Vapid Sun Chapter 1: Disintegrating Realities

It is an abomination for sentient beings to see the decay of their celestial bodies. Humanity experiencing the crumbling sun and the surrounding system evaporate into a deeper nothingness is an atrocity on the highest level. Like a parent burying their child. It’s a nightmare. The decaying solar source is matched with an invasion, ships using the chaos of the system to conquer the third rock from the sun.

                The city Fadedron has a perfect view of the apocalypse. The morning sun is a mourning sun. The sun decaying like leper. The city being bombarded by missiles and lasers. The radically shifting gravity waves effect the earths crust and the spacecraft. The invading force moves with the waves. They, experienced like a 90 cannoned shipping vessel at sea with an experienced admiral at the helm make their movements of destruction on the only plant in the system to give birth to life.

Dr. Namien Kaladuron VI—Dr. Kal for short walks with a sure step in the galaxy of chaos. Followed by a team of hand chosen and believing expert experts he makes his way to the cryo-prison with his team. The team following a certain route with a certain leader. When they get to the cryo-prison Dr. Kal sighs, and the nurse asks,

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

With stern calculated eyes he looks at Elisimia, a health professional, and says,

“I know him, he’ll get the job done.”

“Even after all he’s done?”

“I called him friend once…regardless , when given a mission, he completes it. It’s at his core to complete it.”

Dr. Kal clenches his jaw knowing he is about to release an old personal demon. He hovers his access card over a slick curved fob and a computer voices asks,

“Clearance Secret or high required to open prison.”

Dr. Kal a calm in the end times says,

“Clearance level Royalty.”

“Please but eyes in reader.”

He bends over and it scans his eyes,

“Access granted.”

The door opens. The small team of Dr. Kal’s experts and academic acolytes walk into the cyro-prison. The sight of numerous, sleek and numbered black pods—containing murderers, rapists, terrorists, and others convicted of horrible crimes—tighten the team’s fear despite the current solar apocalypse. Dr. Kal makes his way to a podium.He presses a button illuminating the large sanctum of the cryo-prison the light doesn’t make the team feel safer. Then he presses a few numbers and the pods move around on one of the top levels.

The pods locked in place hanging from mixed ceramic and metal hooks still shake from outside predicament but after a shockwave on N level Pod 790 N unlatches and descends from the height. Everyone watches as it starts from high above and glides to the place they stand. The closer the pod comes, the more the team steps back.

The computer, unconcerned about the state of the solar system, asks,

“Prisoner 717 HV is a level 9 convict. Top Secret or above clearance is required to awake convict before sentencing has been served.”

Dr. Kal says,

“Clearance authorization, Royalty.”

He places his hand on the panel, it scans his hand.

“Access granted.”

When the pod is in front of the team, a button on the closest side reveals itself on the surface of the pod. Except for Dr. Kal, the entire team shuffles back, almost more afraid of the person in the pod then the apocalypse outside. Dr. Kal looks around the dimly lit cryo-prison at the other pods shaking in the midst of the solar destruction. He takes a deep breath and looks at his team. They prepare for the convict awakening. Dr. Kal presses the button.

When he presses the button a holographic countdown pops up above the pod. Dr. Kal motions for Dr. Zevels to move forward and to be ready to handcuff the prisoner when he wakes up. Zevels moves closer with trepidation. When the countdown is complete, the once opaque texture turns translucent, revealing all the tubes and connection points as they release from High General Zander Valmusion.  

The prisoner’s eyes open and he gasps for air—having been in a cryo-prison for years—squirming as he mentally adjusts to the present reality instead of the cognitive prison he’d been banished to. Before the pod opens a holographic failsafe program presents Dr. Kal with a final question,

‘Are you sure you want to release High General Zander Valmusion?’

Without hesitation he presses yes. The pod begins to open. When High General Valmusion finds equilibrium, he turns to see the group staring at him. But the quite moment is interrupted by convulsions erupting in his being. His stomach having its own apocalypse and communicating with his throat to eradicate the fluid in his system. With the third dry heave a deluge of prison cryo-fluid spews onto the floor. Affirming the rumors of prisoners suffering from Waking Syndrome. Almost embarrassed of his involuntary outburst, he gathers himself. The team look on in an elixir of confusion, disgust, and fear.The man they’d heard horror stories about was waking up from his slumber. Zevels, a strong man, still stands over the pod in tentative shakiness. An explosion louder than normal rocks the lab, making the whole team tremble in fear even though they’re used to the building shaking.

