Beyond

BLAKE: It was meant to be a routine mission. A crew of two sent to investigate an

anomaly in the Rigel system at the foot of Orion.

BLAKE: We’d done this kind of jump a hundred times before, maybe more.

BLAKE: But when we came out of the slingshot, we had no way of knowing what lay

ahead; a force that was vast, incomprehensible. As ancient as the stars

themselves.

BLAKE: And in the emptiness of space, it waited for us.

BLAKE: I crawl out of the flaming wreck of the Wayfarer, barely able to stand. Brushing

dirt from my visor, I take in the darkness all around me. In the orange glow of the

fire I can make out bleak, rocky terrain, but little else. A thick, misting haze

presses in, reducing visibility every way I look.

BLAKE: I turn back to the wreck, searching for signs of my copilot.

BLAKE: (calls out) "Aven? Are you reading me?"

BLAKE: There’s no reply. I begin to wade back into the wreckage to look for her, but a

moment later I stop.

AVEN: (through comms, in discomfort) "Blake. About time you woke up."

BLAKE: "Hey, you okay? Where are you?"

AVEN: "I think my pod broke off during the descent, along with half the Wayfarer.

Check your locator, I landed a couple of clicks south of your position."

BLAKE: I try to bring up my nav system, but the readouts are garbage.

BLAKE: "No good. Mine’s broken."

AVEN: "I can see the comms module not too far away from me. If you can make it here,

we could maybe get a message home."

BLAKE: "That’s probably our only hope. Unless they send a recon to check out why we

went dark."

AVEN: "It would take a miracle for them to find us in time."

BLAKE: "Yeah. Our oh-two isn’t going to last long. Is the comms module still working?"

AVEN: "I don’t know. I’m trapped inside the wreckage and can’t reach it. And... I think

my back is broken. I can’t feel anything below my legs."

BLAKE: "Dammit." (sighs) "Okay, I can come to you, but I can’t see a thing in this smog.

You’ll need to guide me."

AVEN: "Yeah. I’ve got your pressure suit on my locator. I’ll keep you on course."

BLAKE: "Hang tight."

AVEN: "I’m not going anywhere."

BLAKE: The vapour is so thick my headlamps can barely cut through it. As I struggle

across the landscape, there’s only one thing I can see clearly - the glowing digits

on my head-up-display that tell me my oh-two is still dropping. After a while I

try to stop looking, but the numbers are still there in my periphery... the last

minutes of my life ticking away one second at a time.

AVEN: "Blake, you’re drifting. Turn back to your left."

BLAKE: "I can’t. There’s a wall of rock in the way. I’ll circle around it once I’m past.

Give me a minute."

AVEN: "I can do that." (pause) "So... what happened up there?"

BLAKE: "That’s a good question. I saw something... weird when we came out of the

slingshot."

AVEN: "What like?"

BLAKE: "Well it looked like... I don’t know. Like the starfield was distorting."

AVEN: "A thousand falling stars."

BLAKE: "So you did see it."

AVEN: "Yeah. But don’t ask me to explain it."

BLAKE: "After that the controls locked up. There was no chance of saving the ’farer."

AVEN: "Everything was unresponsive on my end. Nothing we could do."

BLAKE: "How’s your oh-two?"

AVEN: "Three hours. You?"

BLAKE: "Same."

AVEN: "Don’t worry, you’ll make it here quicker than that. I’m sure of it."

BLAKE: "How about two hours and fifty-nine minutes?"

AVEN: "And thirty seconds. That should leave us plenty of time."

BLAKE: "Right."

AVEN: "There’s a spare oh-two canister in the storage compartment in the back of the

comms module. That should help I guess."

BLAKE: I can tell she’s thinking the same thing I am. Rescue will take hours, assuming

the comms even work. There won’t be enough air for both of us to share that

long. But I say nothing, and as I continue to climb, Aven goes silent.

BLAKE: There are times when I hear something in the distance that almost sounds like a

recon dropship, but I know it’s just my imagination. Wishful thinking. In any

case, there’s no way they’d spot me through this vapour. Visibility just seems to

get worse. My lamps help at times, but for the most part, each footstep is a risk.

Aven can tell me which direction to turn, but not where to look out for obstacles.

BLAKE: As I round another outcropping, my foot falls out from under me, and suddenly

I’m sliding, bouncing painfully down into the darkness.

