There’s nothing there.

It's an empty place, devoid of light.

And yet, they still sent us.

That void has been the one thing that has baffled our scientists, astronomers, and physicists. It’s also served as an instrument for conspiracy theorists to prove that something other than us exists in this vast universe. Boötes Void, they call it, and they assembled a team to see what lies in that void. Thankfully, we have the technology just for this, and our Ultima-drive lets us practically teleport to any part of this universe, and the one place they send us is a place rid of any hint of life.

December 14, 2586. This was the day they sent us, and I think maybe I should start by introducing myself. My name is Torin Seishi, and I come from three different ethnicities, (American/Celtic from my father, and Japanese from my mother), though I was raised in America. Anyway, back to this mission. UNAC (short for United Nations Aerospace Corporation)  assembled a team of experts around the world, myself included, ranging from places like Germany to Russia, and Japan. We even got a monk from Titan. One from just about every part of the globe. We had me, Reinhardt “Rein” Emerson, from Germany, Seiko Kujo, from Japan, Vlad Gregovich, from Russia, Shenzu Jetchi, from a colony on Saturn’s moon, Titan, Theodore Charleston, from the United Kingdom, and lastly a fellow Norwegian, Hanna Bjelland. 

The grass squeaked under our heavy boots on this rainy December day. I look at the starship that’d take us to the Void, the Njord, as in the Norse god of the Sea and Winds. Easily 250 feet in length, and wide enough to house the seven of us and then some. 

“Never thought they’d name a starship after a god,” Hanna said lightly, in a Norwegian accent.

“Especially one of your ancient gods,” said Shenzu. My eyes rolled at the sound of their bickering. “Why not one of mine? Is it just because of th-”

“Shenzu,” I interrupted, “Not today, please.” He lowered his head and carried his bags to the ship.

“You don’t need to stand up for me,” Hanna said, “I can take care of myself.” She glares at me with her emerald green eyes. Those eyes have always melted my heart.

“Oh I know, that’s why you just let people talk bad about you, then just bottle up your emotions.” Her glare hardened as I said that, and was ready to say something, but shook her head. I fixed my bags on my shoulders, then moved forward towards the ship.

“You don’t have to act like an asshole,” she muttered.

“There you go, just like that,” I said, “Just do that from now on.”

“Come on you two, stop bickering and get on the ship,” muttered our ship commander, Theodore.

“Yeah yeah, I got it,” I muttered under my breath. As I moved forward I caught a glimpse of the manly man, Reinhardt, carrying his and Seiko’s bags. The fucking manlet, making the Japanese girl blush and giggle. Though to give him credit, he waseasily carrying like 100-150 pounds on his shoulders. As we approach the ship, we all see Vlad doing final check-ups to make sure everything is in tip-top shape.

“Do you ever leave this bird alone?” Rein questioned jokingly.

“Oh you know the answer there, Rein,” he said, “just making sure we all make it there and back home safe.” The two of them let out a chuckle, then Vlad helps but bags into cargo. Everyone mutters their thanks and proceeds onto the launch pad.

“Before we board, I want to say something,” mutters Theodore, “I know all of us come from different parts of life, and we all have different views on this mission, but I’d rather not have anybody else on this team. I handpicked all of you for this because of your expertise, and because they told me to pick people from different parts of the system, but your expertise is what matters here. You are all qualified to bring us to the Void and bring us back.” He met everyone’s gaze and bowed his head.

“The same goes for you, wouldn’t want any other commander,” I said, “Now, let’s get going.” We all made our way into the ship. We climbed through its corridors and up into the cockpit. We all took a seat, with Ted sitting in the back, overseeing everyone. 

“Everyone, please, stay quiet while I contact UNAC,” he tapped the screen and brought up the HQ in our screens, “HQ, we’ll be departing shortly.”
“Sounds good Ted,” the man said, “Everything looks good on our end, and Vlad ran diagnostics, correct?”

“Indeed, and stop calling me Ted”

The man chuckled, “Right, well whenever you decide to launch, you’ve got the green light...Ted.” the man disconnected from the call.

“NONE OF YOU will be calling me TED, understand?!” He shouted angrily. We all let out a chuckle before he told us his commands.  As we read out our readings on our heading, thrust, and other things before launch, he finally gave the thumbs up.

“Vlad, set engines to launch capacity, “ he commanded.

“Aye, sir,” he said back, trying to hold his excitement in his throat. I looked over to find Hanna meeting my gaze, but she threw her head forward as if she wasn’t staring. I let out a little chuckle and say, “Got something on your mind?”

“Mm-mm, no, not al a-all.” She muttered, her voice wavering. Her cheeks began to redden and her eyes darted back and forth on her screen.

“Mmhmm, you tell yourself that.” As I finished speaking she looked over again, but I could see her out of the corner of my eye. I let out a little smile, then Ted shouts, “Launch!” and the immense force threw me into the back of my seat. My eyes only stared forwards as we ascended into the heavens. We rip through clouds, then the atmosphere, then softly approach orbit. Everyone lets out a big sigh since we all couldn’t breathe with the force exerted on our bodies. 

