The Final Sunset

by Trevor Herron

  But the biggest loss of all was the precious blue algae, the finest anti-biotic ever discovered. But the swamp mud was just as great-a-loss to the women of Earth; there was no beauty treatment better than Venus mud.

  ###

  Hola Amandla, Jean-Paul Perdue and Denise Harding stayed glued to their telescopes witnessing and photographing the charging heat. Fearsomely, it swallowed pockets of space dust and debris and came threateningly close to Earth. Right on the million kilometre parameter the flare stopped and hung in that position for several hours before retreating. Except for the residual heat it was almost impossible to believe that a Solar Flare had almost settled in our front parlour.

  ###

  “As they say in the situations vacant advertisements, your duties shall include but not be confined to… Well at least we know what ours shall include and be confined to. It shall include everything Solar and be confined to everything general. As the only practising Solarologists we can expect a call to arms. So let’s allocate duties now.

  Hola, guess what?”

  “What.”

  “You will be our esteemed leader. Good; no objection. Let’s go.”

  “Just a minute…,” Hola began.

  “Too late. Take your complaint to Hola Amandla, she’s been elected the senior member of the Solarology group,” Jean-Paul laughed at Hola’s dropped jaw.

  ###

  Every home had their holocasters tuned to the political debate programs. Parliament seemed to go on ad infinitum and every minister was quoting statistics so thick and fast that nothing made sense.

  Sheet ice in the Arctic and Antarctic was down to 10 % of what it should be with 40% of that being nothing but a sort of thick snow rather than ice but even that was retreating taking with it the comfortable climate of Earth. Boston recorded its highest temperature ever reaching 49 degrees Celsius at 3 o’ clock.

  The largest convention of scientists, technologists and engineers was convened in three states and connected by sound and visual systems into one gigantic meeting.

  Denise was called upon as a resident expert to answer questions and explain the meaning of super novaring. What she had to say had the world transfixed. “At the moment only parts of Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Siberia in the far north have retained the bare minimum of ice and perma frost to partially cool the Earth and maintain it at a barely liveable ambient for four or five hundred years to come provided a major radiant never again penetrates the million kilometre line. I see the protection of that Mega Km line as our first priority. In the South the only patches of sheet ice remaining are clinging precariously to exposed ledges of rock in the face of howling gale-force winds. The wild-life in turn, penguins, seals, walruses hang onto spots for as long as they can but eventually they grow tired and drop off only to be blown tumbling over and over until they are battered to death or taken away by the raging seas.

  Very few sea birds remain. Only those lucky enough to find shelter still remain alive. The loss of so much wild-life is a calamity of gargantuan proportions.

  Some Oceanic Islands have disappeared completely and much of the Southern Continental Shelves stretching south of the equator have had their shore-lines redefined.

  The southern part of Africa that once was the Karoo and the High veld now form a major island with other high places helping to make up an archipelago. The shore line of Australia has broken up into thousands of small Islands. The Philippines and Indonesia are unrecognizable.”

  Earth clung desperately to life like shipwrecked passengers on a floundered cruise ship. A question was shot at her, “You often mention a flare, or a radiant or a heat package what are the differences between them?”

  “No difference really except that a heat package can be likened to a gift all signed, sealed and delivered. A radiant is the present in the box the part that dissipates the heat. Finally, a flare is an almost unrestrained radiant that leaves the surface of the sun because as the sun uses up its fussionable material its own surface, not so easily controlled by its own gravity, gradually the heat packages run further and further from base making the sun look bigger - hence the name Super Nova.

  A flare itself, an unprecedented heat package long enough, wide enough and deep enough to wrap around and engulf both Mercury and Venus, for argument’s sake in its lineal charge to freedom and flick a snake-like tongue to within a million kilometres of Earth. Earth was given a sample of how much radiant heat could be contained in even a minor escape from the sun’s heating elements.

  Both Mercury and Venus have high surface temperatures. Mercury to a degree impossible to support life of any kind with midday temperatures as high as 800 degrees C while Venus now experiences temperatures up to 90 degrees C on average.

  Mercury under the influence of the flare became so hot that much of its silicon based surface rock turned to glass which caused another problem. It acted much like a strobe ball shooting beams of heated light at unpredictable targets. Where they struck Earth they were frequently hot enough to start fires and kill people. Mars had a huge magazine of mining explosives set off with a huge loss of life and property.

  They have asked that we include them in our planning.

  Venus had long been a source of chemicals and medicinal algae for earth but the planet dried instantly into a hard mud brick-like material. Humanoids had been stationed on Venus to collect, pack or bottle and ship off to Earth the offerings of the planet. The swamp water and bubbling mud interspersed with green and blue algae that was once a major source of medicinal and beauty products for Earthlings disappeared instantly.

