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Sublime Nothing Vol. 2
Ed Cheverton

📅 26.05.23 // 14:00 - 15:00
📍️ Bristol UK

Sublime Nothing 2 Tourguide Transcript

  1. Welcome to this second tour of the Sublime Nothing. If you joined us last time, you will no doubt remember we ended the tour descending through the Event Horizon of a Black hole. We are now past that point of no return. Here the laws of physics come undone and unknown, we are floating still or we are travelling faster than any speed ever recorded. Will we discover the Sublime Nothing in this new part of space? I believe I can see something approaching, maybe an exit?

  2. It is a planet! No, it is a structure, spherical in shape. Life! Great technology! Constructions beyond anything I’ve ever seen! Someone is approaching, they seem humanoid, but…they are metal. This seems to be an artificial lifeform, far beyond the technical capabilities of any civilization I’ve ever seen. We seem to have found a corner of the universe not yet explored. Hold on, they wish to speak to us.

  3. Well that was strange, they had quite a tale to tell. We are being taken to what seems to be the centre of the structure…oh! This structure is hollow, and at its centre…there is a star! Goodness, this is a structure only hypothesised before. A Dyson Sphere, a structure that encases a star and absorbs 100% of its solar output. Renewable clean energy for the lifespan of the star. The inside surface of the Sphere is covered in cities, continents, landmasses the size of planets. Great oceans separate them. Truly this is a remarkable feat of engineering.

  4. The sight of this structure and the countless number of people that populate it tell us a little something about where we are. Or perhaps I should say when we are. Travelling through the Black Hole we appear to have traversed great swathes of time and space arriving at a point where this civilisation has advanced to heights of extreme technical development. To achieve a 100% absorption of the solar energy output from your star is the ultimate achievement of any society. To construct the sphere around the star would have required multitudes of matter from nearby systems. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if for a number of lightyears around this structure there are few, if any, planetary bodies, asteroids, rocks, minerals…anything to be found.

  5. Let’s take a closer look at one of the cities on the interior surface of the sphere. Ah, here we go. A bustling metropolis. Towering buildings all pointing up to the star at the centre. Multiple levels of streets, bustling traffic and various walks of life going about their business. Shopfronts selling wares, food, tools, trinkets and all manner of goods I don’t recognise. There is an atmosphere of life here. The plod of the day to day is surprisingly recognisable. The Sphere Structure that seems so fantastical and new to us is familiar and perhaps even a little bland to its own citizens.

  6. Oh it appears it is becoming nighttime? There is no planetary rotation, no facing away from the star. How is this happening? Oh I see now! There’s an extremely large circular object orbiting between us and the star. The shadow it casts creates the night period on the interior surface of the sphere. Leaving the city and seeing night upon the vast fields and land stretching out in all directions I can see a rich mix of wildlife emerging. Plants, animals, insects I hadn’t or couldn’t see previously are coming out to enjoy the night shade. Truly remarkable that such a rich variety of life still inhabits this artificial countryside. I see what appears to be a port ahead, it is an exit from the sphere structure. Let’s explore.

  7. We’ve been given a shuttle to explore nearby space. A rail propels us out of the sphere structure and now we can see the outside again. For the extremely rich interior, the outside appears unremarkable. Vast stretches of grey, easy to mistake for a planet as we did. Now, let's see what’s nearby. I do see a number of stars around us but I don’t recognize any of them. Clearly we were transported so far away in time and space that the map of the stars has sufficiently changed to something entirely new to us. We’re approaching a system now. As I expected, no planets, asteroids, or orbiting matter. Hang on, I’m wrong - there is a small object there. It seems to be glowing?

  8. I feel some trepidation, this object appears to be on fire. It is burning hot and emitting vast levels of radiation. It isn’t as hot as a star, but the radiation levels are too high to be anything natural. It seems to be a chunk of a planet, long ago destroyed. Most of it seems to be taken up with a vast crater, from an impact? This is where the glowing fire is coming from. Some sort of terrible explosion happened here. A nuclear blast? Stronger than anything ever recorded in our own history. This is a dreadful and sad sight, a still glowing ember from a long ago conflict perhaps?

  9. What is this nightmare? Our presence near this radiating object seems to have triggered a…response. Something is emerging from the crater. Long tentacles, tendrils dripping with ichor, sharp talons wreathed in flame. Could something dreadful be living in that crater? Perhaps whatever terrible blast made that crater also created this…thing. It is a beast beyond anything I’ve seen before. It’s feeding on its own radiation emissions and sucking in any other radiation from around it. I can see now it is drawing in energy from the nearby star. This star is sick, still enough energy to burn itself for millions of years but this monster is robbing it of its life. It’s a star devourer, living only to destroy. Luckily it seems bound by its own star it feeds on. This is something the Dyson Sphere structure nearby could not use in its own creation. This is not the way to see the Sublime Nothing, it is Chaos. This is a monstrous sight, we must leave.

  10. I hope we don’t see anything like that again. There’s another ship approaching. Oh, it's a vessel from the Dyson Sphere. It’s a school bus…of sorts. The young passengers are going on an extended visit to a distant system to study its history. They have invited us to join, yes let’s join tours with them. The joy of life and playfulness of the young passengers will erase the awful memory of that star devourer.

  11. This is exciting, we have joined our craft to the school bus and are watching systems zip by in a flash as we travel at great speed. Inside the school bus is an immersive virtual reality system. We can select to view and ‘visit’ any world we desire. Here we can even visit our own worlds! Does this defeat the point of visiting other systems and worlds in reality? Is this actually the true Sublime Nothing?

  12. No. This isn’t the true Sublime Nothing. It is an illusion. And the young passengers know this all too well. That is why they are on a school bus to actually visit a distant system in reality, not just see it through a false window. The technology is highly advanced and impressive to behold. But they, and we, recognise that it has its place and its limitations. There is no substitute for the tangible universe. No false vision or artificially created peek into something will ever capture the Sublime Nothing. Onward! Let’s explore.

–EC


Tonight - Sam Wilkes, Sam Grendel, Louis Cole, Brian Green // Mr Roboto - Styx // Magnolia House - Mellow Blush // Hingus 1 - Breath - Sven Grünberg // Live Strong - Ezra Collective // Greeting to Saud (Brother McCoy Tyner) - Pharoah Sanders // Soulfire (DJ Mix) - Rolanoid // Lake of Fire - Nocturnus // Incubation in the Parallel Dimension - Biomorphic Engulfment // The Unidentified Flying Object - Perrey and Kingsley // Counter of the Cumulus - Disasterpeace // Pronk - Jacob Mann Big Band ︎