Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)
nuk3themidw3st
Dusk, of Twisted Desire~
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2025
- Location
- In Your Walls~
Intro/Chapter 1: A New "Friend"
Setting: 257,000 light years from the Milkyway Galaxy, aboard the "SLV-02-Utopia" spaceship, in the year 2089.
It was currently 2:37am back home in Poughkeepsie, New York where Officer Noel Sykes is from, but in the seemingly endless depths of space where she and a few dozen others are now traveling, time is fairly irrelevant. There is no day or night, nor is there even a reason to maintain the localized time system beyond keeping their sanity throughout a multi-year journey, but any measure that could be done to maintain some level of sanity on this uncharted voyage was taken by NASA before takeoff. Beyond clocks around the ship being programmed to keep a familiar time system, the lighting system of the ship has been set to reflect those same times, meaning the "sun" will rise in a few hours, and it will "set" every day around 8:00pm. Meals are coordinated according to their specific ordinary times as well, though by now some of the crew have opted to just eat whatever they want for any of their meals. Sam, the head engineer, had blueberry pancakes and maple sausage links for dinner last night, for example, while a majority of the crew had stuffed shells & garlic knots. The food certainly wasn't bad, food science had come quite a long way since the days of MRE's and dehydrated tubes. Large agricultural biomes exist on this enormous city sized ship, allowing the growth of many fruits and vegetables. There's plenty of sealed and frozen meats, and dehydrated milk by the gallon stored away beneath the ship. The ship even has "sensory programs" built into it to simulate earthly sensations and aromas, like morning dew and flowers in the morning, crickets and holograms of fireflies at night, and so much more. Due to the length of this voyage, which is estimated to be just under 7 years, no expense was spared.
However, despite all of those programs and steps taken, Officer Noel Sykes, who is currently the only person awake for the calm and casual night shift, simply cannot get over how abnormal and boring this whole voyage is. It has barely been 13 months since the ship took off, and they are over 2 years away from reaching the 1 million light year marker, and while Noel does her job with conviction and without flaw, she already hates it. She doesn't hate her co-workers or the captain, she doesn't even hate the ship or the android staff, she just hates how non-human all of this is. Humans are supposed to live normal lives in cute little homes, have stressful jobs to support a family, then grow old and die... But aboard the SLV-02-Utopia, all of that is put to a screeching halt. Noel would give anything to go back home now, but she has long since accepted how impossible that would be. She does however regret applying for a spot on this ship, in spite of how historic the mission is and the fact that she is making over 1 million dollars per year as part of the crew. She could at least stomach the journey if this was an expedition to explore some newly discovered planet, or collect interesting samples of something, but alas... It is quite literally just a voyage to go 1 million light years out, collect a few samples of space rocks, and then return home. At this point, Noel would give just about anything for something interesting to happen, like a deep space pocket of diamonds drifting endlessly, or a sudden rush of asteroids that require them to be on alert...
But alas, such a thing was just not in the cards for Noel and the rest of the crew. So for now, she just had to sit in the commanding chair in the control hub of the ship, monitoring the filtration system, engines, oxygen recycler, and other programs and machines that guarantee their safety out here so far from home. But on this day, Noel made one crucial mistake... She forgot to get coffee to help her stay awake until the day crew came at 8:00am, which has resulted in her feeling quite tired, too much so to simply get up and make the walk down to the cafeteria to fill her thermos with coffee. She was fighting against the weight of her eyelids, which so desperately wanted to close... She knew it would be wrong, but as we all do from time to time, she began to wonder if it would be okay... 'As long as I'm awake before the day crew comes, what's the harm?' Noel thought to herself as a mischevous smirk formed in her lips, mere minutes before her eyes blinked shut, and did not re-open as she drifted off soundly to sleep...
