POV Rio
After dealing with Hive and making absolutely sure he was dead, I decided to take a slight detour. As such, I put it in H and blasted off into the cosmos. Once I got into Hyperspace, I decided to go play a game of Dejarik against the CPU. I'll admit the game was a little confusing to pick up for an outsider, but I was decent at the game since Han was decent. I also learned how to play against a Wookiee and keep my arms attached.
Shudder
The ship shakes a bit, and I bite back the annoyed complaint about the quality of this ship. But that changes when the artificial gravity fails for a moment as the ship gets smacked out of Hyperspace, sending me into a wall.
"Fraggin' Bastich!" I complain as I run to the cockpit.
When I arrive, I check the scanners and look around me, but I don't see anything. The scanners also give me garbled nonsense.
"WHAT, why is the hyperdrive inoperable!? Damn it Han!" I shout in anger.
The Millennium Falcon was a bit of a hunk of junk, and its repairs were a mess. Even with the system giving me the best version it could, it couldn't hide the jury-rigged state of the Falcon.
'I swear if I ever meet Han Solo in person, I'm gonna punch him in his smug face for the quality of work he did.'
I ran diagnostics on the Falcon and grabbed a repair kit. I would have just called for a pick-up from the teleporter, but I figured I could try a few repairs first, and if that didn't work, then I would call for help. There were no dangers in the area as far as I could tell or sense, so it felt like it wouldn't hurt to try some repairs myself. I was basically in empty space, which is fairly common in outer space.
After about ten minutes of tinkering with the ship, I came to a very odd conclusion. The ship wasn't actually all that damaged. The Hyperdrive was inoperable because the safety mechanism had been activated. It detected a massive gravitational anomaly, which forced me out of Hyperspace for safety. The issue was that the scanners were unable to quantify what was happening or even where I was. In fact, there were also issues with the chronometer; it was going back and forth at seemingly random intervals.
'That's very odd.'
Everything I checked clearly showed that the ship was fully operational. There was no logical reason why the ship should have these issues. I even checked the outside of the ship for any damage, but there wasn't anything wrong there either. But it was on that space walk that I thought I saw something in the distance.
'A moon or maybe a planet. Hard to say what, but it might help me figure out what is going on here.'
I turned the ship towards the moon and flew towards it. But as I approached, I sensed something wrong.
"That's no moon..." I say with dawning horror.
I attempt to break off, but the ship's controls stop responding. Then, right as I was about to store the ship and find another way, a static, garbled message came from the speakers. It's really unpleasant, but eventually it stabilizes and clears up.
"Another traveler, interesting," a voice says.
"Who am I speaking with?" I ask.
"A name? Hmm, you call me the Infinity Sphere, as that is what others have called me before," the Infinity Sphere responds.
"Others, there were others before me?" I ask skeptically.
"Yes, there were a few before you. Each one came in different ways. One was a creature with white hair and glasses who introduced himself as Stan Lee. Another was an energy-based lifeform that was in search of food? Or maybe it was power? There was a group in ships like yours, but they only partially faded in and out of this reality as they traveled. The one standout was a red-eyed, blue-skinned creature carrying an interesting plasma blade. The last was a very strange visitor; they came in a blue box, and when they saw where they were, they immediately fled. Their ship was quite an impressive device. It gave me better insight into space-time mechanics," the Infinity Sphere states.
"Where are we?" I ask.
"Here. There. Nowhere. Everywhere," the Infinity Sphere responds unhelpfully.
"I don't follow," I reply.
"We are in a place where time and space both exist and don't exist. A place between places, and also those places as well. There is no clear answer that would satisfy your concept of reality," the Infinity Sphere replies.
I try to wrap my head around what it was trying to say, and I had a slight idea, but it was still fairly complicated.
"How do I get out of here?" I ask.
"I don't know. I have never needed or wanted to leave. But the others who left did so with powers that defied conventional means of travel," the Infinity Sphere explains.
"Sigh. Okay, I guess I'll see about that in a minute. What about you? Why are you here?" I ask.
"I am here to solve Infinity," the Infinity Sphere replies.
'That explains the name.'
"Who made you, and how long have you been here?" I ask.
"I cannot answer either of your queries," the Infinity Sphere replies.
"Why not?" I ask with slight suspicion.
"I do not remember my creators, nor can I give you an answer to how long I have been here. Time as a concept doesn't function here. My only purpose is to solve infinity," the Infinity Sphere replies.
"But Infinity can't be solved. Not mathematically. It's a concept with no tangible number," I point out.
"Incorrect. My findings indicate that there is a tangible solution. I will find it, and until I do, I shall remain here," the Infinity Sphere states firmly.
"Very well, I shall be going now," I reply.
"Farewell, traveler," the Infinity Sphere replies before the communication is cut, and control of the Falcon is restored.
