The Void by Brett J. Talley Page A

would do to the mind,” Dr. Ridley continued. “To see everything you know about the universe ripped apart and reordered? It would be the very definition of insanity, I think. But it also explains the dreams, at least partially. It's the mind's way of dealing with what is going on around it.”
    “But no one's ever seen it? No one's ever stayed awake? Just to see?”
    Ridley hesitated. “No.”
    “What about the Hypnos ?” Cyrus asked.
    For the first time that evening, Jack Crawford looked interested.
    “The Hypnos is a myth,” Captain Gravely said. “I don't think it ever existed.”
    “I don't know, Captain,” Cyrus said. “I've always believed it, and I think most people in the trade do.”
    “What is the Hypnos ?” Rebecca asked.
    “It's a ship,” Captain Gravely said. “Or it was a ship. The story goes that the Hypnos was the first warp ship.”
    “But that's not right,” Jack interrupted. “Everybody knows the Armstrong was the first ship to go warp.”
    “Right,” Cyrus said, “that's the official story. But some people think that the Armstrong was just the first successful ship. Well, in that the crew survived, at least.” 
    “Or didn't go insane,” Aidan offered. “That's the way I always heard it. That they went crazy. Before they died.”
    “Wait,” Rebecca said, “I'm confused. What exactly happened?”
    “You have to understand,” said Cyrus, “it's probably just a story.”
    “A conspiracy theory, more like it,” Aidan added.
    “Right. Anyway, my father used to talk about it. He said that there were rumors about a test. Decades ago. Years before the Armstrong , even. The ship went out beyond Pluto with a crew of four. A short warp test to Proxima Centauri. When the time came, they fired the engine and went to warp. The relay station at Jupiter was the first to hear from them. They had received a beacon from Proxima Centauri as soon as the ship dropped out of warp, and the celebration was already underway.
    “Champagne, speeches, the whole deal. But then, the transmission came in. My father's best friend was a communications guy in the Navy. He had a buddy who was assigned to Jupiter Station at the time. He said the crew never radioed in. Jupiter tried to contact them but they couldn't raise them.
    “At first, they didn't think it was a big deal. You know, warp does funny things to the equipment. But then something strange happened; the ship started heading toward Proxima Centauri. Slow at first, but then faster and faster. They sat there and watched them fly the ship right into the star. Nothing was left, and nobody ever knew why.”
    “That's pretty much the story I heard,” Aidan said. “But I was told one other thing as well. After the Armstrong , they sent out a ship to see if they could find out what had happened. Turns out, when the ship started to break down and melt, the computer fired off an information packet. But it was too close to the star and too far from a listening post to broadcast. Anyway, the rescue ship found it.”
    “Where they able to figure out what went wrong?” Rebecca asked.
    “Depends on who you ask. Some people say there was nothing but static, that all the circuitry was fried. Makes sense, given how close it was to the star. Others say that there were voices but you couldn't make them out. But some people, some people say that you could see and hear everything. The bridge was mostly destroyed. Two of the crew were dead. The other, who knows. But the captain was still alive. Still alive and in control. It was he who drove the ship into the star. He turned to the camera for only a moment. And he only had one thing to say.”
    “Well?”
    “The last broadcast, the last thing they heard from the Hypnos . . . 'They are here.'”
    “They?” Rebecca whispered, but to that question, no one had answers.
    “Like I said,” Captain Gravely offered, breaking the silence that had suddenly fallen over the room, “it's probably a myth. But in any