Chapter 4 – Omnipresent
Who knew that adventuring into the
unexplored regions of space could be boring? I guess someone would if they saw
what I was seeing. I’m trying to see how the universe stretches so I’ve been traveling
in warp space past the unknown regions and further into the unknown, however,
the unknown is more boring than I thought it would be. My scans are reading
that there’s nothing out here except empty space. There are no planets, no suns,
no moons, not even a floating rock or anything really.
When I exit warp space, I find what
my scans tell me. Nothing. Everything around me is an uncomfortable and
chilling darkness. I can’t even see the stars and galaxies from this deep in
the unknown. There’s absolutely nothing out here. Did God only create so much to
put a limit on our population? Sure, there is a nearly unlimited number of galaxies
and our numbers are so vast that it’s not worth putting a number to it, but
still. Maybe He’ll create more when we’re not paying attention. It’s not like
we’ve documented all the planets and galaxies in the unknown regions yet.
It seems like this was a waste of
time. At least my ship has the coordinates to go back home, so I turn around
and warp back. While writing my report, my scans pick up a planet. Finally!
Quickly exiting warp space, I find a singular planet that’s mostly broken with
pieces of it flying in space. Not the most exciting thing to see, but it’s
something so I find the best landing place and put on my deep space suit ready
for whatever is waiting for me. I don’t even care if this is barren rock.
Seeing nothing for days makes even the most mundane things new and interesting.
When I land on the planet, I find rocky
structures that appear to be trees and other formations. We’ve discovered
planets where everything is a type of rock like worlds made of crystal, but these
rocks seem similar to solidified lava more than anything. The environment of
this planet is draining my suit's energy fairly quickly because the conditions
are horrible for life to exist here. Inspecting the ground around my ship reveals
that the ground isn’t too stable so this planet may not last that long. It
seems to be a corpse more than anything. My excitement is severely dying down.
I guess it makes sense. Please, God, temper my expectations next time and
humble me not to want something that would give me fame and glory.
After searching for a while, my
scans pick up what seems like a ship nearby. I hurry to where it is and sure enough,
I find a broken ship. Going into it and powering it up with power from my deep
space suit, I’m able to access the records of the ship. Dear Lord…Okay, so.
This place was a living planet occupied by members of the alliance of empires
that have formed against the Church. We’ve been searching for these people to
convert them. I didn’t know they were out this far, but this isn’t what shocks
me.
What shocks me is what they were
testing out here. With materials from the unknown regions of space, they’ve
found a way to blow up suns, which leads to the destruction of the entire
galaxy. They somehow fuse these materials with ships and kamikaze them into the
sun. Details on the construction of these ships and the materials are fractured
because of the damaged database, but this is still enough to get the Church’s
attention. This planet was part of a galaxy that was one of their testing
sites. It’s no wonder why I haven’t found anything this far out into space. The
alliance must’ve destroyed hundreds of galaxies in their tests. I have to show
this to the Church now before the alliance finishes their ships!
After downloading as much
information as I can, I hurry as fast as I can back to my ship until I hear
something moving around me. Taking out my shotgun and using the light on it, I’m
able to see shadows darting through the rock trees. My scans don’t pick up any
kind of life so this may be some new kind of life we’ve never seen before,
however, I can’t stay to document them. Heading back to my ship, I come across
what I’ve been barely seeing. In front of me is a human-like being made of rocks.
It doesn’t have a face and its body is a mass of floating rocks.
“Umm. Friend?” I jokingly ask
before it lunges at me.
Shooting it with my shotgun on its
stun mode does nothing except push away the rocks that compose it. It’s only
when I destroy the rocks that it’s made of does it stop. Okay, now I definitely
need to get out of here. Is this what happened to the people here after they
blew up the galaxy? This is horrendous. I blow my way through the attacking
rock creatures until I make it inside my ship. Come on, come on start up and
lift off already! Hey! Get off my ship! These rock creatures are breaking apart
pieces of my ship even as I lift off.
Even as I leave the planet, I
barrel roll a few times to make sure that I’m not taking any with me. Dang it!
My ship's engines are damaged along with the warp drive! Please, please, Lord
God, save a wretched sinner such as me! Your Church needs this information or
else humanity will be doomed! After praying in silence for a bit, my scans pick
up a large object approaching me. My ship’s outside cameras are damaged so I
can only turn on the lights and look around-what the?!
Outside the ship are two hands that
must be at least ten, no, a hundred times the size of a planet! They’re not as
dark as the space around me, but what or who’s hands are those? Are those the
hands of God coming into reality? My ship can’t move fast enough to avoid them
as they close in on me. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
“He’s waking up!” I hear a distant
voice say.
My mind is hazy as I wake up in
what looks like a hospital.
“Huh? Where am I?” I say to the
doctors.
After telling me the planet I’m on
and making sure that I’m okay, the doctor asks, “How did you get here?”
“I have no clue. Do you?”
“Not even a guess. Your ship suddenly
appeared on the landing platform last night. No one saw you land nor enter the
planet’s atmosphere, so it’s a complete mystery to us especially with the
condition of your ship.”
“It’s a miracle.”
“That’s honestly the only
explanation. God must really be looking out for you in particular. I’m sorry
for going through your ship’s records, but we needed to know just in case we
had to contact your employers or family. Is your name Gatto?”
“Yes, I’m an explorer of the unknown
regions of space. I was exploring the most unexplored parts of it last I remember.”
“It’s no wonder why your name is Gatto
then.”
“Yeah. I was always called a
curious cat and even named my ship the Curious Cat-”
Wait a second.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yes! I have information that
should be brought directly to the pope! The entire Church’s survival is a stake!”
“What are you talking about?”
“The alliance of empires that we’ve
been chasing has the ability to destroy suns, even entire galaxies with their
ships! I have proof on my ship if you don’t believe me!”
Hearing explosions outside stops me
from explaining further. Could this be the beginning of the alliance’s attack?
“The Dogmatists have slipped past
our orbital defenses!” I hear someone say in the hospital.
I feel the hospital shake as
explosions hit it until an explosion happens near me. I’m fine, but now I see
what is happening. From the hole in the wall, I see Catholics fighting
Catholics.
“What is happening?” I say as I stand
in shock.
“The Dogmatists have separated themselves
from the Church and are waging war against us,” the doctor explains, “You can
tell us about the information you found after the battle is done. We’ve found a
suit of armor on your ship. You can fight, right?”
Looking at my deep space suit, I
see that it’s completely new as if were never damaged by the rock creatures nor
the harsh environments of the unknown.
“Yes, I can fight. Give me my
shotgun,” I say as I ready myself for a fight against my own brothers.
I’m not sure which is the worst horror.
Galaxy destroying sinners or God’s faithful killing each other. Lord have mercy
on us all.
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