The Dawn of Day - 2. Chapter 2 - The Dawn of Day

Captain Eric Johnson’s hands clung to the arms of his chair. “Any idea of our location in space?” he asked after the gravitational wave had subsided.

“The computer’s processing the data,” Dave Young replied.

“A very powerful gravitational wave seized the ship, source unknown,” Brandon Moore said. “Our ship’s gravitational beam was weak in comparison. Our ship rode on the gravitational wave for 112 seconds.”

“I don’t think two neutron stars collided in the vicinity of Mars,” Eric said. “I can only imagine a hostile attack. Someone produced a gravitational wave and changed the fabric of the cosmos.”

“The computer’s comparing the relative positions of star constellations to determine our position in space,” Dave said. “It will only work, however, if the ship got not swept far away in time and space.”

“The computer has just determined the ship’s position in space. In all probability, we’re close to the star system 55 Cancri,” Brandon said.

“That’s roughly forty light years from Earth,” Eric said, shaken. “The wave carried the ship forty light years away in only 112 seconds. This could mean big time effects also. Are you certain we’re in the proximity of 55 Cancri?”

“We’re very close to the star system,” Brandon said. “We’re actually on the edge of the system. The sensors are getting data from the asteroid belt.”

Star system 55 Cancri was a binary star system with a yellow sun-like star and a smaller red dwarf. Nine planets orbited the G-type star. Five planets had been detected a century ago, the other four in recent decades.

“Return to Earth should pose no difficulty,” Dave said. “A tight gravitational beam should take the ship back in a couple of months. We have enough supplies in our cargo holds, the provisions bound for the platform in the asteroid belt.”

“The computer found no malfunctions of hardware and software. Initiation of the gravitational drive should work out,” Brandon said. “Do you realize this is the first interstellar trip undertaken by humans?”

“It’s not exactly like I imagined it,” Dave replied.

“Now that we’re here, we could also take a look at the planet they detected in the habitable zone last year,” Eric said. “The sixth planet, named Harper after the scientist who discovered it, is considered a candidate for life as we know it, a rocky planet, mass and size similar to Earth’s, the orbital period 390 days and the atmosphere containing oxygen. We should not miss this chance. Let’s study the planet for a couple of days before we go home.”

The others agreed after a short discussion.

The USS Explorer entered the foreign star system and proceeded towards the rocky planet. The first good images were coming in. The computer sent them to the front screen. They saw a blue marble in space, a water world with only one continent in the equatorial zone.

“Not a good place for colonies,” Dave said. “The landmass is small.”

“The planet could serve as a stop-over for deep spaceships,” Eric said. “The atmosphere contains less oxygen than Earth’s but the human body will adapt to the lower level.”

“The landmass is almost entirely covered by vegetation,” Dave said. “I think the big patches of green are vast forests. What else could they be?”

“This is a major discovery,” Brandon said. “We have discovered alien plants. What else is there to discover? Let’s have a closer look from orbit.”

The USS Explorer went into orbit. The ship’s sensors scanned the planet. The scans focused primarily on the single continent. The computer processed the incoming data and sent the results to various displays and screens.

“Vegetation, coastal shores, and an unexpected anomaly,” Brandon said excitedly. He sent an image to the front screen. “What do you think? I think this area looks like the ruins of a city.”

The area definitely looked like the ground plan of a city. The image showed vertical and horizontal lines, streets possibly.

“Incredible,” Eric said. “Dave, check on the values of the planetary conditions again. Can the ship descend into the atmosphere and go back to orbit without difficulties?”

Descent to a lower flight level posed no problem. The USS Explorer completed another full orbit and then started its descent. The ship arrived over the continent at daytime, early afternoon in the area with the anomaly. High-resolution images were coming in. No doubt remained. They had found evidence of a former city, a city that had long gone to ruins it seemed.

“Their signals are either so sophisticated that we can’t detect them, or there’s simply no one down there. From how the place looks, I think it’s deserted and was left long ago,” Eric said, nodding at the image on the screen.

The image showed the remains of a medium-sized town, the buildings were broken and ruined, many looked crumbled and torn down. The ruined state of the buildings was probably the result of weathering, although the view reminded the men of a war zone, a devastated place after a missile attack.

The computer had marked more spots on the images as possible artificial structures, scattered in a small area north of the town.

“These could be the remains of villages,” Brandon said. He pointed at a marked spot. “This is the biggest settlement.”

A zoomed-in image showed what looked like a large stone building surrounded by smaller ones. The buildings looked also decayed.

The men returned their focus to the image with the town. They searched for artificial signals with different technologies, but no signals came from the planet and none of their queries was answered. It seemed that whoever had lived in the town on the ground had either long passed away or left the planet.

“See here,” Brandon said, sending another image to the screen. “This looks like an old airport, a runway and the ruin of a tower. The civilization had aircraft. This town is the only place that points to an advanced civilization. Was it the only town on the planet?”

“It’s not an airport. It’s a spaceport,” Dave said. “And the planet was probably a stop-over for alien spaceships.”

“Where did they come from and where did they go? Who built this town?” Brandon asked. “That’s what I’m interested in.”

“That’s what we’re all are interested in,” Eric said. “And we’ll find an answer. We won’t miss this opportunity to find out more about the extraterrestrials. Let’s scan the old spaceport thoroughly and find out if we can land the ship and launch it again to orbit.”

They performed a detailed scan of the area.

“Landing and take-off are possible without difficulties,” Dave said. “The runway looks surprisingly well-preserved. I’ll have the computer program a landing and a take-off vector.”

“A well-preserved runway bothers me,” Eric said. “How can it be?”

“The winds possibly,” Dave replied. “The sensors measure constant winds in the area. The runway is ideal for touchdown and take-off. What do you think?”

