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It got 1168 upvotes as of 20/04/2016, which makes it my "most read" short story so far.
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Humanity was expanding.
It was time to go.
It had been 200 years since humans had reached the edge of the solar system. It had taken 2 years to journey that far back then, and now they could pass the expanse from the sun to the edge in just a few tens of minutes. But they could never pass it.
The great barrier hung, invisibly encompasing the system. When humans had first approached, not knowing the barrier was there, they were rocked by the strong magnetics fields. A signal had flashed across the whole of the visable spectrum. Lights turning on and off at high speed. They had found code easy to break, and understood it was a communication meant for them.
"Go back. Do not leave. Go back. Do not leave."
This had started an international crisis. Should they ignore it, and push through? The combined decision of the worlds elected leaders was no. At a vote tallying 90 to 60, the earth had decided to stay within the barrier.
The humans kept testing it. They found that both electromagnetic waves, and physical probes were allowed through, but anything containing biological matter was prevented from leaving. The first casualty of the barrier was one brave astronaut's ham sandwich. The testing continued, the message stayed the same, but then humanity moved on.
And then it expanded. First Mars, then Titan and orbital habitats around Venus and Jupiter. And they kept expanding. And in just 11 generations Humanity started to outgrow the resources of the solar system.
And so it came back to today. The day after polling day. Every human across the expanse of the solar system had been allowed to vote on the decision of whether or not to break through the barrier. The technology to do so had been available for 120 years.
And the results came in. 96% voter turnout. 76:24 in favour of breaking through the barrier.
It was too late. They weren't ready yet. I couldn't even send another warning. It took all I had to maintain the barrier. I had tried. But they didn't even know what they were in for. I had watched them for so long, keeping them safe.
Goodbye, dear friends.
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Authors comments:
So in the comments section of reddit I had a good number of people discuss what their take on the story was. Some people seemed to think that when the barrier was broken, there was nothing outside, breaking the barrier ends the solar systems, and the narrator is simply a god to whom we are toys.
But that wasn't my take on it. I wouldn't write my thoughts on Reddit, as I really enjoy the fact that everybody has a different take on the story there, but I feel like noting down my thoughts before I forget them.
I imagined the Narrator as a friend to earth. He's obviously powerful and wants to protect us, but at the same time feels free will is vitally important. The barrier stops some unknown power, maybe similar to the narrator, maybe greater in power than it, from finding humanity. The moment the barrier is broken, humanity suddenly registers on the galactic, if not cosmic scale, and the dangerous forces out there will likely choose to whip them out (due to malace or hunger or... even for no reason at all).
It was sort of inspired by the "Great Filter Theory". There is some great extinction event (possibley malicious greater beings) that wipes out, or sets back intelligent life. We have advanced due to some greater being protecting us, but as it believes in free will, it has to let us leave the barrier if we so choose.
One commentor mentioned how the words "Its time to go" is the narrator choosing to leave. I actually wrote the first part of the story not knowing how it was going to end. I sort of lucked out that the "hard sci-fi intro" I initially wrote went well with the ending I ended up with.
I hope, if you have read this far, you enjoyed the story.
--- © Copyright Mark Langridge
Good story!
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