The High General also known as Val, hearing the frequent explosions near and far, looks on, confused. As his senses pull him from the prison in his brain to true reality Zevels handcuffs him—nearly missing the connection because of his fear. Dr. Kal greets him with an eerie calm in the chaos.

“Come, General—I mean Val. I’m Dr. Kaladuron. You’ll remember who I am later.”

The elder Dr. Kal looks into the eyes of his middle-aged peer Val. Dr. Kal having aged through the years but his old friend still looking the same age the day he was placed in prison. The men gaze at each other—Val confused in his present reality, and Dr. Kal questioning his calculations for the first time he predicted this moment. Dr. Kal helps him out of the cryo-pod. Val steps out into a room clean but sullied by the animosity emanating from the team, and the organic musk from the vomit on the floor.

Before he can speak words, Val vomits up more blue fluid and falls to the floor. Elisimia helps him back to his feet with as minimal contact as possible. Torn between her duties as a doctor and her repulsion towards a man who killed so many. Dr. Kal says,

“Your sentence has been shortened, thus your memories won’t return quickly. You had—”

Dr. Kal looks at his wrist device,

“A few hundred more years to go but humanity needs you now. So I need you to get it together. Fast.”

Dr. Kal motions for two of his team to help him move Val to the medical chair as a  few of the medical experts hastily take the patches and tubes off his body. Dr. Kal quickly gathers the necessary equipment as they check Valmusion’s vitals. Val can only passively and incoherently ask,

“Where am I? Who are you?”

No one answers him. He is only received with piercing looks—feeling condemnation without full self-realization. He’s examined by the medical personnel as he gradually continues to gain full consciousness, and once they leave, to prepare the next stage of the mission, he is alone with Dr. Kal. He rubs his head and asks,

“Who are you? Where am I?”

Dr. Kal finishes coding something on the computer. Then turns,

“I’m afraid you are the last hope of humanity.”

Val can barely conceive his surroundings while trying to take in the heaviness of the statement. With his mind not fully returned his heart barely receives the gravity of the words, almost like it’s a joke with no punchline.

“Fortunately, I’ve coded these devices to tell you what I do not have time to share.”

Dr. Kal hands him two small silver devices. Val holds up one and looks at it.

“Your memory will take some time to return to you. Also, you need more of the Kaden Plasma.”

“Wait what?”

“It’s the blue stuff you threw up. It’s needed for any prolonged body stasis.”

“But—”

Dr. Kal stabs Val with a needle with no compassion. It injects him with the blue fluid similar to what he just threw up. As it flows in he says,

“It’s the year 3987 ADE, the 1380th year of our empire. Our sun is collapsing and we are under siege by an unknown alien force. Can you walk?”

Val looks at his legs and hears the loud thuds and explosions from afar. He touches his legs and wiggles them. He responds,

“Yeah, I can.”

“Let’s go, and don’t lose those devices.”

Dr. Kal gets up and unlocks the chair. The two move in haste; Dr. Kal wanting to run but held back by Val as he tried to walk quickly, hindered by his mind not yet connecting with his motor functions. Val follows Dr. Kal through the quaking lab and the frantic panic. When Val passes a window, he sees the punchline to the flat joke Dr. Kal told him. He stops in horror.

The many explosions and falling infrastructure were not the worst of it. The sight of terror freezes him in the middle of the futuristic sanitized lab. The large window reveals the monstrosity of the moment.

Many go around him having accepted their fate weeks ago; whether they go to their final resting place or search for a last moment of hope they are all angry that he’s a motionless island in the middle of their rushing human river. Angry while they are preparing to go to their final resting places--or clinging to a last hope--he gets a moment to linger in blissful ignorance before the rapture of physics catches up.