As Officer Sykes slept, as fate would have it, something that she would consider interesting certainly did happen. Off in the distance, but in clear view from the massive 180 degree reinforced glass opening at the front of the ship, a bizarre display of swirling lights began to take form. It had the look and illumination of light, but moved in an almost fluid manor, and was predominantly pink in color. It was like a much more active and localized version of the aurora borealis back home, but it was also more than just a fancy light show. This colorfully confusing display was also emitting a form of radiation that, as fate would have it, quickly found its way to the ship... Yet none of the radiation sensors or alarms were triggered. It did cause the radiation gauge to increase, but somehow none of the alarms that would awaken the crew and force them to spring into action were activated. But above all, this radiation had an effect on Noel in her sleep... There she was, dreaming of being back home at a cookout with her friends and family, when suddenly... A new voice could be heard.
"Quite the beautiful setting. Is this common among your species?"
As those words came from an unknown source, the lovely dream world around Noel suddenly faded, until everything that surrounded her was white, an empty void of nothing going nowhere... But behind her was... Not a person, not any physical thing or being... It was a smaller version of the swirling pink radiation that currently dances outside of the ship, taking form in the space a human typically would, but it was no human. It was a voice coming from color, from swirls and spirals.
"You appear to be troubled, is everything alright? Does my appearance displease you?"
The voice spoke again, and it was truly unlike anything Noel had heard before. It was somehow feminine, distorted, and digitized all at once, yet Noel could hear and understand it perfectly.
"Who... are you? I don't recognize your voice from someone I've met before..." Noel responded and was surprisingly calm. Certainly a bit confused and on edge, but it hadn't yet clicked for her that this could be anything more than just a very bizarre dream.
"Unfortunately, I do not have a simple answer to your question. I am not someone from your life, someone or something you have ever met before. Truthfully speaking, I am not a being in a physical form, I am both real and the absence of reality. If a name or title would help you, you can refer to me as... Null."
Null... Null? Noel was truly perplexed now, yet she still did not wonder if this was anything more than a lucid dream caused by an adverse reaction to the medication she has to take in deep space. The most likely scenario in her mind was that this is exactly that, so she became very nonchelant with "Null".
"Okay, 'Null'... How exactly are you speaking to me right now? I've never had someone, or something, in a dream of mine that wasn't a memory pulled from my life..." Noel certainly was not taking this encounter as something serious, but humoring it and asking questions about it certainly could not hurt.
"Dream... That is a peculiar name for this state that you are in... I like it. But to answer your question, I have the ability to enter the mental space of living beings with an active consciousness, lucid or otherwise. Currently I am outside of your spaceship, though I am much larger of a presence there than here in your 'dream' as it would be. Did you and the other lifeforms on board build this ship? I must say, it has been quite some time since I have encountered intelligent life capable of space travel on this scale."
"Null" spoke similarly to how one would expect a robot that does not understand or comprehend human emotions and inflections to speak. Very rigid, lackling true care or interest, yet "Null" did seem interested in the ship itself.
"No, we on board did not build the ship, but other humans, that's the name of our species, built it for us. We're on a mission to travel 1,000,000 light years, document the trip, and then return home with our findings. It's not the most exciting mission but it's something to do, I guess.." Even to Null, whoever or whatever it is, Noel did not hide her lack of enthusiasm towards the mission she is tasked with. "I'm not even supposed to be dreaming right now, but I was just so tired I..." But in that moment, Noel paused as something that Null said finally clicked in her mind, and she became aware of how bizarre it was. "Wait a minute, you're outside of our ship? Like right now? How is that possible..."
"I am, yes. As I said, I am both real and the absence of reality, I can be anywhere, or nowhere at all. Stumbling upon your ship was mere coincidence, and after finding you alone in the front, I assumed you to be someone of authority on board, and figured that you would be interesting to talk to... And so far, you have not disappointed."
Noel couldn't bring herself to fully trust the words of "Null". It was illogical for her to do so, and even on top of that, some omnipotent force stumbling upon their ship sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie... However, the ever so slight possibility that it was real did click with Noel, and oddly enough, it intrigued her. She needed proof of it being real though, she couldn't just take it at face value.
"Prove to me that you're real. I don't care what you have to do, just some sign that this is more than just me tripping balls in a dream, if you can." Noel did not want to seem needy or demanding, especially if this was just some lucid dream knocking her off her rocker, or even worse if this is some all-powerful being in the depths of the cosmos.
