Your mission will encompass many sights and sounds - the quantum waves of the planets will be broadcasted across your ship's radio. You will pass by the outer planets on your trip; using Jupiter to swing around towards Neptune while meeting Saturn and Uranus along the way - then out of the solar system, where beyond the Oort Cloud of sunless floating masses, you'll be amongst interstellar space - the first step in your long journey. There you will progress past an array of nearby stars along your path, until finally you've reached the immense propensity of the void and the sum of your journey. The natural rhythms of the universe.
Before embarking for the first step out of the solar system, the captain's only words before takeoff are: "So begins our nine million mile trek out of the reaches of our solar system."
Embarking
For days you go by. Nothing seems to move; earth is all but gone now, soon reduced to a small lit orb in the distance of the window, and then not there at all. The orbit of Mars has been passed, and now your ship is lumbering through the asteroid fields. You don't see any asteroids, because they're so far apart - even as you accelerate, none come in view of the ship. Even though countless swarms of asteroids inhabit this vestigial and forgotten belt, the vast distances of space make you truly see their greatness.
The bright orb of the Giant has loomed for months now. It grows slightly by the day, like a star, until finally you can see it's swirling eye and the bands of clouds. Faint glimpses of moons can be seen here and their, satellites flickering in rays of distant-traveled sunlight just right to see. The faint pattern of Jupiter's mutter crackles faintly, for even out here the signals begin to become audible. Even so far out here, the faint and silent breath of the Giant continues on like a ceaseless tide, an immersed rhythm of waves and frequency.
The vibrations of the planet become stronger, and as you get closer, the Giant fills the viewscreen with its enormous, lumbering presence, imposing and mighty, and now the song of Jupiter distinctly rings its murmur across the ship:
Jovian song rings in a quiet murmur across the ship, like the muttering and hooting of a sleeping giant. The eye whirls steadily past, enough to engulf a thousand worlds, your ship to say the least. The faint roundness of Europa gleams yellowish in the distance, yet the approach will not be closer. The mighty giant passes you, as surely as it came, and again you are left with no indication of your own movement. The eternal sounds fade away with distance back into silence, only a steady and constant hum of the on board receptors; background radiation. The ringed planet is still too far off in the distance, but even from here you immediately recognize the two protrusions of the disk shaping each side - the sides of the rings. The boost from Jupiter's gravity has given us an additional lift, and from here it's smooth sailing until we reach Saturn.
Over the weeks the calm orb comes closer. We see, as opposed to Jupiter, the calm and placid bands of Saturn's cool sandy clouds, it's shape elongated from a peculiar formation. The rings are vast and sharp; we soon enter in range of Saturn's song.
First it is a hum. Then a steady rumble. Like the sea at night, the ceaseless grinding of the orbits continue their well-known paths - the mighty god's waves strike the ship, eerily floating across the bridge. You and the captain hear it; all take a break from the controls to listen as the receptors pick up. They dim the lights, so that only the LEDs of the monitor lights continue to glow. Outside the vast window of the observation deck, spanning around the bridge, Saturn looms silently in the distance, her wave's sounding across the bridge. Soon we cross the rings; they are under us, and the immense size of Saturn becomes appearant. With proximity grows the intensity of the noise - we sleep with it day and night. We simply sit on bridge and listen to her eternal song:
The sun is so distant now. Only the outer plane gives solace.
The immense span of the rings floats beneath the ship. Below, you see the crystal thin disk slowly rotating beneath. The inside of the ring is only meters thick, composed of various ice crystals variously spaced and sized, from grains of sand to the size of cars. You imagine going to retrieve ice from the rings for water - of walking amongst the ice forms of the rings, of dipping in and out of the immense disk's plane. Yet you know such pristine beauty shouldn't be touched by man's orders - and further yet, that all your provisions for the rest of your life are stored aboard for safe keeping. Still, the ever present rings merge closer, and their particular sound can be heard too:
Come take a journey with me-
To beyond the stars where man can't see.
Saturn's form drifts away like the others, a lone giant.
Once again the sounds fade out, left with the sounds of the ether and the ship.
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