Supernova

by Georgia Chioni

  Georgia Chioni

  SUPERNOVA

  Title: Supernova

  Author: Georgia Chioni

  Translator: Dr. Dimitris Thanasoulas

  Cover design: Thodoris Kanellopoulos & Panagiotis Fragkos

  Copyright Georgia Chioni – 2016

  “We are an impossibility in an impossible universe”

  Ray Bradbury

  PLANET NEURON

  Galactic System Vulcan 354

  “Ready?”

  “If we haven’t done the right calculations, and something goes wrong, we don’t know where we’ll end up in the following seconds, and if we’ll be alive. But this, you already know, I suppose.”

  Mor had a lump in his throat, words coming out of his mouth with difficulty. Every time he was extremely nervous, he tapped his foot on the floor, just like he did now. His nervousness, though, was well justified by the occasion, which was the most important in his career.

  “We’ve been waiting for this very moment for the past fifteen years. We’re not wrong.”

  His peer, who was calmer, spoke in a decisive voice. It was true: fifteen years had passed without a single day of rest. They were so close. He nervously crumpled the uniform he wore thigh-high. His lab looked so small and stifling. He gazed at the tools and the big console—a galactic systems simulator on the left wall featuring all the flights, their routes, and their sizes in a three-dimensional projection. The time had come, and there was no time to waste. He lifted the small black apparatus and, pressing a green button on the side, activated it. He keyed in some codes on the small screen, which lit up, he took a deep breath, and placed his index finger on the red button.

  On their planet, Neuron, civilisation had evolved to a great extent. There was no famine, disease, or crime. Life for its inhabitants was comfortable, everything was done by machines, and there were robots in every single house, on hand to do all the house chores. They were anthropoids, just like the inhabitants. When the population increased, technology allowed them to settle on several planets of their galaxy, creating the right conditions for the new inhabitants. They held many of the secrets to life, evolution, and space. Still, they wanted to learn more and explore other worlds, beyond those they had managed to reach. They wished to explore, not only their own galaxy, but also the one they would see if, by tampering with spatiotemporal dimensions, they succeeded in reaching out to parallel universes.

  Mor and Taurus, the most eminent scientists in this field, together with their scientific teams, were mostly unsatisfied. They worked in underground laboratories, directly accountable to the Governor of the planet’s three Administrative Divisions.

  Everything started long ago, when they found a map on a devastated planet. This map showed in codified form all the parts of a galaxy where cosmic echoes were recorded. It was essentially a gravitational pulser. The echoes registered gravitational waves, which were an indication that there were parallel universes. The map depicted hundreds of them. Some in clusters, whereas others within a great distance. The vexed question was, how would the passage leading to them open up? Still, they weren’t able to find out who the map had been drawn by, and when. Maybe, this would assist them, providing more information. The two of them constantly worked on the map, recording more echoes, some loud and intense, and others almost faded. They reached the conclusion that the former were due to conflicts between universes, while the latter to those that had faded away, dying.

  Out there, a vast world awaited them to explore it. They began to explore all the gravitational fields. Diffusion of gravity was a possible indication of a parallel universe. Gravity and black holes, which they called reality slots, were the passage. How they would pass from one universe to another had become an obsession. They had to find the way. They would either find those reality slots, or they would have to create them.

  With time, they began to decode matter. In order to control their cosmic travels, they had to decompose and release those few masses that flit at immense speed, and lead to an explosion, creating a reality slot across space and time.

  They devoted the following years to the creation of a device that could trace the infinitesimal particles in space, voloniums, and stimulate them, so as to accelerate at such speed that could create a reality slot in space. That would be the gate. Along with voloniums, it would isolate other particles of space, nacarats. With these, it could influence the dimensions through time, forming a passage behind the gate. The black device was manufactured with a lot of effort, based on the precious metal volmium, which is extremely small. Thanks to the special properties of this metal, Mor made a bracelet, like a band, which he always wore around his wrist, to carry it in. This meant a lot to him.

  “Ready.”

  He was just as impatient, considering the pains he had taken. He pressed the red button, and looked ahead in agony. A small hum was heard. Within seconds, a black ray formed a straight line.

  “It’s working, it’s working!” shrilled Taurus. Mor looked ahead and waited. Voloniums and nacarats abounded all around. According to their calculations, the black cosmic ray of particles would form a small slot that would allow the passage —wherever that was feasible—to a parallel universe. The black ray had focused on the spot, and started to form a circle around it.

  “Look!”

  All of a sudden, the ray dispersed and seemed to spread throughout the lab. The two scientists looked at each other, inconsolable and disappointed.

  “We were so close!”

  “I was afraid it would happen. We had the entrance and the passage. The thing is, they didn’t osculate. They were in the same place, but the one wasn’t behind the other. I’m going to find a way to correct it. I am, believe me.” Mor was determined. A breath away from his dream.

