No one had ever found the edge of the universe before.
It was not Selene’s plan nor the plan of the Gemini mission they represented. But as they gazed out the great stained-glass window of the ship, the pitch darkness outside suddenly became blindingly bright and filled with color.
Looking back in the direction they had come, they saw a membrane like that of a smoke-filled bubble, shimmering as it healed the exit wound they had caused. The great yawning darkness and all of its stars were little more than fog. Some of this fog had escaped along with them, wisps of black mist curling out like Kraken’s tendrils around the ship.
The bubble stops receding as they try to contact mission control. No signal – why would there be? Of course, the bubble was perfectly self-contained regarding stuff like that. No sound could get out, and none could get in. No light could get in from the outside, either, like a one-way mirror.
Noticing the soft standstill, they don their suit and carefully crack the hatch. Immense pressure, with no result, no gravity, yet they retain perfect control of their body. In fact, it was almost easier to move.
Pushing off from the ship doesn’t get them far, but they climb the expanse by grasping puddles of liquid. With each hold, they shimmer like the film that coats the universe. Are they the possibilities of other worlds?
Eventually, they reach a ceiling of purple grass. Inverting themselves to stand upon it is not a challenge; it feels more like the world is inverting around them.
Warning! Low power. Please recharge.
They risk taking off the suit – it feels like being born again, but the airless expanse tastes sweet once the pain subsides. The pressure is even more immense, though, and it feels like currents rushing around them, imprinting their form into memory.
A short walk over the breathing plain takes them to a great lake, which slowly blinks at them with an emotionless gaze. The pupil-fish breaches in acknowledgment and offers its hands as a platform to carry them further into the abyss. Why shouldn’t they accept a cup of tea in this wonderland?
The pressure is less suffocating below the surface, but the sky is much darker, making it difficult to see. But as the fish returns to its place, the dark is split by a ray of bright light.
They float among the bones of various worlds, some so unfamiliar that they couldn’t have dreamed up anything close if they had tried. One day, their bones will become part of this pile, but for now, they become the new handholds.
At the center is the mouth that chews up the old things and digests them, remaking them into new realities. It is full of sharp teeth, and yet somehow inviting… but the slow march of time will bring them there one day. Not yet.
Up the glistening river is a pyramid, shining darker than everything else. With one touch a door opens in its side, leading to a field of glassy liquid that ripples at their feet. New worlds are born from these waters all around them, flashing with colors so bright it hurts to look at. But they adjust quickly.
In the center of the field is the altar that bears the key back home: an odd shape, beating like a heart and always shifting. Through the wireframe, they see their homeworld in all its glory: every star, gas pile, and even the burning wasteland of the origin planet.
Selene wakes back up in their bed, still in their undersuit layers, the dim daylight flooding into the room. Everything is still.
