Eternity's End: When the Darkness Comes

By Damon Lee

We thought we knew. We thought we had the answers. But we were wrong. We were wrong about everything. In this gripping tale, Present and Future collide as our search for the truth, reveals something far beyond anything we ever thought possible.

The Present unravels as an Astronomer and his son seek to find answers to an anomaly that appears in the night sky, threatening to destroy the earth. What first was thought of as a terrorist attack turns out to be one of the biggest threats humanity has ever seen. As they work with a special military task force, the world is thrown into chaos. A mysterious stranger from another time arrives who may have answers, but will it be enough? Time runs out and all of humanity hangs in the balance.

The Future, where the light of prosperity has pushed humanity to great heights, is about to be consumed by a darkness that seeks to devour all of life. It threatens not just the future but existence itself throughout all of time. A mysterious signal has been discovered that originates at the edge of the solar system. A discovery that forces humanity to end its conflict because they realized that they were no longer alone in the universe. They work together to reach the source, to find out who or what is at the other end. What they find is not what they expected. A being from their past seeks to end their future and wipe out their present.

As the future and the past collide, can humanity find a way to move beyond the limitations that have blinded it for so long? Can they discover the truth hidden in the darkness and break free or is humanitys fate bound to that of Eternitys End?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781491799697

Damon Lee

Damon Lee, Christian philosopher and speaker, is the author of several books, including In the Face of Darkness and Eternity’s End. He is a student of philosophy, theology, psychology, and astronomy. When not writing, he teaches and works as a youth program director. He lives in upstate New York with his wife and kids.

Book preview

ETERNITY’S

END

WHEN THE DARKNESS COMES

DAMON LEE

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ETERNITY’S END

WHEN THE DARKNESS COMES

Copyright © 2016 Damon Lee.

Author Credits: Adam Mack

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-9968-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-9969-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016909770

iUniverse rev. date:  06/15/2016

Contents

Prologue

Part One    A Messenger From The Heavens

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Part Two    Revelations & Consequences

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Part Three    When The Darkness Comes

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

About The Author

This is

dedicated to those who inspire creativity and are willing to follow the imagination where ever it may lead; as an expressive component of experience that drives us all, lifting us to greater awareness and understanding. May we find that illumination in the darkness to guide us as we endeavor forever onward.

IN THE BEGINNING…

THERE WAS LIGHT AND THERE WAS DARK.

THE DARKNESS WAS WITHOUT FORM AND

THE LIGHT DIVIDED THE DARKNESS,

PUSHING IT INTO THE FURTHEST CORNERS

OF CREATION, UNTIL THAT TIME

WHEN THE DARKNESS COMES AGAIN;

TO CONSUME ALL THAT THE LIGHT BORE,

AND RETURN WITH IT THE VOID OF OBLIVION.

PROLOGUE

The serene expanse of a vast, blackened backdrop, its depths beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend, its darkened recesses keep its secrets at bay. The enormity of the is darkness is all-encompassing, lit only by the faint light of distant stars. This is all that can be seen.

These heavens, a gateway for the exploration of men, are beautiful still. Suddenly, an explosion momentarily illuminates the darkened night. There is no sound, just a spark of light revealing the presence of a small vessel floating within the darkness of space. Another spark of light discloses not just a singular vessel, but three in close proximity to each other.

As we focus on the vessels, we can see that one of the ships is on fire, the lights of the explosions appearing like flickers of light, too dim to be seen in the presence of the darkened surroundings. As we examine the vessels closely, we see carnage and chaos, with the latter appearing to be alive as it consumes the life and light of everything in its path.

Inside the ship that’s bathed in explosions, her eyes suddenly open. She can feel the ship vibrate. It’s unlike anything she had felt before. Right away, she knows there was an another explosion somewhere on the ship. The entire ship trembles again, and alarms begin to sound. The temperature dropps as the fires began to consume everything in their path.

Lucy looked at the overhead display that dangled from the ceiling in front of her and held only by a few cables. It was still partly functioning and she could see that the bridge was fully compromised. If the rest of the ship were as bad as the bridge, that could be cause for serious alarm. The ship rocked again, sending a wave of pain coursing through her body. It made Lucy focus on her present state and surroundings. She could tell that the environmental controls were failing and the ship’s stabilizers were probably about to go too.