"I certainly can prove it to you, and I would be happy to do so, but I will save that for your awakened self to find... Speaking of, by the looks of things in the programming of your ship, it looks like you'll want to wake up soon if you wish to avoid being scalded by your superiors. It was a pleasure to speak with you, and if you ever would like to speak with me again, just dream, or even think of me, and I will manifest. Before I go, may I have your name?"
It hadn't even clicked to Noel that she didn't give a name to this thing, but in her defense, she didn't even consider the possibility of Null being real until just a moment ago. She also considered giving it a fake name, but Noel then began to wonder if it could read her mind, and if this was some sort of test to see if it would liquify her brain for lying to it.
"Oh, right... My name is Noel. Noel Sykes, to be exact."
"Noel... Fascinating. Quite close to Null, I've noticed. A coincidence? Who is to say... Regardless, it was a pleasure to speak with you Noel, and I do hope we get the chance to speak again. As a goodbye gift of sorts, I will even assist you in waking up. Until next time..."
And with that, there was a sudden flash of blistering white light that quickly snapped Noel out of the dream, out of her slumber, and before she knew it she was awake and pondering if what she just encountered was true. However, she was not in the command chair where she had fallen asleep. Instead, Noel was standing right up against the glass that overlooked the vast emptiness of space, and as Noels' eyes looked around, she saw it... The fading pink swirls from her dreams, off in the distance dancing, almost as though just for her, before it gently faded into absolute nothingness. Not only was Null real, but it was somehow able to move Noel out of the chair and across the control room to the massive glass window. Noel was in awe, perplexed, unable to formulate a logical explanation beyond the fact that she was the first known human to come into contact with what she can describe as "alien life".
And moments later, the doors off behind Noel opened, and Captain Amanda Sanders & Chief Officer Gregory Wilkins entered the central command station.
"Officer Sykes, is something wrong?" Wilkins asked, as he was always the hard ass of the upper ranks. Captain Sanders was much more calm than he, but she also did not mess around when it came to doing her job.
"Huh? No I just..." And in that moment, Noel paused. Part of her wanted to report this finding to her superiors, or at the very least warn them about it. However, she feared that they would not take her claim seriously, and may even relegate her to the medical ward for a few days for a psychological evaluation. And, perhaps selfishly, she liked being the only person who could speak to Null, and she of course wanted to know so much more about Null first... "Everything is fine, just uh, admiring the stillness of everything out here, I guess." Noel said with a half nervous giggle.
"I'd be lying if I said I haven't been there as well myself, Officer Sykes. All in all, your shift is done for the day, feel free to go grab something to eat, or head to your quarters for some sleep." Captain Sanders said with a soft smile, before taking a sip from her cup of coffee.
"Yeah, something to eat sounds good, but I may sleep first... Oh, by the way, there was uh... A spike in the radiation gauges last night at around 4:00am, but none of the sensors or alarms were going off, so I did a system check and it still gave no alerts, so you may want to have the tech team check on that today."
"Oh? How peculiar. I will absolutely have that looked into. Enjoy your rest, Noel."
And with that handled, Noel was out of the control room and wandering down the halls in the direction of her quarters, passing by a few coworkers and friends with casual greetings. She scurried into her quarters and shut the doors behind her, allowing herself to be alone with her thoughts once again to process everything from the dream and how she was found when she was woken up by Null. Truthfully, Noel still couldn't fully grasp the fact that Null, whatever it was, was a real thing that had come into contact with her of all people. It could've gone to the Captain, or just about anyone else on the ship who had been asleep at that time. Why her? Was it truly just the fact that she was in the control center all alone? Regardless, Noel was quickly becoming more and more fascinated by the mere idea of Null, but as anyone should be, she was also skeptical of Null and what it could want or be after. If it wanted to kill her and the crew, surely it could have done so, so Noel hoped that Null was more of a peaceful omnipotent lifeform, one just traveling life and space and time with the freedom it has to do so, and now it is almost befriending Noel out of nothing more than curiosity and an eagerness to learn.
Oh,. if only it were so simple...
