Chapter 1: June 27th, 2350

Darkness ... cold ... nothingness ... there is no better way to define what space is to any person out there. As living beings, we have been gifted the ability to track things in a way that allows us to survive best. We see the light...

As human beings, our entire society and way of life have been defined by our eyesight. Light is what allows us to see. A star was born and gave life to us—what better survival method than to use the star’s radiating brightness to observe our environment. The simple fact that we see the light given to us by Sol could be defined as our daily cycle. Nights could be characterized by the lack of light as Earth spins away from Sol for twelve hours. Our eyesight fails to operate correctly as we stumble in the dark.

But the night is not an end-all system to our eyesight. As we gaze up to the night sky, we end up seeing other things that amaze us. We see the light. It isn’t just the light that is radiating to us from nearby Sol or the reflected light from Luna. It is, instead, the countless thousands of other stars. Like glowing dots, the stars become our guides. Traveling at night is measured by the method of where these distant stars are located. We have desired to reach these alien glowing orbs like ancient artifacts of mystical power.

The reality is that this method has been our proper guide to the universe. The night is our friend and companion to the universe. Darkness is everywhere as we follow the light. Our eyesight tries to find the light because the light is what gives us warmth. Light allows us to survive, and light is what will enable us to find other things that can benefit us as the human race.

There is one problem with this simple operating system for humankind. The universe itself is vastly enormous. Entire spans of nothingness permeate the spectrum. Space is so utterly massive that there are seemingly little out there. Nearest stars take thousands to hundreds of thousands of years of travel on conventional drives to reach. What is filled in between?...

Space itself is the lack of the things that humanity needs the most ... heat, food, water, air, just to name a few. The primary things required for survival, space lacks. It could be defined as a miracle that humanity had found the things needed to live beyond Earth, and yet it has.

Perhaps that miracle could be defined as humankind has discovered the ability to fold space. Those distant glowing orbs that we call stars are suddenly within reach. As we follow the light through the long distances of darkness, we find new worlds to call home. The dark and the light once again work in harmony as we find unique places to expand and allow the human race to survive.

There is still a cost to this system, though. The system that allows us to see by tracking light is not always the perfect human survival concept. We travel through the solar system away from Earth. We fly through space as we leave the confines of this world we are most comfortable with. Its fate has been long defined in past stories. We must find new homes if we are to survive.

It is lonely out in space. The lack of light and heat causes the temperatures to reach its lowest temperatures. It is a vacuum in which no ordinary human being can survive. Sol’s radiation can be lethal if the lack of air and temperatures don’t get to you first. These contributing factors have made it difficult for humanity and its desire to explore the black depths of nothingness.

It is no wonder that the darkness is often the method in which those often get scared of. To leave Earth can be death. To leave the area of light at night can warrant demise. The night and darkness are typically the largest sources of horror in most stories to invoke terror in human beings’ hearts.

It is true, and it is not true that the lack of light is the be-all means of our survival. The lack of light does not mean a real sense of nothingness and death. The universe is very much alive. Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. We, instead, must rely on our other senses. If our eyesight fails us, we must adapt and use different methods to track it.

One such method is sound. Indeed, the sound doesn’t really exist in space. Lack of air pressure prevents sound waves from being formed, and as a result, we can’t hear what the universe makes. There are methods, however, to being able to listen to the sounds, though. One such way is what the objects in space create, and that is electromagnetic radiation. The recordings are changed so that we can hear it, and suddenly the environment of the universe is altered.

We suddenly realize that the universe is very much alive. It speaks in multiple ways and different concepts. The vastness of darkness echoes that of chittering, static, harmonic tones, pulses, and ambiance. To some, it is beautiful. To some, it is nothing but ambient nothingness. To others, it is horrifying.

Fear is the end and beginning. It is designed to encourage us to stay away from something. Fear has allowed us to survive against the hardships of our environment. It is both limiting and inviting to us as a method to beat. To win against fear is victory. To lose against fear can also be a victory. The complexity of one single emotion is one that can fill volumes of books. The human race both enjoys and stays away from things that invite the concept of fear.