The continued to flickered illuminating parts of the bridge and then covering it in odd shapes and shadows. Lucy found her gaze momentarily intranced by the shadows, expecting that something would emrge from them. There was something about shadows and darkness that made her heart beat faster and her breath forced. She was still trying to wrap her mind around what was going on. Everything seemed to be happening too fast and it was all unexpected.

As she stared into the shadows around her, Lucy could sense that a greater danger was lurking, something far deadlier than the damaged ship. As the ship buckled again, Lucy became more aware of her surroundings. The emergency lights came on and gave her a steady view of the bridge. Lucy looked around again and realized as if for the first time that her body ached and she could barely move. It took her a few moments to gain a better sense of herself.

Lucy was able to clear her mind of all of the questions and past events that flooded her thoughts. As she did do, her mind became aware of the severity of her current situation. She tried again to move again, exerting more energy. She didn’t know how long she had been unconscious. A bulkhead lay across her chest, almost pinning her to the floor. Lucy could feel her heart begin to beat faster in her chest. There was an anxiety that could be seen in her face and a sense of urgency that coursed through her veins with the pounding of her heart.

This was her ship, the Endeavor, but she was just a science officer and her ship was designed more like a floating laboratory and observatory and was not made to sustain this type of internal pressure. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the ship would tear itself apart. There were multiple alarms going off, each a different sound sginalling a different type of danger. Left unchecked, the ship would be doomed and there would be nothing anyone could do about it.

Lucy chuckled as she was reminded how the Endeavor was her first command. She had worked and fought hard for it and for her first real mission to turn out like this, the irony of it was plain for her to see. Lucy did have training and she was responsible for all of the lives on board. Lives she were no longer sure what their fates were. As she continued to struggle to free herself pain continued to overwhelm her.

She should have known better. They all should have known.

They invited the darkness in, caught up in its beauty.

They welcomed it on board and now it sought to consume them.

They weren’t prepared for what they found.

Lucy fought through the pain and tried to push the bulkhead off of her but it was a little too heavy. She managed to turn her head and feel around with her hands. She could feel a pipe with her fingers and was able to grab it.

Hello? she cried out. Is anyone else there?

Lucy couldn’t remember what happened right before she lost consciousness. What she could remember were the screams coming through the communication system. She remembered heading to the bridge after feeling the vibrations of the first explosion.

The bulk head was too heavy but she knew even as she tried to free herself that she needed to assess the damage to the ship and call for help if needed. Lucy had been in some bad situations before, but nothing like this. The longer she lay there, struggling to free herself the more her memories revealed to her the moments leading up to her unconscious state.

Lucy knew that there were two military ships entering the area after what happened to the Alexander. Command had received their reports and communications and had reached a conclusion that she and her crew were too blind to see. They were all so taken by what it represented that they didn’t really evaluate the potential danger.

With consistent effort and determination, Lucy was able to find the leverage she needed to move the bulkhead enough for her to free herself. It seemed to take all of her remaining strength. She needed to recover, even as the alarms seemed to be getting louder. Lucy took a few deep breaths and forced herself to get up. She almost lost her balance but was able to stand.

She was the commander and needed to see what was going on. As she stood, her vision blurred and she realized her head was wet with her own blood, which was beginning to pour from a cut abover her left eye dwon the side of her face. She hadn’t noticed it before. She wiped her face and stumbled to her console.

Lucy took a few steps forward and was forced to limp. She also had a cut on her leg and it was painful for her to walk. She reached a console that appeared to be partially functional. She tried to access the ship’s systems that she could to get a better idea of how bad things really were.

How did he get back there from the Alexander?

It didn’t make sense but it wasn’t surprising.

Nothing about what was happening seemed surprising.

Lucy knew that He was on her ship and could see what his intentions were. She had no command control from her display any longer, but she could see the extent of the damage. He had made it to the engine room and had caused severe damage and was going to overload the quantum core.

