Unexplored Space
Unexplored Space
Most of us have roamed through the universe. Virtually everyone treks around warp 0, jumping through purple warps in order to escape from a chasing Blue pirate into protected space. The masses also scour warp 1, poking around gray warps in order to discover the most profitable galaxies. The chains of warp 2 galaxies rumble with experienced pilots battling stronger enemies or team galaxies withstanding (or crumbling) against enemy teams, the action separated by colorful wormholes. Elite pilots often have to collaborate in collective groups to survive against the extremely dangerous pirates of warp 3, cautiously venturing through the particle-speckled orange gates that connect wild and perilous space together. The green, blue, and silver gates of warp 4 contain even more terrifying lifeforms that guard these star lanes of detours.
The universe isn't completely uncivilized from the top plane to the bottom. A substantial amount of notable pilots can describe settled areas of space. Blue Outpost hosts the Blue pirates' operations. Infernal Tempest is home to the Infernal Faction and its brilliant leader, Doktor Koboldstein. Bipolar serves as a perpetual battlefield for the two opposing factions. Lunacy is a haven for the otherwise invalid members of the universe. No matter how aggressive or uncivilized a galaxy may be, some sort of order or structure is evident. Even in the deepest corners of warp 3, power and might are the leading factors in dominance, which explains why only Reavers, Drops, and Hives roam the deserted area.
However, we cannot be completely sure that we traveled the entire universe. Every time the universe collapses and explodes again, what prevents some pocket of extremely distorted space from forming where conventional physics cannot be applied? Some place where space doesn't even look familiar. Smudges of orange and red particles that should look like stars but seem not to. A single wormhole that is so distorted due to the irregularity of space that it looks as if it will collapse at any moment. Solar bodies resembling oblong bacteria that orbit suns in bizarre patterns. Suns that don't radiate heat but that are blindingly bright. And inhabitants that even the ship's radar cannot comprehend and match to a lifeform or ship.
What would a pilot do in that place? Attempting to build a base on one of those solar bodies in order to colonize the surface or extract resources would be ludicrous on such an unknown object. Interacting with the wandering objects could lead to unexpected circumstances, and conventional warfare might be obsolete against mysterious enemies. In a world that disproves every theory and law formulated through extensive experimentation and testing, one must discard anything and everything known prior to entering that world.
It is very possible that such a place exists. The countless number of universal "purgings" might have even completed restructured the structure of the proposed galaxy from something ridiculous to something absurd, if it can be defined as that. If a wormhole were ever to be formed to an unstable world as that, then people would be a step closer to exploring the universe.
Author's Commentary
This story was inspired by a dream I had. I was playing Star Sonata, but it seemed like I was the pilot since there was no Graphical User Interface (GUI). I remembered having another dream similar to this one in a galaxy named "Badlands" that closely resembled the galaxy I envisioned in the latter dream. I imagined that the galaxy was colored similarly to a Dungeon Galaxy, but tinged with orange. The "planets", the "moons", the "suns", and the "SpaceShips" were so ridiculously strange and bizarre that they wouldn't even register an image in the radar. Only bits and pieces of data would come through, and it was different every time. Some of the ships slightly resembled something familiar, such as a Massif III or a Tortoise, but characteristics of these odd ships set them apart from conventional images, such as the lights of a Pax or the "eyes" or whatever of a Copperling. The experience was so surreal that I thought I might share it in what seemed like a philosophical and profound lecture. =P
Author: Azaler
In-Game Name: Alviis