What are the sounds of space that can inspire fear? This question alone is one that can be difficult to answer. Everyone has different tastes in what causes and invokes this emotion. To some, certain spatial phenomena’ sounds can invoke terror, but to others, it is a mere annoyance. Perhaps the question is more attuned to what are the more unsettling sounds heard in space?

Again, there is no perfect answer to this question. In the Sol system alone, the more uncomfortable sounds can be measured by society’s general opinion. We leave Earth behind once again. The ball of gray and orange is but a mere tool in the tour of the cosmos. Its fate has been long determined. It becomes a dot as it zips away from our sight. We fly past the seemingly nonexistent asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. We travel through the darkness of space as a familiar planet comes into view. The ringed gas giant is one that we are all familiar with and heard before.

Saturn’s sounds recorded from probes that flew by the second largest planet of the solar system are often well renowned. The gas giant’s sounds are often looked at as a scream. The electromagnetic waves, combined with the enormous rings, often create a screeching sound that rises slowly up and down. If Sol had the power and were annoyed by such a world, it would have rid it by now. The most beautiful planet by some is the more fear invoking and uncomfortable sound to listen to when it comes to worlds alone.

That being said, Saturn is not the end-all of unsettling sound-producing objects in the Sol System alone. Every celestial object and the star itself produces some unique noise that is often recorded and played back. Saturn is a place that consists of many moons. We back away from Saturn as we tour through the many objects that orbit it. The moon of Enceladus is one that can be unnerving to listen to. The distant sounds of air being pushed around, even on a place that seemingly has none, is one that grabs much attention. Enceladus is pretty to look at. Its white covered surface with light blue veins is indicative of frozen water that is continually molded and crushed under the gravitational tidal heating of the massive gas giant. The moon is a treasure trove for life as it is slowly being bled off into space. It is believed that the great moon will eventually be no more in one to two million years as the incredible geysers will ultimately run down and shut off.

But, we have been to these two places before. We already know of its sounds and music as we leave Enceladus once again. Instead, we turn our attention to another moon. Measuring at almost 400 kilometers in diameter, it is so small that it barely fits within Saturn’s top seven largest moons. It is the smallest moon in the known solar system that is spherical. One side consists of an enormous crater as we see its surface marked with multiple meteor impacts.

The name of the moon is Mimas. Perhaps this object produces the most unsettling of sounds when it comes to the moons of the solar system. The sound is distant, like a slow wind. It then starts to produce a low hum that slowly gets higher in tone. As it rises in volume, it begins to form a scream-like sound. It pierces the ears like spears and needles. The wind-like sound has become almost like that of an electronic screech that rises in and out. If one listens thoroughly, it almost sounds like the moon is calling out to you in terror. Voices can perhaps be heard from it as the listener desires to turn it off.

Surprisingly, this is attributed to the fact of its shape and magnetic field. Out of the many solar system objects, Mimas has one of the weakest and is continuously torn around by Saturn. Like a child being abused by its parent, Mimas has no choice but to follow its planet. Its massive crater named the Herschel crater is the single defining landmark that often reminds other readers and observers of other familiar science-fiction literature.

Instead, we must leave Saturn once again. We have been here before, and we know where the story goes. We say goodbye to the ringed world as it remains in forever orbit of Sol. Even when the star becomes a red giant, Saturn will remain. The forgotten destroyed worlds of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars will be gone, and the outer planets will be its only children. Sol is a life-giver, but it is also a cannibalistic parent.

We listen to the sounds of the solar system as we begin to veer away from Saturn so quickly that Uranus and Neptune are flickering dots. We instead travel to the sound of an electronic wind tunnel. It fluctuates in and out, drawing us to it. It can be eerie to some, but it pulls us in. Sol is far away. It is so distant that the temperatures are freezing. We are beyond Neptune’s orbit as the noise draws us to this object. The ambiance is exciting but creepy. The vibrating tones echo to its music.

