To Mourn the Stars (Part 2 of 2)

Science-Fiction / 4000 words

PREFACE: Here’s the conclusion of my far-future spy story. That said, you will be seeing more of Ash & Cinder in the future—in fact, I already have a cool idea for their next adventure! Stay tuned for more news. Oh, and here’s Part 1 in case you missed it.

Part 2 of 2

After hours of hard work, Cindy had finally compiled a full list of names. She had placed businesses in a separate document so she could focus on the individuals.

She had sorted them alphabetically and was now going through them one by one, checking their records for anything unusual and especially looking for things they might all have in common.

One thing she noticed was how many of them had traveled through space. But the only thing they truly had in common was how little they had in common.

Some of them were scientists, others technicians, carpenters, plumbers, designers, architects, infrastructure maintenance supervisors...

She paused, staring at the list.

Where were the artists? The merchants? The factory workers? The...

There was something significant here, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Some of those professions were highly specialized, perhaps she should start there.

She transferred the lists to her wristpad, then clocked out.

It was time to visit some of these folks.

The first on her list was one Adan Ronick.

A woman opened the door.

“What is it?” she asked suspiciously. “Do I know you?”

Cindy smiled. “No, but I was wondering if I could have a word with Mr. Ronick. Is he home?”

The woman frowned. “Adan? Does he know you?”

“It’s about his work.”

“He retired two years ago!”

“I’d like to discuss one job he did, if he’s willing.”

The woman stared at her for a moment, then cracked the door open wider.

“Oh, if you want to try, after all...” She shrugged. “I suppose it can’t hurt. He always did love his work. Come on in.”

They walked down a small hall, then went through a door into a library. An old man sat there, reading.

“Adan!” she called out.

She had to repeat his name four times before the man finally looked up from his book, blinking.

“What? How? Where? Who is this?”

The woman shrugged as she glanced at Cindy.

“Can’t imagine you’ll get anything out of him, but you’re welcome to try.”

“Thank you.” Cindy walked closer and the man’s eyes focused on her. “Hello. My name is Clara Greene and I wonder if you’d be willing to talk about the work you did for Elias?”

“That bastard?” It was the woman reacting—not her husband, who just stared at them. “I hope he rots in Hell.”

“Why? What happened?”

“He had my husband work on a top-secret project... He wouldn’t even tell me about it, imagine that! He got only half the pay he was promised, and every day he’d come back home half the man he’d been before he left.”

Cindy looked between the two of them.

“How do you mean?”

“Look at him! All he can do is read. The same book, the same page, over and over again. Because he doesn’t understand it, nor does he remember having read it before.”

“Have you seen a doctor?”

“Have we seen a... Of course, we’ve seen a doctor! There’s nothing anyone can do for him. Adan’s brain is fried—damaged beyond repair. Whatever he did out there also made him age quicker. Look at him! He’s supposed to be forty-two.”

The man looked like he was in his seventies. Cindy had assumed he’d married a younger woman, but this obviously was not the case.

She tried asking him more questions, but all she got were blank stares and a bit of drool.

She spent the next couple of days reaching out to other people on her list. Each time she would learn the person was either dead or in a similar state of deterioration as Adan Ronick.

How could something like this not be spotted, or even mentioned in their files?

Cindy stopped wondering when she noticed they’d all had the same doctor...

A doctor whose name she’d seen on Elias’ payroll.

***

They’d been on Gantsia a full week when Ash and Cinder finally met up again—outside of Athanal, on the road to Elias’ house.

“What do you think is down there?” she asked.

“It has to be some sort of alien device,” he answered.

“Is that what he’s supposedly building for Gantsia’s leaders?”

Ashton frowned. “I think the boy is.”

“Lueck?”

He nodded. “He can read minds. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could control them, too. Which is what that device is supposed to do.”

“And Marietta created him?”

“Something like that. Maybe. It’s not clear, not even to him.”

“Huh.” They fell quiet for a moment. “Alright. So let’s say Marietta is an alien device and Elias used it to somehow make Lueck... How does this help us? We still need to take out that pig.”

“And then there are all those people who Elias got rid of—likely so they wouldn’t talk. How do they fit in?” He pulled up his wristpad and tapped on it. “Let’s see that list again.” He quickly scanned through the names and nodded. “There is a pattern here, I just can’t pick up on it.”

“I think the more specialized ones are the key. Infrastructure, architects... It’s like he’s building something.”

“A ship?”

“Possibly. But it feels like something bigger.”

“Bigger than a ship?” Ash now sounded puzzled.

“Well, yes, but don’t ask me what. I have no clue.”

“A space station?” She shrugged. “There hasn’t been one built in five hundred years, but that would be bigger than a ship.”

