“You can't know that. The corpse sun may have sucked in mass from a sister star.”
“There's no sign of any second star, judging by the orbits of the surviving planets. They look too regular.”
She looked at the readings, saw that he was probably right. Which meant that billions of lives across at least three planets, a significant interplanetary culture, had been wiped out in a single galactic moment. A sickening trickle of dread wormed through her. It was another technosignature of a highly-advanced stellar engineering capability: the Depository in Dead Space, its star altered to create an impossible blue dwarf. Now this. Was it possible Morn was a weapon for obliterating worlds? For annihilating entire star systems?
“You think Concordance did this?” she said. The horror of it was too large to fully grasp. So many lives ended, so much love and achievement and hope snuffed out. Did they know what was coming at the end, all those people?
“I don't think so,” said Ondo. “This has to be an older atrocity. I think we are seeing another echo of events predating Vulpis.”
“Which shows us your idea of a golden age of peace and civilisation centred on Coronade is completely wrong after all. The galaxy was riven by war and horror, before Concordance arose to impose their order upon it.”
Ondo shook his head, troubled. “The age of this; once again, I'm not sure it fits. I think this has to be much older. If I could make proper observations, study them from the Refuge, I'd be able to arrive at a more accurate date.”
“Whatever the truth of it, we're trapped here,” said Selene. “We've proven your theories, but we'll still run out of oxygen in a few hours and die. There's no way out.”
“I don't believe it,” said Ondo. “We were meant to travel here. Someone will come, I know it.”
“Who? There's no one here. There can be no one here.”
“Someone,” said Ondo. “I'm sure of it.”
“You're saying that without any evidence. You're saying you just believe, Ondo.”
“I'm saying the trail is real, and that it wouldn't just stop. Someone will come.”
She didn't respond. All she could think about, suddenly, were the Cathedral ships, one within each inhabited solar system. Perhaps she and Ondo had been brought here for a moment of realisation.
“Maybe this is their plan.” she spoke quietly. “You were always puzzled by the Cathedral ships' fascination with the suns in their systems. Don't you see? They aren't watching the planets; they're studying the stars. Altering the stars. One ship in each system, ready to trigger stellar collapse when the moment comes. This is Godel's catastrophism, this is their design. This is what they found at the heart of the galaxy, the means to do this. The rest of it – suppressing superluminal travel, imposing their own history, the shrouds – they're keeping the galaxy in line while they prepare for the ultimate act of destruction.”
Ondo opened his mouth, about to reply, but then didn't. He knew she was right. They were safe from Concordance for the moment, they'd walked the path, but they were out of weapons, without a ship, hundreds of light-years from the Refuge or any hope of rescue. The need to act was greater than ever, but suddenly there was nothing they could do.
A familiar rage coiled within Selene, raising its head: the need to strike out. But for the moment, she had nothing to strike with, and no one to strike at. She let out a cry of frustration. Somehow, she didn't know how, but somehow, she'd continue the fight. If the trail had led them nowhere, then she would force a path of her own. Ondo placed a hand upon her shoulder but didn't speak.
She sank to the ground, leaning back against the archway. A few stars were visible through the glow of the nova cloud. How many of those suns had a Cathedral ship in attendance? Were Concordance already acting, putting their plans for their galactic Final Day into effect? Perhaps people were already dying in their teeming trillions. The stars might be winking out of existence, the flare of their countless supernovae taking their years to reach her point in space. The end of days might already be unfolding around her, while Concordance and their divine Omn laughed in their madness.
She stared at the stars, and the stars, unblinking, stared back at her.
END
Selene's journey continues in Red Star and concludes in God Star.
Dear Reader,
Many thanks for reading Dead Star. The trilogy continues in Red Star, Volume 2 of the Triple Stars Trilogy, available from Smashwords.
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Thanks again for reading.
Simon Kewin.
Red Star
The Triple Stars Volume 2
Available from Smashwords | Find out more
The return of an ancient galactic threat
Selene and Ondo piece together the secrets of Concordance’s ascension to galactic domination, and the truth of what it was Vulpis encountered at the heart of the galaxy three hundred years previously.
They uncover an ancient threat to all life – a threat that Concordance seems intent on reawakening to complete its genocidal aims. But they also follow another trail – one left for them by someone or something unknown, a hidden intelligence seemingly guiding them to hopes of a possible salvation.
But each time they unearth a new fragment of the puzzle, Concordance are waiting, its ships and miraculous technology unleashed against them…
God Star
The Triple Stars Volume 3
Available from Smashwords | Find out more
The darkness at the heart of the galaxy
