Star Voyager

The lone ship glided silently throughthe recesses of deep space.

Moving at a steady speed oncethought impossible, the Zephan had come far, traveling through manyquadrants and parsecs on it's intergalactic journey across theuniverse.

The ships' sole occupant,Praelix, sat in his comfortable chair at a station, checkinginformation on his present location and trajectory. Theinstrumentation confirmed a composite of data regarding the immediatesurroundings, as well as distant.

What he initially thought to be aglitch nearly half a cycle ago had turned out to be something else.Perhaps something significantly more. An unusual signal was detectedfrom a sector of deep space outside the confines of his galaxy.

Upon closer study, using the Zephan'stelescopic and cosmic sonar instruments, the origin of the signalaligned with a mysterious object could faintly be seen light yearsaway.

The voyager thought it was a star onthe verge of going supernova, but this wasn't the case.

"Run diagnostics on the quasar,"Praelix said, the advanced computer automatically complying.

Microns later, a series of digitsappeared relating to the estimated size of the mysterious object.

Praelix smiled. He was fascinated bythe lack of information on the quasar over recent rotations, themystery of the thing that defied any scientific understanding. Itwould still be awhile yet before the ship reached it, but hecontinued to wonder.

His vessel, The Zephan, one of themost complex ships ever made, was nearly sixty feet in length,designed with a hybridization of systems and naturally-rechargingpower units that would continue to function for decades. It'sbeautiful, silver exterior was comprised of an alloy that rendered itinvulnerable to destruction by nearly any means.

All data that the ship recorded onit's journey was transmitted as a signal back to the homeworld,although this far out, it would take many cycles before it arrived.

Soon to cross into anothersector of uncharted space, Praelix had been journeying now for nearlytwo cycles and wondered what lie ahead for him in the cosmic systemhe was now entering.

"Increase volume to sevenpoint five," Praelix said.

The adjustment was made andthe music began playing louder. The traveler took a deep breath, amyriad of thoughts consuming his mind as he gazed at the distantsolar bodies. As the collection of sounds playing throughout theship, he was enveloped in a symphony of ambient bliss.

Praelix was a voyager; one ofseveral dozen men and women that had been carefully selected fromthousands of candidates to commit themselves to a lifelongexploratory mission to the farthest reaches of the known universe,and beyond.

Searching for the origin of existence,as well as the key to life itself.

It was the primary mission of thevoyagers to locate any other intelligent life in the universe, aswell as record everything they encountered along the way.

The complete purpose of his missionhadn't been given to he or any of the voyagers until they hadcommitted themselves wholly to the program, and were two completecycles into their training.

The program began after a series ofintergalactic transmissions were received on the homeworld. Ofunknown origin, the signals were cryptic, containing complex,harmonic signatures that suggested intelligent life elsewhere in thecosmos.