To Infinity

Go a Bit Too Far

More recently there has been a third line of inquiry on teleporting star ships opening up. It has been noted that you can’t really build anything physical in the astral plane, and magickal constructions seem to attract spiritual pests and parasites. So they have been building self teleporting ships and sending them out into the astral to see what happens when they teleport there.

It is true that the probes are unmanned, but at the same time they do have an intelligence that can be creative. Also note that their intelligence is in no way artificial, but is rather the natural result of how they are designed and operate. As a result there are those who can’t be considered mentally stable. But those seem to be those most capable traveling through the astral at amount to fantastic rates of speed.

The Farthest Probe

At last report there was one probe able to travel to the end of the universe and beyond. According to his report the reality next to ours would appear to be a Cthulhoid Teletubbies universe. Then again, he is known for his hallucinations, and he seems to be having trouble describing how he achieved his feat. Some critics say he’s just making crap up.

Still, a few probes have made it out to some 20 million light years, while one presented a reliable report of reaching 1 billion light years. Said a researcher at Warden University, “This is just too much information, could you please slow down?”

Back on Urth

Lady Computer is keeping tabs on matters, offering advice, and has put together a team that hopes to soon start producing probes themselves

They’ve also tried to have a manned ship teleport in the astral plane, only to learn that organics get really screwed up thanks to the event. There are conflicting ideas as to why, and experiments are now under way to see what materials could be used to prevent the effect.

The most promising appears to be a mixture of hard and soft woods, constructed much as the old sailing vessels of Urth were back in the day. Indeed, there are some regions of Urth that still build such ships, and so Lady Computer has recruited shipwrights and marine architects to build her new class of starships. One way has even proposed building the new wooden starships in the form of old sailing vessels, in as much as people do have to use a magickal simulation of gravity when centrifugal isn’t possible.

And Lady Computer

The effect this all has had on Urth’s Lady Computer is going to take another post, for the tale is a long one.All I can say for now is that the launch of The Warden has had a profound impact on her, her world, and the people who live on her world.

Final Note

And it has occurred to me that the launch of The Warden amounts to a singularity. An event seemingly small which has profound and widening consequences occurring as a result. And something made possible by previous singularities.

Originally published at Dangerous Journeys.