“So would a planet.”

He stared at her. “You can’t be serious!”

She highlighted one of the names—a scientist.

“This guy,” she said. “Look at his profile.”

Ashton pulled up the data and scanned through it, then threw her a startled look.

“Terraforming?”

“Indeed. And that guy’s dead, by the way.”

He pondered this for a moment.

“So, do we think Elias is using Marietta to help him build a world?”

“And possibly using the boy to force all those people into doing what he wants them to do. Or to erase their memories. Or both.”

“They seemed willing enough,” Ash pointed out. “And why make them sick if he can erase their memories?”

“Maybe the boy makes them think they are willing? As for sick, I don’t believe they are. It feels more like a mind wipe—something Lueck could have done. Presumably.”

Ashton looked toward the horizon, in the direction of Elias’ house.

“We need to know what’s down there, don’t we?”

Cindy sighed. “I think we do.”

***

It was a whole expedition.

They tried obtaining blueprints of the house first, but that proved impossible, as the data was stored on Elias’ highly secured private network. All other copies had been destroyed.

With some more digging, they pulled up geographical maps of the region. It was not much to go by, but it would help. And it did reveal a vital piece of information: the house was built on top of a large underground chamber.

Now that they had all the information they needed, Cindy quit her job in the accounting department... It was time to strike.

No one could go with them, as things had to be kept quiet, so they loaded the equipment they might need at the back of a glider and took off.

The trip was much shorter this way, and they soon landed in a scorched field a couple of miles from the house. The map had shown a cave nearby with tunnels that connected with the underground chamber.

They found it easily enough, but a metal door blocked it. A keypad on the stone wall taunted them.

“Damn it,” said Ashton.

“I bet they checked every tunnel leading to that place and secured them all. It’s what I would have done.”

“I was hoping Elias wouldn’t be so smart, but I guess we’re out of luck.”

Cindy grinned. “We could always blow a hole through it. Shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“It would set off an alarm, though.”

She tapped on her wristpad to bring up the map and studied it for a moment as it floated in the air before her.

“We could set explosives at every entrance point and schedule them to go off all at the same time. That might create enough chaos to get us through unnoticed.”

Ashton looked over her shoulder at the map and nodded.

“Worth a shot.”

Even with the glider, it took them close to an hour to get everything set up. They then sat back and waited for the fireworks.

When the sky lit up in a geyser of colors, they rushed through the blown opening and hid behind barrels.

It was a small cave that served as a storage area, with only one tunnel leading off from the northern wall. If anyone came, it’d be through there.

After five minutes and still nothing, they decided to risk it.

Walking close to the wall, they slowly headed toward the opening, listening to every little sound.

Voices and rushed footsteps echoed through the tunnels. They sounded distant, until they heard cries and running feet coming their way.

They stopped moving and leaned against the wall, melting with the shadows.

Soon, three armed men breezed past them, heading toward the cave they’d come from.

They waited a few seconds for the sound of footsteps to fade, then continued their trek.

When they reached a fork, Ashton looked at the map and pointed to the left. Without a word, they carried on.

Every time they heard sounds, they stopped and pricked up their ears. Only when they were certain no one was coming their way would they start walking again.

It took them ten minutes to reach their destination.

That was when things got ugly.

***

It was old.

It was lost.

It was alone.

Ten thousand years—if not more—had passed since the birth of its consciousness. Double that since the core of its being had been forged in the depths of a dying star.

It remembered everything.

The pains, the joys, the madness and chaos, the destruction...

Everything.

It came to this world out of boredom.

There was nothing special here... At least, there hadn’t been.

But things had changed.

Its presence had been noticed.

By a human, of all things!

Not that it cared either way.

Besides, what else could it have been?

The Yedeni were long gone. As were all other species. Only humans remained.

Why had they prevailed where others had failed?

It did not know the answer to that question.

This puzzled it.

Troubled it, even.

In its need to understand, it had allowed one of them to approach it. Had reached out, even. Established a connection.

The one named Elias wanted to save his people.

To save the universe.

He was a kind and generous being.

Not that it could have sensed otherwise. It knew too little about humans.

It agreed to help.

Not that it believed a human could save the universe.

The universe was beyond saving.

That much it knew.

But perhaps it would alleviate the boredom.

A child was needed. It would make a better conduit to communicate with the humans. It gave the boy as much free will as it could. A consciousness of its own, too. Because it understood, now, how such a thing could be.

The boy would not grow, but that was alright. It was not his purpose to grow.

The human, Elias, said he would need tools. No, that was not the word he used. People. Yes. He would need people to help him. But other humans could not know about this project. Not yet. They would not understand.

Of course they wouldn’t. How could they?

