Derek nodded. “I know. I feel the same way.” They took their seats and lifted off while he stared out at the temple and the beach. “Maybe we can do something. The reason we came here in the first place was to find out about the waterfall. Let’s do that. Let’s try to find whoever was transmitting those pictures. If those guys are still around, they’ll understand what these people are facing. Maybe we could get some help. In any case, we need to find out if there’s a place anywhere in the area where the Volarians could be evacuated.” His eyes locked on her. “How’s our fuel situation?”
“Actually, we’re still almost full. We’ve been mostly on cruise, in hyper, or in orbit from the start.”
Derek raised a fist. “Excellent.”
Hutch felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Had they just walked away from this and gone home, if they didn’t even try to help, she knew it would have been something she’d live with for the rest of her life. “So, what do we tell Arin?”
“Nothing. Not yet, anyway.” He sat quietly for several minutes as they rose into the clouds. “Funny, having pizza with aliens. Who could have ever thought it could lead to something like this?”
• • •
“Isn’t there a possibility the damned thing will miss them?” said Wally.
“Not unless Barry’s broken down.” Derek lowered himself into a chair. The front porch was missing. Nobody had thought to turn it on. Nobody cared anymore. They were simply spread among the seats in the passenger cabin. Everybody except Hutch. “But we should go look at it again. Make sure. Maybe we’ll get a break somewhere.”
Hutch took them under but steered well wide of the target area. She did not like black holes. When they emerged, a few minutes later, Barry began taking measurements. “I’ll need some time,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are not really equipped for this kind of analysis, but I can provide a reasonable approximation.”
Hutch stayed on the bridge, watching the blackness and the twisted space and swirling stars with a growing rage. Pointless. It was like getting angry at a heat wave. But the resentment was there nonetheless. She was alone for a while, which was unusual when something was developing. But Derek, who had been in a somber mood since they’d left Arin and his friends, had remained in the passenger cabin, where the hole was on the display. He had no hope for a good outcome. Nor, for that matter, did anyone else. And nobody seemed to have any idea what they should do. Sure: Find a world for the Volarians. Then what? How do you move several million people? There, at least, they’d caught a break. They were guessing about the global population, but it was a world of mostly small islands.
Eventually, Beth joined her. “You okay?” she asked.
“Sure. How’s everything in there?” She glanced at the door.
“Not good. Even Wally’s gone quiet.”
Barry broke in. “In case you were wondering, the black hole is approximately seven billion kilometers from the Volarians.”
“Is that,” said Beth, “a couple of light-years? I hope.”
Hutch shook her head. “It’s a fairly small fraction of a light-year.”
“I suspect,” continued Barry, “the outer sections of the planetary system are already beginning to feel some gravitational effects.”
Beth stayed with it. “Is there any chance it could bypass the center of the system?”
“Without destroying the sun? That appears to be possible but extremely unlikely. I don’t have specific numbers on the total mass of the black hole. But I would guess there’s a remote chance it could fail to tear the sun apart. But whatever happens in that sense, the ocean world will be ripped out of orbit and flung into interstellar space. As the ice world was.”
“Barry, how long do you think it will be before they begin feeling the first effects?”
“Approximately thirty years. Maybe somewhat less.”
Beth stared out at the black disk, wrapped in distorted light. “Not much time for an evacuation.”
Hutch remained silent.
“I know this sounds silly,” Beth continued, “but I hate the damned things. This certainly makes it easy to understand why someone put a sword up near it.”
“I’ve thought the same thing.”
“It’s funny. When your feet are on the ground, you feel safe. I mean, walking around on that beach with those people, the Volarians, it was almost like being at home. And it felt as if the place would be there forever.”
“I know.”
“They don’t look much like us. But the way they behave, if I closed my eyes and kind of toned down their voices a little, I couldn’t have distinguished them from you and Derek.”
“Yeah. Arin would make a great guest on The Morning Show.”
Barry’s lights came on again. “For the record, if it matters, I have some radiation data.”
“Go ahead, Barry,” said Hutch. “Some good news would be nice.”
“Fortunately, it is relatively low for what one would expect. The radiation will probably not become an issue for thirty-five years.”
Hutch and Beth had talked enough about the black hole. The conversation moved on, and ranged over how they missed being home. They talked about kids, about how fortunate they were to live in an age that had interstellars, in a place that didn’t have a black hole charging down on it. “And now,” said Beth, “the politicians are trying to throw it all away.”
Hutch couldn’t look away from the black disk. “Actually, I think President Proctor means well. Maybe even Zhang. They’ve just got too many scientists issuing warnings.”
Beth had folded her hands and leaned her chin on them. Her dark brown hair, which reached her shoulders, almost covered her face, as if she were allowing it to block off the black hole. “I wonder,” she said, “how often things like this happen.”
