Tenebris Galaxia

Tenebris Galaxia was only 270 million light years away. It sounded like a hell of a distance when you looked at it that way, but with that hot-shot propulsion system, the Dual Singularity Drive (DSD), the trip could be made in less than a year. Well, eleven months, twelve days, to be a bit more precise. But that certainly was less than a year.

Of course you had to take into account the time for the return trip, not to mention the actual exploration of the galaxy. James assured Wanda that he would be back within 3 years. Surely it wouldn't take more than a year to determine that this is just another dead galaxy.

The Life Search Project had been going on for nearly fifty years now. No one wanted to use the term 'abject failure' just yet, but it had gotten to the point where no one ever really expected to find any one any more.

The first few decades after the DSD was developed had resulted in failure after failure. Every time they sent someone out into deep space, whether conscious or in stasis, they returned with the cognitive skills of a rutabaga. So for a long time they only sent robotic probes out.

The probes had a significant problem though. They were programmed to look for 'life', but what, exactly, would life out there be? There was no end to the possibilities. Everyone involved knew, but rarely spoke about the fact, that the probes could be looking directly at a living creature on another planet, but not recognize it as 'life'.

They really needed a way to send living, breathing, human beings instead of just pre-programmed probes. That opportunity finally came when they found a way to train an explorer to accept and survive being outside of Space/Time. Not everyone could do it, but through extensive screening and testing, candidates were identified and recruited into the program.

James had spent a full 5 years in training before he was finally scheduled to a ship. It was the chance of a lifetime; his dream for decades. But there was still a high level of risk. He had been trained extensively, but there was still no way to simulate non-existence. So although he'd scored very high on every exam, the true test was to actually experience timelessness.

That fact settled in as he sat in his flight bench and made final checks of system status prior to his first S-jump. For the first time in years, he had to actually consider that this jump could be his very last act in life.

Training, man, he reassured himself as the Nav-Com began its inevitable count-down. It's all about the training. Just hang on to that for now.

The singularity generators wound up to a fevered pitch as the count-down neared zero. The anchor and primary singularities appeared as glowing points on the Nav-screen. As they grew in strength, the dots enlarged, became brighter and pulsed more quickly on the screen.

James didn't need to see the secondary appear to know it was there. He'd been through enough simulations that he just leaned back and closed his eyes. It would be over soon... one way or another. The generators were whining at such a pitch that he thought his head would split in half.

But before that could happen, he found himself surrounded by thick, warm, comfortable blackness. He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed. There didn't seem to be any light at all, nothing to see. He quickly realized that this is what he'd been preparing for.

Don't screw up now, Bucko, he thought as he grappled with new, frightening sensations. Just concentrate on time the way you know it. Don't let infinity get a hold of you.