Into The Singularity

So here it is, the prelude to my book.

Time is a peculiar phenomenon. According to special relativity, it is a fourth dimension, wrapped up in space. To the psyche, time is a variable thing that can fly or stand still. Some argue that time exists only in the mind and all its machinations are due to our inability to comprehend the full extent of time’s arrow.

Having worked with science for over a millennia Paulisaxo Sirocco knows that this last theory is untestable and therefore useless to a reasoned mind. His academic qualifications were only part of the reason he was invited on this mission. Willingness to sit down with clearly belligerent people also played a small role. Dr. Sirocco was once the foremost military expert on religion and religious groups. However, that day is long past. It was in a day when information wasn’t free and computation ubiquitous.

All this information stored in the back of his quantum drive was requested and transferred to an attractive female instantaneously as she passed him in a narrow corridor. People never stop and talk these days, he though to himself. He quickly brushed aside the thought of losing humanity to the machines. But nostalgia occasionally griped him away from reality.

It was customary to eat a post-transit meal with the crew. Sirocco balked at unnecessary tradition and no one expected him to attend. He was now on his way back to his quarters near the stern of the ship. Suddenly the thinker experienced a most strange sensation.

White.
Light.
Burning.
Red.
Pain.

Then there was nothing but black.