#8 – Atris Parkell
So far in the future that the human mind cannot readily conceive of it, the universe will be largely empty. The hotter, larger stars will burn out, the galaxies will slowly depopulate, and all that will be left will be the black holes and the red dwarfs.
Known by astronomers to be the longest-lived of all stars, red dwarfs potentially have lifespans that are longer than the current age of the universe. When this universe ends, they’ll be the last to go.
Whatever intelligent life still exists at this time will likely cluster around these stars, building amazing structures to catch every last bit of solar energy they can in a desperate bid to sustain their civilizations just that much longer. But as long-lived as these stars are, they’re not immortal. One day, even the red dwarfs will fail.
The star Delta-b Cygnus hosted a large and busy civilization, long-descended from humans. When its starkeepers decided that its life was at an end, they set loose the diaspora. Ships left in all directions, each one hoping that they would somehow come across another inhabited star somewhere in the vast, empty universe.
Atris Parkell captains the Nightfinder, a legacy ship that spent years journeying through trans-luminal space to find a new home. They finally found Alpha Aurelius, a star trapped in a web of advanced technology. The residents of Aurelius were more than happy to take in the travelers, but they did so without revealing some very important information…
About the Author (Author Profile)
I'm a teacher and a writer living in Osaka, Japan, and will be doing this project concurrently with my NaNoWriMo project.Subscribe
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