The Dawn of Day - 1. Chapter 1 - The Dawn of Day

They looked at the horizon and watched the setting of the deep red sun.

“You told me of a kingdom that sank into the sea. You told me of the rise and fall of a nation, but you did not tell me of the first day of creation, the beginning of life on Sin,” the novice said.

“And God said, ‘Let there be light’. And God saw the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day,” the High Priest said.

The sun set and darkness settled in. They stood for some time, looking at the sky. The stars became visible.

“We measure time by the movement of the stars. The firmament is the keeper of time. It keeps the records of creation. The records are written by light. All creation is rhythm, a coming and going, like day and night, or the rise and fall of a nation, or the waves hitting the sand,” Ainesh, the High Priest, said.

“But how did life on Sin begin?” Vaajat, the novice, asked.

“And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day,” Ainesh said. “This happened in great antiquity. The god who brought light and the god who created the Sin people are not the same beings, however, but only the monks do know.”

The High Priest measured Vaajat gravely. “Imagine a being so vast and powerful, it could snuff out our sun as you would a candle between your fingers. Such beings exist. If the splendor of thousands of suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky, even that would not resemble the splendor of that exalted being,” he said.

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you nor these lords of men. Neither will there be a time when we shall not exist. We all exist from now on,” Vaajat replied, reflexively saying a prayer.

“I am death, the mighty destroyer of worlds. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light,” Ainesh said, his eyes fixed on the novice.

Vaajat opened his lips but closed them again for lack of a proper reply.

The High Priest entered a building, a temple built in ancient times, and turned back on the threshold. “How art thou fallen, shining one, son of dawn, star of the morning,” he said, his voice filled with doom. And then he disappeared into the corridor.

Vaajat stared after him. The torch lights blocked out the light of the stars and the flickering of the lamps created shadows, distorting figures, creeping up the walls and moving restlessly across the floor. A nameless fear, rising like from a bottomless pit, crept up his spine. Vaajat felt he had tapped on a secret that was as old as the cold and invisible serpent that was wrapping around and stifling his heart.

On August 23, 2046, the first interstellar spaceship was launched from Earth. The USS Explorer, equipped with an advanced EmDrive, proceeded towards the edge of the solar system. The warp drive was initiated after passing Mars. The crew, Commander Eric Johnson, Pilot Dave Young and Flight Engineer Brandon Moore had little to do while the ship moved to its target in the Kuiper belt along a pre-programmed course.

The men looked at their displays and the monitoring screens. The drop-out of real space had produced no alarms. The sophisticated board computer worked properly. No errors and failure messages occurred. The spaceship had left conventional space and traveled within a warp bubble, riding on a gravitational wave. The men on board of the ship never let their concentration slip, however, because too much was at stake.

Humanity had come far, habitats on Mars and the Moon had been erected in the previous decades, dwarf planets were mined in the asteroid belt, and spaceships traveled regularly between Earth and Mars and the Moon. Unmanned ships were sent to Planet 9 in the outbound region of the solar system and to the closest star system Alpha Centauri, four light years away from Earth. Plans were made to send manned ships with gravitational drives to exoplanets in the neighboring regions of space.

The speed of light was no longer a taboo since the Albucierre drives had been advanced. Huge distances could be covered when riding on a gravitational beam and shortening the space ahead of a ship and expanding the space behind it. A beam was a directed gravitational wave. Unlike a natural wave that was protruding in all directions, a gravitational beam connected two points, the starting point and the target point. The technology was very advanced. Some systems had to be perfected of course, like for instance the shields that protected the ships from gravitational waves coming from either a natural or an artificial source.

Space-time, the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time, usually considered a single four-dimensional continuum, was defined by the matter of the universe. Gravity, from this point of view, was a consequence of the warping of space-time. It was well known that any object with mass warped the space-time in its vicinity, changed the space-time fabric and influenced the movements of objects in space. For instance, a ball placed on the space-time fabric imagined as a two-dimensional sheet made a dent in the sheet. A marble rolling on the sheet would move towards the ball, fall into the dent and accelerate. Although it looked as if the ball attracted the marble, the marble, in reality, followed the only path the sheet allowed it to.

Gravitational waves were ripples of space-time itself. The fabric of the cosmos changed, stretched and expanded. And this naturally had an impact on the objects in space. A suddenly undulating two-dimensional sheet would change the position and movements of the ball and the marble. Space-time, however, was not a two-dimensional sheet. It was a single four-dimensional continuum. Gravitational waves thus did not only affect the three dimensions of space but also the dimension of time.