BLAKE: I hit bottom so hard I wonder if I can even get up again.

BLAKE: (gasping) "Aven, I’m down. I’m down."

AVEN: "What happened?"

BLAKE: "I slipped. Fell."

AVEN: "Blake, your suit integrity. You need to run a check for leaks."

BLAKE: I crawl onto my haunches, then run the diagnostics.

BLAKE: "Yeah, it’s okay. Lucky. But I don’t know if I can climb out of here."

AVEN: "You can."

BLAKE: "Listen, if I don’t make it to you-"

AVEN: "You’ll make it. I’m right here with you, every step of the way. It’s like we

always said back in the Academy when things got hard: ‘We’re in this together’."

BLAKE: "Yeah."

AVEN: "Say it."

BLAKE: "We’re in this together."

BLAKE: I gather myself up, look around to get my bearings. The rock wall is uneven, and

I find purchase on the first few handholds. I’m beaten, bruised, but know I can’t

give up. I have to keep going.

BLAKE: I slip more than once, and as my strength wanes I wonder how much more I can

take. But, after what seems like forever, I find a way back up.

BLAKE: (breathless) "I’m out. I’m at the top."

AVEN: "See? I told you. There’s no stopping you."

BLAKE: (ironic) "Yeah. Too easy."

AVEN: "Keep at it. You’ll be here in no time."

BLAKE: Progress is slow and exhausting. As I stop to catch my breath, I look up to see the

haze has finally parted. A brilliant canopy of stars stretches across the sky. Gold

and white pinpoints glimmer against a wash of scarlet - a nebula that stretches on

seemingly forever. Even at a time like this, and after all my years spent amongst

the stars, the cosmos still has the power to astonish me.

BLAKE: As I watch, a pale blue star seems to throb and grow larger. With each pulse,

shafts of azure light illuminate around it like the strands of a spider’s web. I can’t

decide if it’s beautiful or terrifying. Then the moment passes, and the murk drifts

overhead, obscuring my view.

BLAKE: "Aven? I think I just saw the anomaly."

AVEN: "The what?"

BLAKE: "The thing we hit when we came out of the slingshot. The energy signature we

were sent here to investigate."

AVEN: "Blake, concentrate. You’re heading in the wrong direction again. You need to

keep following my instructions."

BLAKE: "I’m working on it. This terrain is-"

BLAKE: I freeze. Not far ahead, a shape looms in the darkness. It’s large and vaguely

humanoid, moving slowly in my direction. The sight of it sends a shiver down

my spine.

BLAKE: (hoarse) "There’s something here."

AVEN: "Blake?"

BLAKE: "A creature."

AVEN: "You sure? I don’t see anything on the locator."

BLAKE: Thinking that I’m going crazy, I scoop up a rock and hurl it at the figure, but the

thing doesn’t react. Either I missed the target, or it’s just a figment of my

imagination. Spooked, I turn and scramble away.

AVEN: "You threw a rock at it?"

BLAKE: "I wanted to see if it was real. What else was I supposed to do?"

AVEN: "I don’t know. Use karate?"

BLAKE: "In a pressure suit? Yeah, right." (sighs) "Either I’m losing it, or we’re not alone

on this rock."

AVEN: "You’re not losing it."

(Blake can be heard playing a home video of his young daughter)

AVEN: "Is that one of your Elly recordings?"

BLAKE: "Sorry. I just really need to hear her voice right now. I can shut down comms for

a minute if you-"

AVEN: "It’s okay. It’s nice." (pause) "You know you’re going to see her again, right?"

BLAKE: (unconvinced) "Yeah." (tries again with more conviction) "Yeah, of course.

And you’re going to see David. He’s probably cooking dinner for you right

now."

AVEN: "Ugh, David’s cooking? Think I’ll stay here."

BLAKE: (forces a laugh, then after a pause he is morose again) "I didn’t say ‘I love you’

enough. Not nearly enough."

AVEN: "None of us ever do."

BLAKE: My air counter continues to drop. Time is running short. There are moments

when I glimpse more figures in the darkness, and I try not to panic. Instead, I lift

my pace to stay out of their reach, and wonder if this nightmare is ever going to

end.

BLAKE: Just when I think it’s hopeless, the murk around me begins to clear again. Not far

across the terrain I see it - the comms module. Starlight ripples across the hull in

the shifting haze, like a shipwreck resting beneath the waves in shallow water.