  For the most part the planet was baked into one hard brick-like surface and the Humanoids and machinery vaporised in an instant.

  Venus has become of no further use to Earth. It will take thousands of years for it to return to what it was, supposing an expanding sun on the road to burn out, lasts that long.”

  Denise laid down a simple but difficult to avoid challenge to the politicians; “What are we going to do about it?”

  ###

  On Earth the rain forests, grasslands and wet areas such as the Great Lakes and the Rift Valley Lakes were threatened. A huge percentage of fresh water became salt as the oceans rose.

  “We’re with you, Hola, but we’ll need to get our act together. You can bet your sweet life that there will be any amount of opportunists waiting to push crackpot theories ahead and us to one side. They’ll be quick to point accusing fingers if they think we’re not 100% right first time. Don’t fool yourselves; the buck will be travelling so fast he won’t get a chance to take in the scenery but no matter how far and how fast he travels he will always come to rest in one of three places. On one of our desks.”

  “If the wrong type grabs control we can kiss our world goodbye.”

  “How do we avoid dealing with the opportunists, politicians and committees?”

  “I’m open to suggestion. That’s all the advice I can offer under the circumstances.”

  “Good,” said Denise, “Then I suggest we go public from the outset; shout our case out over that PA System they’ve rigged so that the public can be made aware of how diligently their representatives are working for them.

  We’re going to be accused of everything from cover up to fraud and named as the cause of all the troubles of those who have done nothing for years but sit on their hands.

  You’d better believe that if the cat has kittens we’re going to get the blame.”

  “Of course but they could be playing right into our hands; we request The Helmet of Justice in any injunction brought against us.”

  “I should think that not many would want to follow us down that road.”

  “Now will be the time to legally and finally annex Titan and Uranus and stop pretending we’re only carrying out minor experiments there. That will bring at least two scientists to the stand who would rather not be there. Nor ha
ve any light thrown on what they’re doing on Titan and Uranus; especially not in court.”

  The Restriction of Occupancy Act in regard to planets and satellites was only supposed to be so that the unoccupied planets were kept in a pristine condition but with what was happening now, that made no difference. The sun’s flares won’t recognize any Act of parliament nor keep worlds and satellites pristine.”

  “Brilliant Hola, that will silence a lot of rattling jaw bones. I’ve already had one or two approach me in the canteen this morning asking if you really are going to go through with this Helmet of Justice thing on Wednesday or not? I could see the wheels turn as several of them had a sudden change of heart.”

  ###

  The twelve members of the Security Council dressed in their ceremonial suits of office and each carrying his own helmet filed into court to the call of, “All rise.”

  Someone disturbed the silence with a cough and someone else dropped a pencil that made that peculiar woody sounds pencils make on a hard floor. One of the Security Councillors gave the court artist a stern look, “I know electronic recorders are not allowed because of the helmets but if your writing instruments are going to be a nuisance they will also be banned in the court precincts.”

  Legal representation was not required in these proceedings unless the accused waived the helmet of justice or if two helmets recorded collaboration.

  Hola entered through the high wooden doors at the back of the court and was waved to the witness stand, “You are Hola Amandla?”

  “Yes your honour; I am,”

  “Hola Amandla did you request the wearing of the helmet of justice in these proceedings?”

  “Yes your Honour.”

  “You are aware that this is not a case for judicial crime and punishment?”

  “Yes, your honour this is at my own request and in pursuance of my right as a citizen in order to retain my good name in the face of it having being besmirched by citizens claiming that I wish to unfairly enhance my standing in academia by exaggeration and/ or lies and consequently I am sowing fear in the population where no fear ought to exist.”

  “Correct. Take up the helmet of justice and place it on your head. Members of the judiciary place your helmets.”

  A twelve-hour long session of question and answer followed. One by one Scientists were called and either refused the helmet or were instructed to stand down after only a short period of questioning. Two were charged with outright perjury.

  Hola had earned the right to address the Security Council.

  ###

  “Members of the Security Council, the Planets of Solaria are facing the greatest challenge they have ever had to face. In fact, the challenges we are facing are nothing less than an apocalypse, a countdown to the end of Solaria, a very sensitive issue to all our worlds.

  Science, over time has taken into consideration any number of ways the end of our world could come about. From the very early days when atomic bombs were considered as being the most likely end to our world, to political infighting with a resultant number of small wars igniting wide spread destruction. To the possibility of a meteor or an asteroid strike being deemed as the most likely but up to now no one has given much thought to the source of our ending being the very source of our life.

  The least studied star of our galaxy is our own sun. Our astronomers have untold information about Alpha Centauri or Alpha Proxima or any of the other nearby stars but of Sol they know little….”

