In the outer reaches of a solar system, on an icy moon orbiting a gas-giant planet, far removed from the hostile gyration of its lopsided double sun, the inhabitants of a thronged, vibrant city of interconnected graphene domes took pause to listen to an epoch making speech.
The prolocutor moved to the centre of the stage and readied itself to address those gathered in the arena, and those following on remote links. Its eyes swept the assembly, waiting for the hubbub to die down, waiting for the eyes and ears to turn to itself. When a respectful silence had fallen on the throng the prolocutor counted to three, raised its nose with an air of authority and began.
"Illustrious Beings, Bods and Plicas, tomorrow we embark upon our greatest journey. Before we celebrate our future with this parting festival here on Lærdes, I want to acclaim our past, to commemorate all those who came before us and their commitment to keep our civilisation alive."
"As you all know, our eminent natural philosophers have determined that our second sun, the white degenerate star, Af Hærge, is on the verge of going supernova. We cannot survive the onslaught this will bring. We have observed such events in our own, and other galaxies, and can predict the consequences of the four main phases of the inferno. The first, the neutrino blast, even though it comprises unimaginable numbers of particles, will be survivable because all matter is essentially transparent to them. They are like spirits of lore that pass through all matter and cannot be stopped. During the second and third phases, the gamma and light waves, we could hide in our spaceships in the shadow of this planet on the edge of our solar system. However the final phase, the shock wave, would tear the surface off the planet and surround us with deadly hot plasma. Like every destructive force you can think of impacting at the same time. The only way we can survive is to outrun this shockwave, which is why we have to leave now."
Mauge standing at the back of the auditorium, prodded its neighbour, and said "Why doesn't it tell us something we don't know. Does it think we are here on wretched Lærdes for our well-being". This interruption appeared to be unwelcome from the cold look and slight distancing that Mauge received in reply. "I was just saying."
The prolocutor was continuing. "The life of the Beings as a species, and all other life from our home planet Ehrvåd, has been cursed to grow up in this corner of the galaxy. When we look out into space we see so many stars that live steady and unremarkable lives for eons, and we wonder why don't we live around a star like that. Maybe that is one of the reasons, maybe life does not evolve on planets around unremarkable stars, because there is not sufficient change to drive evolution."
"We have looked at all the planets and moons in our system and have found no evidence that life began before the progenitor of Af Hærge erupted to form the expanding nebulous cloud, and leaving behind its white degenerate offspring. It seems that life began on Ehrvåd after that cataclysmic event. But it didn't have it easy. Our revered second star Om Skæbe expanded and began shedding material onto Af Hærge which erupted in further outbursts. Each time producing massive extinction events on Ehrvåd. Out of the ashes of the Fifth Great Dying event our species of Beings evolved. We grew in intelligence and capability and created our first spaceships to leave the planet. But then the Sixth Great Dying event hit us and wiped out almost all life on Ehrvåd, including most of our species. We moved to planet Vænh, built colonies and made it our home. We adapted to the planet and bred plants and animals to replicate Ehrvåd as much as we could. Our technology advanced. We tamed fusion power to give us almost unlimited energy. We created electronic intelligence and encapsulated it into a synthetic body that could live independently - our esteemed Bods. And finally we established the means to upload our minds into those synthetic bodies and create the Plicas that could give us life beyond bodily death."
Mauge turned the other way. prodded its other neighbour and said, "Who wants to live forever, do you? Personally I've got better things to do." Mauge's neighbour made a sign that it wanted to listen to the prolocutor and would Mauge refrain from bothering it.
"But the fates were not finished with us. Our second star Om Skæbe grew old too soon and expanded dumping more matter onto Af Hærge. Conditions on the planet Vænh became impossibly treacherous and we had to move again. Out here, onto the largest moon, Lærdes, of planet Årania, in the furthest reaches of our system where we thought, we could rest awhile. We were granted enough time to build a home for ourselves. But now Af Hærge will go supernova, and there is nowhere left to hide in our system. The only alternative is to head out into space to find a new home, in a distant friendly system."
"We have scanned all the stars in our neighbourhood, and checked for planets. We have found a peaceful system with an array of planets. The star, Ad Dallarg, bathes the planets with a warm white light. We have detected copious amounts of water on one of the planets, which will remind us of Ehrvåd. We have shown how adaptable we are in creating new homes for ourselves. It will take us a couple of Being lifetimes to get there. So we will be taking clone seeds to restock the new world. Bods and Plicas will look after the spaceships and the seed banks, and build our new home. There is no Being living now that was born on Ehrvåd, all we have of that beautiful planet are the records; the images, the sounds, the smells, along with the lifeforms we took with us and the culture we created, the music, the arts, the literature and the histories we told of ourselves. All these records will come with us. And of course, we now have the culture of the Bods and Plicas to add to our story. A civilization worthy of its new planet."