His innate human nature sees what ancients worshipped, collapsing, the sun dimming before his eyes. He is stunned he can look directly at it. No matter how many people pass him or bump into him, he walks closer to the window, reaching out. His concept of destruction intact but not fully understanding the scene. He takes a few steps and unintentionally stops right in the path of a running scientist, knocking over their tablet, the solar decay in front of Val’s eyes numbing him to the rudeness of his still presence within the flow of people.

His prison garb and handcuffs would usually garner attention, but no one minds the state of his being, simply annoyed that he’s a speed bump within the frantic movement.

The ancient celestial to humanity is dying and, even though he doesn’t know who he is, his heart drops. He’s human and all the human DNA in his body, seeing the indescribable deletion of the very thing the ancients of civilizations worshipped, collapses into a soul-shaking fear. Tears, laughter, madness swirl around the island of him as he absorbs the initial glimpse of solar annihilation. The rushing of people accepting their fate don’t stop him from allowing tears to bead up and the hollow horror sink into the marrow of his bones.

After a few moments, Dr. Kal runs back and says,

“It’s unbelievable isn’t it? But you don’t have time to see this.”

He pulls him along as Val looks back. The two continue to rush toward a lift. Dr. Kal scans his retina to open the doors. They get in and he presses the button to go to the lowest level. While they wait, Val, being human enough to know the collapse of the sun is no small solar event, begins to feel a haunting uneasiness. The existential dread normally creeping up the spine is now gravity well in the throat. A singularity with no way of escaping. Dr. Kal says,

“Your mission is to prevent this. I’m sorry I can’t give you a complete rundown. You can see for yourself that we don’t have the luxury of time. You will be flying into a DKB wormhole going into the past to tell them what happened here. Your motor skills and short- to medium-term memory will come back soon enough, maybe in flight, but long-term memory will take longer. I have placed your complete identity revelation in the discs in your suit pocket. It’s set to run at the completion of your mission. You only have one shot to leave and return.”

Dr. Kal pulls out a wrist device. He activates it and hands it over.

“This will help you know if you are on track with your mission.”

Val accepts the device and latches it on. Tiny metal tentacles hook into his skin. Val grimaces a little as few drops of blood come out.

“It stings a little, but the importance of your mission is too great for you to escape in time without consequences.”

The lift shakes on their descent. As the numbers switch from positive to negative, Dr. Kal continues,

“Oh, you are looking for a man named Alan Brown. He is an ancestor of mine, so try not to grandfather paradox my ass. I know you don’t know yourself yet, but I know you, and you can be a bit heavy-handed.”

The elevator stops at the -177th floor; the rumblings are distantly faint, and nothing is shaking anymore. The two get out and Val looks around at the large chamber. They run to a silver almond-shaped craft oriented vertically at closed doors. The maintenance crews working fast to prepare it, along with a lady waiting on the men to come closer. When they get to the launch pad, the lady snaps and a group of technicians rushes to put Val in a suit. The lady says,

“My love, is this the only way?”

“Yes, Baylania. It’s no longer in our hands. We need to check the trajectory again; the sun dimmed again and is in phase 7 of its collapse.”

The two rush toward some computers while Val is preparing for launch. The technicians take his handcuffs off and strip him down, placing him into the suit necessary to travel through time and space. The suit is silver like the ship. It’s also minimalistic, with only a few points of non-sleekness. He is still confused and taking in the environment. 

“Where am I going?”

One of the technicians says,

“Not where, but when.”

“Time travel is possible?” 

“It takes a massive amount of energy. Don’t waste the jump. Many people have died creating the gateway.”

Dr. Kal returns and double checks the crew’s work. When they are done, he slowly checks the suit at its joints and edges. He guides Val to the ship. As they jog  over, Dr. Kal says,

“We need you to succeed. This is beyond politics, beyond whatever difference humans have; this mission is about a deeper survival. Valmusion, we are sending you to what will seem like ancient times. It’s a lot to ask from someone waking up from cryo-prison. You were chosen for a reason. Trust your instincts.”

They reach the launch pad, and Dr. Kal receives a holographic message from his wrist device.

“Doctor, the DKB wormhole is open; we don’t have long. Pluto is beginning to vanish.”

