Opet and the Tales of Heroes

Chapter 15: October 15th, 2350

"There it is," Opet remarked as she put her hands up. "PSR B0329+54 or as it was later named the Grisey Pulsar."

It had been almost a year since the departure from New Olympia. Raavi sat comfortably on the couch in the bridge as they looked at the stellar phenomenon in the Milky Way Galaxy. Being over three thousand light years from home, teleportation made space travel the most comfortable system of movement. The vessel was parked approximately ninety thousand kilometers from a radiating object in space. Its forward thrusters were firing continuously. The seemingly tiny pulsar was nothing more than a collapsed star that had compressed to a ball that was almost thirty kilometers in diameter.

Yet, the pulsar was dazzling and dangerous to behold. The tiny spinning ball was brighter than most objects in space. Two great polls of light were beaming from it and flying out into the depths of nothingness. Deadly x-ray radiation and pulsar winds of the highest degree was being flung out from the polls as the sphere spun. This made the object turn into a giant lighthouse that was dangerous to all known forms of life. The UHN Opet was standing at a fair distance, but even this was taxing on the vessel. As the polls of light would spin and illuminate it, the ship's bubble-like shields would light up to repel the harmful radiation. Even with this measure, though, the vessel was getting continually bashed by the powerful bursts of light.

"Computer, gather as much information as possible on the pulsar," Opet said as she was looking at the great display. "How long can the ship's shields hold and block the radiation before it breaks through?"

A display showed up that showed the numbers. Raavi could see the numbers of about twenty minutes and twenty-two seconds appear as it was going down.

"Good," Opet continued. "Maintain this orbit and scan the pulsar as much as possible. Be ready to teleport to Constellation Serientus Gamma."

She sighed as she looked at the celestial phenomenon. The massive overhead screen would dim the light of the pulsar as it spun and beamed its light towards the ship. It was dim enough that even Raavi didn't have to squint his eyes at it every time it struck the vessel. There were little particle effects that appeared where he could see the x-rays splash against the shields. It was a constant reminder that life was precious. It was both a wonder and beauty to see but a harmful beast to be near.

"Another pulsar?" Raavi remarked.

"Mmm....." she explained. "I always find these pretty to be near. They are like beating hearts of stars that still struggle to live. Where some may see death in them, I still see life."

He wrapped his arms together. "I always find it odd to hear you say that. Pulsars always tend to be little nuisances out here. They just illuminate everything and bring harm to whatever it's near."

"I know....but unlike black holes, I still see the light from them. Look.....Computer, scan the radiation being given off from the nearby pulsar and convert it to audio so we can hear it."

The computer began processing the data that it was scanning from the glowing object. There was a brief audio sound of a deep bass drum that would come in and out. Each time the light would hit the ship, it would create the deep thump sound that would echo through the bridge. This would occur almost every second as the light beams spun from the spinning core of the pulsar.

"Do you hear that?" she said with a smile. "It sounds like a heartbeat. It is almost in the same rhythm as our own. Isn't that right?" she said as she put her hand to her distended stomach.

Raavi looked over to his wife's belly. Bearing triplets, her stomach was much bigger now than ever before. Where there was one over a year ago, there were now three that resided in her. His patience was more vital than ever before as he knew that the time was getting closer to coming to an end.