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Post By The PVB debut of new writer Majikthise, via HH Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 02:39:44 pm EST |
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The Light at the End… | |
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| The Light at the End… The Galaxy was dying. Stellar systems, long dead, drifted as clouds of dust and rock amongst each other. Black holes either wandered space consuming all in their path, or sat in the remains of any system they'd had and squandered what fuel they had left. Races that had long since transcended the basic limitations of Space and Time watched from beyond their boundaries, some in celebration, some deep in study, yet others in mourning for what was passing. But still amongst the decay, there was purpose. Life still clung on to itself. Species that understood the end faced it with a variety of bravery, pessimism, fear and hope. Those that didn't clung together and faced the encroaching darkness, or fought savagely over the few resources that were left. Moving amongst the stars in one arm of the Galaxy, generally heading towards the centre, where a few brighter stars still glimmered was The One. No race knew of its creators, for The One was a created machine, not a living being. Whoever built it had long since passed into the mists of history, the last race who knew of their fate having long since disappeared as well. But The One continued and endured. It had had many names as it roamed the Galaxy, and scholars had pondered its mechanisms and purpose for millions of millennia. Wars had been fought over it, religions founded and foundered because of its presence or departure; it had been a symbol of life, death, renewal or destruction. Races had undergone scientific or spiritual Renaissances when it appeared in their skies. In its machine fashioned way, it continued on, apparently oblivious to all. Races had tried to destroy it, and it bore the scars of warfare as well as the other craters that one might expect from collisions with other cosmic bodies. Some more technologically advanced and peaceful races had investigated The One closely, and even repaired its mechanisms. They could tell from this that The One was made to endure. It sought out stellar light sources, avoiding those that were likely to be nearing the end of their lives, gathered energy from them and toured the stellar systems around them, then continued its journey. Some collision avoidance mechanisms were built in, as well as a stellar mapping mechanism that kept track of likely useful energy sources and possible novae. But that was it. No other clue to The One's purpose had been found. Perhaps one day it would return to where it had originated, although that star must be long since turned to cosmic slag by age. Perhaps one day the race that had created would return from whatever realm they inhabited and claim it as their own. Perhaps it was destined for something even greater, but in the face of the coming crisis most races neither knew nor cared. The One, in its own way, knew about the approaching end. Energy sources were becoming fewer and feebler, and black holes and novae were increasing hazards along its way. Decision-making processes started the search for the next place to feed, and for the first time in millennia strayed outside the Galactic plane. There were more galaxies and stars out there, more sources of energy for The One to continue. For The One, too, only knew that it must endure. The decision was made, adjustments were performed, and repair mechanisms prepared for the long journey. Thrusters fired, and The One's trajectory started to move it away from what was (probably) the Galaxy of its inception. A jet black rabbit, with a drum the size of a small moon, marching towards Andromeda. Original concepts, characters, and situations copyright © 2004 reserved by Philip T Harris. The right of Philip T. Harris to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. |
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