July Show Off Thread 2024 - The Best of Friends

[Llola Lane]

Some best friends to hold you over... This one won Honorable Mention over at Daz for the PA challenge thread.  I guess they could be called Best Friends... "Meerkatz"

[Llola Lane]

I am sorry I've not had more time this month to make Best Friends artworks.. and with the new server stuff gonna happy I probably won't be able to add anymore.  Maybe Agent will keep the theme for next month... Stay well one and all.. hugzzzzzzzzzzz

[Agent0013]

There are already a good few that are eligible for the challenge. I look forward to more.


From what I read about the new server, it may take only an hour or less to complete. At any rate, I think we will be OK.


As for the challenge being kept for the next month, I don't think I should. Rather, I have the one I planned almost ready to go, and I do not wish to upset my new schedule. It took me a bit to pull it all together.


I promise the new challenge will be as member friendly as I can make it.

[Agent0013]

Escaping a Supernova


We transitioned from ED Space into normal space, at 80,000 klicks from the ringed planet. It was a water world, and was home to three intelligent highly advance species that had not yet joined the interstellar community. We were there because the world was on the verge of developing ED Space Drive. We were there to witness that as it was happening. What we did not know was that the planet was easily in the range of the worst effects of a red supergiant star near its end. We were not even thinking about the stars in the area of the galaxy the planet was in.


The planet's own star was a blue giant, but not a supergiant. The planet orbited the star at a distance that placed it squarely in the middle of the habitable zone. There were other planets in that same zone, but none of the others supported life. It's year had been calculated to be exactly 13 Earth years long.


We headed for the ringed planet, and entered orbit at a distance that placed us inside the space between the inner ring and the planet's surface. We also angled our orbit out of the plane of the rings. All was well at that point.


A day later, I just happened to look directly at the red supergiant star that was 33 lightyears away. At that very moment the star dimmed significantly.


My comms and sensors officer had seen it too. She said "Captain, that red star just winked!"


"I saw it, Ensign Manning!" I told her. "Can you analyze the light of that star? I want to know why it's doing that!"


"Already on it Captain!" she told me. "Preliminary results indicate the star is about to go supernova!"


"Well now, yet another thing to keep an eye on!" my pilot Lt. Terrence commented.


"Indeed!" my science officer said. "I should take advantage of studying that star from just 33 lightyears away! We may learn some things we've only theorized about up till now!"


I looked at him. "How much of a threat do you think that star is to this planet, Dr. Vincent?" I asked him. 'Isn't what we just witnessed an indication that it is about to go?"


"Yes, it is sir; but not always!" He halfway confirmed. "Betelgeuse was a red hypergiant that was doing it, but took several years to finally go supernova!"


"But as you said, Betelgeuse was a hypergiant!" I said.


"Yes Sir! Still, there have been other hypergiant stars that winked once or twice, and then went supernova in less than a week afterward!" He had called the Betelgeuse Supernova up on his viewscreen, and then he brought up Supernova 1987 A, which happened in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, and was seen on Earth in  1987 AD. "For instance, 1987 A!" he added. Then in answer to my original question to him, "Yes, if and when it goes, it could sterilize this planet!"


"And what is your estimate? How soon do you think it will go?" I wanted to know.


"Well Captain, there's no way of knowing exactly when, but it could go at any time in the near fu....." His eyes widened as he was looking at the main viewscreen. I noticed a very bright light shining on his face, and turned to look.


While we had been discussing the star, it went supernova. "Oh!" was all I could say. Then I gathered my composure, and began barking orders. "Manning, are you still analyzing that star?"

"Yes Sir!" She replied. "I have new results; and Captain, it isn't good! The hard radiation is getting a lot more intense!"


Dr. Vincent spoke up again. "Sir, we need to get out of here now!" The urgency in his voice told me he was dead serious.


I did not hesitate with my order. " Terrence! Get us out of here, and don't spare the speed!" As I spoke, the whole ship shook, as a wave that had crossed the 33 lightyear distance hit us.


"Captain!" Ensign Manning sounded surprised. I turned to her, as she continued. "That was an electron wave, moving at 99.99% the speed of light!"


"99.99%?" I was incredulous. "Lt. Terrence, How soon can we jump into ED space?"


He did some quick calculations. "Um, I'm looking at twenty minutes!" He began. "If I cheat a little, I may be able to get it down to less than 12 minutes!"


"Let's hope we don't have to cheat!" Vincent said.


"Agreed!" I said. Our superpulse engines could take us to 85% the speed of light, but to go any faster, we needed to jump into ED space. We all knew it, and we all knew that 85% the speed of light, would not be as fast as the speed of those electron waves. I knew if another was on its way before the twenty minutes were up, we would be hit again.


Oddly, the planet had somehow clouded over with a kind of haze, and we detected electrical storms, though the haze was not what we were used to seeing produce lightning.


Another wave hit us about 12 minutes after the first, which gave Ensign Manning what she needed to know to look for the next wave. "Sir! The next wave is over ten minutes away, and they are getting more intense!" She reported.


"We'll be in ED space by then!" Lt. Terrence stated with confidence.


We all felt a pang of remorse for the life on that planet. We just knew they had no chance of survival.


As soon as the twenty minutes were up, I barked my order. "Jump!"


As we entered ED Space something weird happened. There was a kind of electron net that enveloped the ship! It did not have any bad effects that might compromise the ship, but it did make us uneasy. As we move through ED space, that net did not dissipate. In fact, it remained until we dropped out of ED space again.


I called the engineer, Commander Vlo, my only nonhuman crewmember. "Vlo, I need you to analyze our systems and see what might have been damaged! Any damage found should get repaired if you are able to do so! Get to it!"


Vlo was a quiet crew member, but his understanding of a ship's systems were invaluable. He was one of the best engineers in the fleet. He went to work right away, and in ten minutes he gave his report to me.


As I read it, I saw that no ill effect had harmed the ship. We had traveled to a point which would not be reached by the supernova for 250 years. And at that distance plus 33 lightyears, the electron waves would be thinned out to little effect if any.


The supernova gradually faded over the next four months, and when we returned to the planet, we found that the intelligent beings were still there, as well as all of the lower life forms we had detected. In the four months we had been gone, they had developed ED Space Drive, and were set to test the drive. So we were able to observe the test run unseen, shadowing their ship with our own. We were of course happy that they had not perished. Later we learned that they had known the red supergiant star was going to go supernova for centuries. They had prepared for the event by setting up an electron wave absorbing shield. That shield had protected all life on the planet.


Note:
I am happy with the results of my efforts to make a fictional supernova. I did not expect it to look so real, but FlamePainter 3 and PD Howler 12 can do it better than I believed they would. If you study the supernova, you can see that it actually looks 3D. In fact, it is just 2D. The only 3D parts of this image are the planet and its rings, and the spaceship.

[jammixx]

Escaping a Supernova
Note:
I am happy with the results of my efforts to make a fictional supernova. I did not expect it to look so real, but FlamePainter 3 and PD Howler 12 can do it better than I believed they would. If you study the supernova, you can see that it actually looks 3D. In fact, it is just 2D. The only 3D parts of this image are the planet and its rings, and the spaceship.

The  supernova came out really good!  Liked the story as well.

[jammixx]

Oh no, It's reached the core server!  You've got to make the switch to the new framework, HURRY!!
In honor of making the upgrade to the new server starting 07-25-2024

[Agent0013]

This thread is now closed. You may view any posts, and post replies, but no more images can be posted here. Please go to the August 2024 Show Off Thread to post new images.