Starfire Ascension

Chapter 16 - Galaxy GN-z11

Holly sat on the bridge chair positioned next to Cyrus, with Kimberley on the far side chair. Cyrus was preparing for launch. Molly and Tracy had left at 9:00 am after Holly had promised they would try to see each other again sometime. It felt so strange to go from practically having no friends, to now having three. Despite the fact that she had her trepidations about the journey, underneath all that she was just as excited as Cyrus. The call to adventure outweighed her apprehension. Cyrus had told them that this galaxy was about twenty-two million times farther away from them than Tabby's star had been. She wondered how that would affect travel through the higher dimensional plane. Cyrus had finished his authentication and turned to Holly.

"Are you girls ready?" he said with a soft tone that held a hint of apprehension behind it? Holly looked him in the eyes determined not to show signs of weakness. "Waiting on you "mon Capitaine'!" she said with cheer while Kimberley gave him the thumbs up. Cyrus grinned back at her. She could see the last contingent doubts evaporate from his face as all lights were now green for launch. "All right uncle Tony we are all clear on the bridge." Uncle Tony spoke up on the intercom. "I packed the contingency equipment, just like the last voyage. Thankfully B-deck BOW was not the one that got blown out. That could have been a mess. All the equipment is ready to go. There is a variety of survival and exploration equipment there. I will explain further if we find anything with an atmosphere we can survive the pressure and radiation in, that's suitable for a surface walk in your EMU's. However unlikely that may be we should still be prepared. They are also in B-deck BOW. You should be ready for launch now. Coordinates are locked in and all systems are checked and on standby awaiting your command."

"The Aether is ready for launch sir," Cyrus said with a look to both Holly and Kimberley who nodded. Cyrus then turned, lifted the safety cover, and pushed the big red button with the yellow caution-stripped outline tape surrounding it. Holly heard the nuclear fusion engines begin to wind up as the injector manifolds on the fusion drives started and the computer sounded the countdown. She could feel the hull shudder slightly as the starship began to lift off the ground. The Aether began to move forward very quickly. This time she was slightly more prepared for the quick jerking motion as the ship compensated to climb the thirty-degree access pipe. The ship began to pick up speed rapidly as the fusion drives began to get louder, the high-pitched whirring sound increasing. The computer was saying, "Calculating trajectory. Path of ascension clear." Holly began to see a yellow attenuated warp field forming in front of the ship. Holly's eyes grew wide seeing the new warp field color. She wondered what it meant. She began to see the world in front of her distort and elongate out to a singular infinite point. She knew it would look the same behind her if she dared turn around. Holly placed her hand in Cyrus's as her eyes began to widen. She saw him reach out and grab Kimberley's hand just before the world began to distort beyond recognition.

Holly felt the draw as it began to pull on her again. She saw the ship and her body moving forward away from her as she felt her consciousness begin to ascend to the elevated perspective. Holly was nervous, heck almost terrified, but even more than that she was excited. She saw the cosmos stretch out before her in all directions. The teardrop-shaped colorful threaded connections to infinitely far-off destinations great and small, somehow tethered back to a single spot that she stood upon. She saw countless rings but this time she reached out and touched one. The connection strand lit up and began to make a soothing crystalline sound. It was a high-pitched ring and the connection thread hummed as it resonated. A bright orangish-red color showed from it. She reached out and touched another. It lit up but this time the sound was slightly different, and the connection color was one Holly had never seen before. She had not the words to describe it, but the way it made her feel she would never forget.