“You mean,” said Hutch, “an entire civilization getting pushed over the edge? When I was a kid, I grew up with the idea that I lived in a warm, friendly place, full of sunlight, and completely safe as long as I looked both ways before crossing the street. I guess all that’s true, Beth, if you’ve been lucky. The reality is, there are probably so few civilizations out there that it doesn’t happen that often. Still—”
“I had that idea too, at one time. A friendly universe, as long as you behave. But if being a doctor hasn’t taken that notion away, that thing out there certainly has.”
Barry was back. “I’m sorry to report that the numbers are not good. The ocean planet will be directly in the path when it arrives. The sun may survive, but Volaria will be torn apart and swallowed.”
• • •
Hutch passed the news to the others. Derek commented that it really didn’t make much difference how their world would be destroyed. She returned to the bridge. “He’s been upset since we left,” said Beth. She sat for a minute, her eyes closed. “So, what options do we have?”
“Not much.”
“I guess the only question now is the same one: whether we let them know.”
“Let’s not give up too easily.” It was Derek, who’d appeared in the doorway. “Whoever lived on the ice world either got some help or made an effort themselves to get clear. We’ve seen one of the transports they used.”
“It might be helpful,” said Hutch, “if we could go home with a story about a previous rescue. That someone came to the assistance of the ice world and bailed them out.”
“Maybe get people excited about a rescue?” Beth sighed. “I’d love to see that happen.”
“It’s probably our best shot,” said Derek. “It’s an election year. Maybe we could create enough inspiration to convince Proctor to get behind an effort to build a fleet of transports and attempt an evacuation.”
“I don’t like to be a cynic,” said Beth, “but it’s hard to imagine the president agreeing to spend billions on hardware she doesn’t want to rescue a bunch of aliens.”
The tactic didn’t feel entirely hopeless. “I think,” Hutch said, “if people got a look at these guys, they�
��ll probably fall in love with them. Especially if we can get them speaking English.”
Derek frowned. “To do any of that, the Volarians would have to help. Maybe we should think about taking some of them back home with us.”
“A couple. Kwylla and Arin, if they’re willing.”
“We’re going to have to show them what’s coming.”
Beth Squires’s Notes
I hope these guys can think of something. The prospect of leaving Arin and the rest of those people to get sucked into a black hole turns my stomach. Whatever it takes, we need to find a way.
—Friday, May 2, 2256
30.
My studies in speculative philosophy, metaphysics and science are all summed up in the image of a mouse called man running in and out of every hole in the cosmos hunting for the Absolute Cheese.
—Benjamin De Casseres, Fantasia Impromptu, 1933
They used another parallax survey to determine which stars were within forty light-years of Volaria, systems that might hold worlds close enough to be practical destinations for a mass evacuation. There were eighty-two, and when they eliminated all that weren’t F, G, and K, forty-seven remained. Two of those constituted a binary, which they also removed from consideration, leaving forty-five. Barry put together an itinerary. This time, instead of looking for a route that would provide the most efficient total travel time, he produced one that would visit stars in the shortest possible order from Volaria.
The first one had nothing in the habitable zone. Number Two provided a rocky giant that would have tripled the weight of anyone landing on it.
Three had a world approximately the size of Earth, properly positioned, and with oceans. But there was no sign of life. The ground appeared to be made up almost entirely of rock, and the atmosphere contained an overwhelming amount of methane.
Four had no planets. Five and Six had nothing in the zone. The next two both had worlds in the zone—in fact, Eight had a pair—but all were sterile. Nine had nothing whatever. Ten had a living world in a perfect position, but it was filled with oversized predators. Settling there would have required some major adjustments.
Beth asked whether they had sufficient provisions for an extended mission. “We’re fully stocked,” Hutch explained. “We always assume that a mission will go well beyond the planning.”
• • •
At Eleven, they surfaced halfway between a green world and its moon. The planet had moderate temperatures. They entered orbit and gathered on the porch, looking down on forests, mountains, rivers, oceans, and sparkling white clouds. The skies were full of birds. Then Hutch was looking down at a crumbling city. It would have been easy to miss. There were no buildings, only stone symmetries that had been virtually absorbed by the ground. An occasional piece of rectangular rock jutted out of a bush. “That thing’s been gone a long time,” said Derek.
The vegetation looked different from what Hutch had seen anywhere else, save that it was green. There didn’t seem to be any trees. Or at least nothing with a large trunk. Instead, the ground was covered with a multitude of flowering plants. “Where are the trees?” asked Wally. “I’ve never seen a living world with no trees.”
Something was moving on a hilltop. “Looks like a buffalo,” said Wally.
“Barry, do you see anything at all that suggests anybody’s still alive here?”
“Nothing, Derek.”
Behind them, the sun was sinking toward the horizon.
A four-legged creature appeared, scrambling across the landscape, apparently in pursuit of something. Then it vanished into the shrubbery.
“Well, this place might work,” said Derek. “It doesn’t seem to be inhabited now, and it looks as if it has everything they’d need.” He appeared genuinely happy. “Let’s go down and take a look.”
• • •
They descended into a field alongside a river. The field had long, thick grass and giant flowers growing out of golden stalks. The air was okay, containing the right levels of oxygen and nitrogen. It had the faint scent of springtime. “Perfect,” Derek said. “I don’t think we could have found a better place.”
