Limits

Imperceptible Limit

There was a sudden gust of chill air from all around. Then in moments, chill air gradually descend in this black space. Millions of droplets of snow so tiny it's almost invisible to the eyes can be seen floating down and disappearing into thin air. The middle thirties Edward could feel himself standing firm although there is no ground below him. It's just the black void of outer space that surrounds him. He turned his head to look around. All was empty except for the fuzzy lights from distant clusters of stars and galaxies. Edward looked at the device on his left arm. The stats indicates that he is at the correct location and thus await for the others.

Moments later, another sudden gust of wind burst out in front of him. Two people appeared out of it. Again, the mist of tiny snow formed around the two. The millions of droplets gently float down and disappeared where they stood.

Both of them looked that their respective devices on their wrists and looked up at each other. Each of them nodded acknowledging the accuracy of the data. They have reached their destination: the very end of the universe!

These individuals dressed in gray spacesuits looked around trying to understand the landscape that they are in. There is really nothing much. Outer space beyond all the super galactic clusters of the universe is truly empty. To their disappointment, there isn't even a black wall or anything that could indicate that this is truly the very edge of the universe. Technology only brought them to the theoretical limits of space. Whether this is the actual edge, it the mission they have at hand.

After a short discussion, they then turned to look diametrically opposite of where the rest of matter in the universe is. Whatever that is in front of them is completely pitch black. Then with pure will, they operated their space suits to propel them forward very carefully.

The three of them just continued forward for a time. They hit nothing and nothing new came up. This went on for a little longer.

Suddenly, an alarm went blaring. The holographic user interface, HUI, came into existence infront of their faces. Apparently, space itself adjusted to their movements. According to the HUI, the universe was actually expanding as they moved forward. The readings further showed that 'new' space is being created right after each step that they took. The were even new coordinates coming up on the navigation systems as possible location to transport to which is really just behind them. However, the alarms warn that warp space is being created in front of them without the use of a warp engine.

Warp engine was a common third millennium mode of travel through the cosmos. It is now a severely outdated technology and it is merely used in mechanical constructs that slingshot cargo over distances of less then the span of about two normal galaxies. It is utterly useless for inter galactic cluster corporations, IGCCs, to transport goods that amount to several quadrillions of containers across several super galactic clusters. This is because warp engines uses the concept of bending spacetime to move something from one location to another. In crude terms, it's similar to squeezing space between the object and it's destination and expanding the space behind it. In this complex universe of stars and galaxies, there is no clear straight path that spans several galactic clusters.

The team of three decided to move back a few steps until the alarms shut off. Each of them then simultaneously swiped up their HUI to merge their readings. If they understood the figures correctly, the space in front of them was reacting like a balloon. The surface of the balloon when pushed from inside will cause it to stretch. If more force were to be used, the balloon will burst.

"So we could burst the universe?" mused to himself.

All of them were stupefied. Could it be too easy to destroy the universe or will the universe suddenly expand tremendously like a second big bang?

They then decided to take all the readings back to base and develop on their research from there. It is best not to risk doing something that could endanger everyone needlessly. Furthermore, technology is still limited to relay transmissions across vastly wide distances.

Each of them then pressed a button on their wrist devices and disappeared from the location. Tiny specks of snow generated from the transportation process now floated down and slowly disappeared into the nothingness.