Has my story caught your eye? I hope so! I'll be adding new chapters periodically, so stay tuned
Setting: 257,000 light years from the Milkyway Galaxy, aboard the "SLV-02-Utopia" spaceship, in the year 2089.
It was currently 2:37am back home in Poughkeepsie, New York where Officer Noel Sykes is from, but in the seemingly endless depths of space where she and a few dozen others are now traveling, time is fairly irrelevant. There is no day or night, nor is there even a reason to maintain the localized time system beyond keeping their sanity throughout a multi-year journey, but any measure that could be done to maintain some level of sanity on this uncharted voyage was taken by NASA before takeoff. Beyond clocks around the ship being programmed to keep a familiar time system, the lighting system of the ship has been set to reflect those same times, meaning the "sun" will rise in a few hours, and it will "set" every day around 8:00pm. Meals are coordinated according to their specific ordinary times as well, though by now some of the crew have opted to just eat whatever they want for any of their meals. Sam, the head engineer, had blueberry pancakes and maple sausage links for dinner last night, for example, while a majority of the crew had stuffed shells & garlic knots. The food certainly wasn't bad, food science had come quite a long way since the days of MRE's and dehydrated tubes. Large agricultural biomes exist on this enormous city sized ship, allowing the growth of many fruits and vegetables. There's plenty of sealed and frozen meats, and dehydrated milk by the gallon stored away beneath the ship. The ship even has "sensory programs" built into it to simulate earthly sensations and aromas, like morning dew and flowers in the morning, crickets and holograms of fireflies at night, and so much more. Due to the length of this voyage, which is estimated to be just under 7 years, no expense was spared.
However, despite all of those programs and steps taken, Officer Noel Sykes, who is currently the only person awake for the calm and casual night shift, simply cannot get over how abnormal and boring this whole voyage is. It has barely been 13 months since the ship took off, and they are over 2 years away from reaching the 1 million light year marker, and while Noel does her job with conviction and without flaw, she already hates it. She doesn't hate her co-workers or the captain, she doesn't even hate the ship or the android staff, she just hates how non-human all of this is. Humans are supposed to live normal lives in cute little homes, have stressful jobs to support a family, then grow old and die... But aboard the SLV-02-Utopia, all of that is put to a screeching halt. Noel would give anything to go back home now, but she has long since accepted how impossible that would be. She does however regret applying for a spot on this ship, in spite of how historic the mission is and the fact that she is making over 1 million dollars per year as part of the crew. She could at least stomach the journey if this was an expedition to explore some newly discovered planet, or collect interesting samples of something, but alas... It is quite literally just a voyage to go 1 million light years out, collect a few samples of space rocks, and then return home. At this point, Noel would give just about anything for something interesting to happen, like a deep space pocket of diamonds drifting endlessly, or a sudden rush of asteroids that require them to be on alert...
But alas, such a thing was just not in the cards for Noel and the rest of the crew. So for now, she just had to sit in the commanding chair in the control hub of the ship, monitoring the filtration system, engines, oxygen recycler, and other programs and machines that guarantee their safety out here so far from home. But on this day, Noel made one crucial mistake... She forgot to get coffee to help her stay awake until the day crew came at 8:00am, which has resulted in her feeling quite tired, too much so to simply get up and make the walk down to the cafeteria to fill her thermos with coffee. She was fighting against the weight of her eyelids, which so desperately wanted to close... She knew it would be wrong, but as we all do from time to time, she began to wonder if it would be okay... 'As long as I'm awake before the day crew comes, what's the harm?' Noel thought to herself as a mischevous smirk formed in her lips, mere minutes before her eyes blinked shut, and did not re-open as she drifted off soundly to sleep...
As Officer Sykes slept, as fate would have it, something that she would consider interesting certainly did happen. Off in the distance, but in clear view from the massive 180 degree reinforced glass opening at the front of the ship, a bizarre display of swirling lights began to take form. It had the look and illumination of light, but moved in an almost fluid manor, and was predominantly pink in color. It was like a much more active and localized version of the aurora borealis back home, but it was also more than just a fancy light show. This colorfully confusing display was also emitting a form of radiation that, as fate would have it, quickly found its way to the ship... Yet none of the radiation sensors or alarms were triggered. It did cause the radiation gauge to increase, but somehow none of the alarms that would awaken the crew and force them to spring into action were activated. But above all, this radiation had an effect on Noel in her sleep... There she was, dreaming of being back home at a cookout with her friends and family, when suddenly... A new voice could be heard.
