11 Hyperspace

Qin Hong and Stephen Cooper chatted for a while as the spacecraft filled up with passengers.

After an unknown amount of time, the last batch of people came in and found their seats. The intercom came to life:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be taking off shortly once all seat-belt lights are confirmed. Our space path is from Astraeus to the Western GB Portal with a travel time of 56 minutes. We will be departing in ten minutes at 2:30 PM ET and arriving at around 3:26 PM ET."

"We please ask that you have your seat-belts on at times to ensure your safety in the event of a malfunction with the inertia dampeners. Please do not trouble our flight attendants if they see you without a seat-belt when the green light is on."

"All console spaces and modules of any grade will be sealed when the green light is on, so any items you wish to take our will have to wait until arriving at our destination. Once we are in hyperspace, the seat-belt light will be off and you will be free to get up. Our flight attendants provide in-flight snacks and drinks which will be available during hyperspace."

"While we are finishing preparations, please enjoy our four-minute video. We hope you enjoy your trip on Spacasio Spaceflight."

The intercom cut off and people began to strap in their seat-belts as attendants roamed the aisles. The virtual glasses cut off what the passengers were originally doing as a four-minute video played. The stuff was about safety procedures and stuff about emergencies and a little bit of advertisement.

"Looks like we'll have to chat through our console." Said Cooper with a smile.

Hong nodded and established accepted a communication invite from Cooper.

"Can you hear me?" Asked Cooper. His voice was loud in Hong's mind, which startled him.

"Amazing! This is just like divine sense!" He thought.

"Divine sense? What's that?" Asked Cooper in confusion.

Hong nearly slapped his head, forgetting that he could hear his inner voice.

"Nothing. I was just talking to myself." He hastily replied.

"Oh, okay."

Four minutes later, the video finished and the virtual glasses returned to where they were at.

*Ding

One minute later, a green holographic sign stuck to the ceiling at intervals which was close enough that people with perfect vision can see. The green sign showed a seatbelt icon which even a newbie could understand. Flight attendants levitated above the ground and quickly whizzed by while inspecting the passengers.

"All flight attendants, please return to your seats."

The aisles quickly thinned out before becoming empty. Others seemingly didn't mind as they continued to chat and surf the web.

Five minutes later, a faint tremble could be felt as the spacecraft departed from the starport. Hong watched with interest as the star bridge continuously retracted into the terminal.

The starport gradually came into full view, showing the thousands of other terminals where spacecraft docked and departed. Soon after, the starport decreased in size as they moved away.

The spacecraft rotated and Hong lost sight of the starport, only seeing the vastness of space. He wanted to use his divine sense to see past the walls, but he could not confirm if they could detect it or not.

"You can view a star map of Centaurus and figure out the speed of the spacecraft by going into settings." Cooper could understand Hong's expression and pointed out the issue.

Hong followed his instructions and star map with the ship's location popped up, along with many icons like speed and direction. The human's systems of measurement, speed, and direction were not unfamiliar to Hong anymore, despite having some difficulty.

As indicated, the spacecraft reached ludicrous speeds that would wipe out the surface of an entire planet despite not feeling the g-forces.

*Ding

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to enter hyperspace. Any passengers or flight attendees not in their seats should be seating in case of an accident. Thank you." The intercom of the captain notified everyone.

Hong was curious about the mysterious hyperspace that he had never seen despite Chen's memories of previous trips, so he intently stared out the window.

A glowing red barrier encased the entire spacecraft.

"We are entering hyperspace in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Hong watched as the craft passed through a giant hypergate before it turned pitch black.

Everything outside the red barrier surrounding the craft was now pitch black like it was in the void.

*Ding

The seatbelt light turned off and many people quickly undone their seatbelt before getting up, hurrying to the restroom. Understandable considering how long the boarding and departure time is. It's preferred for some to just use the bathroom right into their console before it is sealed since the console automatically sorts it away.

The cooper guy gradually stopped talking over time and fell into a sleep with the chair leaning back, leaving Hong a chance to scan Chen's memories about hyperspace.

Hyperspace is a popular way of travel. The place is a sub-region co-existing with our own universe that can be entered as long as one has hyperspace radar, a set of coordinates, and a hyperspace barrier generator.

The reason it's a popular method of travel is the fact that a tiny distance in hyperspace can equate to many light years in regular space. As long as two hypergates are established and the coordinates are set between the two, one can travel across the entire galaxy multiple times before needing to resupply.

It is due to this reason that most spacecraft that can hold hyperspace equipment use hyperspace travel as a means to get anywhere. If a spacecraft gets too small, then the second most popular method is a warpdrive which bends space to accelerate past the speed of light.

The only two problems one has to worry about is the shadow's of objects in the third dimension, which can be dangerous if touched while moving. Touching them can send one out of hyperspace and colliding with a star, planet, black hole, etc.

The other problem is in the incident that one gets stuck in hyperspace or flies off course, which can be a catastrophe. If you fly off, there's a high chance of hitting a shadow or the Great Barrier, which would end in one's demise. If you get stuck, you are a floating duck and can only wait for help.

Issues like these are rare, considering how advanced technology is in the first place.

Regardless, Hong was fascinated by this sub-region of the universe which he had never seen or heard of before.