We instead see a small celestial object that comes into our view. Being white, gray, and brown in color, it is a desolate, lonely world in the solar system. Its harmonic resonance echoes in our ears. The concept of being alone is one that can drive people mad. This object is one that seems to let everyone knows how it feels.

It is Pluto that we see before us. It was once called a planet but was devalued to that of a dwarf planet in 2006. It was so tiny that it is smaller than Luna and Triton, the moons of other planets. The United Worlds’ Alliance has even abandoned the idea of colonizing this seemingly desolate world as human beings find other habitable worlds for living and resources. Like a crying child, Pluto is one that sits, singing its songs of sorrow to the solar system.

It isn’t to say that Pluto is not entirely lonely. It does have its companions. The dwarf planet does have moons. Five celestial objects have been observed that orbit Pluto with Charon being the largest. Shaped like a cracked ball, Charon produces a single pitch in a volume that rings in the ears. It gradually goes up and down. If Pluto enjoys this sound, then it has a happy neighbor, but to many, the desolate location hallmarks the edge of the Sol System. The darkness of space permeates the spectrum as many consider Pluto’s future and its role for humankind.

Instead, we say goodbye to Pluto. Never again will we visit this world. Maybe one-day humanity will see this world to give it the attention that it long desires. We float away as we listen to the universe. Our goal is to follow the distant sounds of space. We watch as Sol gets smaller and smaller as it is nothing but a faint speck of dust in the galaxy. Pluto and the other planets of the Sol System are left behind.

We travel faster than the speed of light as objects zip past us. We listen, and we hear the sounds of space itself. The electromagnetic waves continue to sing to us, but we are attracted to the various sounds. Some are harmonic and beautiful, but others are unsettling.

Why are we attracted to the beautiful and horrific sounds? The harmonic sounds may or may not be a representation of a pleasant environment. The music and noise have no bearing on places that humanity may wish to go to, but it still draws us toward it. Perhaps we are looking for a pattern. Maybe if we head towards something of familiarity, we can find new homes or worlds for the human race to call home. We instead try to follow the things that may have some semblance. If life can develop on a G-Type star such as Sol, then perhaps other G-Type stars can find homes for humanity.

The sounds of the sun are a deep low hum that comes in and out. It oscillates up and down as if it is alive. It is almost like an ohm like sound as it is very deep. To some, it is beautiful, and others, it is an unsettling sound. It is, however, our reference point in helping us find other stars. When we tune our ears to it, we are now able to begin tracking similar sounds of that pattern.

Our head turns as we listen ... the noises are everywhere. The Milky Way Galaxy is filled with billions of stars. We decide to pick a random one, and it is located in the Draco Constellation. We hear a similar pattern so that it might be a G-Type star. We zoom towards it moving faster than anything alive. Stars and dust fly past us at blazing speeds. Our goal is clear. We must find other worlds for human beings to live on. We must find the things that we are most comfortable with if we are going to survive as a species.

It comes into view. Traveling over seven hundred light-years, we track the humming to a star that can be barely-viewed from Earth. The star is indeed a G-Type star. The yellowish glow is intense as it fills our eyesight. Worlds must fill this system. If a G-Type star gave us life, then what new wonders can be found in this system alone?

You see it first as you turn your head towards a planet that is close to the star. At first, you think that your vision is still adjusting to the brightness. You realize that you have traveled to the system known as TrES-2. You have traveled further than most human beings had ever desired.

Yet, you still see no light coming from the close planet. TrES-2b, the world that orbits this star, is still hard to see. It is massive, yet it is black as the void of space. We get closer and closer to it. Perhaps the relative luminosity of the star is still making the planet hard to see. Closer and closer we get until we are finally right next to it. Again, we must close in on it.