Hutch was watching for predators. The one drawback she saw was the thick shrubbery. An elephant could have crept up on them without being seen. “They’d have to do some work to get this place in shape,” Derek said. “But it seems good.”
The sun was just settling into a line of hills. A warm breeze blew across the area, bending the giant flowers. They walked over to the river. The water was clear and fish were active. Derek had brought containers. He took samples of the soil and the water.
“We don’t have a capability to analyze them, do we, Derek?”
“No. But I’d be surprised if there’s a problem. If everything else is okay, we’ll take these home with us and check them out.” Something moved on the other side of the river. And a head on a long neck was looking out at them. Most of the rest of the animal was hidden, but the creature looked harmless enough. It could have been a giraffe with large eyes.
A giant butterfly with green wings fluttered past. And, without warning, the sky filled with a vast array of birds. There must have been hundreds of them. They were green and gold, about the size of sparrows, and they landed in the shrubbery, ignoring Hutch and Derek. Some drank from the river.
They took pictures. Their movements didn’t frighten the animals. Then, as if a signal had been given, the birds soared back into the air, leaving their perches at precisely the same instant. A minute later they were gone.
They returned to the lander. “I think this will work,” Derek said. “This place is perfect.”
Hutch was getting ready to lift off when she noticed something.
“What?” asked Derek.
She looked at the sun, which was just touching the top of the hills off to their right. “I don’t know.”
“What’s that mean?”
The Eiferman was no longer in range of the radio. So, she couldn’t talk to Barry. “Tasha, you been paying any attention to the rotation?”
“Of the planet? No, I haven’t, Captain.”
“Have we got a problem, Hutch?”
“Probably.”
“Which is what?”
“We landed about a half hour ago. Maybe a little less.”
“And?”
“When we went out the door, the sun was positioned directly on top of those hills.”
“Where it is now.”
“Yes.”
“It’s only been about twenty minutes.”
“Whatever. I don’t think it’s moved.”
Derek delivered a loud sigh. He sat down in one of the seats behind Hutch so he wouldn’t block her view out the window. “Let’s give it a little time.”
The Eiferman circled the planet. When it appeared again in the sky, the sun was still balanced on the hills.
“Which means what?” asked Wally.
Ken answered: “The planet’s in tidal lock.”
“I don’t think I know what that is.”
“It’s the same thing the moon does orbiting Earth. Gravity’s taken hold of it. It rotates at the same speed that it orbits, so one side always faces the sun. There’s no sunrise on this world. And no sunset. The place where we were, it’s always twilight.” He turned to Hutch. “What’s next?”
Priscilla’s Journal
Looking at this world, locked between permanent day and night, reminds me again of the extent to which we are at the mercy of cosmic forces. I understand now why the statue on Iapetus shows such courage and defiance in the face of an uncaring universe.
—Saturday, May 17, 2256
31.
My son the misanthropist was once surprised as he was laughing to himself. “Why do you laugh?” he was asked. “There is no one with you.” “That,” he replied, “is just why I do.”
—Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga und Paralipomena, I, 1851
They continued over the next few weeks through system after system. Some had
no worlds in the Goldilocks Zone. Others, as far as they could tell, had no worlds at all. On the few occasions when they did find a rocky planet with oceans and warm skies, there was inevitably a different problem that forced them to rule it out. One planet was covered with carnivorous plants. Two had gravity issues. Another seemed to have good conditions, but life had apparently never gotten started. That meant there was no vegetation and consequently nothing to produce oxygen. There was no way they could transform the atmosphere in the half century they had available.
Hutch sat on the Eiferman’s bridge and found herself thinking about lifeless solar systems, which was the usual condition even when planets were properly placed. In the past, she’d simply accepted reality. The universe was, by and large, devoid of even the most primitive life-forms. But doing the math and watching it play out were two different experiences.
Why was the universe so empty? Did that question even make sense?
• • •
One planet had apparently experienced a nuclear war. Everything was in ruins, and the atmosphere was highly radioactive. Another was a worldwide desert. The next one, Twenty-five, had a living world, but it was occupied. Lizard-like creatures lived in colonies and wore clothes. They moved on.
Twenty-six provided a surprise. There was a planet in the Zone, and the telescope picked up images of oceans and continents.
It was green, covered with forests and jungles. It had oceans. And the climate looked stable. There were two continents, a lot of islands, and three moons. They were approaching from the sunlit side. It looked empty. “We may have a place for Arin and his people,” said Derek. “Let’s go down and take a look.”
• • •
Once they were certain the world had no inhabitants, they launched the lander, and Barry ran some atmospheric tests. “It’s okay,” he said. “Oxygen content is a bit high, but that’s also the case on Volaria. It might be a perfect fit for them.”
Hutch, Derek, and Ken descended in the middle of the afternoon onto a wide plain, near a mountain. Two of the moons were in the sky. “They’re beautiful,” said Ken.
The Long Sunset Page 25