The quantum core was an experimental engine that would make travel outside the solar system reasonable. The quantum core was the most efficient non military ship engine designed explicitly for science vessels. The mechanics of how it worked was beyond the level of phsyics she was accustomed to. But it worked in a way that made travel very efficient. It was a powerful engine and could cause extensive damage of allowed to overload.

If he did cause damage to the core and there was no way to stop it, then they were all in danger. Lucy knew that she needed to contact the other ships. Military protocol was for them to board and investigate. That would be a mistake. If the quantum core overloaded, the energy released could be catastrophic and there was no telling how it would affect the fusion drives of the military ships.

Lucy could feel her heart pounding faster in her chest. Scrolling through the screens she could not get clear readings on any life signs. Was everyone dead or had they all evacuated? There were too many lives on the ship. She double checked and saw that all of the escape pods were still intact.

The ship buckled again. She could tell it was veering off course. She looked at the screens again, searching for answers. The collision alarm sounded. That made things worse. It seemed like there were alarms on top of alarms. Lucy knew she needed to get off of the ship. The ship systems were becoming more nonresponsive from her station. She ran to some of the other stations and reached the same conclusion; the bridge was cut off from the rest of the ship.

She reached under a panel under a nearby console and retrieved a medical kit. She opened it and took out a device which she then stuck herself in the neck with. After a second, she could see better and the pain she was feeling subsided. Lucy headed toward the doors to the bridge. She grabbed a pack that was hanging beside the doors and put it on her back.

The doors were not responding so she had to open them manually. She opened the panel by the door, and worked as fast as she could. She found the wires she needed and connected them, which opened the doors partially. Lucy grabbed a tablet that was on the floor and forced the doors open wide enough for her to fit through.

The lights flickered in the corridors but remained on. The ship was operating on emergency power. The lights were dim at best, but any light was better than none at all. Lucy hurried down the corridors, the heat making her feel as though the space around her were shrinking. The echo of an agonizing wail saturated the corridor. Lucy paused it was so shocking. Her heart began to beat faster once again.

She was scared.

As she ran down the corridors, the surrounding shadows seemed to move. It looked like reality itself were being distorted. She hadn’t seen anything like it before, but didn’t like what it might mean.

It was an amazing find that could re-shape humanity.

That’s what they called it, what they all wanted it to be, but in fact, it was something far worse. It tuned out to be something no one could have ever thought. It might even be the end to humanity.

Lucy focused on the tablet as she slowed down and tried to connect to other ship’s systems that might still be operational. She was able to connect to the communication systems. It was functioning barely. Lucy hoped she could reach one of the other ships.

This is Commander Lucille of the Science Ship Endeavor. Is anyone there? She waited a few seconds but there was no reply. She was able to get into the ship’s master controls. External communication and navigation were down and the core was manually set to engage but the controls were damaged beyond repair.

The release mechanisms were disengaged so with a stationary ship, when the core engaged, the energy would have nowhere to go but back into itself. It would cause the ship to explode.

There was only about twenty-three minutes before the core would go critical. She checked the proximity alert and saw that the Mephisto, one of the military ships that was tethered to the Endeavor would suffer a catastrophic collision about the time the core would overload.

This was all madness.

How could this all have happened?

Lucy had to take deep breaths and calm herself down. She needed to think. She needed to act accordingly. The Mephisto was powered by a newly designed Fusion Accelerator Drive that warped light particles in a way that would bend the laws of physics and allow for faster than light travel.

The drive itself was unstable as a means of travel but made for a more effective battle ship because the energy outputs powered its weapons systems. If that drive remained active when the core exploded, she didn’t know what the results would be.

With her mind at work, calculating variables and trying to come up with solutions, Lucy made it to the lift shaft and opened the door. She looked down and nearly fell in as the ship buckled again.

The damage that would ensue from the resulting explosions could tear a hole in the fabric of spacetime. In fact, it could warp space creating an unstable gravitational anomaly. An anomaly of that destructive force would have dire unpredictable consequences and might not be able to stop once it started and would only grow in size.

At this point, there was nothing she could do about it. Looking at the screen on the tablet there was no way of making it through the debris to get to the engine room in time. She was not an engineer and had no clue how to stabilize the core. With the ship losing functions and capabilities, the best she could do is get to an escape pod and get free of the ship.