The mission was classified. The US had worked on the gravitational drive for almost thirty years. Interstellar space flight and colonization of an Earth-like exoplanet seemed imminent because the overall situation had worsened on Earth. Energy resources, oil and gas, had become scarce, and climate changes had become a major factor all over the world. Vast areas in Africa had rapidly turned into wastelands. The people fled as a result. War had never stopped in the Middle East. On the contrary, more and more countries got involved in a war that was mainly about the last oil and gas resources. The European continent was hit by a never-ending migration flow from Africa and the Middle East. Welfare systems had collapsed and governments had gone down. Many European countries were now ruled by military leaders. The situation and life conditions of hundreds of millions in Africa, the Middle East and Europe had deteriorated. As a result, Russia, China and the USA had closed themselves up. The three remaining fairly stable countries watched each other suspiciously, but none had the will or the means to attack the other. The Chinese had spent large amounts of money on developing and advancing their space program. They had erected habitats on Mars and the Moon in the previous years. Russia couldn’t quite compete and the US didn’t react, much to the surprise of the Chinese who became even more suspicious.

The US pursued a secret project. It was finally crowned with success. The mission target was an asteroid in the Kuiper belt. The flight was masked as a supply flight, but it was really about testing the new warp drive and preparing the first interstellar ship for a long distance flight.

The USS Explorer was based on the IXS Enterprise, a spaceship with an Albucierre drive that was designed as early as 2013 but had never been built. The sleek ship had two thick outer rings that generated the warp field and thus generated and controlled the contraction of space ahead and the expansion of space behind the ship. The space inside the rings was optimized for cargo, crew and equipment. The ship was a long-range ship.

The men looked at their displays and the monitoring screens. The sophisticated board computer worked properly. No errors and failure messages occurred. Hence, the immense gravitational wave hit the ship unexpected and unprepared. The USS Explorer tumbled through space until the board computer had stabilized the ship. The men, shocked to the core, checked the displays and monitoring screens. 112 seconds had passed since the gravitational wave had hit the ship. The cockpit was ringing with a multitude of alarms. The USS Explorer, carried away by the surge of the gravitational wave, had changed its location in time and space.

Captain Eric Johnson ordered drop-back into real space.

Vaajat entered the building and moved down the corridor that led to the assembling hall, a circular room in the center of the temple. The other priests and novices had already assembled. Vaajat sat down on a bench in the rear.

Tonight was a special night. It was the only night of the year when both suns would rise together in the morning in quick succession, rapidly illuminating the sky. This night would be totally dark with only the stars shining in the sky. The priests would pray the entire night for a happy return of the light. The Feast of Dawn was celebrated in the morning, a holy feast, as ancient as the Order of the Light, the order of the priests that had formed in the very beginning, in ancient times that were shrouded in mist.

Vaajat wanted to know how many years had passed since this mysterious beginning, but so far he had only learned that ages had gone by, that everything had begun in great antiquity. He was told that he had to be patient and that everything would be revealed to him at the proper time. He was still only a novice, although he had lived with the priests for almost six years. His father had sent him to the priests, saying he was too curious for the real world. Vaajat didn’t object. He was fourteen then and he had no interest in a peasant life that was the rule for most inhabitants of the planet.

Tonight was a special night. For the first time, he was permitted to take part in the nightly ritual, along with two other novices who had also joined the order six years ago. Vaajat fidgeted on the bench but froze when the wings of the main door opened.

Five men proceeded into the hall, the high priests of the first rank, Ainesh being one of them. They were dressed in long purple robes and each of them wore a golden crown. The men stopped by the altar in the center. A man placed a candle on it. The chime of a bell filled the hall and the torch lights on the walls went out as if by magic.

The priests rose from their benches, their eyes fixed on the five men by the altar. Vaajat followed their example. He stared at the scenery, fascinated.

“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you nor these lords of men,” Ainesh said into the silence.

“Neither will there be a time when we shall not exist. We all exist from now on,” the priests replied in one voice.

“Imagine a being so vast and powerful, it could snuff out our sun as you would a candle between your fingers,” Ainesh said.

“Such beings exist,” the priests replied.

“If the splendor of thousands of suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky, even that would not resemble the splendor of that exalted being,” Ainesh said.

A long silence followed. Wafts of incense filled the room and the temperature dropped. A crisp breeze was blowing through the hall. Vaajat looked around to find out about its origin, but it was too dark in the hall.

“I am death, the mighty destroyer of worlds,” Ainesh exclaimed in a dreadful voice and snuffed out the light of the candle.

The darkness in the room was complete and the temperature dropped even more. Vaajat sensed goose bumps on his arms.

“The stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light,” Ainesh’s doom-filled voice said in the darkness

“The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light,” the priests replied.

There was a long silence. The tension in the room was unbearable. Vaajat dared not to breathe. And then he winced when the five men at the altar raised their voices.