It is a gas giant that is bigger than Jupiter itself. It is so close to its star that it takes a little over two days to make one orbit. The planet is tidally locked as one side is scorched by the star, yet one problem remains. We got so close to it that we practically ran into it. The reasons are apparent ... we couldn’t see it.

The planet is dark. It is so dark that only about 1 percent radiates any light from its gaseous surface. You crash through the dark clouds that are blacker than coal. Only faint lights of red can be seen as you feel the searing heat of almost 1600 degrees Celsius permeate your body. You can’t see the stars as the temperatures are hotter than the planet Venus. You can’t see anything. It is as if Satan himself came up and wrapped his hands around your eyes. You realize all too well that you are in hell.

It must be impossible as you struggle to find your way out. To this day, scientists struggle to figure out why TrES-2b is one of the darkest planets ever to exist. A possible belief is that the atmosphere’s gases consist of chemicals that can absorb light, such as sodium or potassium, that produces low luminosity. The proximity to its star may also be a trigger to the events as well. For now, learning about this world is not your priority. Our goal is to escape it.

By reversing your direction, you hold your breath as your heart beats faster. Like a blind person, you must rely on your hearing to get you out. Only the star’s sound is your guide as you move faster and faster through the hellish blackness of the environment. Finally, you see it as you fly through the clouds and back out into space. We have escaped the clutches of TrES-2B.

Unfortunately, we have found little for humanity to benefit from. This world is not what we are looking for. By trying to find a G-Type star, we didn’t succeed in our mission. It is no easy task as the melody of the star is next to us. We watch as the gas giant starts to leave us. At 5 billion years of age, the star will eventually turn into a red giant and consume this hellish world anyway. For all you believe, it is best to let the star have it.

We believe that being here accomplishes little else. Finding new worlds for humans to live on is no easy task. Even with the famed Gabatrix experiment, having to check every little spot in the galaxy takes considerable time. Even by this period, humanity has only explored a tiny fraction of the galaxy alone. The territories are consumed by their enemies and allies.

But, the vastness must harbor places to live, and life must exist. We say goodbye to TrES-2 and its close planet. You watch as the star shrinks in size as we get further and further away. A part of you feels the relief. Perhaps it is best to find a world that is closer to human-controlled space. Maybe it is for the best to let humans do their work in finding other planets to live on. We instead watch as the stars become dots of twinkling sand as we move faster than the speed of light. A pleasant view of the center of the galaxy consumes the view. Stars zip past you as we once again listen to the sounds of the electromagnetic radiation.

We turn away as your ears begin to catch something in the openness of space. You once again hear another sound. We slowly return closer and closer to the Sol system, but we are still almost a hundred light-years away from it. The Milky Way Galaxy is so enormous that even a hundred light years is nothing but a mere footstep in one direction. Regardless, within this envelope are at least 10,000 stars. Most of the stars are tiny dim red, and brown dwarf stars near impossible to be detected with even the best telescopes of the 21^st century. It is both a wonder and a spectacular view.

The Gabatrix experiment opens the possibilities of the galaxy and universe alone. Human beings have been given the gift to traverse the galactic playground. There seems no limit to what could be found and what couldn’t be found out there.

Yet it is a time when things can slow down. Humanity has paid the price to reach it this far. Earth has been given to the T’rintar clan as a bargaining chip as the humans have found new worlds to live on. Survival is paramount, and Earth is a forgotten legacy of past glory. Mars and Cebravis serve as the bastions of human civilizations as they expand outward. The humans had found a few worlds to declare as homes and colonies, but much of the space is ripe for exploration. Progress is slow. War is all around the vast expanse, and the enemy could be anywhere.

Even with this, the void of space is seemingly quiet. We listen to the emptiness as the sounds of stars run around us. You yet hear it, though. Among the many red dwarfs, you finally hear a star that matches that of Sol. It must be another G-Type star. Perhaps here, we can finally be at rest.

