwards and fright. I knew from the pitch of the pained voice that it was Celine, and I called out to her as I barreled through the door. I found myself in a long hallway of mahogany much like the first room, and standing on weak legs at the end of the corridor was Celine. "Are you okay?" I asked, running forwards. As I neared her, I noticed that she was reading one of the many notes lining the walls, and by the time I had reached her, I was horrified to find that I no longer knew whether her sounds were those a fear or laughter. "Celine?" I whispered before repeating the same question. "Are you okay?" She smiled without turning to me. "It's horrible, Calvin. It's so, so horrible." "What does it say?" I asked quietly. Fortunately, Celine didn't answer. She began to shred the piece of paper, startling me with her sudden mania. Though I begged her to calm down, she was hypnotized by the task at hand, focused on ridding herself of whatever maddening thoughts had plagued her while she read. I still struggled to imagine a combination of words that could possibly instill such terror and joy. "I don't know what she read on that piece of paper," I never asked. "I'm just glad she destroyed it before she finished reading." "Don't let me look at the others," Celine sniffled, finally stilling herself as she stumbled into my arms. "Don't read any of it unless you want to lose a piece of yourself." "I did read something," I admitted. "Who is your maker?" She whispered. I nodded. "Do you think whatever lives in this place could be?" Celine trailed off, but I knew what she was going to ask. "I think we need to find Dr. Irwin and get out of here," I said. "I'm sorry, Calvin," she whimpered as I led her to the hallways far door. "We should have turned around. I just had the no. And now I do. I know the tiniest slice and it's too much." I never seen Celine like this. We had been together for years, known each other for a decade at the very least. She had always been sturdy yet bouncy, always full of color and strength. But after reading whatever she read on that slip of paper, she became a gray feeble shell. When we opened the door at the end of the hallway, it led to the final room, one with a mahogany floor and ceiling but walls of glass, towering pains that revealed the white void beyond the house. The claustrophobic nature of the dwelling or whatever had once been a dwelling existed in stark contrast to the external expanse beyond the universe. In stark contrast to the humongous nature of reality. "We all have somewhere we're trying to get to." As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. "An official message from Medicare." A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year or a married couple who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. "Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services." "It's self, which had been reduced to nothing more than a meager ball of glass." The house was a construct that felt too human for my liking. It felt false. "Alex," Celine whispered. "I had been so lost in thought that I barely noticed the project leaders standing in front of the glass wall ahead, gazing at the whiteness of the beyond. He didn't turn the face us when we entered the room, though the sound of the creaking door loudly reverberated off the glass." Celine and I approached Dr. Irwin cautiously, and I half expected him to be muttering incoherently once more. It was worse than that, however. He wasn't making a sound, wasn't making a move. The man was motionless, eyeballing the blinding abyss outside. "I tried to avert my gaze from the ceaseless whiteness, lest it drive me insane too." Strown stacks of paper littered the floorboards beneath the man, and every inch of my body begged me to leave, begged me not to put my hand on his shoulder. "I did it almost unwillingly." "Dr. Irwin?" I said. "We need the leave." He eyed me, not slowly, not even with his usual vigor or passion. That had entirely fled his eyes. The man looked more hollow than Celine. She was positively vibrant in comparison, but my eyes only lingered on his face for a second. I quickly fixated on what he held in his hands. A skull. I trembled. "Is that?" "No," Irwin interrupted, eyes and voice penetrating my body, then boring to the other side. "It's not the skull of our maker. He isn't here. Not anymore." "Who is it?" Celine shakily asked. "Dr. Irwin moved with such frightening precision, and his possessed eyes locked onto the woman." "Don't you know, McGinnis?" He asked gleefully. "You've read his word." Celine shivered. "I only read a small segment. It was..." "Beautiful," Irwin finished, brandishing, bloody teeth. Celine and I stepped backwards, casting petrified looks at one another. I was grateful at that moment for her sharp thinking, grateful that she had summoned the strength to shred the note before passing the point of no return before entirely losing herself. As I stared at the paper pile beneath Irwin's feet, I wondered just how much of the maker's writings he had consumed. Above all else, I cursed myself for my curiosity. In spite of Celine's warning, I wanted so desperately to know what was written on the countless notes in the house, but I valued my sense of self. Valued it enough to resist the inky siren song. "What did you do, Alec?" Celine cried. "You really don't know?" The man whispered. "I still not seen us." He had ascended to another plane of existence. Wherever he had seen or felt was all that mattered to him anymore. Dr. Irwin was lost to the white abyss. Celine and I had to leave. "We're going, Alec," I said. "I'm not," he replied, laughing awfully. "No, I don't think you should," I said. "Don't you want to know?" He said, raising the red stained skull above his head. "Don't you want to hear a secret about my trophy?" "Come on," Celine urged, tugging my sleeve. "Let's go." "This is me," Captain Beckinsall. Irwin cackled, thrusting his trophy into my arms as tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes. A remnant of my physical form. Clattering sounded, and we gapped in horror as the demented man lunged towards us. Following him in a trail on the wooden floor was a pile of bones that had leaked from his body. Detached sections of his skeleton fell through his flesh as he walked. The bones did not fall through gapping wounds, but immaterial skin. The