Battered, broken and ruined, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

BLAKE: I get closer to the module. The impact cushions have done their job, and the hull

looks in relatively good shape. There is still hope.

BLAKE: "Aven, I made it. I’m here!"

AVEN: "I see you! Never doubted you, buddy."

BLAKE: As I close in, my step falters. My eyes are drawn upward.

AVEN: "Come on, Blake. Get me out of here."

BLAKE: An arc of light stretches up into the star-filled sky so high I have to crane my neck

to follow it. There’s a coldness about it that seeps into my bones, leaves me

feeling hollow to the core.

BLAKE: At its zenith, the light ends in a point of shimmering blue.

AVEN: "Blake?"

BLAKE: My gaze drops again. Beyond the slash of blue light, a curtain seems to part. The

sky is split. Inside, the starfield warps, just like it did when we came out of the

slingshot.

BLAKE: (in wonder) "The stars are falling."

AVEN: "Blake!"

BLAKE: I pick up a rock and hurl it at the hull of the comms module. This time I’m

clearly on target, but there is no metallic clang, no ricochet. The rock passes right

through.

BLAKE: (dread) "Aven, where are you?"

AVEN: (voice suddenly inside his helmet) "I’m here. Right here with you."

BLAKE: (bitter) "You’re not Aven."

AVEN: "I am. I’m everything she ever was."

BLAKE: "And now you’re where? Inside the anomaly?"

AVEN: "I’ve gone beyond."

BLAKE: "How?"

AVEN: "After the slingshot, the Wayfarer was on an arc, and my body passed through.

But not yours."

BLAKE: "The ship broke up in the energy field. And ever since I crawled out of the

wreck, you’ve been trying to lure me here."

AVEN: "I’m sorry I had to deceive you. I was afraid you wouldn’t make it here before

your oh-two ran out."

BLAKE: "This mirage that you were leading me to... it’s part of the anomaly. You want

me to step into this shaft of light."

AVEN: "It’s the only way home."

BLAKE: "Not my home."

AVEN: "If you ever want to see Elly again-"

BLAKE: (vehement) "It’s not my home!" (then, a hoarse whisper) "Not my home."

BLAKE: The illusion of the comms module fades. In its place there is nothing but rocks

glinting in the unearthly blue light. I stumble away, tears stinging my eyes. As I

begin to climb back up the rocky incline, I stop dead in my tracks.

BLAKE: Now that the smog has parted, I see it. Not far away, hanging low in the sky, is

the unmistakable outline of a recon dropship, and it’s headed in my direction.

AVEN: "Blake, don’t go. Please."

BLAKE: A part of me is torn by Aven’s words, but I remind myself it’s not really her. It’s

something pretending to be her. The Aven I knew is now beyond my reach. I try

to block out its voice as I run toward the dropship.

BLAKE: I stumble, fall, run again. The haze begins to roll back in, but I still see the

searchlights from the dropship sweep out across the landscape, scouring the

surface. With horror I realise their trajectory is taking them out of my path. I

change course, struggling to catch up, make myself visible. The dropship starts to

come back around, and I realise they must have picked up my locator. The

searchlights slow, and with my oh-two redlining, I close the gap.

AVEN: (desolate) "After all we’ve been through, you’re going to leave me here."

BLAKE: (to himself) "It’s not Aven. It’s not her."

AVEN: "You can’t leave me!"

BLAKE: I lurch into the circle of pure white light and crash to my knees, exhausted.

BLAKE: "Hey up there, this is Blake. Have you got me on comms? There’s not much

time..."

BLAKE: The searchlight beam quavers, begins to oscillate. Iridescent waves of

illumination cascade over me, the deepest blue. There is no answer from the

dropship, and now I know there never will be.

BLAKE: "Oh no. No ."

AVEN: "I was alone for so long, Blake. And then Aven came, and now you."

BLAKE: It’s so bright I can’t see. There’s a heaviness in my limbs, like I’m being dragged

down. I’m falling. Time seems to run backwards. I feel the pilot’s seat of the

Wayfarer beneath me; the vibration of the slingshot; sunlight shining into the

cockpit as I leave Earth’s atmosphere. Then the memories tumble into one

another, become unrecognisable.

BLAKE: Cold tendrils wrap around me and draw me downward into the abyss.

AVEN: (cold) "You can’t leave me. We’re in this together, Blake. Right to the end."