The Limits of Infinity

"Captain. We're ready to jump."

I don't answer.

"Captain?"

I still remain silent. Just sitting there. Staring out through the Kestrel's cockpit. On the outermost section of the Perseus Arm. Staring into space.

"I mean, it's your order to give, and I can understand not wanting to jump into another rebel-controlled system," the ensign continues. "It's just that…well, at the least…shouldn't we be facing towards the galaxy? Not away from it?"

"Maybe," I murmur. "Or maybe if the rebels find us, we could just head out there. Would they follow us, Ensign? Would the crew be willing to go that far?"

"…we'll go where you want us to, Captain."

"Good. Now wait until I give an order."

It's the end of the conversation. I'm left alone on the bridge. Left to stare towards the fringes of the galaxy. Course from this viewpoint, there's not much of our galaxy left to see. Only the scattered stars of the Outer Arm. Yet there's still light out here. Galaxies, nebulae…millions of light years away at the closest, billions at the furthest. All their distances determined by the time it would take their light to reach us. Light that we can travel faster than, thank you very much miracles of science. Yet are so far away regardless that even travelling at FTL speeds, they're practically unreachable. It would take millions, billions of years for their light to reach us. It would take only slightly fewer millions and billions of years for us to reach them.

Part of me wants to try though. The cold, likely lethal journey to Andromeda or beyond is still more appealing than remaining in this galaxy. Least out in the void of deep space there isn't anyone constantly trying to kill you.

I lean back in my chair and close my eyes, rubbing them with my hands. Will anyone try to make the trip, I wonder? Will it be dictated by need, or curiosity? Will we develop even more efficient FTL systems to shorten the trip to encompass a human lifespan (or an alien's I guess…so far all the aliens we've got onboard are engineers), or are we at the peak of how far that technology will take us?

I can't help but wonder about what lies beyond. Not in distance, but in time. Millions, billions…one hears those terms thrown about often. But what about trillions? What about the time when there'll be effectively no light left in the universe? When regardless of whatever earth is beneath our feet, we'll stare up into a starless sky. Will FTL travel still be called that, I wonder? I mean, sure, the speed of light doesn't change, but when no light is reaching us, who are we exactly racing against. Will a time come where those galaxies are so far away that even the most advanced FTL drive in the universe still can't take us there.

Almost, I give the order. Almost, I reach over to the navigation chart, to alter our coordinates. Almost, I give in to the urge, the need, to find out. To go there. To be free. To…to…

I lean back. The coordinates are the same. Messier 52. I close my eyes and give the order.

"All hands, prepare to jump."

The FTL drive spins up. Infinity looms before us.

But true infinity is getting further away all the time…