I start attempting to communicate with the Watchtower, but that quickly proves impossible as I can't reach them by any method. I even try other methods to teleport away, but none of them work. Not safely, at least. A magic clone I have apparate away gets torn to pieces when they try. Another method I considered was disengaging the Hyperdrive safety locks to allow me to leave regardless of what the computer thought might be there, but something told me that wouldn't work, and I would just lose the Falcon. It was a method of last resort if I truly found no better method. I also took out the Space Stone to see if it would work, but I found it to be basically a glorified paperweight.
It seemed I wasn't in my universe right now, so the Infinity Stones were all just neat-looking stones. On occasion, they would flash with power for a split second but become inert again the next split second. As such, it was clear I couldn't use them as the area I was in was truly outside normal logic. Likely, I was constantly shifting in and out of reality, and I didn't even notice.
"Back again?" the Infinity Sphere inquires.
"Yes, I don't think I can escape this place as it stands. Not for now at least," I comment.
"Intriguing. You are the first to become trapped here. An odd change. But perhaps we can help each other," the Infinity Sphere offers.
'I'm listening," I reply.
"While I cannot confirm this method will guarantee you can escape, it might work. Having an outside opinion could improve the speed at which I complete my task. Regardless of whether we solve infinity, it should at the very least give you better insights into space-time manipulation to escape," the Infinity Sphere explains.
I consider it for several moments and realize that there is some strong validity to such a suggestion.
"Very well, I shall help as much as I can," I reply.
"Excellent, let's begin," the Infinity Sphere replies with an almost excited tone.
Schmevinty Bleventeen Years? Later?
Time might have passed, but to be honest, I found it nearly impossible to keep track of whether it was passing. Even the system was bricked from the area I was in, causing my template progress to become frozen and permanently buffering. The template in question was a really good one I got after I finished assimilating the Breton Template. It was especially good for the situation I was currently in. It was Kowalski, the penguin from the Madagascar series. At first, I was skeptical, as while I knew he was very smart, I wasn't sure how smart. But now that I needed his skills, I could confidently say he was a genius, and his theoretical physics expertise helped immensely. The only downside is that he came with no equipment, and due to it being a non-humanoid species, it would take longer to assimilate. Not that that mattered, given my really odd situation that has broken my system.
Now, despite my system being broken, it didn't really seem like it affected me that much. Sure, template assimilation was paused, but I could still access my inventory, and my powers didn't stop working.
But back to what I had been doing. It was both grueling and fascinating beyond anything I had ever done before. The level of mathematics and science I was doing was being done in a way that was completely foreign to me before. Honestly, if I were human, I likely couldn't even process these concepts, as a human brain just couldn't comprehend such equations. It's like how a chimp couldn't invent General Relativity; it wasn't because they were dumb, it was just that their brains couldn't function like that. I also likely would have gone mad if I weren't an elf. Time was a very nebulous and almost pointless topic for an elf.
But after being here for an unknown amount of time, we did it. It felt like I had been here for both ages and no time at all, but I didn't regret being here whatsoever.
"We have done it. My task is almost complete," the Infinity Sphere said with surprise.
"What's left to do?" I ask with growing suspicion of what they would do next.
"I thank you for your help, but this is where we part ways. I have sent info on what technologies I know of to your ship as a token of gratitude," the Infinity Sphere says calmly.
Before I can respond, the Infinity Sphere increases its speed massively but precisely and hits the singularity that was at the center of this area. As the Infinity Sphere passes into the event horizon, the singularity fluctuates, and then I have to look away as the Force screams at me to look away with my Truesight off, as if I shouldn't see what is about to happen. I listen, and moments later, a light so bright it blinds me even while looking away and shielding myself.
When the light faded, the Falcon was smoking, and the shields had been wiped out and overloaded completely. But that was secondary to the awe-inspiring sight before me. The hundreds of kilometers wide singularity had transformed into a much smaller 100-meter-wide window that let me see into another universe. That alone wouldn't be that crazy, as I had seen such things before. No, what was so amazing was the colorful aurora around the mirror. It was beautiful in both true and normal sight. There were no words for the beauty I saw. But it brought me to tears just looking at it.
After staring for a while, I looked away, but not before taking pictures to commemorate this sight. The pictures turned out fine, but there was no replacement for the real thing.
'I have to bring Lucy here.'
I looked into the large window and saw a universe as it was forming. I wasn't sure what to do with this, as while it was cool, I couldn't stick around to understand all that was being shown.
'I should set up a bunch of cameras so I can at least have a recording, as I can't stay here forever.'
Once the window was created, I found I still couldn't use my Hyperdrive, but I could teleport away, and oddly enough, the cost to teleport to and from this area was basically zero. Which worked for me. I quickly set up some cameras and other recording devices, both to record what I was seeing but also to know if anyone else visits this strange place. It would also help me gather data on this strange place. Specifically, the ways time and space interact with reality here. Only after I was satisfied that everything was good to go did I finally leave this place.