My adventures began that time I sped off into Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Sure, I had many adventures before that, but it feels like that was a different life, a time that was fun and quirky, where I died a lot, but didn't really have to care about the universe. My stupid curiosity set off a new course of events that day.

  What can I say? Sorry?

  I don't think it would have changed anything …

  I stared at the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, the gorgeous and violent anticyclone storm, counting the seconds remaining before my next mission started. I had refueled at Sovereign Starbase. Now I was playing the waiting game, with my ship's systems mostly shut down to conserve power, slowly orbiting Jupiter.

  "I wonder if I could get enough speed inside that storm to travel through time," I said aloud, "or if it's a portal to another world."

  I didn't think portals existed, but time travel was proven by Einstein's theories of relativity. We just hadn't been able to get to speeds significant enough to experience true time dilation.

  "At least, not yet," I laughed.

  If I fired my warp drive at the right time, backed by the power of the storm, would it make any difference? How upset would the Alliance Starmada be if I wandered off? Again.

  I checked my logs. My next mission was to patrol the moons of Jupiter. Typical. Wander the moons, wait for the next skirmish with the Solar Union, then blast off to die in another pointless battle.

  Surely, gathering scientific data on the Great Red Spot was worth more to the universe than another boring patrol run. Never mind the fact that the Great Red Spot had been studied meticulously by people with vastly superior scientific knowledge than my own. What if, with all their smarts, they had overlooked the most basic aspects of the Great Red Spot? An objective third party, full of curiosity, could learn something profoundly new.

  This is what I told myself, as I stared at the storm in a trance, the whirling red dot beckoning me, piquing my curiosity.

  I had been alive for 59 days. I usually made it a few months before I was whisked away to battle and a near-certain demise. My average had dropped to 68 days between deaths.

  If I flew in and died, I would die slightly ahead of schedule. If I lived, well, I'd have quite the adventure.

  But let's be honest, it would be an adventure either way. And I'd be punished or admonished either way.

  Meh. What's another reprimand? I was already the lowest rank, just one of the many Wavepilots in the starmada. They would mostly care about the cost of the ship and my reanimation.

  Worth it.

  Besides, I hadn't died inside the Great Red Spot yet. It was on my bucket list.

  Resolved to my fate, I beamed a smile in anticipation and strapped myself into the pilot seat.

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  I entered the coordinates, targeting entry into the closest swirly part of the storm where the winds were the strongest.

  I hit the throttle and sped off. There weren't any ships close enough to intercept me in time. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I had been planning this all along in my subconscious. Coincidence is just an ignorant way of describing what our minds have been up to while we weren't paying attention.

  My smile broadened as I approached. My viewer was filled with the gaseous giant that was Jupiter and its red storm, big enough to swallow Earth.

  It was just a matter of time before someone noticed.

  star_command: "i35 Omega-151, what are you doing?"

  I ignored them.

  star_command: "I repeat. i35 Omega-151, what are you doing? @kittyboy, you are on a direct course for the Great Red Spot."

  Duh.

  I could have shut off communications, but I figured this would be a stellar experience. I wanted to capture as much as I could and broadcast it out for others to see. I was close enough to Sovereign Starbase that I could still transmit data packets to back up my memories so that I would remember everything. Mostly.

  I was tempted to look up other experiences. I knew I wasn't the first to do this, and there were countless probes and research studies. But I wanted a fresh and authentic experience. I wanted this to be my experience.

  The ship started to shake subtly as I plunged down into the beautiful, triumphant cloud walls. Red hues of ammonia, ice, and acetylene rode in waves around me. The view outside became a red fog as I plunged into one of the walls, hitting the winds at the right angle so that the ship could accelerate.

  I felt it more strongly than I had expected. The ship couldn't properly calibrate to the pressure and speed of the violent winds. The immense burst pinned me back in my seat, and I could feel the blood and skin being pulled back toward my spine.

  The feeling was overwhelming. I couldn't help but scream wildly, out of fear and excitement.

  The light dimmed more and more as I dove further into the storm. Flashes of lightning erupted around me, and in those moments, I could see columns of rust-colored gas and flowing mist.

  The power and violence of the storm were beyond anything I had experienced. The storm boomed, low and deep, reminding me that it was an ancient and cosmic creation beyond anything I could control.

  Pressure was building around the ship. I tried not to look at the diagnostics. Red lights were blinking all over the place. Systems were failing. My ship wasn't designed for this. I was pretty sure it would fall apart if I didn't blast off and exit the anticyclone soon.

  Tiny needles of pain were building in my chest. It was getting harder to breathe, and I realized my heart was pulsing like it wanted to explode.

  "Let us now assess the effects of the Great Red Spot on maximum speed," I announced in a strained voice, documenting my experience. "I'm doing this for science, you know."

  I just needed to reach the controls to activate my warp drive and get the hell out of there.

  Only one problem. My hands and arms were pinned to my chest. The force of the storm was still too much for my ship to compensate. I should have turned off the gravitational adjusters.

  Another burst of brilliant lightning flashed, showing me deep purple and brown, glints of chemical reactions and turbulent forces that few had seen up close.

  "Disengage gravitational regulation," I commanded, trying to reach for the warp controls again.

  But nothing happened.

  Well, shit.

  The ship was shaking apart. So many systems were crashing that I wondered, even if I could pull the lever to activate the drive, would anything even happen? Would my i35 even be powerful enough to escape?

  Reality sank in all too quickly. My ship was spinning uncontrollably, swept away by the raw and natural power of Jupiter.

  I was going to die again. That's what I get for chasing red dots.

  I could hear the creaking of the hull as it started to buckle. Outside the viewer, lightning treated me to another gorgeous view of the gaseous blur within the storm, its power pulling me along with exhilarating force.

  Nothing to do but try to enjoy the feeling of spinning at crazy-fast speeds, the g-forces and rotation making me want to vomit. Closing my eyes helped with the nausea, but I tried to keep watching. I didn't want to miss out on the experience. I peered through the dark clouds for sparks that would inspire my imagination, giving me glimpses of the beauty of nature.

  I don't know if I suffocated first or was crushed.

  I was on the verge of blacking out when the outer shell collapsed, pulverizing my ship and me along with it.