They were only humans, after all. It was no fault of theirs.

Its body shifted as it went down, into the earth.

There was darkness there. It felt comfortable.

It lay in the depths, waiting.

Until two other humans came.

It sensed them.

There were more all around, of course, but these two had a purpose. They sought its presence.

Again, its curiosity was piqued.

It would grant them an audience.

Because, after all, it still was bored.

***

Everything went very fast.

The underground chamber was filled with machines and equipment. But most of the space was occupied by a gigantic, translucent... something. Its shape constantly shifted, and within it there were stars. Scientists scurried all around the strange manifestation. But, most of all, there were guards everywhere.

Within seconds, Ash and Cinder were spotted.

Cries rang out and shots were fired.

They took cover behind a boulder.

A piercing shriek echoed through the tunnels, followed by a concert of screams.

Cindy looked over the edge and gasped.

The scientists were unharmed, but all the guards’ weapons had melted... along with the hands that held them. Bodies lay on the ground, trashing wildly in pain.

“What the hell?” muttered her husband.

“Come closer,” boomed a deep voice.

Scientists flailed their arms in panic, and many ran out of the chamber. The few who remained stood frozen, gaping at the fallen victims.

“This is insane,” said Ashton as he and his wife stepped out from behind the boulder and moved closer to the floating entity. “Is it really this thing talking to us? Is it talking to us?”

“We are,” responded the voice.

Cindy glanced at her husband, then back at the thing. She cleared her throat.

“Since we’re on the subject, what are you?”

“We are Maar-yehq’Tah. We are the essence of a god. Fed to the stars, he faded and we were released. Our being was captured, our form contained in a shell forged for us—for that alone could keep us from leaking, from dissolving, or from absorbing the stars around us. Then the Yedeni fed us suns and we were freed. We have roamed through space ever since.”

“The Yedeni?”

“They are the creators of all that is, was, and ever shall be.”

Ashton rubbed his neck as he tried to make sense of all this new information.

“Why are you helping Elias?” asked Cindy.

“Why would we not?”

“Because he is a despicable human being!”

“That is of little consequence to us. He amused us. For a little while. But we have grown bored again.”

“Can you at least tell us why he wants to create a new planet?” asked Ashton.

Silence fell in the chamber as the last scientists fled. Cindy wondered how long it would take before Elias was alerted. Would he come in person to see what was going on?

“It is a strange question,” finally responded the entity. “For there is no new planet, only an old one. This one.”

She glanced at her husband and saw from his expression that he was just as confused as she was.

“What?”

“The human Elias wishes to save his kin by making this world a better place for all.”

Ashton’s eyes went wide. But before he could respond, another voice rang out—calm and emotionless.

“He lied.”

Cindy looked up and saw a small boy standing at the top of the stairs that led to the house.

“Lueck!” cried out Ashton. “What are you doing here?”

The boy glanced at him, his expression blank. He shrugged.

“I felt you coming, so I came too.”

“What do you mean when you say Elias lied?” asked Cindy.

Lueck shrugged again. “I read it in his mind. He thought he could hide the truth from me—he couldn’t. Disdain fills his heart. He has no love for his fellow humans, only hatred and contempt. The only reason he wants to change Gantsia is so it could survive the coming end, so he could survive it.”

“Nothing will survive the end,” said the entity. “Not even we.”

The boy nodded without a word.

“What would make him think otherwise?” wondered Ashton.

“A story he heard as a child,” said the boy. “Of Edlahin. A mythical world. A perfect world. One with no disease, no disasters. Where no harm can come to humans.”

“There is no such place,” said the disembodied voice.

Again, the boy nodded. “Elias knows this. But finding Maar-yehq’Tah convinced him that if Edlahin doesn’t exist, it’s only because it hasn’t been created yet.” He pointed at the floating entity. “That with its help, he could make the myth a reality.”

“He is a madman,” muttered Ashton.

“However perfect the world he makes,” continued Lueck, “it will not be enough. Nothing will survive the end.”

“So he is not building a mind-reading device for the leaders of Gantsia?” asked Cindy.

“There is only me. He made me force men into slavery, to do his bidding. To make this world into what it is not. But there will be no leaders left by the time he is done. There will be no one left but himself and a select few.”

“That’s right,” said a cold voice that she instantly recognized. “It’s unfortunate you have learned this.”

Elias had arrived through a different tunnel. His eyes went from the boy to the still agonizing guards, then to Cindy. He frowned.

“I’ve seen you before. You work for me.”

“Not anymore, I don’t. I quit a few hours ago.”

He looked her up and down. Sneered.

“Pity. I could have done something with you.”

She saw Ashton tense next to her, but stopped him with a squeeze of his arm.

