The bubble

This was inspired by a Star Trek episode called “remember me”

 A short story by Oliver Rich-Jackson

Dr. Plato Capti began his day the same as any other. As he got dressed in his usual white coat, slacks, and button-up, he took note of his form. Capti was a slender man, standing at around six feet. His shoulders were slumped, and he had sunken eyes, weary from the hours of research he conducted day after day. He began walking through the narrow hallways to the lab. The small station was orbiting Earth's moon and there were only ten or so researchers onboard at any given time, unlike the immense citadels in the asteroid belt. Those stations housed hundreds of people, and still had plenty of room left over for recreational facilities, food courts, and more; but, those were for intergalactic launches, and his station was for deep space observation. Dr. Capti was snapped out of his musings when he entered the lab. “Mornin,” said Capti’s colleague Baxter “I saw you working late last night. You missed the get-together for Susan's birthday.” “I had work to do. I’m nearly done mapping the edge of the observable universe,” responded Capti. “Why don’t you take some time off? The universe will still be there when you get back, and you know the government doesn’t care when you finish.” “That may be so, but the scientific community cares. They’ve hung on my every word since I identified dark energy, and besides, I prefer not to associate with others.” “Suit yourself.”

The following day Capti woke up to find a pair of shoes missing, which he found particularly odd since no one else was authorized to enter his room. He thought nothing of it and moved on. As he made his way to the lab, he noticed other things were missing, such as fire alarms and wall fixtures. When Capti eventually made it to his lab, he found Baxter and another researcher named Henleigh. “Have you noticed the missing objects in the halls?” He asked. “What do you mean?” replied Henleigh. “There are missing pipes, monitors, PA systems, and more missing.” “That’s not possible,” retorted Baxter “The station is pre-assembled. You couldn’t take anything like that down without dismantling the whole place.” “I know that! But I also know what I saw. I’ve been on this station longer than anyone else, and something’s not right.” That’s when he noticed that the computer had finished mapping the outer boundaries of the observable universe. “This was supposed to take another nineteen days. Computer, what is the reason for the accelerated progress?” “Mapping was completed within the expected time frame.” 

“That’s not possible,” exclaimed Capti. Henleigh chimed in, “What are you talking about? The map was expected today. Are you alright?” “I’m fine; though, perhaps I should lie down.” “If you're leaving, go by the med bay. Just to be sure, I’ll tell Dr. Naomi to expect you.”

 “What happened to Dr. Abiit?” “No one by that name has ever served on this station.” “Nonsense, Computer, pull up the file for Dr. Janis Abiit.” “There are no records of a Dr. Janis Abiit.” “Search Earths database.” “No records exist for a Dr. Janis Abiit.” “ …I suppose I’ll meet with Dr. Naomi,” said Capti quietly.

It had been several days since the strange conversation in the lab, and things had gotten worse. After visiting the med bay he was confined to quarters and tended to by the med staff. He was assumed temporarily insane after more ramblings about the missing objects. When several hours had passed since Capti had seen anyone he began wandering the station looking for others. “Hello? Is anyone there?  You can’t keep me in bed if you won’t help me.” After searching for nearly half an hour, he shouted, “Computer, locate Dr. Baxter!” “There is no one under the name Dr. Baxter on board the station.” “Locate Dr. Henleigh then!” “There is no one under the name Dr. Henleigh on board the station.” “Locate the nearest human being to my location!” “Information not available.” “My god.” Capti started towards the lab to use the interplanetary communicator. “Computer, calibrate communicator to speak to earth!” “Please state a valid target” “Earth! Contact Earth!” “There is no such place listed in my database.” He then noticed the map of the observable universe and it displayed a bubble-like shape immediately surrounding the station. “Computer, describe the universe.” “The universe is a two thousand by two thousand kilometer sphere.” In a barely audible voice, he spoke. “no… That can’t be rig-...” He heard a large crash and the sound of air whooshing, followed by a bulkhead door slamming into the foundation. “Computer, what was that?!” “A vacuum was created because the station’s interior was exposed to space.” “Why was it exposed to space?” “A fatal flaw in the design of the station.” “Computer, describe the universe,” he exclaimed frantically. “The universe is a five hundred by five hundred kilometer sphere.” “Is there any way to escape the universe?” “There is no known method of esca-...” The computer was destroyed by the universe collapsing in on itself, which annihilated Dr. Capti and the station with him.” 

There were two figures in the space. 

“It destabilized again.” 

…

“It appears so.”

…

“Reset it.” 

…

“Ok.”

Dr. Plato Capti began his day the same as any other. As he got dressed in his usual white coat, slacks, and button-up, he took note of his form. Capti was a slender man, standing at around six feet. His shoulders were slumped, and he had sunken eyes, weary from the hours of research he conducted day after day. He began walking through the narrow hallways to the lab. The small station was orbiting Earth's moon and there were only ten or so researchers onboard at any given time, unlike the immense citadels in the asteroid belt. These housed hundreds of people, and still had plenty of room left over for recreational facilities, food courts, and more; but, those stations were for intergalactic launches, and his station was for deep space observation. Dr. Capti was snapped out of his musings when he entered the lab. “Mornin,” said Capti’s colleague Baxter “I saw you working late last night. You missed the get-together for Susan's birthday.” “I had work to do. I’m nearly done mapping the edge of the observable universe,” responded Capti. “Why don’t you take some time off? The universe will still be there when you get back, and you know the government doesn’t care when you finish.”  “Perhaps you're right. Are you available for lunch?”

The End