Coming this October
(Inspired by the Voices of the Void playthrough on IGP's YouTube, specifically the Black Hole Singing)
The monitors buzzed with life as data flew across the screens endlessly. Complex code being broken down to their base parts and reassembled. Scrubbed clean of interference.
You had to hear it again.
The doctor you sent the original file to barely noted it's massive size.
He didn't even comment on what was in it.
You barely slept after hearing it yourself but the grainy, looping sounds from gas giants that barely resembled speech got to him? Did he think the audio was a hoax?
Did he think you were fucking with him?
It felt more like the universe was fucking with you.
Hours. Days. Weeks. The sound haunted you still.
Echoed in your restless dreams.
An angelic choir in the vastness of space. Layered voices singing through remarkably little static. You found yourself humming the tune as you worked on the satellites that your job depended on.
So here you were. Equipment upgraded to the point that the government was probably watching your every move now. Perfectly fixated on...
Nothing.
The 'black hole' you had found so long ago was just... Gone.
You felt cold sweat drip down your body.
Where did it go?
Black holes don't just disappear. Even singing ones.
Especially ones that sing.
There was no evidence of a collapsed black hole in that small corner of space. All the nearby stars that were surely being pulled in before were still there. No blow back. No eerie empty space except for the coordinates you had noted down on a old sticky note.
Like it was never there.
But your data didn't lie.
There was supposed to be something there. And now there wasn't.
You could still hear the echo of a song, incomprehensible and beautiful and terrifying.
But there was just you. In an empty room. Filled with servers and computers all telling you the same thing.
There. Was. Nothing. There.
You didn't want to believe it.
But...
Maybe...
Maybe you needed to sleep more. Take some of those sleep aids you packed in your old apartment.
Actually rest for once in this lonely research base.
And that's what you did. After a thorough hot shower, a full meal of something that wasn't an MRE. Really treated yourself to human comforts in the face of an uncaring reality.
You curled up in your bed, warm and comfortable for the first time in weeks.
If you cried a little in frustration well, no one could see you anyway.
The stars were bright outside your window, a vivid ribbon of light cutting through the trees as an aurora borealis ignited above your isolated base. You were reminded of the simpler beauty of the universe as you drifted off.
What inspired you to look deeper as a young child.
The comets, stars, constellations, and many distant galaxies humanity was I'll equipped to explore. An endless universe of beauty and possibilities.
Not the horrific implications of a song that enraptured you for weeks on end, and seemingly only you.
Darkness swallowed you in pieces. Your limbs growing heavy and numb.
Fingers. Hands. Toes and feet. Sensation dulling as you drifted off. You relaxed into it. Aware that full rest was so close and there was nothing stopping you from enjoying it now.
The distant sound of a door opened and closed.
Some things, you supposed, were not meant to be found.
Footsteps approached at an unbothered pace without any hesitation. Like they knew exactly where to find you in the maze of hallways.
And that was okay.
Something soft gently brushed back your hair. A warm and metallic scent washing over you.
Your heart kept a steady rhythm, lost in the final stages of falling asleep.
Fuzzily, you sighed and nuzzled the warm hand that pressed over your cheek. Thumb brushing under your closed eye.
"I'm sorry it took so long... You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find this place." Static filled your head, warping their voice.
Humming resonated in your sparse room, echoing over your skin. Horrifyingly familiar, but your heavy body refused to respond. Choosing instead to sink into the haunting beauty.
An incredibly personal song, lacking the many voices, and more intimate than before. Untainted with static and light-years of distance.
You could barely wonder what they looked like now. If they were still many rings of light in the darkness. If it was even a hand that touched you so sweetly.
You were simply lost to the universe of possibilities and dreams. Finally at rest.
"It's time for us to go home."
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