Wed 8th Jul 2020 04:03

The Death of Soal

by Aaron Sharpe

My dreams were vivid last night — more spectactularly vivid than I’ve ever experienced before. And, to be honest, it didn’t feel like a dream. I’ve experimented with all types of drug-induced, lucid dreaming in the past — trying to fight my inner demons, but I’ve never had a dream like this.
 
I was in deep outer space with the stars and galaxies moving further and further away. It wasn’t a fearful dream, though. It was...beautiful. The glimmer of distant galaxies filled the darkness of the void around me and I felt safe...almost encapsulated from the void. And, all the while, I kept moving further and further away.
 
And then...an explosion filled the space before me. Clouds of star dust were billowing into multiplied plumes of cosmic energy. And the energy overcame me as quickly as it appeared. Then...there was darkness.
 
It was shortly after noon when I awoke the next day. But the image of the dream, no, the memory was with me. Similar to the way I “knew” about the portal runes while we were racing toward Isobar at the Power Plant mission...I knew what this was:
 
The star was called, “Soal”. And now, the singular waking memory I have of it was its last gasp, its final breath — exhaling its remaining existence outward.
 

by Hubble Space Telescope