man's body was in ethereal spectral form. Irwin's blood-covered bones and red grin were the only drops of color in that white place. His bones' skeleton formed a revolting line from the pile of paper to his ghostly body. And as I thought back on the moments earlier, when I had put my hand on the man's shoulder, I realized I hadn't felt anything at all. Consume oneself. He whispered, presumably reciting what he had read. "This is how I grew." I don't know how a person would devour their own body. No idea how they would transcend their physical form by doing so. And I didn't want to know. Celine sobbed as I snatched her hand, then pulled her towards the exit. Perhaps she had an inkling. Perhaps she had seen something which would explain how Dr. Irwin feasted upon himself. I took one look over my shoulder and winced in terror at the abomination who charged towards us with one hand outstretched. "Don't leave!" the man roared. "I must reach the next plane. Must feast again so I may reshape all." I pushed Celine through the doorway, preventing her from turning her head. I tried to ignore the gliding entity that had once been our determined but still human leader. And when we reached the final room, I fixed my eyes onto the globe of reality. Considering our next move, while Celine peered over my shoulder with a horrified look. "He's," she choked. "We need to touch it," I said bluntly. "We need to touch the globe." With my hands still holding hers, I guided both of us towards the crystal spear. It was the only way. I didn't know how I knew that, but I did. I hadn't read a single word of the letters other than the maker's existential question, but I knew. The bellowing roar of Erwin, who I could feel reaching towards us, disappeared as Celine and I faded from white to black. Back into that stuck realm of reality we had first found beyond the edge. A door which led to the house, stood several hundred yards from our frozen spacecraft. Celine and I stood in the middle. "How do we escape?" She asked as we ran towards the Victoria, which was still cemented in the black void. "We activate Ewarp with reverse thrusters," I said. Her eyes widened, giving that the Ewarp hadn't been cleared for use, but she didn't call me mad. Didn't protest as we entered the vehicle, and I'd be lying towards the flight deck. She knew as well as I did that nothing was mad in this place. I fired up dozen minuses experimental feature, one that may have ended in catastrophic failure. It was the only idea I had, as the main thruster had managed to budge the vehicle an inch. I set the craft into reverse thrust, activating the Ewarp, and screamed alongside Celine as our bodies were nearly retched from existence. Reality stretched into eternity around us, and I thought we might be torn into nothing. However, it wasn't the pain that frightened me. It was the face which filled the blackness ahead. Something that had followed us from the white into the black. Dr. Erwin The man, no more than a disembodied head of biblical proportions, brandished his threatened maw. A toothless mouth, no longer grinning, that rushed forwards in a bid to consume us as I frantically thrushed the lever away from me, begging the ship to perform as I asked. There was a nightmarish moment, staring down the gullet of our potential bloody ends. Then the ship moved. Reality contorted us excruciatingly. We propelled backwards, and then the ship's radar burst into action as we returned to something that could be measured. We returned to the universe, to whatever lies within the crystal globe. It was a quiet journey home, one year of trying my best to help Celine heal. She berated herself for making only slight progress, but it was gargantuan in my eyes. We returned to Earth in late October, 2023, and told NASA only a fraction of what had happened beyond reality. Told them that Dr. Erwin perished, which was more of a white lie than an outright fib. We still had his skull to prove our story. The woman I loved is only a husk of her former self, but she's come a long way. Celine has been fighting to recover, and I do see glimmers of joy in her quite often. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand, so everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's energy and progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. Maybe you can save too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I hope those glimmers become longer and longer as time passes. But there are, of course, dark days, and there always will be. Days on which she blankly eyes something in the distance. Something I don't see. Perhaps can't see. And I know it is linked to the terrible truth that she had learned in the beyond. Regardless, she is still serene. Dr. Alec Irwin, on the other hand, died the second we crossed the edge. What terrifies me more than anything is knowing that humans are not the only fragile thing in reality. Reality itself is fragile. A glassy globe that right this very moment is eyed by a ghoul in the house beyond reality. Its crystal structure can be shattered in an instant, and all will cease to be. An official message from Medicare. A new law is helping me save more money on prescription drug costs. You may be able to save, too. With Medicare's extra help program, my premium is zero, and my out-of-pocket costs are low. Who should apply? Single people making less than $23,000 a year, or married couples who make less than $31,000 a year. Even if you don't think you qualify, it pays to find out. Go to ssa.gov/extrahelp. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. What's next? At Moss Adams, that question inspires us to help people and their businesses strategically define and claim their future. As one of America's leading accounting, consulting, and wealth management firms, our collaborative approach creates solutions for your unique business needs. We leverage industry-focused insights with the collective technical resources of our firm to elevate your performance, uncover opportunity, and move upward at MossAtoms.com. How dangerous is it to unwrap a burger at 40 miles per hour? More so than you think. In a little over two seconds, your car can travel slightly more than 117 feet, which is the same length as 20 bicycles. Anything that distracts you while driving is dangerous. 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