Perhaps the communication array on the escape pod was functioning. She might not be able to save the Endeavor but maybe she could warn the Mephisto to disengage their Fusion Accelerator Drive, thereby minimizing the fallout.

Lucy hurried down the latter. The ship rocked from another explosion and she lost her grip. She fell into the side of the shaft and bounced off the wall into the latter looking like a pinball. As she continued to bounce off the wall Lucy was able to grab hold of the latter and stop herself from falling further. It was a long way down and a fall she would not have been able to walk away from.

As the ship continued to fall apart around her, Lucy hurried down the latter. She needed to go down three decks. The lower she got the hotter it became. She could feel the heat and knew that the fire was close. She opened the door onto the corridor and climbed out. She looked around and everything was even more chaotic than she thought.

Lucy could see fires raging and smoke saturating the stale air. From what she could tell, an explosion of some kind tore through at least three levels. As she looked closer at the extent of the damage and the gaping hole, she could tell it wasn’t an explosion that did this. It was like something had corroded the metals and other compounds.

It looked as though the materials tore themselves apart from the inside out. Was this a dream? At any moment would she would wake to a world that she knew and not the one she seemed unable to escape from?

Lucy knew that everything that was happening was a result of their expedition. It was an expedition that would have been a turning point for humanity. Her mission was over now. The lives of over two hundred people were lost. This was her ship and she had failed them all.

All they wanted was to know.

All they were hoping for was the opportunity to shed some light on some of the questions plaguing humanity for thousands of years. Perhaps there were some things were best left hidden in the dark. When you bring some things out into the light, you don’t always like what you see.

Lucy found her way around the hole in the floor. She looked down and then looked up. The temperature had dropped dramatically and had to be near freezing by now. Lucy could see her breath in front of her. She found a supply locker and got better gear to help her. Lucy tried to move as quickly as possible to get the suit and helmet on.

Lucy felt strange and became light headed and fell to one knee. She was feeling was overwhelmed her and she bagan to breathe heavily. Her heart raced and she shivered. She then heard a loud moaning coming from down the hall. As she closed the last clamp on her suit and put on the oxygen filter, she couldn’t help but feel fear. Her hands were beginning to tremble.

As her mind searched for a way to make sense of what was happening, she remembered the reports about what happened aboard the Alexander, which was one of the best ships in the fleet. It was consumed by something. Lucy knew that it was the same something that she and her crew had brought back with them.

Lucy began to race toward the escape pod. If the stories were true, then it would explain why there were no bodies. It consumed everything with life. She remembered watching from afar as the Alexander disintegrated with all four hundred crew members lost. There was no reason for that ship to have been destroyed and there was nothing left of her.

There were no human remains found, not even parts of bodies which would be what you would expect from a normal explosion. But nothing about what happened then or what is happening now was normal. There was nothing but the metal and inorganic components left drifting in space. Even the crew that had prostheses or some other form of robotic component could not be recovered except for their inanimate parts.

That was how a number of the crew could be identified. And now, that darkness and that death, was on her ship; the same kind of darkness that she and her crew allowed to come into this world. It was her fault. She led the expedition. She gave the order to open the door that allowed this terror to come through.

Lucy stopped in her tracks. She heard the moaning again. It was a horrible sound, filled with pain and rage and sorrow rolled up in one. Her hair stood on edge and her heart began to beat faster in her chest. No type of training could have prepared her, or anyone else for that matter, for the type of crisis she now faced.

To make things worse, the emergency lights began to flash. Lucy looked at the timer on the tablet she brought with her. The quantum core was about to overload and she was running out of time. She needed to move faster. Lucy tried establishing a link with the ship’s master controls again. The communication’s array was still intact but there was something blocking the signal.

They encountered unexplained interference that seemed to break up and sometimes bounce back communications ever since this madness began. Lucy tried to focus and regained her composure. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself. She was scared, but could not let that fear overwhelm her.

Lucy, an Officer of the United Space Corps, stood at almost five feet five inches and with her petite frame and short blond hair, was an Elite Officer who had earned her command. Now it was time to prove it. She needed to get to the escape pod. She needed to get to earth and warm them of the impending doom. Nothing could stop this darkness that was aboard her ship.

