The Veiled Universe

by Rob Garnet

  “Well, you might be right,” I said finally, with a sigh. “You want to hear a story? It might take a while.”

  She nodded eagerly.

  “Many thousands of years ago, there was a star system,” I started. “It was called Xeccor. It was a large system with twin suns and fifteen planets. One of the planets, called Aelud, was populated and two more had been colonised. Aelud had a very advanced civilisation and its people managed to travel to other planetary systems, including ours.”

  “You’re kidding!” Her eyes were wide with excitement.

  “Do you want to hear the story or not, young lady?”

  She nodded.

  “The remarkable thing about the people of Aelud was their longevity,” I continued. “They lived for thousands of Earth years and well, one of the outcomes of their technological progress and long life was that they started running out of fuel and energy. Their needs far outstripped the supply even from their two suns and what they could scavenge from other star systems. They were running out of options. Their best scientists were enlisted to find an answer to their predicament. Large-scale evacuation to another world was ruled out. They did not have the fuel to carry every living soul to the nearest habitable planet. Enclosing their star inside a shell to harness every last bit of radiant energy was a possibility, but that required more material than the fifteen planets and their moons could provide. In fact, it required a billion times more material. Finally, one scientist came up with a radical proposal—”

  “What was his name?”

  “Whose name?”

  “The scientist’s, of course.”

  “Why do you want to know his name?” I raised my eyebrow. “Okay, his name was Ejaw, happy?”

  “Ejaw.” She tried the name, apparently satisfied. “Go on then.”

  I gave her an exasperated look. “So, Ejaw came up with an idea to dramatically increase the output of their sun. His idea was to assimilate the smaller sun into the larger one thus increasing the total mass available for fusion reaction. He calculated that the rate of reaction would also increase exponentially, potentially providing Aelud with enough energy to last a million years.”

  “Whoa! A stellar collision!”

  “Not exactly. What he wanted to do was to increase the gravitational attraction between the two suns in the binary system and cause them to join. His proposal, while radical, was also quite simple. He intended to push the first planet in the Aelud star system inwards towards the larger star. As the planet was consumed by the sun, the sun’s gravity would increase marginally—just enough to pull the smaller star closer.”

  I stopped to take a sip of water. The physics behind the proposal had been so simple and yet so elegant. Nevertheless, I realised Anita would need more details.

  “As you have learned in our astronomy classes, the suns and the planets in a star system are held together in a delicate balance. It takes millions, if not billions, of years for their individual masses, along with other planetary objects such as moons and asteroids, to settle into stable orbits. Their gravity, as I explained, keeps them at just the right distance from each other. Ejaw’s plan, therefore, was to disturb the stable orbits just enough to cause a stellar merger. You’re with me so far?”

  She nodded wordlessly. I knew she was picturing it—the graceful dance of celestial bodies in a faraway star system.

  “So then,” I continued, “they brought their largest ships, along with all their reserves of fuel, for one monumental attempt. One chance was all they were going to get, and they had to make it count. And you know what? They managed to nudge the planet just enough out of its orbit, that the sun captured it and pulled it in. It did not happen in a day, to be sure, but eventually their main sun had just the right amount of gravity and the first object it pulled was its twin. The rest of the planets were far enough not to feel the increased attraction and were safe for the moment. The scientist planned to use the same technique of pushing using large ships to bring the rest of the planets back to stable orbits once the main part of the experiment was completed and they had enough energy to spare.”

  Anita listened open-mouthed. “Did they achieve their stellar merger?”

  “They were well on their way to achieve their goal, but Ejaw and the other scientists had overlooked one small complication in their experiment. Stellar rotation. The smaller star was not just pulled in; it spiralled inwards and slammed into the main star resulting in a massive explosion, a supernova. The entire system and every living soul within many light years was consumed in a giant fireball. All that remains of that phenomenal experiment is the Crab Nebula.” I turned away and blinked back my tears. I could feel her watching me.

  “How do you know all this, sir?”

  “I’m not sure I can tell you everything, but one person escaped the explosion—Ejaw. He had taken a ship far out of the system to observe the effects of the gravitational shift from a distance and measure the changes. The first wave of the explosion threw him and his ship even further away. He drifted alone, angry and heartbroken, for many years before he found a planet and settled down there with his grief. He blamed himself for the loss of fifty billion lives and decided to spend his remaining life honouring their memory and teaching others about the wonders of the universe.”

  We sat silently across from each other.

  Then Anita stood up and came around the desk to me. She touched my shoulder and said softly, “You were wrong. You were not alone. Two more people escaped the disaster. My parents were on an off-world mission at that time. They managed to find their way to Earth and spent their lifetime searching for the cause of the destruction of their beloved world. I carried on with their quest when they passed away. And today at last I have learned the truth.” She sighed deeply. “I forgive you, Ejaw, and I think it is time that you forgave yourself.”