“Everyone holdin’ up okay?” asked Reinhardt. Everyone let out their unanimous, “Yeeaahhh,” before Ted commanded us to steer us towards our destination, 700 million light-years away.

“Torin, prime the Ultima-Drive,” commanded Ted. I nod my head, then begin to press buttons on my screen. The ship began to let out a low whirring sound, then it began to become louder and the ship began to shutter. It got more and more violent and our screen began to shake from our stations. The cockpit filled with noises of rattling and groans from the crew, but eventually leveled off.

“It’s primed, sir,” I said after rubbing my ears in pain.

“All right, on your go, Torin,” he muttered.

“Before we go, sir, what do you think is in there?” I asked.

“Honestly, I think it’s nothing, though I keep wondering as to why there are dim stars on the outside of the void. I keep thinking that something is in there, sucking the energy out of the stars. I think that maybe something big is waiting for us there…” We all sat in silence thinking about what Ted said. What if there is something in there? What if it is waiting? Ted broke the silence with, “On your go...Torin…” I flipped the safety for the drive, then pressed the button. I looked out the windows of our cockpit and saw the stars stretching into infinite lengths. I could feel my body being pulled forward to the seat in front, then back into the space behind me. Then everything begins to dim into black around the ship as we are attempting to move faster than light. I’m then launched into the back of my seat as we hit 70 million times the speed of light. We begin to pass out in our seats.

I slowly open my eyes to see nothing outside the windows. There is nothing but black. I look around to the rest of the crew to find them still out cold. I move my hands along the seat straps to find the buckle and press hard until it releases me. I attempt to stand up, but my legs collapse under me, and I hit the floor with a thud. I grab the arm of my chair and pull myself up onto my feet, and just stand for a few moments to catch my balance again. I look back over the crew to see them shuffling around in their seats, waking up from our travels. How long were we out? I thought. I looked at my screen to see we traveled 700 million miles in ten minutes. We were right in the heart of the void, no stars were in view.

“Glad to see we made it safely,” Ted mumbled breaking the silence, startling me. 

“I’m glad to see that-” I was interrupted by an alarm going off. The rest of the crew shot from tired to awake in a matter of seconds. 

“R-rein, status on the hull.” Commanded Ted.

“Hull status at 100% integrity, sir,” Reinhardt stated.

“Seiko, are all our systems functional?”

“Aye, sir. All systems are operational.”

“Vlad, the engines?”
“Operational. No issues detected.”

“Then what the hell is the alarm for?” He exclaimed.

“Sir…” said Hanna softly, “It’s a proximity alert. There’s something...something big, above our ship.” 

“Seiko, bring the top camera into view in the window.” The camera blipped in our window, but there was nothing to see.

“Hanna, you said there was something there,” he muttered.

“There is something, sir, I see it on our radar.” Ted looks over his deck to glare at Hanna’s screen. I imagine the only thought in his head was, Holy shit, that thing… it’s ginormous… From her screen, the object read over 2,000 feet in length, with a large triangular shape. I look back to the window to see lights brightening.

“Hey Ted, I think we should be leaving,” I said. I began to set our destination back to our solar system, then the ship shuddered and threw everyone off balance.

“Sir, the shape is pulling us in!” Hanna Exclaimed.

“It’s no shape, it’s a ship!” screamed Vlad. A light shot through the window, blinding us. While covering my eyes, a light sparked in my mind. 

“Sir, Permission to send us back to earth using the Ultima-Drive?” I exclaimed.

“Yes, just get us back to our solar system!” He shouts. I flipped the safety for the drive, and primed our launch. The ship began to shudder worse than before, and I  felt as though it was going to rip the ship apart. Then, millions of beeps came from Hanna’s monitor.

“Sir, that ship wasn’t alone!” she shouts, “I’m getting hundreds, no, thousands more!”

“Torin, get us out of here!” Ted exclaims. With the drive primed, I press launch, sending us on our journey home. My eyes begin to force themselves shut, and my consciousness fades away.

I open my eyes to find Ted shaking me awake. I can’t hear what he’s saying as everything comes out as mumbling or slurred words. When I look at him though, I see a look of relief emanate from his face. My hearing slowly returns, but wfrom what he says, I can make out, “...glad you made it…”. I lay my head in my chair, and rest until I can hear again.

“Vlad, what the hell happened back there?” Ted asked.

“I’m not sure, commander,” he mutters, “whatever they were, they were pulling us in with some sort of gravity tether. Thankfully it wasn’t physical, or we may have ripped the ship apart.” He looks at me, then back to Ted. Silence spread over the crew, but Shenzu broke the silence.

“Those things...what were they?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know…” Ted said softly.

“No one does…” I mumbled.

“They were waiting, like you said…”

“But why?”

“No one knows, sir.”

“If no one knows, will they believe us in our report?”

“No… they won’t…”

“Then should we say anything at all?”

“… No…” Again, the cabin fills with silence. I look out the window to see we stopped right next to Saturn. It’s soft rings gave me a feeling of happiness to see them. Well, I was happy to see anything instead of darkness.

“Torin, get us back to earth…” Ted mumbled. I nodded, and set our course to home. The ship slowly drifted towards our salvation.