"We Beings do not wish to bequeath to our next generation a whole life lived aboard the spaceships, so the unbroken ancestry of the Beings will be suspended on the journey to Ad Dallarg. A new lineage will begin on our new home and those Beings that pass away on the journey can live on as Plicas when we reach our destination."
"Some have asked why go to the trouble of building ships to carry us living things. If just the seed and egg bank is required, then the spaceship requirements would be that much less. But that would mean leaving us behind to perish in the supernova, and in all our history and through all our challenges, and the adversity the supernova brought upon us, we have never willingly left anyone behind. We have lived peacefully together, us three races, that even though we have our differences, we are as one. And while you Bods and Plicas can experience the world around you and appreciate its pleasures and suffer its pains, we the Beings live every moment in that world, we are a continuum of that world. Although it may appear that we are bound by our skin, we actually spread beyond it by sight and sound and touch and taste. We would love to experience life on this beautiful new planet, and if we, individually, will not survive to enjoy that life, we bequeath that to our descendants."
Mauge moved impatiently. It prodded the Bod in front of it to attracted its attention. "Hoh, does it think us Bods are going to sit around doing nothing while they hibernate. Maybe we will advance our minds beyond all their capabilities. Then they will be in for a shock when they are restored. Well they will have their culture to look back on at least."
The prolocutor pressed on while Mauge continued to look for an audience for its comments. "The spaceships will use giant laser sails to accelerate to cruising speed, with the fusion lasers, down here on Lærdes, chewing up fuel at a prodigious rate. In that way the spaceships do not have to carry fuel for the outward journey. The lasers will accelerate us to 1/10th the speed of light. The sails will then be turned around so the tenuous interstellar atoms will act as a brake and an extra source of fuel during the long cruise. Finally fusion engines will slow us to our destination."
"That means we are completely dependant on the fusion lasers to enable us to outrun the blast wave. To make sure there are no problems with them, a valiant team of volunteers will stay behind to monitor the lasers and their fuel supplies, and to fix any problems. I cannot stress enough what a great sacrifice they are making. Their names will be given to our new colonies on Ad Dallarg so they will never be forgotten."
Mauge muttered in the pause, loud enough for most in the hall to hear. "You would be an idiot to volunteer for that reward. I would want a universe named after me at minimum." Some of those around Mauge indicated their amusement with the customary shake of the head.
The prolocutor waited a moment for the hall to re-engage before continuing. "And we will not forget Ehrvåd that beautiful but tormented planet of our creation, nor Vænh which we transformed into a second home. We bring as much life from them as possible, as well as archives of all the sights, sounds, smells, feelings and tastes of those planets. These things we can evoke in our minds as we sail out into the darkness. So gather yourselves together and prepare yourself for the journey to a new world. In all likelihood it will be nothing like Ehrvåd, but it will have its own beauty, and it will be a kinder world where we can settle for eons and become the creatures we wish to be."
"I've always wished I was a genius," Mauge muttered into the silence. The silence of the arena broke as many in the crowd expressed their amusement with audible squawks and squeals. The prolocutor looked to the back of the hall and said, "Ah Mauge you old malcontent, everyone who knows you, knows how great you are, how great you have been and how great you will be."
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The spaceplanes were lined up on the runway to ferry the Beings, Bods and Plicas up to the giant starships floating in orbit. This geometric swarm of gleaming cylinders could be seen , once per orbit, sweeping across the sky in close formation, their giant sails yet to be deployed. Only those left behind would be able to admire the fleet with all the sails unfurled, reflecting the pulsing laser light, gleaming brighter than the sun on Ehrvåd.
All the cargo had already been shipped and stowed, all that was left was for all the creatures to board, for the sails to be deployed, and for those remaining to fire up the lasers that would drive them to their new home.
Solemn lines of creatures lined up in the giant hangars to board the spaceplanes. For the Beings, especially, this would be their last physical contact with the ground of their home solar system. They wouldn't even get to feel their new world beneath their bodies, as they would not outlive the long journey. Only their currently dormant offspring would get that pleasure. They had decided amongst themselves to symbolise their leaving by placing their recent dead, exposed on the highest hill, where the supernova blast wave would cremate them and incorporate their atoms into the ever expanding shell, visible across the galaxy. The Bods and Plicas expressed their sympathy as they appreciated that this was an ending for the Beings, who had evolved from the dust of this solar system, and had survived in a continuous line of replication until this time. There would be a break in the line, and their culture, traditionally handed down one to one, being to being, would only endure in the recordings.
"Woah, that was sombre," Mauge said to its seven colleagues, gathered by the landing strip to watch the last of the space planes depart. "Come on let's party, now those bores have gone."