  In the following days, he was cooped up in his lab, along with the device. He could control the voloniums, and create an astral gate. He could isolate the nacarats, and influence the dimension of time, which crumpled the rest, thus creating a passageway, the worm hole behind the astral gate. Yet, the one affected the other in space. All that was left to be done was to try to bring the gate and the passageway close together, in front of the gate. He had to find a way to isolate them in space.

  ***

  After arduous efforts in the lab, and many improvements, the device was ready for the next trial. Mor was proud to have made it. He wasn’t sure if it worked, but at least he had tried and come up with a way. He would isolate the gate and the passage through a magnetic field. That would be possible, thanks to the gultes. There were plenty of them in the air. These would create a strong magnetic field that could act like a bowl holding the astral gate and the worm hole together. In order to control them, he inserted into the device a processed gulte. This would gather and lead the rest. He would concentrate them, so that they would trap the entrance and the passageway. Much as he was certain about the theory, he was all worked up about the practical aspects. Yet, he was optimistic.

  After a long wait, the big moment came. Still, just as Mor was ready to activate the device, there was a sound, and the big screen of the central computer in their lab lit up. A message popped up from the Central Space Station on the dark side of the planet. They went over it again and again. It was the news of complete disaster.

  Years before, a cluster of comets had been traced that would flit past their planet at breakneck speed. Among these comets, there were some huge meteorites, one of them a little smaller than Neuron. They had calculated everything but one thing. The meteorite, which was ablaze, exploded. It smashed into pieces, dragging along a part of the cluster. These pieces changed route, heading towards Neuron. Collision would be direct and unavoidable. When the two bodies crashed, Neuron would be torn into millions of pieces, and disappear like it nev
er existed. In a few lines, the message they received described the meteorite’s change of route and its collision with Neuron. There followed a holographic map that showed the point of collision, as well as the comet’s orbit before the crash.

  The two scientists had an idea that might save billions of lives on their planet. It sounded well in theory, but in practice there were many dangers. Still, it was their only hope. They could create a big black hole outside the planet’s atmosphere, in front of the cluster of comets closing in on Neuron. If their theory was sound, the comets would fall into it, and disappear. Yet, with the device they possessed—if it ever worked—, it was touch-and-go whether they would track down all those particles necessary to create such a vast black hole. It would take a totally different device altogether—and they had very little time on their hands for such a thing. After a long discussion, the slim chances of success made Taurus all the more doubtful.

  It wasn’t long before the Governor addressed his people, announcing the imminent collision in a few words. He briefly mentioned the fruitless efforts made to intercept the comet, and its inevitable crash the following day at 222.234 galactic time. The planet was on the alert. The final countdown had begun.

  As soon as his address was over, hell broke loose. The inhabitants of the planet desperately tried to find something to hold on to for dear life. But there was no such thing on the entire planet. Their only hope was to escape to other planets, colonies, or allies. They stormed out in the streets and into the interplanetary travels stations with whatever they could salvage. Whoever possessed a spaceship or could secure a place on one was extremely lucky. Some people sold all their possessions to buy a ticket for the journey, while others hit and killed pilots and passengers. A small group of people couldn’t believe the end was nigh, and went about their daily routine, as if nothing had happened. The space runways were released, and take-offs were allowed with no prior permission. The first ones to abandon the planet were the governor and the deputies of the three divisions, along with the governmental councils, stressing how sorry they felt about the tragic incident. So did the tycoons.

  The space research establishments were almost empty. The last ones to stay behind, Taurus and Mor, had a heated discussion. Mor argued that they had to take their chances, and there was still a possibility they could save the planet at the last minute. Taurus believed quite the opposite. He was convinced there was no salvation, and all their hopes were dashed.

  “Is that what you think? There are hopes?”

  “Hopes of saving the planet. Listen. We’re going to do everything according to plan. We’re going to take our chances. We’re going to fly outside the stratosphere on the spaceship, and give it a try there, no matter the end result. We have a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding. What d’ you say?”

  “Fifty-fifty? You want us to put our head in a noose? Look around you! It’s over! We’re not sure, and we’re not going to risk our lives. We’re fighting a losing battle.”

  “No, we’re not. Not with this device.”

  “Instead of finding ways to save the planet, let’s do what everybody else does. Let’s see how we can save our own lives.”

  “You mean running away?”

  “Yeah! You find it strange that someone wants to save their own skin from certain death? I don’t know if you’ve realised it, but the labs have gone empty. It’s just the two of us in here, and all the robots that assist us. Well, actually, the President of the company, who left together with the Governor yesterday, took two androids.”

  “What about all the things we’ve been striving for all these years?”

  “It’s over! Kaput! Get over it! I’m not going to sacrifice my life for a pie-in-the-sky idea!”

  “We’re very close!”

  “No, my friend, we’re not! I’m leaving. You stay here to save the planet.”

  He ran away. Mor began to pace up and down nervously. If his peer didn’t want to join him, he would go there on his own. The cluster of comets must be close now. He wouldn’t have to go very far into space. He walked out of the lab, and started running towards the refuel zone, a huge underground platform, where spaceships landed and took off. There, both of them were in for a nasty surprise! There was no spaceship! Taurus started to yell, hopping mad.