He closes the hologram and continues to guide Val to the ship. Once the craft releases the last tubes for fuel, the two get on the maintenance lift, silently waiting for the lift to reach the only opening in the hull. Dr. Kal guides him into his seat. Val, suddenly remembering what time he is from, looks around and says,

“This is new tech. How did you—”

“You will remember how I got it later. The key things to remember are the following: this ship is built for one; don’t bring anyone into the future. Also, if repairs are needed, the system has the data to turn whatever the ancients had into something viable for the ship. I would recommend hiding the ship as fast as you can, even though people won’t believe a UFO landed—just be safe.”

Dr. Kal quickly shows him around the ship and when he straps Val into the cockpit, he says,

“The display will go black once you enter the wormhole so that you’re not driven mad by the scenery. May the might of the empire be with you.”

After the last phrase, he gives Kal a handshake and the scientist leaves. The ship is locked and sealed. All the people move away and Dr. Kal makes his way to the launch module. He looks at Baylania, and she hugs him one last time. The countdown begins after communication is established between the module and the ship. Through the comms system, Val asks Dr. Kal,

“So, what’s the name of the ship?”

“Mal.”

“Just Mal?”

“Malesiea.”

Dr. Kal, somewhat choked up with emotion, continues,

“Now that you’re strapped in, know that you might have some flashes of your life but push through; men and gods have long pursued what you are about to do.”

Dr. Kal gets a call from the surface.

“Sir, LAUNCH IT NOW. The moon is falling.”

Without hesitation he presses the launch key while the countdown is at 18.

Val asks,

“Why now?”

“We don’t have time.”

The bay doors open, revealing a severely dimmed and non-spherical sun. The scene is further clothed in extreme morbidity by the moon and planetary fragments in or around the atmosphere. Mal ignites its thrusters. Val can feel the ship lift out of the opening and head straight into the daunting field of mayhem ahead. Mal gains speed with each second. Val tenses up as the ship narrowly misses chunks of the moon, manmade objects, and alien ships, dodging in and out as it accelerates even further. Val tries to speak but is overwhelmed by the scene of the earth crumbling. When the ship finally leaves orbit, Dr. Kal contacts him.

“Are you still alive?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how.”

“Yep, me neither. Now, you have a long journey once you enter the DKB wormhole. You will be there approximately 4 weeks and you will approach the earth on a weird trajectory. I had to make sure your journey wouldn’t alarm the telescopes and satellites. I have a few minutes of life left and only seconds of communication left. I need you to stay strapped in as we are course-correcting and need your speed to increase beyond originally calculated.”

Val can feel the ship make a sudden movement and turn toward an empty spot in the solar system. Mal then reaches a constant speed. Val looks back at the earth and sees the sun begin to fold in on itself; it looks like a real-life abstract painting of reality. While the earth is lost in a swirling cloud of moon bits, he can see Mars collapsing on itself as well. Mal begins to experience turbulence and he holds on tight.

He radios back to Dr. Kal,

“I am experiencing turbulence. What is it?”

“You are entering the exotic matter field; the wormhole is at the center.”

“How much longer, and how will I know?”

“You’ll know when you see it. And Val—”

“Yes.”

“Bay says, ‘Fuck you,’ and I say, ‘Welcome to Hell.’”

The feed cuts off.

“Dr. Kaladuron…Dr. Kaladuron???” 

He asks for a feed of Earth, and the display shows the earth caving in on itself. Mal accelerates as the feed shows the planets being consumed by nothingness. Then the forward display reveals a large ring structure. At the center is a distorted sphere of space.

Mal’s AI states,

“Five minutes until jump.”

“Mal, what year am I going too?”

“2020.”

“Why not earlier?”

“Information not granted; your mission tutorial will begin on the other side. Please ensure you are strapped in; we have entered the wormhole’s gravity well.”

Mal begins to rattle, and Val grabs more seatbelts. Mal accelerates again and asks,

“Are you strapped in?”

He tightens the belts and says,

“Yes, Mal.”

“Good.”

The seat he is in seals and is covered in liquid. The ship accelerates even faster. As he is put to sleep, Mal repeats,

“Welcome to Hell, General.”

The ring structure lights turn from red to green, and the ship shoots into the middle, beginning its journey into the past.