  Hola had their attention and she determined to keep it, “I know we can expect astronomers to give evidence but I also know that we will see many of them withdraw from testifying when they are questioned about our sun and regardless of what they say that will be because not many of the present day astronomers have spent time studying our star. Most of our astronomers believe we have little more to learn from our sun. They are wrong; we have barely scratched the surface of what we can learn from the sun.

  I do believe that the sun and its workings are going to become of paramount importance to us all in the very near future.”

  An indication of how well she’d had their attention was that not one motion for a meal break was put forward.

  ###

  “In order to better understand what we propose to do it will be necessary to understand the anatomy of the sun. The first thing we need know of the sun is that it does not burn in the sense that a fire in your hearth burns,” Jean-Paul began his briefing.

  “In the first place the sun glows because it is a ball of gas and within that ball of gas a process known as nuclear fusion is taking place. The process throws atoms together with such force that the single proton from each atom adhere to each other while the electrons shoot off like an opening shot in snooker or pool. The protons being mutually positive should repel each other but instead the force of them striking bonds them in the same way that that multi proton /electron atoms do.

  A new and more powerful force ready to attract free radicles comes into being and at the moment of attracting two negative ions a helium atom is formed.

  This is the opposite of what happens in an atomic bomb (fission) where the positive nucleus is shattered to release energy in the process.

  In fusion heat is generated by doubling the protons in the hydrogen atom and calling synthetically released electrons in to form a balanced number of electrons/ protons, and a new element – helium.

  However, the two electron, two proton atom releases a vast amount of heat in the process which because the number of atoms continually going through that process never cool down. This process carries on ad infinitum and the release of energy from our sun is sent to us in the form of heat and light.

  In greater detail, the actual energy use and dispersement is as follows: adherence of two hydrogen protons both positively charged and clinging together despite the disparity of magnetic fields radiates a massive release of heat energy. With only one proton for a nucleus a false helium atom forms and disintegrates almost instantaneously and once again an immense amount of energy is used in this process it heats up all the matter not already heated to equality including the atomic particles of all gases and solids in the sun’s body.

  At the same time the fantastic heat from the hottest part of the sun is causing other atoms to become different elements through instantaneous adhesion. The heat that grows from the core of our star works its way to the outside where it radiates into space to give us our familiar source of light and heat and, yes a radiant solar flare if the force on the surface of the sun is weak enough to release it almost altogether.

  It is said that the sun burns hydrogen; that’s not true the sun fuses hydrogen into helium. This fusion process eliminates the necessity for oxygen to be present. So the sun gives heat by a process of atomic friction rather than a process of burning.

  It can be likened to making a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Heat generated by friction causes the build-up and breakdown of matter changing atoms. They become hot; very hot but cannot flame because very little or no oxygen exists but the fusing atoms can heat gases and solids far beyond the point where ignition would normally take place.

  In the stick rubbing process the kindling burns because of ambient oxygen that allows fire while in the atomic process no fire can start but heat continues to build all the while. It glows brighter and brighter limited only because the heat and light at the sun’s surface get radiated into space.

  Knowing that; we intend constructing dampening equipment to track heat sources from their inception at the start of their journey of radiation and only allow moderate heat through.” Several scientists jumped to their feet to protest but Jean-Paul forestalled them with a raised hand, “Before you condemn our idea hear me out.

  We can identify any exceptional hot spots forming on the surface, that’s the easy part. What we have to do is build a reflecting screen, our own beach umbrella; if you like, as a
defence so that at the moment of breaking the surface excessive heat is already controlled.” A silence filled the great hall before a lone voice asked, “And you have no doubt that this will work?”

  “Oh I have doubts aplenty. We’ve had no time for experimentation but what I don’t doubt is that this offers us our best chance for survival.”

  “How do we filter excessive heat out?”

  “I see from your expression that you have answered that question almost at the moment of asking. The quick and simple answer to that is; consider a piece of shade cloth, the type used in backyard gardens.

  Ladies and gentlemen of the security council and litigants since no one has suggested it I propose that we adjourn for a belated lunch. Permission from the bench to reconvene at 1700.”

  ###

  Denice took the podium after lunch to present a prognosis.

  “The main concern is the construction of this reflector. Do we have time for it? The question we should ask is how much time do we have if we don’t build it?

  Starting with the last, I can only answer that by giving you our estimation of time left to Solaria when the sun in its march to being a white giant makes our Solar system too hot for us to live in and that could take anything up to a thousand to three thousand years or one giant flare could finish us tomorrow”

  “There you have it we obviously don’t have as much pressure on us as you would have us believe,” the biting voice of Lord Moncrief cut scornfully across the chamber.

  “You’re quite right sir, we don’t have as much pressure on us as we have led you to believe,”