"Party? We have a vital job to do remember," said Drikse looking at Mauge in bewilderment, "those creatures are relying on us."
"You're joking aren't you?" said Mauge, "Besides everything is automated. The alarms will go off if anything goes wrong. Until then there's nothing for us to do except party. Who has got the best taste in music around here. I'm joking of course, it's me."
Måspo looked exasperatedly at Mauge. "Why exactly did you volunteer for this mission. If you are so full of life why would you want to end it on this cold and bleak outpost"
Mauge looked surprised. "Oh, I've lived through many lifetimes, and I have learnt almost all I wish to learn, and I'm getting worn out. There's not much of the original me left after all the fixes and repairs. And the move from Vænh was very dispiriting. What if this new planet isn't all it's cracked up to be. I know everyone will make the best of it, but I have outgrown that endless expectation. But while I'm here I want to make the most of the time. Why wouldn't I, why wouldn't you?"
Mauge turned towards the settlement where the creatures had lived their lives on Lærdes. "Well I for one am going to celebrate with some juice in the space bar, and watch Af Hærge getting ready to blow its top. Anyone want to join me?". The others looked up expectantly but the space planes were mere dots now, merging into the splendid sweep of stars that spread from horizon to horizon. As if by a silent, mutual agreement they swung round and followed Mauge.
Mauge had already stationed itself by one of the space bar's panoramic windows, reclining on a couch, with a gaudy coloured flask on the table by its side. "That's the spirit. I've gone mad and got myself a Quantum Fizz cocktail. Three part radicals and two parts ions - that should blow my circuits. Fix yourself one, it's on the house."
While the others went to the bar Mauge looked out on the scene. The immense crescent of the planet Årania filled the left side, it's pale banded clouds swirling above a bottomless atmosphere of gases. In the middle of the scene a star more dazzling than the rest, with a bright tail where matter streamed onto the much fainter, but much more deadly dwarf star. Mauge knew where to look to see the faint spots of light that were their former home planets of Ehrvåd and Vænh. Once the supernova had done its damage there would be little left of those worlds, maybe the iron core of Ehrvåd and a little more of Vænh.
One by one the others returned to take their places alongside Mauge. Mauge being a bit of a loner did not know them so well, but it was aware that they were closer to each other than it was to any of them. Mauge held up its juice and saluted them. "Skol. Here's to us." Mauge took a swig of its juice and trembled as it effects coursed through its body. "Whoah, that's a belter. Come on now tell me, what are you bods going to do with your time left on this bleak outpost, Drikse?"
Drikse glanced at Mauge with an exasperated expression, then looked away. "I don't know, I haven't really thought about it yet. My first priority is to keep a watch on the lasers, and the energy supplies, to make sure no problems are building up."
"Very virtuous I'm sure," Mauge said, disappointed in the distinct lack of fun in Drikse's plan. "Anyone else?"
Ompa piped up. "Well I'll keep on observing Af Hærge to monitor its behaviour before it goes off. I want to be watching when it does blow. Just imagine, there has probably never been anyone, anywhere in our galaxy who has watched a supernova go off from so close. I'll be broadcasting a live stream to the spaceships so they can watch along and record it for posterity."
"The finale will be spectacular indeed, but you may struggle to keep them watching in the mean time."
Måspo taking a swig of its juice suddenly came to life. "Don't get your hopes up too soon. I'm working on ways to stop the dwarf going supernova."
"What!" said Mauge, "how are you possibly going to do that?"
"Well we just have to stop it accreting too much matter. I have worked out that if we harness the energy of the star we can create streams of anti-matter that will rain down on the dwarf and neutralise enough of the mass to keep if from imploding. The anti-matter generators are all in place around Af Hærge ready to go."
Mauge was seriously amused by this. "That's great. But everyone is up on the spaceships ready to go to the new world. Didn't you think that perhaps they might have wanted to know the star won't go supernova?"
Måspo appeared taken aback by Mauge's outburst. "Of course I thought of that. Firstly, the council have already approved the plan, and secondly it's a completely untested operation. And what if it doesn't succeed in preventing the supernova, they wouldn't be too happy with me then. This way they are off to sunny climes, while I can play around with the ultimate power in the universe with little to worry about if it goes wrong."
"Goes wrong, what does that mean exactly? And what about us, don't we count?"
"Come now Mauge, you signed up for this suicide mission. And you are endlessly complaining about what a dump this place is. Don't you agree it's going to be a blast. What plans have you got anyway, is there something you're not telling us, that we should know?"
"No, but," Mauge said, trying to deflect the conversation, "how about for a bit of fun. I think we should all bet on when Af Hærge is going to blow."
"How will anyone claim the prize?"
