Galaxies
In lieu of an update, considering that I'm currently deadlocked college-wise, I thought I might post a little piece I wrote up last week. It's a snippet that might get posted one day as part of a larger fic. Who knows?
This is the way the world ends, not in ice, but in fire. The universe dies, spiraling down into the singularity that birthed it, and with it go its children. This is the day that all things die.
For some, these last hours are spent in prayer. Others spend them in debauchery; an orgy of fire and blood and shouting through streets limned red by the impending doom. Many spend the end of days with those they love, clasped breast to breast as they await the final moment. And a few-a select few-spend the last days in pursuit of science.
The craft was large for the crew it held. It encased them against the storm raging without, cradling them within itself like a giant egg. Strange designs etched its surface, marking the presence of eldritch machinery grown into the very metal of the hull itself.
As worlds died about them, and the death-screams of billions of intelligent beings rose toward the heavens like a dreadful dirge, the small group of men and women sheltered in the hollow of the massive hull watched, and measured and learned. Through artificial senses, they savored the void about them; watched, as microwaves leapt screaming from the tortured vacuum; tasted the decay of atoms as they raced headlong into the dreadful mass; and felt the space-time about them tighten, as the universe crumbled inwards on itself in its final death-throes.
Closer and closer the craft crept towards the event horizon. Systems failed, one by one. The temperature rose, as overtaxed environmental systems crumbled under the strain. One by one, the scientists died. Finally, only two were left.
He looked at her with sad and weary eyes. The time for experiments was over, now. He had not expected to live so long-to face the coming end with the bitter knowledge that no other should know the secrets he had wrested from the cosmos in these last, terrible days. His defiance was over. All that remained was to face the end-the end, and what lay beyond.
He cradled the woman in his arms. For a moment, he felt a vast sense of appropriateness, at the thought that he would be the last man, and she the last woman ever to live. The next moment, he felt shame at thinking so.
Would it have been better, the man wondered, to die like Kell Mossa, immolated in antimatter fires as he drove his underground laboratory back towards the beginning of the world? Or was this the better death, to face, however futilely, the emptiness of the end?
“So,” said the woman. “It’s all over, now.” There were tears in her eyes, though her lips curved upward in a sad, winsome smile.
The man smiled back. “I’m afraid it is. It was all for nothing, wasn’t it?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t say that. Never say that. We did it for ourselves. We wanted to learn, didn’t we?”
The man nodded.
“And look what we’ve found! So many things we never knew-we could never know-not until today! It was worth it. It has to be worth it. Even if we’re going to die now, my love-even though there’s going to be nothing after this to learn what we’ve learnt-” Her voice quavered. “Everything we’ve ever wanted to know. That’s worth something, isn’t it?”
“I wish-” he began. He shook his head. “No.”
“Hm?” She stared up at him. “What do you wish?”
“Nothing. There’s no use wishing now, Galina.”
“There is all use in wishing now. We’re alive. Let’s do the things we do because we’re alive.”
“Including wishing for what we can’t have?”
She punched him, lightly, in the chest. “Especially wishing for what we can’t have.” Galina settled against his chest, cuddling her head into the hollow beneath his chin. “We have all the time in the world. Let’s not waste it pretending to be dead already.”
“All the time in the world?” He buried his nose in her hair. “A lifetime with you. I love you, Galina.”
She tilted her face upwards. “I love you too, Galen of Taa.”
They kissed. Moments later, the universe took them.
Readers of Marvel comics might recognise at least one of the characters featured here. The other...comes from somewhere else. I'm not telling now. Maybe later. :P
Anyway, that's all, folks. Until next time...
Ha.
This is the way the world ends, not in ice, but in fire. The universe dies, spiraling down into the singularity that birthed it, and with it go its children. This is the day that all things die.
For some, these last hours are spent in prayer. Others spend them in debauchery; an orgy of fire and blood and shouting through streets limned red by the impending doom. Many spend the end of days with those they love, clasped breast to breast as they await the final moment. And a few-a select few-spend the last days in pursuit of science.
The craft was large for the crew it held. It encased them against the storm raging without, cradling them within itself like a giant egg. Strange designs etched its surface, marking the presence of eldritch machinery grown into the very metal of the hull itself.
As worlds died about them, and the death-screams of billions of intelligent beings rose toward the heavens like a dreadful dirge, the small group of men and women sheltered in the hollow of the massive hull watched, and measured and learned. Through artificial senses, they savored the void about them; watched, as microwaves leapt screaming from the tortured vacuum; tasted the decay of atoms as they raced headlong into the dreadful mass; and felt the space-time about them tighten, as the universe crumbled inwards on itself in its final death-throes.
Closer and closer the craft crept towards the event horizon. Systems failed, one by one. The temperature rose, as overtaxed environmental systems crumbled under the strain. One by one, the scientists died. Finally, only two were left.
He looked at her with sad and weary eyes. The time for experiments was over, now. He had not expected to live so long-to face the coming end with the bitter knowledge that no other should know the secrets he had wrested from the cosmos in these last, terrible days. His defiance was over. All that remained was to face the end-the end, and what lay beyond.
He cradled the woman in his arms. For a moment, he felt a vast sense of appropriateness, at the thought that he would be the last man, and she the last woman ever to live. The next moment, he felt shame at thinking so.
Would it have been better, the man wondered, to die like Kell Mossa, immolated in antimatter fires as he drove his underground laboratory back towards the beginning of the world? Or was this the better death, to face, however futilely, the emptiness of the end?
“So,” said the woman. “It’s all over, now.” There were tears in her eyes, though her lips curved upward in a sad, winsome smile.
The man smiled back. “I’m afraid it is. It was all for nothing, wasn’t it?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t say that. Never say that. We did it for ourselves. We wanted to learn, didn’t we?”
The man nodded.
“And look what we’ve found! So many things we never knew-we could never know-not until today! It was worth it. It has to be worth it. Even if we’re going to die now, my love-even though there’s going to be nothing after this to learn what we’ve learnt-” Her voice quavered. “Everything we’ve ever wanted to know. That’s worth something, isn’t it?”
“I wish-” he began. He shook his head. “No.”
“Hm?” She stared up at him. “What do you wish?”
“Nothing. There’s no use wishing now, Galina.”
“There is all use in wishing now. We’re alive. Let’s do the things we do because we’re alive.”
“Including wishing for what we can’t have?”
She punched him, lightly, in the chest. “Especially wishing for what we can’t have.” Galina settled against his chest, cuddling her head into the hollow beneath his chin. “We have all the time in the world. Let’s not waste it pretending to be dead already.”
“All the time in the world?” He buried his nose in her hair. “A lifetime with you. I love you, Galina.”
She tilted her face upwards. “I love you too, Galen of Taa.”
They kissed. Moments later, the universe took them.
Readers of Marvel comics might recognise at least one of the characters featured here. The other...comes from somewhere else. I'm not telling now. Maybe later. :P
Anyway, that's all, folks. Until next time...
Ha.