"Quite the beautiful setting. Is this common among your species?"
As those words came from an unknown source, the lovely dream world around Noel suddenly faded, until everything that surrounded her was white, an empty void of nothing going nowhere... But behind her was... Not a person, not any physical thing or being... It was a smaller version of the swirling pink radiation that currently dances outside of the ship, taking form in the space a human typically would, but it was no human. It was a voice coming from color, from swirls and spirals.
"You appear to be troubled, is everything alright? Does my appearance displease you?"
The voice spoke again, and it was truly unlike anything Noel had heard before. It was somehow feminine, distorted, and digitized all at once, yet Noel could hear and understand it perfectly.
"Who... are you? I don't recognize your voice from someone I've met before..." Noel responded and was surprisingly calm. Certainly a bit confused and on edge, but it hadn't yet clicked for her that this could be anything more than just a very bizarre dream.
"Unfortunately, I do not have a simple answer to your question. I am not someone from your life, someone or something you have ever met before. Truthfully speaking, I am not a being in a physical form, I am both real and the absence of reality. If a name or title would help you, you can refer to me as... Null."
Null... Null? Noel was truly perplexed now, yet she still did not wonder if this was anything more than a lucid dream caused by an adverse reaction to the medication she has to take in deep space. The most likely scenario in her mind was that this is exactly that, so she became very nonchelant with "Null".
"Okay, 'Null'... How exactly are you speaking to me right now? I've never had someone, or something, in a dream of mine that wasn't a memory pulled from my life..." Noel certainly was not taking this encounter as something serious, but humoring it and asking questions about it certainly could not hurt.
"Dream... That is a peculiar name for this state that you are in... I like it. But to answer your question, I have the ability to enter the mental space of living beings with an active consciousness, lucid or otherwise. Currently I am outside of your spaceship, though I am much larger of a presence there than here in your 'dream' as it would be. Did you and the other lifeforms on board build this ship? I must say, it has been quite some time since I have encountered intelligent life capable of space travel on this scale."
"Null" spoke similarly to how one would expect a robot that does not understand or comprehend human emotions and inflections to speak. Very rigid, lackling true care or interest, yet "Null" did seem interested in the ship itself.
"No, we on board did not build the ship, but other humans, that's the name of our species, built it for us. We're on a mission to travel 1,000,000 light years, document the trip, and then return home with our findings. It's not the most exciting mission but it's something to do, I guess.." Even to Null, whoever or whatever it is, Noel did not hide her lack of enthusiasm towards the mission she is tasked with. "I'm not even supposed to be dreaming right now, but I was just so tired I..." But in that moment, Noel paused as something that Null said finally clicked in her mind, and she became aware of how bizarre it was. "Wait a minute, you're outside of our ship? Like right now? How is that possible..."
"I am, yes. As I said, I am both real and the absence of reality, I can be anywhere, or nowhere at all. Stumbling upon your ship was mere coincidence, and after finding you alone in the front, I assumed you to be someone of authority on board, and figured that you would be interesting to talk to... And so far, you have not disappointed."
Noel couldn't bring herself to fully trust the words of "Null". It was illogical for her to do so, and even on top of that, some omnipotent force stumbling upon their ship sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie... However, the ever so slight possibility that it was real did click with Noel, and oddly enough, it intrigued her. She needed proof of it being real though, she couldn't just take it at face value.
"Prove to me that you're real. I don't care what you have to do, just some sign that this is more than just me tripping balls in a dream, if you can." Noel did not want to seem needy or demanding, especially if this was just some lucid dream knocking her off her rocker, or even worse if this is some all-powerful being in the depths of the cosmos.