  “I stayed in here, listening to you! Now? They’re all gone! The end is near, anyway. It’s just the two of us that didn’t make it! You understand? Eh? So many years gone to waste!”

  He pushed him over angrily.

  “I want to live, you understand? I want to live!”

  He grabbed him by the collar. He brought him closer, then pushed him over with force. He paced up and down, making tiny nervous steps.

  “I don’t want to turn into dust out there in the galaxy.”

  All of a sudden, he stopped.

  “…and I’m not going to! Bring the device!”

  “What are you saying?”

  “You want to stay here. It’s your choice! Bring me the device.”

  He closed in on him menacingly.

  “No, this device is our whole life!”

  “My point exactly! Give it to me, I said! We’re running out of time.”

  “What…what are you thinking of doing?”

  “Going away.”

  He began to pull and shove him aggressively. He was trying to wrench off his wristband. Mor put up resistance.

  “I said no!”

  The two men came to blows. Taurus showed he wasn’t joking. He punched him in the nose, which started bleeding on the spot. Mor plumped to the floor, writhing in pain. His apron and the hand that pressed against it were filled with blood. He pressed the button on the band. It opened up, and he snatched the device.

  “We haven’t even tested it.”

  “All of us are going to be dead in a while. I have nothing to lose. If our theory is right, I’ll be safe and sound in another universe within a few minutes. Don’t you dare stop me because you’re going to regret it! The worst thing that could happen to me is turn into dust within a worm hole.”

  He keyed in the codes, and the device was activated. In several minutes, a black mass of matter formed in front of him, within a radius of a few metres. Taurus looked on, entranced. Everything seemed to be running like clockwork. The magnetic field, the slot, and the worm hole. Mor ignored the pain caused by his broken nose, and the bleeding. He too stood in awe.

  “We made it!” he whispered. “It’s working!”

  Taurus took a few steps forward.

  “Come with me,” he shouted. The gravity of the nano-slot pulled him towards its centre.

  “I don’t recognise you.”

  “It’s your own device. Wasn’t it you that made it? I’m not going to use it.”

  He thrust off the device, and jumped into the hole. He was gone in its darkness. Surprised, Mor watched the slot gradually getting smaller, until it was completely gone. That was the first time they had tested it, and his peer experimented on it. He managed to pass through? To which universe and planet? He would never find out.

  His apron sleeve had absorbed the blood, staunching its flow. He stood up to get hold of the device. He was disappointed and embittered. As he went down to his lab, he realised what Taurus had told him. The establishments had gone empty. He was left alone. The government channel on the holograph showed scenes of the meteorites and the cities evacuated. His peer was right. Even if he wanted to go closer to the cluster in space all by himself, he wouldn’t be able to. There was no means to do it. All the vehicles suitable for supersonic journeys were immobilised in Neuron’s atmosphere and, even if he managed to travel farther, they wouldn’t hold out for long as they didn’t have an erosive design.

  He sat down, not knowing what to do. He held his head with his two hands in despair, unable to tear his eyes away from the device. He couldn’t believe fate’s nasty, ruthless game. He switched on the computer in front of him.

  Astral Diary, Day 23,311

  This is my l
ast note. In a while, the cluster of meteorites will crash into our planet, destroying it. Many people managed to escape. They will make a new start on another planet. Here, at the Space Research Centre, I’m left alone. On the one hand, I know that, in a while, I’ll be cosmic dust, but on the other I’m happy because, at last, after so many years of work, I managed to find a way to travel to other parallel universes. Unfortunately, I won’t live to experience it. That’s why I would like to share it with you. You see, everything comes in handy—the air that we breathe, the dimensions in the world we live in. With this device, we managed to rule and intervene in space. We create a magnetic field that acts like a bowl. We trap in it particles that open up a black hole, and those that warp the dimensions. We warp time. This way, we pass through into the parallel universe that exists, but nobody knows in which time. Ah, our work started with a map. Echoes were recorded on it. You see, every universe leaves its mark in spacetime. I hope someone gets my message.

  He pressed the send button, and the computer switched off. He put his head in his palms, and gazed at the device once again. He held it nervously. He shot to his feet, and began to run outside, into the vast plain where the labs were situated, a whole world in miniature. When he got out, he was flustered. The meteorites were menacingly near. It was a matter of minutes before they entered the atmosphere. The sky was dyed the colour of lava, and small pieces of meteorites came apart ablaze, dyeing the clouds the same colour—a huge volcano before the final eruption. He had pictured it, but what he saw right now was beyond imagination.

  Time was counting down. He held on to the device tight. He had two options. He would either wait to meet his doom, or press the button. Neuron was plunging into chaos. He pushed the activation button. Within a few seconds, a small cloud of black fog started to materialise. He was lucky. It grew a little bit more, and a black dot stood before him. He looked around him. He put the device around his wrist, and took a deep breath, taking one last look at Neuron’s sky.