We begin to close in on the star in the distance. More stars fly past you as we get closer and closer to our destination. It is getting close to us. Located in the Cetus constellation, the star sings into our ears. Just like a running motor, we have found another system that we might call home. Suddenly an unusual event takes place.

Hmmm ... odd ... that noise that just came in. You thought you heard it as well. It was a blip sound. It was not natural, and it is enough for us to stop our journey to this star. The universe is filled with little out there. To hear such an event as this is something that seems essential.

The sound that we heard is not typical at all. It was not electromagnetic radiation but a specific radiofrequency. Our attention is diverted to the source of that blip. We are curious ... what would cause such an event to take place?

We instead, convert our hearing to that radiofrequency. You can hear it now as apprehension fills your veins. The frequency is one that you listen to closely. It consists of three short blip tones followed by three longer repeating tones, with another three short tones. There is a pause as the signal repeats again and again.

On ancient Earth, the signal was similar to that of an S.O.S. given out by ships that were stranded or in trouble. Another signal is given out, and it is the voice of a human woman. Her words are garbled. It seems to make little sense, but her words are that of fear and confusion.

“Ship ... r ... tack ... please ... way...” are the only words that you can make out of the garbled words. You try to listen again, but all you hear are static. The same S.O.S. tonal blips are on repeat.

This is not the songs of the galaxy—your heart races to the event. The humans apparently have an event going on nearby. There is little that we can do here. Sitting here in the void of space will not accomplish anything.

Is this something that we should be concerned about? Perhaps it should. The galaxy is enormous. The enemy could be anywhere. Like shadows, the enemy has many different abilities. A cloaked vessel could be nearby. The Itreans consume a massive amount of the galactic cluster as it is.

Yet ... we stand wondering about this. What is truly out there? The darkness and the light dance together. One cannot exist without the other. Without the dark, we would not know fear and how to conquer it. Survival is paramount. We must continue with our journey. The distress call ... somebody must have heard it besides us.

It is both a good and bad sign. It is unfortunate for that woman but fortunate for us. We instead focus back on the star that is near us. The good sign is that we have found the possibility of other human life. Where an event takes place, more are sure to come. Humans must help out other humans. It is their nature to do so.

We zip closer and closer to the star. Slowly we close in on it as it comes closer and closer. It is indeed a G-Type star. The bright yellowish glow fills our vision. It is slightly larger than Sol, and it seems promising.

The star is known as HD 1461. It is almost 2 billion years old. All that traveling away from Sol, and now we only stand 76 light-years from Mars. HD 1461 is nothing awe-inspiring. Its mass is slightly more than Sol, but it seems to be working very well. It has been under the spotlight of telescopes due to the bright luminosity, even how distant it stood from former Earth. In 2009, it was discovered to have a planet that orbits close to it.

We are not far from the star as we begin looking around. You indeed spot the planet named HD 1461b. It is close to the star and orbits once every five to six days. Another planet called HD 1461c is seen. It also orbits its star once every thirteen to fourteen days.

You feel it don’t you? We are nearing the end of this journey. Just like Sol, there are indeed planets that orbit this star as well. It seems to be a constant in the universe. Where there is a star, there are planets and where there are planets...

You don’t need to say anything else. Your ears are tuned to the electromagnetic radiation. You want to find it, and now you are close. Is there a planet that has a similar sound as Earth? Are there livable worlds in this solar system?

The answer is simple ... yes.

We zoom closer and closer to the planet. We fly past another orbiting planet named HD 1461d. In the vast distance, you can see another ringed planet named HD 1461e. It is nothing significant but is something noted. Finally, the sound draws us in. We get closer and closer to this world and the end of our journey.

The world has come into your view. It is relatively small. It was so little that it was possible to fly on by and miss it entirely. It does, however, produce similar sounds that Earth makes. It is a perfect sign indeed.

