James Scotson - Planets Falling

“Hello Melat.”

The voice was familiar. How was it possible to speak in this place?

“Melat, my darling, you’re about to get your wish.”

She turned. How could she turn? She didn’t have a body. In the void stood Fromer. He was strange to her. His features were transformed. The human and zenat qualities no longer competed for attention. Rather, they melded flawlessly. He was no longer a living contradiction but an extension of life itself. Joy seemed to radiate from him.

He laughed freely, openly. The sound was an open ocean inviting her to step in. She muttered in her own impossible voice, “Fromer, how are you here?”

“An old friend showed me the light. All I had to do was jump in.” He smiled, putting his hands together as if he was going to dive. “In a sense, you’re taking the plunge as well. Where you’re going is complete freedom. You can choose it for selfish purposes. Or you may embrace it and find your salvation. It’s your choice no matter where you go. That’s the whole point of it. Freedom.”

“Fromer, I like the cryptic connotations as much as the next girl. But I’m busy annihilating a planet and blasting myself across all of space-time. What on earth are you doing here? Or am I hallucinating?”

Fromer took her hand. “All I’m here to do is convey that no matter what form we take or where we go, we are imbued with self-will. You’ll have to choose your path. It is the beauty of life.”

“That still doesn’t help me.”

“I doubt if the being you met during those missing moments on the Raven — recall when you reversed time and wandered with it — gave you a choice. Taking the Raven permanently into infraspace was your only option, it said. The creature offered you eternal peace in return. Well, it succeeded in getting you to follow him but the reward won’t be waiting for you. You’ll still find yourself at a crossroads. Perhaps not at first, but it will come. The answer is in your soul.”

She laughed. “Actually, I made the choice myself. I needed to get away from my life. Living means nothing to me. I made the decision years ago. It was you who helped push me along.”

Fromer frowned, looking sadly at Melat. “Life’s everything, not nothing. I’ll see you again soon. Until then, enjoy the ride.” He released her hand, turned and walked into a glowing portal. It dimmed and he was gone.

She felt the Raven jolt forward and the drop began. With no destination, it would never stop dropping. In that void, Melat had an eternity to consider Fromer’s words.

Iggy manned the helm while Gorian frantically tried to locate their stranded crewmates. They marveled as an immense power fluctuation appeared on the shuttle’s sensors — a clear sign that the Raven’s quantum drive powered up. They remained silent and stared at their consoles. In fact, Gorian was unsure whether Iggy’s communication interface was working properly. His speaker crackled occasionally, but he uttered no words while they searched the flat, infuriatingly foggy plain where the crew was last contacted.

“Ig, I see something at these coordinates. Let’s head there.”

He banked the shuttle and shot the vessel toward the location — a small valley cropped by scrawny shrubs. Gorian scanned the bottom. No sign of humanoids.

“Dead end, Ig. Let’s increase altitude and hover.” She paused and smacked her forehead. “Wait. I completely forgot about the drones. Verat was holding drone three stationary above them. It should be able to tell us exactly where they are.”

She linked into the tech center back at camp and within seconds the coordinates streamed to her. “Iggy, get going. We have no time.”

The shuttle sped forward and within moments they could see three specks in the haze. Iggy dropped the vessel steeply and landed silently next to Grey, Minns, and Fen. The hatched opened, Fen was tucked into an emergency capsule, and they rushed up the gangplank. The shuttle door closed behind them and the ship lifted with a slight whoosh.

They ascended nearly vertically when the gravity sensor began flashing. The shuttle shuddered and decelerated.

Gorian groaned. “The planet’s gravity is jumping. The Raven must be dropping. Iggy, our only option is to fire the ion thrusters now. They might give us enough velocity to escape. This is going to hurt.”

Iggy flipped a switch and the shuttle lurched. Minns and Grey fell back onto the floor. Gorian held on to her chair. The acceleration pulled their skin back. Gorian’s head felt like it would split open.

The haze thinned and stars appeared. “We aren’t clear yet. Iggy, is there any juice left in the thrusters?”

He nodded slightly, pressed a button, and they were in open space.

The rear view screen activated. Nine had faded at its center, as if a dark storm appeared on its milky brown surface. The clouds began swirling clockwise around the spot. Flashes of light appeared all over.

“The lights — that’s the friction of the air as it is pulled down into the singularity,” Gorian muttered.

On the surface, boulders, lakes, entire hillsides were blowing through the sky. Within the collapsing debris, a small plaque swirled toward the rift. An inscription on it said:

Planet C9: Dedicated to my son Grey Ferris Commons and the founders of the Terra Institute. May you find your dreams here.

From the shuttle, the crew watched in fascinated horror as the planet faded. It thinned into a waxy haze — stars were visible behind it. And then it was gone. It had taken less than fifteen minutes for a planet to be sucked out of existence.

“What happened to everyone else?” Grey asked.

Gorian walked up and hugged him. “I’m sorry about Verat.”

Minns stared blankly at the viewscreen.

They slept. The shuttle exhausted its power reserves to escape Nine and was now only able to provide heat and recycled air. They had to accept Grey’s assurance that help would come when the Platform staff realized that contact with them ceased and that Nine was lost.

Without the vanished planet to anchor them in space, they drifted toward the local sun. As they fell toward the star, it would become more difficult for searching ships to find them. The shuttle generated very little power and would be barely discernable against the backdrop of radiation in space. The mood turned from concern to dark gloom.

Fen clearly needed medical help that was unavailable on the vessel. Minns slept constantly, rolled in a compact ball on her cot. Gorian attempted to devise a makeshift beacon, without much luck. Tools and parts were scarce on the shuttle. Most of the supplies were sucked down along with the planet. Grey stared out the window thinking of his father and Verat. Gorian occasionally exchanged worried looks with Grey, but they seldom spoke. Iggy slipped into another dormant state. He hadn’t conversed since the previous day. Gorian kept Iggy’s spray bottle full for him.

Provisions were not a concern in the short term. The shuttle was loaded with food and water for a much larger crew. When not sleeping, the crew picked at an array of compact, condensed food and drinks. Grey adopted a guilty fondness for the grey slime that Iggy called nourishment. Next to the notion of surviving perpetual isolation until they burned in the star’s corona, their primary problem was boredom. Shuttles were meant for trips of short duration, so entertainment was not a critical feature. Gorian had brought a data tablet with music and a few games. Fen, Gorian, and Grey hoarded their time on the gadget. Even Minns took an occasional turn. Fen looked frail but his spirits were loftier than those of his companions. Gorian and Grey appreciated his good humor. Minns could care less.