There was no conventional weapon that she knew of that could penetrate evil and hatred. What took her crew wanted nothing but the end of all life. It was the darkness that was inside the minds and hearts of humanity and there was nothing that anyone could do to stop it. With that being the case, she still needed to get to them and warn them. Everyone needed to know what was going on; and what was coming for them.

The Commander felt the Endeavor tremble again. She nearly toppled over. Then the moaning resumes and seems to be coming from all around her. Lucy looked around but she couldn’t see anything. She felt as though there were eyes watching her, peering into her and penetrating deep. It was familiar and foreign all the same.

She wanted to get off the ship.

She needed to get off the ship.

Lucy began running down the corridors. Finally, she made it to the hatch and opened it to enter the escape pod. She checked the display on the suit of her wrist. The oxygen in the Endeavor had been depleted. If there was anything alive left on the ship, anything human anyway, it would either be dead or dying.

There was nothing she could do to save anyone, if there was anyone left to save. Then she heard it as clear as day. It was calling to her. She knew she needed to move, but she hesitated. What she heard was almost like an entrancing melody, a siren’s call that she felt drawn to. Lucy was mesmerized by it and could not compel herself to enter the escape pod.

It was a voice that sounded familiar, like the echo of a lost love, beckoning her. Lucy was enthralled as though the voice was connecting to her in a way she didn’t fully understand. It felt as though it was a part of her somehow.

The ship buckled again and for a brief moment she was freed from the call as her attention was forced to shift to her immediate safety. She entered the escape pod and closed the hatch. Lucy strapped herself in and hit the release button. The pod slid through the gateway and out into space. The engines turned on and the navigation locked on to earth’s orbital platform. Lucy braced herself in her seat as the pod began to accelerate.

She looked out of the window behind her to see her ship, floating in space. It began to disintegrate as though something were eating through it, or to be more accurate, as though it were being ravaged by time, becoming brittle and then crumbling upon its own weight. She saw the Maelstrom and the Mephisto still tethered to her ship.

Lucy tried the communications array but it was not functioning at all. She tried various frequencies but it would seem all communications were down and nothing was working as it should. It was like all of the ships were caught in some sort of bubble that kept them contained, unable to contact each other or anyone else.

She knew what the protocol was. The Maelstrom and the Mephisto were going to board the derelict ship to determine what was happening. Lucy knew that they needed to be warned but at this point, there was nothing she could do. As she watched the ships, Lucy realized that they must have been getting all sorts of interference too. That would explain why they were still moving to intercept. They couldn’t read the surging energy output and assess the damage that was about to take place.

It was a deliberate act.

Lucy’s heart continued to pound in her chest. She looked at ther screen on her wrist that displayed her vitals. Even though ot was hard, she needed to regain control and calm down. She felt a wave of sorrow fill her and she couldn’t help but cry out, tears streaming down her face as though all of the pent up emotions were finally being allowed to come out.

All the lives aboard the ships. She knew what was about to happen to all of those lives. Before she could finish the thought, the darkness of space lit up with the brightness of a hundred thousand nuclear bombs.

She turned away but the inside of the escape pod became brighter than the brightest day. It was akin to her second assignment on the Journey as they did a resource mission to mercury. She remembered the brilliance of the sun overwhelming every sense.

Even now, with her eyes fully closed, the brightness invaded her mind and nearly blinded her. She reached to her left knowing that the window shield would provide her with some protection and closed the outer window doors. The pod became tolerable and she could open her eyes. Everything seemed a blur at first, but as her sight cleared, what she saw was disturbing.

The other ships were caught in the explosion and the wave of energy caused her ship to buckle. The displays on the escape pod began to flash. She was caught in some kind of energy wake. The alarms began to sound and her forward motion came to a complete standstill. After a few moments she began moving backwards, being pulled toward something.

She opened the outer window and looked outside. Lucy could see a swirling ball of white and blue light. She tried the communications array again without success. None of her displays were functioning properly. They were giving her an error message, alerting her to an unknown energy