“How art thou fallen, shining one, son of dawn, star of the morning,” they shouted together, the shout immediately followed by the single blow of a drum, sounding like thunder, and accompanied by a deafening peal of bells. The sound was getting louder and louder due to the echoes reflecting from the walls.

Vaajat’s heart was beating rapidly. His ears hurt and his head felt like exploding. His body protested against the sensory tortures. With mere willpower, Vaajat suppressed the urge to puke on the floor.

Then the sounds stopped, all at once, from one second to the other. The silence in the hall was complete. It was almost more painful than the sound torture had been.

Ainesh spoke again, his voice now calm and devoid of emotions.

“Descending to Sin, the crown of heaven
Brightening the night with its illustrious light
A grand wheel of fire traversing the sky
Announcing the arrival of the glorious lords
A change of destiny, a blow of fate
The dawn of day on ancient Sin

Falling from heaven, flying high
The crown of heaven, crossing the sky
Majestic ship of the ancient lords
Sailing the sky, coming to shore
A change of destiny, a blow of fate
The dawn of day on ancient Sin

Roar of thunder disrupting the night
Announcing the lords to the new world
Falling from heaven, descending to Sin
The crown of heaven, the glorious lords
A change of destiny, a blow of fate
Kingdom come to ancient Sin”

“It happened in great antiquity,” the priests on the benches said.

And then the high priests by the altar and the priest on the benches started an anthem.

“It happened in great antiquity that their ship set ashore on Sin.”

“Their ship touched down on Sin’s shore.”

“It happened in great antiquity that the lords sailed the heavenly seas. The vast and wide sea.”

“The lords crossed the expanse of the deep.”

“It happened in great antiquity that the lords descended the crown of heaven.”

“The lords descended the crown to Sin.”

“It happened in great antiquity that the lords built their house on Sin. The House of the Lords.”

“God’s dwelling on untouched Sin.”

“It happened in great antiquity when Sin was still pure and innocent. In the time of The Transit.”

“In the time of the glorious lords.”

“In the time of the lords, the shining ones, the Sin people were formed; behold your creator. In the time of The Transit.”

“The Sin people took the crown from the hands of the glorious lords.”

“Shining morning star, how you have fallen from heaven! In the darkest of nights you fell.”

“You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.”

“How art thou fallen from heaven, son of the morning! In the darkest of nights you fell.”

“We will praise another glorious morning. Dawn is near, ending the rule of the fallen one.”

The wings of the main door opened and the light of a single torch fell into the hall.

The high priests left their place by the altar and left the room. The other priests filed out of the benches and followed suit. Vaajat was the last to leave the room. He turned back on the threshold and looked at the altar, wondering if he had had a nightmare, had witnessed a horror ritual or a piece of sickening madness.

The air outside the temple was fresh and brisk. The priests assembled on a rock platform not far from their temple. The men looked at the sky. Vaajat had often wondered if the special night was only about praying to the stars, but he now discarded the thought. It was all about a crown from heaven coming to Sin in ancient times when some glorious lords had ruled over Sin. Vaajat had no idea for how long they had ruled and why their empire had fallen in the end. He gazed at the black sky, feeling empty and drained. All he had hoped for, a life of wisdom and knowledge, had crumbled to dust during the night. He had heard only weird words and obscure songs sung by old men wearing golden crowns and purple robes. They were probably imitating the glorious lords, but Vaajat found the entire event resembled a play staged by bad actors in ridiculous costumes. Vaajat didn’t want to become like these men.

He stopped brooding when a faint light appeared on the horizon. The small red sun was rising. A few minutes later, the second sun rose above the horizon, a deep red disk, soon turning orange and then yellow and blocking out the light of the smaller sun. The priests cheered on the rising suns, the light that warmed their land and their hearts and illuminated the day and their souls. The priests sang songs of praise until the second sun was high in the sky. And then the priests and the novices returned to their facility where meanwhile the peasants had gathered.

Vaajat looked at the people who carried baskets filled with fruits and vegetables. He looked at the carts filled with firewood and cereals. He saw animals, cattle, poultry, and fish in baskets. The people had come to the monastery from all over the country, some from far away, some must have set out on their trip a couple of days ago, some in the dead of the night when the priests were praising ancient lords and a crown descending from heaven. Vaajat spotted his parents. His mother carried a huge basket on her back, his father led a well-fed calf, and his brothers and sister carried fruits in their hands. Those people had come from afar in order to sacrifice to their god, the creator of life, the god of love and mercy, the good shepherd and guardian. These innocent people sacrificed time and goods to the priests, some peasants would have a hard time in winter as a result, while the priests would live on the supplies for another year. These poor people sacrificed their goods to worshipers of madness. Vaajat felt disgusted. His stomach cringed and only with willpower, he suppressed the urge to puke on the floor.