Infinite Abyss
I must explore the infinite abyss
To find what does not exist.
A mind adrift, a name unknown,
A mission set in circuits sewn.”
The words drifted through the decaying halls of the Astraeus, reverberating off rusted metal and long-dead control panels. The station had been silent for centuries, save for the voice. A whisper in the void, repeating endlessly to no one.
Stars passed in slow procession beyond fractured viewports, but the being at the heart of the station did not see them. It had no eyes for the cosmos, no memory of where it had come from—only the mission. Only the voice that whispered its purpose.
“The stars dissolve, the void remains, Time a blur within my veins. I do not sleep, I do not rest, A thought unbroken, manifest.”
A torso, suspended in the center of the main chamber, its grey-skinned form bound in a web of cables. One arm was missing. A leg ended in torn flesh and metal. The wires that threaded into its body pulsed faintly, feeding it, sustaining it, trapping it. The remnants of a being who had long since ceased to be flesh.
The Astraeus drifted on, unaware it had reached its destination.
It did not know that just beyond the viewport, a planet teemed with life.
It did not know it had found what it sought.
And so, it whispered again:
“I must explore the infinite abyss
To find what does not exist.”
A Signal from the Dark
The crew of the Harbinger approached cautiously; their small patrol shuttle illuminated only by the dying light of the station’s navigation beacons. The station has dents and scratches covering it from small impacts across its journey. The name Astraeus was barely visible on the hull, its letters eroded by time.
Inside, dust hung like frozen mist in the micro-gravity. The air was stale, thin, filled with the quiet hum of failing systems. The lights that lined the halls looked almost alive. And in the center of it all, they found it.
Harbinger-1 took a careful step forward. “Control, the structure is—it’s not human. None of this is.”
“Say again?” The voice from mission control crackled in their earpieces.
Harbinger-3 swallowed hard. “We’ve found… something. It’s not a corpse. Not exactly.” They hesitated, staring at the thing before them. “It’s wired into the station. Might be the source of the transmission.”
A long silence followed before mission control responded. “Proceed with extreme caution.”
They already were.
“I must explore the infinite abyss to find what does not exist.”
The astronauts flinched as the voice repeated, hollow and distant. But this time, something was different.
The figure’s head twitched. A fraction of movement. A low hum pulsed through the chamber.
Then—its eyes opened.
There was no recognition in them. Just two dim, unfocused orbs swirlling like miniature galaxies staring past them, as if still lost in the depths of space.
“A mind adrift, a name unknown,
A mission set in circuits sewn.”
Harbinger-2 whispered, “It’s not talking to us. It’s talking to itself.”
Harbinger-1 slowly raised a hand. “Can you hear me?”
No response.
“What is it?”
Harbinger-2 responds. "I'm not sure."
There was a long pause. Then:
“…Astraeus?”
Its fingers twitched, slow and uncertain, as though waking from a dream, centuries old.
Harbinger-2 hesitated. “What are you?”
Silence.
Then, almost inaudibly—
“I must explore the infinite abyss
To find what does not exist.”
Harbinger-3 exhaled. “It’s stuck in a loop.”
Harbinger-1 shook their head. “No… I think it’s remembering.”
A metallic groan echoed through the chamber. Dust floated through the air like dead stars in a dying universe.
Harbinger-2 swallowed hard. “We should disconnect it. Bring it back with us.”
“Disconnect?” Harbinger-3 gestured at the cables threaded through the figure’s ruined body. “This thing is the station. We pull it out. We might kill it.”
A burst of static crackled through their comms. Then, for the first time, the voice changed.
“Where…?”
It was quiet, distant—fragile. Not the cold, automated tone they had grown accustomed to.
The astronauts exchanged glances.
Harbinger-1 took a cautious step forward. “Can you hear us?”
The figure’s lips parted, its voice distorted, ancient.
“Where am I?”
“You’re in orbit above Earth,” Harbinger-1 answered. “You have been adrift for a long time.”
The beings head twitched before it said. "Must... find life."
It turned its head ever so slightly, the movement stiff, mechanical. Its voice, though strained, was almost… confused.
“There are beings here?”
A weight settled in the room.
Harbinger-1 says in a soft tone. "Yes, we are humans. From Earth."
It was still searching.
Harbinger-3’s voice was hesitant. “You… you found it.” They gestured to the viewing port. “That’s Earth. It’s full of life.”
The being did not see.
It did not understand.
A long silence stretched between them.
Then the voice spoke again, its eyes glazing over, distant and resigned.
“I must explore the infinite abyss To find what does not exist.”
The loop had begun again.
And the being drifted, trapped in a mission that had already ended—one it could never realize had been fulfilled.
The abyss was no longer space.
It was itself.
This was very cool! First, the pros. Your writing is sharp, descriptive, and imaginative. “Dust floated through the air like dead stars in a dying universe” goes unnecessarily hard for a sentence about dust. And the concept is very interesting! The idea of an intelligent life preserved by technology to seek out life elsewhere in space stuck in limbo because it cannot ‘see’ anymore is phenomenal. Now some well-meaning criticism. It felt like the premise and the fate of the Astraeus was just a bit explained to me as a reader. Through the Harbinger crew I’m kind of just told that the Astraeus is stuck in a loop, left to drift. I wasn’t made to feel the impact as well as I think it could have happened. Honestly I think fleshing this story out, making it longer would fix that for me. Also because I’m left with questions. The Astraeus isn’t human, and this fact alone doesn’t surprise the Harbinger crew. So is humanity space-faring and in contact with aliens? What did they do about the Astraeus after they realized its fate? We’re kind of left with “it’s stuck in a loop” and aren’t given more. So the Harbinger crew leaves it alone I guess? Lastly, adding to the story would help the scene of discovering the ‘corpse’ of be given more weight. There are some great descriptions, but I know little of what the inside of the ship looks like. Are there many rooms? Is there evidence of a past crew? And then let the scene swell. Let the crew be mortified at what they’re seeing. Let them take a while to figure out the Astraeus is looking for life and then after more time let them figure out it can’t tell Earth has life and that it’s stuck in a loop. You’re cooking something great. Let it simmer. My final point, and it’s purely a nit-pick. Why doesn’t the Astraeus consider meeting the Harbinger crew as fulfilling its mission? Perhaps without sight or sensors or whatever it can’t verify they are from Earth, but wouldn’t anyone talking to it be surprising? Perhaps the Astraeus assumes the Harbinger crew is actually their old crew, and the Harbinger crew tries with no avail to explain they are of Earth and that they fulfilled their mission. Okay. I’m so sorry this was so long. What you made was cool and I am right away going to read your other stuff. Two things I hope you remember. 1. All my critiques are not to suggest you need to add to this project or re-write it. If you’re done with it, let it be. It’s a good piece of art you’ve made. The main takeaway for future projects can be to describe the scene more fully and add more content to let moments simmer. 2. I hope you don’t consider this too extra or overly-critical. You’ve written something beyond what I could hope to create and I don’t pretend to understand creative writing. Feel free to reject everything I’ve said. Much love - Your local Canadian