“No. I’m the one who would have done something to you. And I guarantee you wouldn’t have enjoyed it. I might still do it, come to think of it.”

The creep squinted. “Who are you?”

Ash took a step forward. “We’re the ones who will take you down.”

That made him laugh.

“Oh, really? You and what army?”

Cindy pointed at the squirming guards.

“It’s not like you have much of one left yourself.”

“Be quiet, woman. The men are talking.”

That was it! The last drop. Elias hadn’t even deigned to look at her while he said that.

She lifted her hand and shot her phaser at him.

The man let out a sharp cry as he fell to the ground.

“Cindy! We still need answers from him.”

She snorted. “We were asked to neutralize him, I neutralized him. But don’t worry, he’s just stunned. He’ll come around.”

Noticing movement from the corner of her eye, she turned her head and saw Lueck had come down the stairs. He now stood underneath the entity, with both hands held up as if to touch it.

Ashton called out: “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, kid.”

The boy continued his gesture, ignoring the warning.

His fingers went through the blurry edge.

“I can see it all,” muttered Lueck.

“All what?”

“Everything. How it all started, how it will all end... the past, the present, the future...”

Cindy frowned as she looked up at the shifting stars at the center of the chamber.

“How is this possible?”

“You forget our nature,” said the entity.

“The essence of a god? Surely, you jest!”

“There is no jest, only certainty.”

Before anyone could say anything further, the blurred contours shifted and expanded, more stars filling the space, until it engulfed everything and everyone.

***

One second they’d been in an underground chamber, the next they were floating in space.

Aside from each other, all they could see around them were stars. They were everywhere—some brighter than others. Some were young, some were old, but all were dying.

Ashton wondered how they could breathe out here, until he realized they were inside the entity. It was obvious from the blurry spots around them.

“Where is Elias?” asked Cindy.

“We have sent him where he belongs,” said Maar-yehq’Tah. “He now rests in the heart of a sun. He will not lie anymore. Or breathe.”

“Well, there go our questions,” muttered Ash.

Lueck looked at him.

“What more is there to ask?”

Ashton thought about that for a moment, then shrugged.

“Nothing, I suppose. But what will happen to his project now?”

“It dies with him,” replied the entity. “As well it should. There is no possible escape from what is to come. We entertained his delusions out of boredom and pity, but he deceived us. This had to cease. Now we must return to our boredom. There is nothing left to do but await our extinction.”

“I hope you don’t plan to leave us out here?”

“You would surely die. That is not our purpose.”

“Then why are we here?” asked Cindy.

There was a long silence before the voice returned, filled with sorrow and weariness.

“We envy your short lives, humans. You will not see the end. You will pass before the stars peter out of existence. Before galaxies expand to the point of rupture. Before all sentient life vanishes without a trace, as if it had never existed at all. You will not know the void—the emptiness, the loneliness—as shall we. Only then shall we vanish in turn. Only after there is nothing else left, no place for us to go. Only then shall we finally be granted this eternal sleep that we so crave. We envy your short and painless lives indeed... Yet we thank you for believing, for hoping, for fighting, for living. You are a resilient species. You have come much further than any would have guessed.”

Ashton had never been impressed by his fellow humans and their constant tendency to wage war, to destroy the worlds that welcomed them, to covet power and riches, or to oppress the weak. Still, he was touched by the entity’s words and could see his wife was as well.

“As for why you are here,” continued the disembodied voice, “it is to show you what humans too often forget. There is beauty all around you, despite the agony of the stars. Cherish it while you can, for it is all you can do.”

Ashton blinked, and reality shifted.

He now sat in the glider, next to his wife.

“What just happened?” she asked.

“I... I’m not sure.”

“Maar-yehq’Tah is gone.”

They both jumped and looked over their shoulders.

The boy, Lueck, was there, staring at them.

“What are you doing here?” asked Cindy.

“It gave me to you. For safekeeping.”

“What?”

“There is no place for me on Gantsia, but I could help you with your work.”

Cindy sighed. “I don’t know that it’s a good idea, but I don’t suppose we can leave you here.”

With a few taps on the console, she set the glider off toward their ship.

Their mission here was done.

It was time to go home.

Ashton glanced up at the stars, wondering where Maar-yehq’Tah was now, and where it would go next...

Want to read more of my Science-Fiction stories? Check out these titles, if you haven’t already:

• Everlife – Chapter 1 (the opening to my debut novel—a Science-Fantasy adventure)

• To Tame a Wild Sea (sirens from myths of old live on a world forgotten by all)

If you enjoyed this story, please feel free to forward it to your friends or to share it on social media.

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Thank you!

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Text (c) 2022 by Alex S. Garcia.

Header: royalty-free stock images, edited by me.

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