A lens

Our reality is not the world. Our reality is how we see the world, through our lens of knowledge, wisdom and faith. Our lens can even be blurred by emotion and chemicals.
When space appears to have shrunk, we assume space has shrunk. We let our beliefs in a rational intelligible universe color our lens. The captain, for example, was full of emotions which would not let him see reality: he was inside a pocket universe which looked much like the real one, only smaller.
As he gazed around, he gathered information and something deep inside his guts, in an unconscious part of him, said the stars were wrong. He could have trusted this instinct, but instead trusted his brain, which led him to terror. "Can you raise Hope? Can you raise the Homeworld?" He feared the answer would be no, and so it happened. Not because his question could change the universe, but because it was the wrong damn question.
The communications officer typed for several seconds, checked boxes on a screen and executed the program. A minute later, she shook her head. "Nothing on any channel, sir."