Journey to the Edge of the World

A society inhabits a dyson sphere but after generations, they forget their world is manmade. A conspiracy theorist discovers the truth.

It has been a long and arduous journey getting to the far east mountains of Tahi. I cannot tell you the amount of times we almost turned back. There is a no fly zone that starts nearly two thousand miles away from our destination and the land is stingy on road access. A majority of our travel has been on foot only and it's been a nearly unbearable trek. Week long monsoons, swamp filled landscape for miles and the constant barrage of exotic bugs, could make any person second guess their decision. But not us, we pushed further, our motivation prioritized over our own lives. We are not special. No, we are far from that. We are the outcast of the society. We are the conspiracy theorists.

The Tahi Mountain Range is vast in its greatness. It stretches across the horizon and extends way beyond any human's line of sight. The peaks of the mountain dot the skyline and many protrude the clouds above with ease, making visibility nearly impossible from any angle. Those are the characteristics that first catch your eye but unfortunately, scaling the mountain vertically or horizontally is not the challenge here. The challenge is to be able find safe passage through the mountains. We do not want to climb, nor do we care how long it is. We just need to find a way through. According to government data, no one has ever attempted to go through the Tahi, at least, not until now.

"Adam, I think it is time brother. According to our coordinates, this is where we need to make our tunnel", I shout over the howling wind to our tunnel maker. I mark a large X on the smooth rock surface in front of me.

"Righto, let's get to it. Everyone, get back about fifty feet. This will get messy!", he yells to the group, as he sticks the digger to the mountain and begins working.

The tool is simple in appearance and highly efficient in production. There are two handles that stick off the sides of a square motor, which is around two cubic feet in size. From the motor, a titanium rod, only five inches in diameter, expands straight out nearly twenty feet. The rod will spin at approximately eight billion RPM, essentially melting anything in its path. To maximize the cuts, an immense amount of electricity is pumped through the rod.

We dig for nearly five days through the heart of Tahi. Five days of Adam carving out tunnels, with hardly any direction, other than feel and yet, we have been fortunate to not run into a cave in. We have been clearing, on average, 2000 yards per day. I expected to be at our destination a few days back but it really does not matter. We have food for weeks and we have come too far to stop now.

10 days later

After nearly fifteen days of working the digger, we have stumbled upon an impassable wall. It nearly fried the motor when we tried to dig through and it managed to crack the tip of the titanium rod. Adam says that is damn near impossible and actually looked a little horrified about the whole thing. The most peculiar part is the wall is not made of rock. It appears to be a metallic compound of some sort but it is frigid to the touch. When light hits the sleek surface, it glows a radiant green with a slight hue of orange. Its metallic material is truly magnificent and incredibly unique, to put it plainly

Although I did not tell my team about it, this is what I expected but seeing it in person and seeing my ideas coming to fruition, is terribly frightening. There are thousands of mountain ranges that spread across our great planet but none as vast as Tahi. Given the size and the apparent secrecy of the government surrounding this place, I always thought it would be a solid starting point.

I am just glad I was right.

This discovery puts me on the verge of proving all my critics wrong. All the false indictments of my character, the constant harassment I face from the media and worst of all, the tarnished reputation that removed me from the world of Academia, will not be in vain.

All of that will be erased when I prove what I know is true...

When I prove that space lies just beyond this wall.

Author's Note

If you take the time to read this, I appreciate it more than you know. Reading and writing were my long lost loves that I have recently discovered again. I am definitely rusty but I am trying my best to shake it off through this incredible website.

I would love any review, any comment, and any critique.

Again, thanks for reading.