Prologue:

The Kardashev Scale: The scale used to measure a civilization's technological capability and output. Devised by Soviet Astronomer: Nikolai Kadashev in 1964, the scale has three levels. Type 1: Being in complete control of the home planet and the ability to alter it at will. Type 2: Being the control over the home star system and to alter it at will. Type 3: Being in complete control of the home galaxy, and to alter it at will! Anything past Type three is purely hypothetical. But isn't all of this hypothetical? Beyond altering galaxies, is altering the universe itself, and the laws that govern it. The amount of energy required to do this is beyond even incomprehension, what energy they would need is unknown, the likelihood of them existing is unknown. The likelihood of these beings coming to our world is low, but if they do, and want something from us, and will do anything to acquire it, then god help us all!

Chapter 1:

June 9th, 1987

Geneva, Switzerland

Far beyond humanity's domain, the very force that binds us to a world that is perfectly suited for our survival. An explorer returns from a voyage from the edge of the heavens, settling into a steady orbit, it contains information, information that will become the change of one man's life, and see the very thing no one was ever supposed to! Back on Earth, the wind blows calmly over the Alps, Turbines turn, high speed rail lines zip through tunnels, and supersonic transports fly across the sky. Geneva, the zenith of European culture. The capital of Europe, and the European headquarters of the United Nations. "I'm here standing in front of the temple of Newton, where the 10th annual world science fair and technology exhibit will be held in just a few hours!" A news reporter goes on about the event, standing in front of a large ornate structure, topped with a large dome, decorated with renaissance-like sculpture of Issac Newton and various other scientific, and religious figures. The structure was built like it was made to worship the gods. The building is shortly surrounded by a barrage of black cars. Delegates, Ambassadors, a few world leaders, and lots of scientists, step out. One in particular, steps out looking a lot younger than the rest, as well as a concerned look on his face.

"Shit" he says to himself, "Can't believe they actually let me come!" "Why not, because you look like a baby?" A raspy voice says to him from behind "You know what Donald, you can't say anything, you and I are the same age", "Yeah but at least I look older!" "Because you've smoked everyday in your life since you were ten! A twenty eight year old should not look forty!" "Oh shut up Jerm!" As the two walk up the steps to the giant structure, banners hang from the ceiling listing all the different lectures and presentations going on at the event. "Hey Jerm, look up there!" He looks up to see a banner with his name on it: "Professor Jeremy Brasston: Nigel-1 Oort Cloud Survey." Jeremy looks up, his whole life culminating in this one moment, staring in almost disbelief, his proud smile quickly diminishes into a cold scowl, when his attention is directed to the banner before his. "For God Sake, it's like everywhere I go that asshole is there" Donald gets a better view of what Jeremy is looking at, he shakes his head, and puts his hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "Jeremy you can't let this get to you every time, he's gonna be everywhere you go!" Jeremy shakes Donald's hand off, "It's just their way of mocking me, isn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if that bastard paid them for his banner in front of mine!" Jeremy walks away towards the coat room, Donald takes one more look at the banner and walks off behind Jeremy. The banner read: "Shizuki Enterprises: Our future is you!"

The main room is just as grand as the entrance, murals depicting the heavens in a scientific but religious fashion; A canvas of Humanity marveling at itself and all the accomplishments they've made, from the stone age, to the present day. Flags from the nations of the world, and economic unions the world has divided itself into! As Jeremy walks through, he gets a couple of stares from the other scientists, looks of disapproval, one even slides his finger across his throat at him. "Jerm, don't let them get to you!" Donald tries his best to give some words of encouragement, "Oh Donald, I'm not weird about them, they won't feel the same way after I give my presentation and my theory on the findings, I'm sure they'll see how brilliant I truly am!" As Jeremy smiles confidently, Donald sheds a concerned look on his face! A few hours pass, and after a few presentations and demonstrations, it's finally time for Jeremy to give his speech. "Thank you once again Dr. Nelson for your presentation on how Antimatter cannons are the future of war! May I remind you, That even with our current technology, they are inefficient and impractical" As the crowd claps Jeremy makes his way up to the podium, papers and projector in each hand. The uneasiness of something unknown comes over him, the feeling diminishes when the announcer calls his name. "And now for the report on the Nigel-1 Oort cloud mission. Professor Jeremy A Brasston from the Canadian Space Agency!" Most of the crowd claps, but a few spectators sit there shaking their heads in disapproval. Donald however is cheering like it's a concert. As the claps cease, Jeremy lays out his speech on the podium, and turns the projector on.

Most of the crowd whispers amongst themselves, gossiping on the topic of Jeremy. "Uh thank you, as most of you heard, last week, the Nigel-1 probe returned from the Oort Cloud with the goal of studying the outer edge and to potentially re-establish contact with the Deep Space challenger crafts!" Jeremy turns the projector to a graph on the screen behind him. "From what we observed here from Earth, the Oort Cloud is not the edge of the sun's influence, however what Nigel-1 one discovered is that after crossing the 1 light year threshold, it noticed a type of electromagnetic field surrounding the solar system-" "So did the Deep Space Challenger crafts manage to get through this field, or are you implying that they were destroyed as soon as they made contact with it?" One scientist from the crowd shouts, rudely interrupting Jeremy. "Well not exactly, unlike a regular electromagnetic field, Nigel-1 didn't shut down, it simply passed through, and it started receiving signals from the Deep Space Challenger crafts. However, from outside the field, it couldn't relay signals or data back to Earth, luckily its programing was able to direct it back in!" "Wait, are you saying that this "field" is preventing any signal we send from Earth, from exiting the solar system?" another scientist from the crowd asked. "Unfortunately yes, and we can't receive signals from any long range probes and Interstellar crafts. This changes everything we know about our solar system and space travel as a whole, we will have to figure a way around this for every future interstellar mission!" The crowd erupts into madness, as now many scientist life-long works have now been rendered completely useless. "I swear every time this guy opens his mouth, it's nothing but bullshit for the rest of us!" one angry astronomer remarks.

