The secret? That's what was going through my mind as I unboxed the cube.
36 cycles earlier
We were in deep space, almost at the edge of the universe. If there is even a concept like that. Our transmissions even with superluminal speed would take around a year atleast to reach back to Earth where the signal will then be received by three broad array satellites located in Houston, Sriharikota, and Sendai.
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We've been traversing the current star system for literally 31 Earth years. The star system is unlike anything we could've imagined. Two ultra-massive neutron stars orbit an ultra-massive blackhole in a violent dance spanning light years. The stars were violently yanking along their orbiting planets in this death dance.
To remain in a stable orbit, our calculations had to be precise to the umpteenth level of accuracy lest we get slingshot across the universe or worse begin our descent of doom into the unforgiving void of the blackhole's singularity lying just beyond its event horizon.
We were maintaining a stable orbit roughly around 4x the diameter of our solar system yet the beautiful carnage was amply visible to our sensors and even to the naked eye. It was then that we noticed the brightest flare ever detected by a human eye.
The flare originated from the depths of the blackhole's singularity and immediately the ship's proximity sensors blared to life. Something was heading towards us and fast. But what? We couldn't see nor make out characteristics. We tucked ourselves in and braced for impact.
After what seemed like eternity the sirens stopped. We made our way slowly towards the starboard and ran diagnostics and systems check. Everything seemed to be working fine. It was then that, Davies, our signals expert picked up a strange low frequency hum coming less than 0.021 light years from our ship.
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We all unanimously agreed that it deserves to be checked out and quickly the volunteers were finalised. It was me, as the captain of the ship, and Kelly, our navigator. We hopped on to the torpedo and made our way towards the signal with Davies running comms and guiding us. As we approached the source, Kelly violently swerved to the side.
"What happened?", I asked. She pointed outwards and saw a mirror image of our torpedo in a holding pattern and all that was behind us. This thing was warping space and time somehow. The sensors picked up something solid and I took the decision to retrieve it and bring it back to the ship. My biggest mistake and certainly my last.
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As we put the cube in the centre of the examination table we noticed that it was black. Blacker than anything humanity had ever encountered. The cube all of a sudden began to make a strange sound and ripples started to appear on its surface.
In front of our eyes, we saw bright lights and glimpses of the cosmos from various periods as our consciousness was being taken on a roller coaster ride to the edge and beyond.
If anyone receives this transmission, just know the what Lovecraft said about the secret was true. There are things and beings beyond the edge and they're not our friends. It was too late for me and my crew but I pray this message reaches humanity on time.
Transmission end.
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