"I certainly can prove it to you, and I would be happy to do so, but I will save that for your awakened self to find... Speaking of, by the looks of things in the programming of your ship, it looks like you'll want to wake up soon if you wish to avoid being scalded by your superiors. It was a pleasure to speak with you, and if you ever would like to speak with me again, just dream, or even think of me, and I will manifest. Before I go, may I have your name?"
It hadn't even clicked to Noel that she didn't give a name to this thing, but in her defense, she didn't even consider the possibility of Null being real until just a moment ago. She also considered giving it a fake name, but Noel then began to wonder if it could read her mind, and if this was some sort of test to see if it would liquify her brain for lying to it.
"Oh, right... My name is Noel. Noel Sykes, to be exact."
"Noel... Fascinating. Quite close to Null, I've noticed. A coincidence? Who is to say... Regardless, it was a pleasure to speak with you Noel, and I do hope we get the chance to speak again. As a goodbye gift of sorts, I will even assist you in waking up. Until next time..."
And with that, there was a sudden flash of blistering white light that quickly snapped Noel out of the dream, out of her slumber, and before she knew it she was awake and pondering if what she just encountered was true. However, she was not in the command chair where she had fallen asleep. Instead, Noel was standing right up against the glass that overlooked the vast emptiness of space, and as Noels' eyes looked around, she saw it... The fading pink swirls from her dreams, off in the distance dancing, almost as though just for her, before it gently faded into absolute nothingness. Not only was Null real, but it was somehow able to move Noel out of the chair and across the control room to the massive glass window. Noel was in awe, perplexed, unable to formulate a logical explanation beyond the fact that she was the first known human to come into contact with what she can describe as "alien life".
And moments later, the doors off behind Noel opened, and Captain Amanda Sanders & Chief Officer Gregory Wilkins entered the central command station.
"Officer Sykes, is something wrong?" Wilkins asked, as he was always the hard ass of the upper ranks. Captain Sanders was much more calm than he, but she also did not mess around when it came to doing her job.
"Huh? No I just..." And in that moment, Noel paused. Part of her wanted to report this finding to her superiors, or at the very least warn them about it. However, she feared that they would not take her claim seriously, and may even relegate her to the medical ward for a few days for a psychological evaluation. And, perhaps selfishly, she liked being the only person who could speak to Null, and she of course wanted to know so much more about Null first... "Everything is fine, just uh, admiring the stillness of everything out here, I guess." Noel said with a half nervous giggle.
"I'd be lying if I said I haven't been there as well myself, Officer Sykes. All in all, your shift is done for the day, feel free to go grab something to eat, or head to your quarters for some sleep." Captain Sanders said with a soft smile, before taking a sip from her cup of coffee.
"Yeah, something to eat sounds good, but I may sleep first... Oh, by the way, there was uh... A spike in the radiation gauges last night at around 4:00am, but none of the sensors or alarms were going off, so I did a system check and it still gave no alerts, so you may want to have the tech team check on that today."
"Oh? How peculiar. I will absolutely have that looked into. Enjoy your rest, Noel."
And with that handled, Noel was out of the control room and wandering down the halls in the direction of her quarters, passing by a few coworkers and friends with casual greetings. She scurried into her quarters and shut the doors behind her, allowing herself to be alone with her thoughts once again to process everything from the dream and how she was found when she was woken up by Null. Truthfully, Noel still couldn't fully grasp the fact that Null, whatever it was, was a real thing that had come into contact with her of all people. It could've gone to the Captain, or just about anyone else on the ship who had been asleep at that time. Why her? Was it truly just the fact that she was in the control center all alone? Regardless, Noel was quickly becoming more and more fascinated by the mere idea of Null, but as anyone should be, she was also skeptical of Null and what it could want or be after. If it wanted to kill her and the crew, surely it could have done so, so Noel hoped that Null was more of a peaceful omnipotent lifeform, one just traveling life and space and time with the freedom it has to do so, and now it is almost befriending Noel out of nothing more than curiosity and an eagerness to learn.
Oh,. if only it were so simple...
Has my story caught your eye? I hope so! I'll be adding new chapters periodically, so stay tuned
Last edited: