Butterflies of the Dark Star

THE FIRST LOOP (1)

The scientists of the D.S Butterfly are owed the truth — what happened to them? What did they find in the nebula? I need answers. The universe needs answers. Crimson reds danced along the edge of his fingertips when he reached out for the truth hidden behind the anomaly. No sound travelled through a vacuum, but it yawned and popped his ears as colours mixed through the world. Stars cracked and exploded, but he stared at the crimson sphere and slipped his fingers off its surface with a frown. Defeated, he went to assure Nova.

She was nowhere in sight — though a bunch of unfamiliar scientists stood around him and the anomaly. Uh oh... He grasped for an explanation before it fluttered out of his mind, but before he could open his mouth, another figure walked through the decontamination unit, where behind it it hid weird, misshapen halls. Wait. He left the data arrays and peered into their blank expressions.

He raised his hand and poked one, but stars fluttered over his skin. Tiny little butterflies against time.

"Mx. Orili, it's finally responding," one of the scientists rasped with a point at the same anomaly which sat in the B.H Supernova. Tension wrapped around his shoulders when the greatest anomalous scientist in the world stepped forth, weary. Excitement prickled through, but he slowed when they ignored him. Confusion wrapped through his throat when they stopped in front of the anomaly.

"If this is the D.S Butterfly," he whispered a question to no one. "... am I being shown what happened?" He tapped his temple, but dread pressurized the laboratory. Some of the scientists stepped back when teeth grew out of the black hole. Neo went to calm them, to reassure them, to remind them to not panic, but flames of rage slammed down on his shoulders when black tendrils lashed out.

Impaled.

Crimson-splattered.

It all mingled and mixed the atoms as others out of range of the desolation scrambled out of the way, away from him. Their misty figures fell apart, and he grunted when something knocked him back onto his ass. He shook out the pain, everything happening too fast, but when he opened his eyes, the D.S Butterfly disappeared.

Left with an endless void of a starry expanse.

Neo forced himself to his feet, then looked around at the dark. Gentle waves lapped with an invitation at his boots, and he frowned. "Huh?" He rubbed his brow, but stopped at a pressurized hum ringing his ears. His attention faded from the sight shown to what was in front of his nose when he tilted his head up.

With no reflection in the starry ocean he stood over. A giant, supermassive black hole remained in static time. "Um..." He drew his teeth over his lips then took one step forward. "Hello?"

It hummed, distorting the constant rippling waves beneath it. It stilled across the expanse when he stood underneath it, trying to peer into the abyss for a route to the D.S Butterfly. The low hum changed into a constant, pained whine. Images in the haze fluttered across his vision, too distant for him to grasp. Boundless information. Fingertips apart.

Until it asked an incomprehensible question, and he jolted at the intent in his mind. "... you want my name?" he asked, confused at where it came from, looking around once more for a source of the pressure. "Who is asking? I can't see... you..." He drew his attention up once more to the black hole when it shuddered. "... Are you asking me?"

It boiled.

Energy wriggled him. "That's awesome! You're intelligent... and... somehow I can understand you and I don't know what you are. Are you some sort of Precursor being?" He held onto his question, then answered it, "Sorry! Lost track! I'm Neo Teimea. I'm... an anomalous scientist in internship upon the B.H Supernova, though I assume this isn't the first time you had interactions with someone like me." He threw his hand out. "Have we picked up your container? What..." He slowed his own words. "What was that that I was seeing?"