THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE

CHAPTER 26: JADES

"Herbert, stop the course to Neptune. We need to figure out what's going on."

"Roger that."

I stared at the navigation panel, trying to make sense of the timeline. My VOXX watch still showed the year 4030, which was correct - at least according to when we started. But how could we have covered half the distance to Neptune in just a matter of minutes? It defied all logic. My thoughts drifted back to the strange experience I had during the engine repair—the pressure in my head, the noise. Could that somehow be linked to this bizarre time distortion?

An idea started forming in my mind. What if we set course for a planet or galaxy even further away? Could a journey that should take countless light years be completed in just six days? Or would we end up traveling for a billion years? With my switch, it was theoretically possible, but no one in their right mind would want that. I guess, there's only one way to find out.

"Herbert, change of plans. We are heading to JADES-GS-z14-0."

"Marcus, that galaxy is 33 billion lights years away. That over 122 billion in human years. It is impossible."

"Well, actually, with mine and Carl's switch it's not. You don't age anyway, so theoretically, it is possible. But we're not going to push it that far. I need to test something."

"What exactly?"

"The noise I heard outside earlier - it wasn't just random. I'm convinced it has something to do with the fabric of space and time. Something changed, I just don't know how or why. Set the course to our new destination, and we'll see what happens."

"As you wish," Herbert replied, initiating the course adjustment.

We put the MSS on autopilot, and I had dinner before heading to bed. The next morning, I checked the journey log to see if anything had changed, but only eight hours had passed, and we were still en route to the JADES galaxy. The same thing happened the following day, and the day after that—nothing unusual, no anomalies. I started doubting myself, wondering if the strange noise had been nothing more than a hallucination from my wicked mind.

Was this whole trip just a stupid idea? Maybe I should've stayed home, tried to work things out with Marysa. Maybe we could've been happy on Earth after all. We could have gotten married, maybe even had kids by now. A simple life, grounded. But the colors... They weren't lying, I still need to keep looking, deep down I knew that I couldn't give up. Six days passed without incident, everything functioning as it should. But on the morning of the seventh day, I woke up with a sudden, inexplicable sense of anxiety. Something was different.

"Herbie, can you check the journey log, are we still on course?"

"Straight away," he replied, heading to the control room. I waited, growing more anxious as he took much longer than usual to gather the information. Finally, he returned.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," he began slowly, "but we're already one light year into the JADES-GS-z14-0 galaxy."

My heart raced as therealization hit me.
"Yes, I knew it! It was tr..."