Eric thought it over. “Okay,” he said finally. “We can’t miss the chance. We’ll land the ship. Have the computer determine the optimal vector for landing.”

The USS Explorer touched down at nine in the evening, local time. A slight wind was blowing, but it didn’t affect the landing. The ship came to a halt at the end of the runway. No problems occurred. The men didn’t leave the ship at once. They stayed on board for thirty hours, analyzing the data that the ship’s sensors were gathering.

Vaajat spent the entire afternoon with his family. The joy of seeing them after one year made him forget his grudge and disgust. They were sitting at a long table and feasted on the goods the people had brought. The priests sat scattered about at various tables, talking with the peasants and praying with them. Weddings were held and many young children were anointed with oil by the priests. The sun was already low when the priests and peasants sang together the final song of praise. After that, the peasants departed. Many had a long way to go, many would spend the night in the houses and stables of others. It was a common ritual on this day of the year. None of the peasants was allowed to stay within the monastery. The facility closed its doors to the peasants in the evening. Then the priests would go and pray. This was at least what they told the peasants and what these innocent people believed. Truth was, they carried the goods to the stores and then had an opulent meal cooked from the fresh goods the peasants had brought.

Vaajat watched his family. They walked down the narrow path. The departure had been tearful. Vaajat wiped a tear from his eye. Finally, he turned back to the emptied yard. As soon as the gate closed, a hurried frenzy broke loose. The priests grabbed the baskets with fruits and vegetables, the bags with cereals, the cages with poultry and the ropes around the necks of four-legged animals. Everything was carried or dragged to the stables and stores. A high priest shouted, giving harsh orders to the younger priests and the novices.

“Now will you move your feet,” an older man shouted at Vaajat and slapped him on the back.

Vaajat grabbed a basket filled with bread and fruits and flung it on his back. The yellow sun had set meanwhile and torch lights illuminated the place. Vaajat hurried towards one of the stores but then stopped short and stared at the gate. A wing was partly open. A priest shooed a dog outside, turned his head at a shout out of the darkness, then threw the door shut, turned the key and hurried into the night. The man had forgotten to pull the key. Vaajat’s heart was racing and he sensed a wave of panic when a thought seized his mind. Hesitatingly, he continued his way to the store, but then, almost against his will, he made a U-turn and ran towards the gate.

He turned the key with trembling fingers, opened the door wing and slipped through the gap. Vaajat was barely able to breathe, guilt already wallowing up, but his feet moved on and he ran down the narrow path, barely seeing the way his feet took. The small red sun was still up and shed a little light, barely enough to see the way. Vaajat moved on and soon lost track of time. He heard noises now and then, directly ahead, peasants moving along the path on their long way back to their homes. A few individuals carried small lamps, the only light they had to follow the path. Vaajat was tempted to join the groups, but he was dressed in his novice’s clothes, a long yellow robe and crude sandals made of leather. The peasants would immediately know that he had run from the monastery. Vaajat doubted that any of them would want to help him, too big was their fear of the high priests. He had not encountered his family. They must have taken a different path at a crossroad. Vaajat moved on, leaving the path whenever he heard a group walking ahead. He moved cautiously through the meadows instead.

He sat down finally, completely exhausted. He had run for almost two hours, concluded from the position of the red sun, but he was still close to the monastery. Vaajat decided to eat and move on. He should keep going all night to have a head start before the priests would look out for him in the morning. They would not miss him tonight. There was too much frenzy inside the monastery walls, storing the goods, cooking the meals, feasting for hours, and then sleeping fast and long with their bellies stuffed and their minds dazed with wine.

Vaajat pulled a piece of bread from the basket and chewed on it, staring at the small red sun. He winced and the bread dropped from his hand when he saw a fire in the sky, a bright light racing across the nightly firmament. Fear overwhelmed Vaajat at the distinct sign. The small red sun was falling down. The end of the world was near. The destroyer of worlds had come.

“How art thou fallen, shining one, son of dawn, star of the morning.” Vaajat heard the shout of the priest in his head. The words echoed in his mind and grew louder and louder. All the while, the fire was racing across the sky.

Vaajat turned his head when he glimpsed a red light to his right. The small red sun was where it was supposed to be. Vaajat’s eyes flicked back to the light crossing the sky. And then a thunder, like the single blow of a gigantic drum, hit his ears and Vaajat screamed in agony, tears running down his face.

“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,” Ainesh’s doom-filled voice said in his head. “I am death, the mighty destroyer of worlds. 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,” Vaajat replied the words he heard learned only a couple of hours ago during the nightly ritual. A ritual of madness, he had thought. What a fool he had been! The priests had spoken the truth and he had not heard it. What a fool he was! He had run from the only people who held the knowledge of old and the things that were to come in the future.

“In the darkest of nights you fell,” Ainesh said in Vaajat’s head.

“In the darkest of nights you fell.”

“In the darkest of nights you fell.”

The words echoed in his mind endlessly. Vaajat screamed into the night.

And then the voice in Vaajat’s head fell silent, the echoes faded away and the fire in the sky disappeared into nowhere.

Vaajat stared at the black sky that was barely illuminated by the faint light coming from the small red sun. Everything was quiet. Everything was normal again. It was a fateful illusion. Vaajat had witnessed the evil lords’ return. He had witnessed the dreadful event that the monks were afraid of.

“Bright star, would I be steadfast as thou art. Thy black is fairest in my judgment’s place
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. Too soon returned to Sin!” Vaajat whispered a prayer that he had learned from Brother Kheti.

Tears welled up in his eyes. Vaajat wrapped his arms around his body and sobbed until every tear had dropped and his body felt weak and his mind was empty and drained.

Finally, he rose to his feet, flung the basket on his back and stumbled on in the direction the heavenly light had taken.