(Picture from NASA, probably Hubble)
This is a story set one hundred and ten
trillion years after the Big Bang. A peek into the distant future. Some
deliberate echoes of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
The giant red globe of the sun hung over young
Omega’s head. That great orb filled nearly a quarter of the sky. Omega found it
hard to believe that the sun was a “red dwarf star”. Yet who was he to argue
with his elders?
A chill wind blew along the desolate beach. In the
distance, some giant crabs were on patrol, looking for a meal. Above the crabs,
some rowdy gulls were waiting to scavenge anything the crabs might leave.
Not much to report here. The usual dismal scene.
Nothing here to reflect the importance of these moments. Omega had seen moving
pictures of other planets, on which they had things called “days”. This particular
“Earth” here was “tidally locked” so that the same side faced the sun at all
times. The sun was always there, solidly positioned above Omega’s head. Here on the equator, they “enjoyed” maximum
warmth: yet it was not too much above the freezing point of water!
Mother appeared.
Mother: “We will be ready to start in ten Lunons,
Omega. I will call you then.”
Omega nodded. He gulped, nervously and mentally reviewed why this ritual was necessary. What had the elders said?
Oh yes. The Universe began 110 trillion standard years
ago with the “Big Bang”. It had expanded at an incredible rate. In those early
days the universe had teemed with stars like the sun. Most of those stars had travelled
together in great wheels and clouds called “galaxies”. Those galaxies had been
full of light and heat, and life!
Yet all that abundance had been before the
“Degenerate Era”, when the universe had thinned out so much that no new stars
were formed. The remaining stars had died and died. So now the sun above Omega
was the last known star.
They were about to enter the “Black Hole Era”, when
the universe would be dominated by Black Holes of course. After that would be
the “Dark Era”. Finally, about 500 trillion years after the Big Bang, the
universe would undergo “Heat Death”. Well, that was what Omega recalled from
his lessons.
What was bothering The Elders was the state of the
sun. It was foundering. Soon it would just blink into darkness. Before then,
the world would just get colder. A bleak prospect.
Mum reappeared. She ushered Omega to “The Circle”. The children were joining with the adults and Elders now. That central obelisk, encircled by the populace, was brightly lit. They all formed an unbroken chain.
Omega felt a great glowing from within. It was
happening! Warmer and warmer. Brighter and brighter. All of them shone and
flowed and coalesced. Then they each broke free and flew apart!
It was done! Every one of them had transformed into
a spirit energy being! Each was now a shining orb. So alive, and free from what
would have been a slow freezing death under the last dying sun.
Such joy. Eternal life achieved at last. None of
them had heard of our Earth. None of them was human. There were similarities with
us, but they were quite alien. Who cares. They were sentient beings who had
escaped the death of the last star, and ultimately the universe.
*******
Omega and his associates flew faster than light. Up
ahead there appeared a white pin-prick.
“A star!” exclaimed Omega.
“Not a star,” corrected Father, “It’s another
universe!”
That tiny white gem grew into a globe, until it
filled most of the “sky”.
Father: “Omega, you have a choice now. Most of our
people are going on to that universe. To a new life. But some of us are going
further first. We are going to take full advantage of this spirit form, and
travel out as far as we can. We are going to try to discover the truth about
Existence.”
Omega: “But how will you find your way back, Dad?”
Father: “We have established an unbreakable link
with our people. When we have completed our quest we will follow that thread
and return home. Are you up for it?”
Omega: “Of course. You only get a chance like this
the once.”
Father: “Good. Let’s go.”
All the goodbyes were made and the two parties went
their separate ways. For Omega, his odyssey began.
This time, they seemed to fly away even faster!
Another “star” appeared. Then another, and another, until the whole “sky” was
filled with a myriad of them.
Father: “Yes, son, you guessed: these are not stars
but universes. We are somewhere in the middle of a Multiverse. And we are
heading out!”
At some point Omega became aware that there was a
“boundary” to the multiverse. That the multiverse was some vast globe of
universes! Soon they were leaving that globe.
Before long they were looking
back at that circle his father called “The Multiverse”.
Then Omega became aware of another globe in the
distance. As they moved away, this second globe looked much larger than the
first. Like a sun and earth. But then other small spheres appeared: until there
were eight of them orbiting that “sun”. Omega’s multiverse was the third of
those eight from the “star”.
Father: “It’s an Oxygen atom, son!”
Omega: “What?”
Father: “That sun thing is the nucleus and its, er,
planets are electrons. Two in the inner shell and six in the outer. Classic
Oxygen.”
Omega: “Wow!”
They kept going. Soon they encountered more oxygen
atoms as they sped away from their own “atom”. They also encountered countless
Hydrogen “atoms”.
Father: “Water! We are in water! Lots of impurities
though.”
Their pace seemed to multiply. Nevertheless it took
ages. Eventually, however, they left what turned out to be a stream of water.
Falling to some unknown ground. Slowly but surely, though, a “figure”
materialised above them.
The realisation hit them all at once. Frozen in
“time” before them was, a little lad having a pee behind some bushes! And their
new universe was somewhere within that stream of urine.
Father: “I think it’s time for us to return home,
son.”
Paul
Butters