  ◆◆◆

  The Harvest

  He hoped the harvest would be better this year than the last. He could really use the money. The crop looked quite healthy and he was sure it would fetch him a good price. Moreover, there was the larger picture to think of. The food shortage had exacerbated over the last few decades and farms like his were one way of keeping the human population from starving to death. He wandered through the carefully tended fields. Row upon row of bods, almost ripe for harvest. Pipes snaked around them: blue pipes for water, green pipes for nutrients, and black pipes, buried under the soil, to carry away the waste. Nutrients were then recovered from the waste stream thus keeping his operational costs low. The entire field was inside a large converted structure with multiple layers of air filtration to ensure the foul air outside did not stunt the growth of his crop. He liked spending his time here—in the clean air, with artificial yellow lights and a peaceful atmosphere.

  He checked the various instruments and made minute adjustments. The central computer was supposed to control most of the processes, but it had been acting up lately and he needed to monitor the crop personally. Manual supervision of such a huge area was difficult and he invariably had to skip checking on significant portions of the fields.

  The fields were set in four sections depending on the variant planted. The blue field was the most valuable to him. The most expensive variety, which could potentially fetch him three times the standard rate at the auction. At the very bottom of the scale was the red field, the paler variety. Its yield was generally lower, but it was easier to sell.

  He entered a section that he had not checked in several months. He clucked his tongue to see some of the lights had broken leaving portions of the field in darkness. The field looked less tended as well. Then, he noticed a gap in the neat lines. Was that an empty space? What the…? He strode over. Yes. Someone seemed to have broken and removed at least one, maybe even two, bods from the blue batch. The gap was stark, with the blue and green pipes hanging free, discharging water and nutrients on the ground in a muddy puddle.

  He stood there staring at the incongruous scene. A small commotion in a corne
r nearby startled him. “Connie?” he bellowed. That girl would be the death of him. “Connie!”

  A pair of blue eyes in a round face framed by golden hair peeked out from behind two hanging bods.

  “Yes, Papa,” she said tremulously, knowing she was in for a scolding.

  “Did you remove the bod? How many times have I told you this is not a place for you to play?”

  “But he was fully grown and…and he opened his eyes!”

  “They do that sometimes, but that does not mean you can go and remove them, okay?” he said sternly. “And for the nth time, they’re not ‘he’ or ‘she’, they’re just bods.” The dehumanised nomenclature was there for a reason. How could one farm them otherwise? “Now, where have you taken it?”

  She pointed to the storage area piled with sacks. He took her hand and walked her over.

  “Why do we grow them like this, Papa?”

  “I’ve explained this to you several times, Connie. We are facing the worst famine of the last one hundred years. No crops can grow in the contaminated air and soil outside. Even the animals died out. So the government permitted us to grow these bods in a controlled environment for consumption. They are a very good source of nutrition.”

  “But what about these… these… people? Don’t they deserve to live?”

  “That’s just it, Connie. They are not ‘people’, and they are not alive in the real sense. They are not conceived but bred in a lab, like the one across town. They have been genetically modified to metabolize synthetic supplements and they cannot reproduce. Besides, like I said, they provide us with heaps of nutrients and solve the world’s food problem. So, it’s all good, okay? Now tell me, what have you done this time?”

  “Nothing,” she replied in a small voice, her head down.

  “Connie?”

  “I just wanted to take him…it out for a walk. And I think you are wrong. They are alive. They can love. He…it recognises me by now. It responded to me, and it also has a mate.”

  He shook his head absently, squinting at the storage area, looking for signs of the bod. “They don’t take walks, honey, and they cannot love. I doubt they have enough intelligence to think. At best, you can think of them as primitive savages. How many times have I told you to stop making up stories about them?”

  Connie knew better but she kept quiet. They reached the stack of sacks and he went around it, following the characteristic smell of the bod. He could not see the bod on the ground and stepped in deeper. Suddenly, something fell on him from the top. Something slimy, slippery and very strong. He had barely recovered before something bit a large chunk off his arm. He screamed, finally catching sight of the bods that had attacked him. There were two, not one. The sharp claws and teeth shocked him as they sank into his soft flesh. He heard slithering noises from another corner. There were more. He screamed again. “Connie! Get out of here! Call for help! Go!” Connie ran.

  He could sense more of the bods coming after him. Oh God! If these get out it will be a massacre. He kicked out with both legs, pushed himself up and ran, blood flowing from the wounds on his arms and legs. He needed to get to the diesel. The cans were lined up in a corner to fill the generator. He hoped some of them were full. Thankfully, they were.

  He looked back desperately. The two bods hesitated, watching him from the safety of the sacks, but he was sure they would come after him. He twisted off the cap of one can, then the next, and the next. Gathering the cans in his hands, he limped over to the water supply and dumped the contents in. The liquid was quickly carried over to the bods in the fields, which started twisting as the strange liquid invaded their systems.

  He felt around in his pockets for his lighter and flicked it on, just as the two bods charged forward, and crashed into him. As they dug their teeth and claws into him, he tossed the lighter into the tank. A bright orange and blue flame leapt up and travelled through the pipes to the bods. They writhed and thrashed as they burned on their crosses. The two bods who had attacked him dashed back into the storage stack. He stared after them in surprise. He had thought they would bolt in the other direction, away from the flames. Did they think the sacks were safe from the fire? Just goes to show they have no intelligence. His attention was drawn back to the field as hundreds of bods screamed in agony, their flesh melting away in the fire. Never knew they had voices. The entire field blew up in a massive fireball. This was one time he was happy he would not be harvesting his crop.

