ONE: Epilogue of Hermesh

10. Cosmic Heresy

Regaining consciousness, as Commodore Reemon Erra opened his eyes, he realised he was still lying on the floor of the bridge. Sensing a particular discomfort and looking up, Erra saw Commander Tekkar was injecting him with some form of medication.

"How are you feeling, Commodore?" Tekkar asked.

"Are we still alive?" Erra asked back.

"Some of us are."

"Then I'm definitely feeling better. What happened?" Erra asked, trying to force himself to talk, while attempting to ignore all the different parts of his body that were still revolting in pain.

"Not quite sure, Commodore," Tekkar answered softly, "But it looks like Tooran did pull off one last miracle."

"She is still in one piece!" Erra observed in disbelief.

"With some help, Commodore. Two Amarthian ships, Molhnak and Narsanh, that were patrolling nearby, picked up Tooran on their long distance sensors. But by then, our power reserves were so critically drained that we were in no position to receive or respond to any communication." Tekkar explained, "Thankfully, rushing in to intercept, they identified Tooran visually. Had they arrived even a few minutes later or hesitated before transferring power, we would all be dead by now."

Trying hard to focus on what the Commander was saying, Erra asked, "But how did the two ships escape the event horizon? How did...we?"

"Honestly Commodore, I don't know. Nobody does. Scientists are still trying to figure out what they witnessed," Tekkar answered tentatively.

"And what exactly did they see?"

"At the exact same time when Tooran appeared, right in front of them, the wormhole simply disappeared."

"Then Ralnac...."

"Right where we left it, Commodore," Tekkar answered, trying to force a smile "And if you feel up to it, I can show you what many here saw."

Helping Erra stand, Tekkar guided him towards his chair. The old Amarthian collapsed into it with a groan.

The Commander waited for Erra to compose himself before she spoke again, "We cannot directly see the event yet because it happened approximately 2000 light years away. But up to the very last moment, the subspace relays had been constantly transmitting everything to the other side of the wormhole, up until the point when this one singular event was captured."

As Commander Tekkar activated a device on her wrist, a three-dimensional image appeared in front of Erra. It showed a vast space, illuminated by the white light coming out of the Tear. And in that light Erra could see hundreds and thousands of alien ships moving in a single direction.

"I believe this is after the Goulash Armada had been...defeated," Tekkar said, before quickly switching to the next set of images.

Reemon Erra was not certain what he was looking at. All of a sudden, there was a blinding flash of light so strong that it momentarily consumed everything in that frame. But when the light was gone, in the next shot which also was the very last one captured, he could not see any of the alien ships. All that remained was the dark space and the Tear in the far distance.

"What happened?" Erra, asked in confusion.

"No one knows yet, Commodore. Thermal data gathered at the time indicates an off the charts energy discharge, that literally expanded into outer space, from inside the wormhole. If the data recorded is to be trusted, then that flash of light you saw was travelling faster than the speed of light."

"Wait; how can light travel through normal space-time at a speed ....faster than the speed of light?" Commodore Erra exclaimed.

"Not by following any known laws of physics, Commodore. That is the cosmic enigma that has left almost everybody clueless," Tekkar answered.