It was named HD 1461f, but it would eventually be called Eutera. It is an odd planet. It is more significant than Mars and smaller than Earth. It is relatively small, even for a habitable world, and it would be much later before anybody would ever find it. Unlike many planets, this one spins almost entirely with no tilt. Earth has an angle rotation of about 22 to 24 degrees. This causes seasonal changes. Without it, there is only one season.

Some would claim that a planet like Eutera shouldn’t exist, yet it does. Founded only recently, it became the farthest colony of the United Worlds’ Alliance. The world is both beautiful and evident of what can happen to other habitable worlds. Unlike Earth and Cebravis, Eutera is a world of extremes. For a planet of mostly water, the poles are frozen completely solid. Massive ice sheets consist of almost two-thirds of the planet, yet it receives the proper amount of heat from its parent star.

It is a planet where life had developed regardless but in a limited fashion. It is beautiful to look at. It consists of large white arctic poles on the north and south, moderately cold mid-latitudes where the ice still operates, and then the warmer equator. The equator is warm enough to melt the ice. This creates a fashionable ring where life is running from. Small patches of green can be seen from the island continents that are not frozen in the ice. It is all aspects of an Earth-like planet with a mere difference in how it spins.

There are advantages to this type of environment. While it can limit life, it can also help it. Consistent environments can speed up the development of life if there are no changes to that environment. Plantlife was the key for Eutera, even if noncomplex life never developed. It is a world to call home, and humanity staked its claim.

We get closer and closer to the world. The songs of the universe come to a close. We can see several spaceships and warships in orbit, but they do not matter. You can see one of the moons of Eutera, but it is nothing like Luna. It is shaped like a potato, but again, it doesn’t matter. The darkness is all around us, but we have found the light.

We fall through the atmosphere as we close in on where our story will begin. We zoom through the puffy white clouds as we are guided towards the equator. We see a variety of island continents that jut from the melted ocean level surface. Instead, we single in on a small island continent south of an enormous continent that interconnects the northern mid-latitudes frozen ice. The world is seemingly quiet as we near the ground. There are trees and plant life, but most are things we are not familiar with. The grass is similar to that of Earth, but the trees are wider and lower in height. The temperatures are around 13 degrees Celsius but somewhat comfortable. It is near the afternoon as we fly by a pair of mountains. The color of the sky is much like the former Earth of long ago.

Once we fly past the mountains, we near the long beach of the grand island. It is here that you see it. It is a wondrous but perhaps insignificant sight. Past an outcropping of a large forest is a collection of buildings. The buildings are high tech and human in design. It is a small settlement where the humans have called Eutera their home. The colony of Eutera has a few things that make it remarkable. Among one of the things is the great colony lander. The CX-2 class colony ship is designed to maximize settlement efforts. As we fly by it, the name “Jen” is written in English and Chinese on the side of the hull. Equipped with every piece of equipment available, the ship is stuffed with colonists and sent to a new world to call their home. Once the lander makes landfall, the vessel can then be dissembled to make new homes or be used as an emergency transport to get the people off-world. Instead, the lander has remained parked near the settlement and left virtually untouched except for an individual or two that use it as a makeshift building and equipment storage.

Near the lander are several shuttles in a makeshift ground port. A small tower building with a massive radar dish has been erected. We fly on past this area as we get closer and closer to our destination. We see people that walk around the small town. The buildings are arranged haphazardly like the trees of the forest. Occasionally, we see large square like farms that have been dug into the ground where food is being grown.

No two building is truly alike in the town. A few are large towers where administrative matters are most likely taking place. There is a large circular area near the center, and a black monument marks this spot as we continue to fly on by.

The people here are not all human. Some of them are Itrean. Some are walking with each other in casual or formal conversation. The recent alliance with the T’rintar clan may have something to do with this. There appears to be no resentment or dissatisfaction with one another. It is as if Eutera has become a new cold Eden for the two ailing races. We even see a human and an Itrean woman that are holding hands together as they are heading towards the great lake of the mountains.