"On the bright side, every signal we've broadcasted outside the solar system intentionally and unintentionally, have been blocked from reaching deep space!" "And you suppose that's a good thing Professor Brasston?" "In fact I do, there are planets in our galaxy that are perfect for intelligent life, and they have been for longer than the Earth has been habitable. Lifeforms far more intelligent than us, could travel to our solar system, And nature proves that they probably won't come in peace, we would be powerless to stop them-" A gentleman stands up in protest, disapproval of Jeremy's spiel, he wasn't a scientist, not of any kind, it was a general of the UN! "Professor Brasston, may I remind you we have set up multiple defense systems all across the outer solar system, they scan the stars every second, we have weapons that can puncture through level 3 grade armor plating like it's nothing! Not to mention all the defenses we have in orbit above, and here on the Earth. We are more than capable of fighting back an Extraterrestrial force effectively! Or putting up an effective resistance at the very least!" The general stands proudly, confident he made Jeremy look like an insecure fool. "Is that so general, you really think our military will protect us?" the general laughs "There's no force in the universe stronger than the human spirit, Professor. Brasston! Nothing!"

The general nods his head with an obnoxious smirk on his face "Well as much as I'd love for the electromagnetic field to be the only thing we found out there, it's not! Let me start by asking what is the second law of thermodynamics? Yes you in the blue tie!" "It's the Entropy and-" "That's all I need thank you, entropy more specifically entropy in heat death means. That one day the universe will one day run out of energy and descend into darkness right, and dark matter is the force that causes thi-" "Get to the point Professor, everybody in this room knows this!" One annoyed astrophysicist says. "Well, as you all know, this process should be a continuous flow of expansion, right?" "Can you just get to the point, professor!" "Nigel-1 observed the flow of entropy from outside the electromagnetic field, to try and get a better observation from interstellar space and… It doesn't match with what we observed here on Earth. It stutters!" The crowd of physicists raised an eyebrow in confusion, one leaned in, looking completely annoyed at what he was hearing "It stutters?" "Well yes, let me show you!" Jeremy turns an image on to the projector. "As you see, from this diagram; the expansion of the universe is supposed to expand continuously, and the images that Nigel-1 captured showed it stuttering, and even retracting at times!" As Jeremy looked at the crowd, expecting to look irritated, they instead showed confusion, fear, and perplexity. They trusted Nigel-1, it was a state of the art machine, and as much as they didn't like Jeremy, they knew that he would never tamper with research.

"As much as I didn't believe it, we thought it to be a malfunction from passing through the electromagnetic field, but why would it only affect the camera systems and nothing else? None of the other equipment was damaged. Even when it returned everything seemed fine, no short circuits, the electronic systems weren't fried, nothing." "Professor, could it be possible that the electromagnetic field distorts the view of expansion from inside the solar system?" "That's exactly it, this discovery has now set us back; decades of research. We have to re-think and evaluate everything we know about the universe including the Laws of Thermodynamics! Heh it seems every year the more we advance, the more we find out we were wrong about everything!" "Doctor Brasston, these findings are incredible and important to the scientific community, but is there any hypothesis or theory that could explain this? All of our models and simulations prove that expansion of the universe shouldn't stutter!" "I knew it, WE'RE ALL IN A SIMULATION!" One paranoid scientist screams. A whole outrage of scientists breaks out, as they argue on who's right and who's wrong! "You fool, it's obvious our simulations were wrong!" "Nonsense and my theory proves it" "And when did you write that, IN PRE-SCHOOL?" Jeremy looked towards Donald, who's just sitting there laughing uncontrollably!

"EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP!" Everyone turned to the back of the room, it was the general. "May I remind you this is a Civilized meeting, you are all grown men and women so please ACT LIKE IT!" Everyone just sat there in shock, one Astro-physicst looked as if he just pissed his pants! "Now, Professor Brasston, if I recall, you had a follow up to our argument about Extraterrestrials being a; Threat?" "Yes General I do!" "And tell professor, how does what you just said about the universe stuttering have anything to do with; Extraterrestrial life?" The crowd looked back at Jeremy, waiting for what nonsense he had to say. "Well, I think the answer to what is causing the universe's expansion to stutter, is in fact; the product of Extraterrestrial interference!" Without an immediate hesitation the general stud up, "Doctor Brasston! I may just be an old military official, but even I know, how extremely unlikely and hypothetical that is"? "Yeah!" another scientist shouts; "Do you even know the energy required to accomplish something like that, plus what energy they would even use? To keep the universe from expanding like you said: defies all the laws of thermodynamics, not to mention your whole explanation does too!" "All I'm saying is we have to consider the possibilities" "And all I'm saying is that you have gone completely mad Professor Brasston, completely mad!"

P.S. On the day of submitting this, It's Madoka's birthday, So Happy Birthday Madoka!