Discovery!
With the initial discovery by space voyagers of the magical world of Calypso in Entropia Universe, the frontiers of interstellar exploration expanded rapidly. Millions of adventurers, empowered by astonishing technological developments from extraterrestrial sources, set out to quest for a better world, consequently redefining our human destiny and our place in the universe.
On a landmark day of this cosmic exodus, sixteen explorers from Calypso located a previously unclassified planet with no designation in the starfield planetary registry – a new world! Navigational scans from the space cruiser of the surrounding spacetime continuum could locate no familiar coordinates. All communication channels on the ship had gone blank and emergency broadcasts went unanswered. A review of the cruiser's deep space log revealed that the last recognizable sounding had identified the planet Neihrous, after which a gravitational anomaly had seized the vessel, nearly ripping it asunder before delivering the voyagers to this undiscovered planet.
Only later would technicians realize that the spaceship had inadvertently entered an unmapped hyperspatial corridor – a 'wormhole' – that had conveyed the cruiser from the mapped region of spacetime near Calypso across immeasurable distances to an alternate universe. But at the time, the space travelers had no idea that they had discovered a passageway to a parallel reality. All they knew was that they had lost control of their battered ship and had fallen into the gravitational well of a mysterious planet that bore an eerie resemblance to the world of their ultimate origins – Earth.
Topological laser-graphing surveys revealed continental formations identical to humankind's ancestral planet. Even this new world's lone moon displayed traits of mass, composition, orbital inclination and velocity equivalent to Earth's lunar companion. But there was no time for further research. The damaged ship had spiraled into orbital decay, and – with the cruiser's attitudinal thrusters incapacitated – the voyagers had no choice but to position the vehicle for a controlled atmospheric entry.
Their descent brought them in over an ocean that mapped precisely to the South Pacific, and they directed their emergency landing among the numerous atolls and islands of what, on Earth, would have been Micronesia. The aquatic impact flooded the impaired ship's fusion drive ventricles, and the crew barely ejected before the mangled space cruiser sunk into the abyssal depths.
Swimming for shore through a blue green lagoon, the explorers defied sharks and reef snakes to arrive under majestic palm trees on a white sand beach of such tropical beauty that they immediately dubbed the island Elysium after the mythic paradise of true bliss. But what hope did the survivors have of sharing their unbelievable discovery?
Only one communicator had come through the brutal entry intact, and its transmitter generated but a faint distress call. Attempts to hail Calypso managed to broadcast a mayday message yet received no reply. Would Calypso detect their emergency signal and, if so, would anyone be able to trace them to this remote and chartless corner of the universe?
To everyone's astonishment, however, a transmission from Earth crackled from the communicator! The fact that the adventurers' mayday had evoked no apparent response from Calypso yet managed to connect with Earth so many more light years distant provided the final clue for the ship's science officer. The spaceship had crossed over into a parallel universe. The eleven-dimensional hyperspace geometry of the wormhole that had transported them to this alternate Earth was also reflecting their communicator signal back to the Earth of their origin!
Availing themselves of this extraordinary link with humankind's birthplace, the explorers described the paradise they had found and provided navigational directions from Earth to Entropia Universe. Would their terrestrial counterparts find their way to this surrogate Earth and join in the exploration of a new reality?
Even as the intrepid adventurers from Calypso pondered the stupendous possibilities that had opened for them through their accidental arrival at the gates of paradise, figures appeared among the dunes. Cinnamon-skinned, henna-haired aboriginals in tapa loincloths and feathered headbands approached, and the new arrivals in Elysium shrank back, anxiously wondering if they would be greeted – or attacked.
One of the aboriginals snapped his fingers, and a spurting blue flame danced on his outstretched palm! He laughed with deep-throated jocularity at the surprise on the gaping faces of the visitors from the sea. With self-possessed dignity and pride, the magical islander bowed and gestured welcome to the strangers. Then, he thrust his flame-sheathed hand forward, and large, flat rocks materialized out of thin air, laying down a flagstone walkway before the new arrivals as if summoned by a jinni.
The voyagers stared agog, and one gasped in amazement, "What next?"
"That's what we should call this place," another replied, testing with one boot the solidity of the walkway conjured out of emptiness. "Next Island."
As if into a dream, on legs of air, they advanced over the enchanted flagstones toward their smiling hosts. Several of the soaked travelers gazed ahead, beyond fan palms and mangroves, and blinked hard at the sight of a jeep bouncing between dunes. Exchanging glances of incredulity, they confirmed they had shared a glimpse of what looked like General George Patton and his driver!
Were they immersed in a group hallucination? Had these masters of illusion disguised as islanders mesmerized the whole flight crew? Or was there a deeper mystery unfolding here in this wondrous world parallel to all that the voyagers had previously believed to be true? Soon, they knew, they would confront the truth, and fear mixed with wonder and became awe as the first visitors from Calypso realized that the saga of Next Island was just beginning.
Their urgent message to Earth eventually would bring others to join them in this daunting exploration of a realm whose promise and enigma surely would redefine the word 'new.' The possibilities opening into a tropical Eden of wormholes and time travel could not be imagined – only experienced. Will you join the pioneers on this unearthly Earth? Can you handle yourself where magic is reality and reality a paradise?
Historian and scribe, I can only record what happens – while you alone must live the adventure.