  ◆◆◆

  As the fire blazed, lighting up the evening sky, two bods crawled out of the side door, stumbling away into the darkness. They carried a small, wailing bundle in their arms.

  ◆◆◆

  The Last Heist

  Skani leaned across the table conspiratorially, his voice a whisper, “I tell you, we pull this off and we will never have to work again. Ever.”

  I took a swig from my glass and popped a couple of nuts in my mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Skani always had some “brilliant” scheme or the other up his sleeve. Most were hare-brained and invariably had at least one insurmountable obstacle, if not more. On the other hand, it was not as if I had any other job in the pipeline. I had barely escaped the patrol ships of the Baxu in my last run carrying contraband Olent fur. Now, the Baxu had increased the bounty on my head to twenty thousand shards. A bounty this big had me worried. But it was also more than a little gratifying, an acknowledgement of my skills.

  “Go on then,” I said.

  Skani glanced around nervously. The bar was dark, and our seats were at the very back, right next to the kitchen door. I was the only female here, but people knew to leave me alone. Even the waiters and the bartender never approached unless called. Satisfied that no one could overhear him, Skani leaned even closer until his long purple nose was nearly touching the grimy table. “There is a white dwarf star called Lucy twenty-five light years from here. Word on the street is that it crystallized as it cooled down.” He looked at me meaningfully as if the significance of this was obvious. .

  “I know something about Lucy, of course,” I said, noncommittally. “It has crystallized into a massive diamond. So?”

  “So?” he repeated, his voice rising with incredulity. “So?” He forgot he was supposed to be whispering. Realising his mistake, he bent down once more. “It’s not just any diamond, Meki. It’s trillions of trillions of carats of a single diamond. The largest diamond ever discovered this side of the galaxy. Word is that it is almost flawless. Just imagine if we can get a few hundred carats, we can retire tomorrow.”

  It was enticing but there had to be a catch somewhere in this fantastic scheme. “If the diamonds are inside the sun, how are they mined?” The question had never occurred to me before. Probably because I had not been planning on mining stars for diamonds.

  “That’s the beauty of it, Meki! Other suns expel gases during solar flares, Lucy spews diamonds. In essence, the entire system is full of diamonds. The Konai who claim that system, and the Baxu, who protect it, collect the diamonds from a safe distance. The queen of Varga Prime had her entire crown made from a single piece. Six thousand carats! And there is plenty more out there, but they keep a close tab on the quantity mined to keep the prices high. So, all we need to do is to find our way to the system and collect a few for ourselves. The system is primarily guarded by automated systems. It will be easy.”

  If it was so easy, why had no one else tried it earlier? “What’s the catch?”

  He had the grace to look sheepish. “The Baxu, of course. They keep a fleet of ships on standby to deal with any intruders who do make it. They destroy any ship found near the system and execute every person on board on the spot. They have a sophisticated sensor grid ringing the entire system. But their reputation has been far more effective in scaring people off.”

  “And you think we can just waltz in unannounced and gather the booty?” I wondered what he had been smoking.

  “Listen, three months ago, two ships managed to sneak in through the barrier. They even ma
naged to gather the stones, but the Baxu ships caught the thieves within ten light years and obliterated them. They have the fastest ships in the known universe.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “Let me get this straight. You know the Baxu have the fastest ships in the galaxy and they obliterated these other ships, and yet you want me to try the same stunt? Are you out of your mind or do you have a death wish?”

  He pretended to be offended, widening his three eyes and putting his pudgy hand over his heart. “Death wish? Who? Me? I like living well enough, thank you very much, Meki. Listen, I can get you in. I have some connections. All you need to do is get us away from the Baxu before they can locate us. We will have a window of almost fifteen minutes before they can reach us.”

  I paused, considering. If he was confident he could get us in… maybe the whole thing was not as impossible as it sounded.

  “So? What do you say, Meki? Can you do this? Can you? We’ll split fifty-fifty.” He was almost bouncing in his seat, like an eager puppy.

  I finished my drink and looked around. This bar was the dingiest one this part of the city, even if it was the safest. I was tired of constantly looking over my shoulders, forever running from the Baxu. Maybe this was a chance to thumb my nose at them and escape this drudgery. I could get to Rohini V. That was well out of the reach of the Baxu Empire. I leaned back in my seat and put an arm over the backrest. “Maybe.”

  That was enough for Skani. We got down to the planning. We would need a decently fast ship, capable of travelling at least at the speed of light and with manoeuvrability; enough to zigzag through the Konai’s mining operations. I would need one more item. A black hole with relativistic jets. Skani need not know the entire plan just yet.

  ◆◆◆

  Two months of solid preparations later, we were holding point just inside Lucy’s star system, hiding behind a cluster of six moons of the outermost planet waiting for a gap in the sensor grid.