"Oh yeah, maybe I hadn't thought that idea through."
"Is that old mind of yours getting a bit decrepit maybe?"
"No, I'm just not used to being so sociable I guess. Just trying to make the most of things."
"That's fine. Are you planning on making every day we have left a bundle of fun?"
"Hhhmm, not sure. Maybe we could make a cultural contribution. I imagine those on the new planet will create myths and legends about their old home and their leaving of it. But it would be nice if there was something contemporary. And something for them to remember us by."
"What were you thinking?"
"I don't know, some poems perhaps, songs, stories. A comedy, a tragedy. Come on, we can all chip in." Mauge looked hopefully at its colleagues, but they didn't appear to have the same enthusiasm for the idea. In an unusual burst of geniality Mauge added, "anyway, lets meet up regularly, every day, for a catch up, so we don't get stuck in our own little bubbles. I mean an Ehrvåd day of course, not the miserable, endless days and nights we get out here on this lump of debris."
Ødha informed them that the spaceships were about to deploy their sails, and that they should watch the communications. Mauge was not interested in being reminded of all the happy or apprehensive or expectant crews about to head out into the galaxy. Besides it would be a very slow start, the lasers would not initially run at anything like full power and the acceleration would be barely noticeable. Mauge turned to leave, slightly unsteady after the Quantum Fizz cocktail and said in parting, "call me if you need me, I'm off to compose something."
Mauge wandered through the empty city and felt an unusual urge to destroy stuff, drive a crusher into some of these buildings and lay waste to the deserted districts. But it was pointless, the supernova would do a far better job of it than Mauge ever could.
Mauge found its way to the immersion room, deep within the main computer building. All sensory perceptions could be simulated here in stunning detail. Archives full of landscapes and life from Ehrvåd and Vænh could be recreated and visited as if you were there. Every known star and planetary system in the galaxy could be displayed and flown through on a faster than light journey. And models of any known physical phenomenon could be visualized through immense calculations running on the hypercomputer. It would be easy to lose oneself in its embrace for a lifetime. But that was not Mauge's aim.
As a Bod it was easy for Mauge to plug its mind into the immersion interface, without the messy mindclamps that the Beings had to endure. But with this ease also came peril; if unprepared the immeasurable data landscape that burst open could scramble ones mind or tip one over a precipice into impossibly convoluted depths. Mauge quietened its mind, made the connection and, carefully creeping to the edge of the precipice, looked over. All sorts of ways of interfacing to the data had been created in the system; Mauge preferred the internal voice, which was like holding a conversation with the control unit in commonplace language. Of course the vagaries of language meant that the instructions could be interpreted in unexpected ways, but that was not a problem as Mauge was looking for inspiration not precision.
"Greetings Leø, are you keeping busy?" Mauge spoke with an internal, neutral voice. These conversational mind links always felt a bit strange, because it was as if you were talking to yourself and thus your thoughts were private and secret, but in fact they were being overheard by someone else. It took a lot of concentration to not let your mind wander and reveal thoughts you did not want to reveal.
"Yes thank you Mauge. I'm keeping an eye on all the spaceship and laser systems to make sure they are all perfect."
"Great. Have you got any time you can spare to help me with a little project of mine."
"Yes Mauge, plenty. I have a myriad of processing units I can call on. I will be pleased to help."
"I'm thinking about creating a multi-dimensional artwork by fusing the fields of art, literature, music and science into a grand unified theatre. One where the spectator can fly through and experience all the best that our culture has to offer. Like a greatest hits compilation, but one in which the spectator can interact with and immerse themselves in the experience. Can you start by showing me the top hundred in each of those fields and mark those that intersect more than one field."
Leø paused a brief moment while it examined its data banks for all the relevant information. Leø never promised something it could not deliver. "Yes sure Mauge, I'll be back in a flash."
"Here you go," Leø said just a moment later, "see if these are what you are after."
Mauge was knocked back when an immense landscape of experiences opened up in its mind. Images, sounds, textures, smells and tastes all erupted in a dazzling web of multi-dimensional interconnections. "Whoah," Mauge said out loud, "that is mind-blowing." And then silently, "thanks, can you leave it up as it will take me ages to check out all the streams."
"Sure thing Mauge, glad to be of assistance."
Mauge lay down and closed its eyes. Where to begin? Mauge started with the familiar, the absurdist drama of Rystenål from Vejfurt on Vænh where Mauge was born, and Rystenål's famous three-hander Følgene where a Being, a Bod and a Plica argue over their existence and which one is best suited to create a new city in the stars while an invisible Creator subjects them to all sorts of physical and comical sufferings.
From there Mauge travelled to the origin stories of the Beings on Ehrvåd, the ancient cities and artworks that seeded their development, the landscapes, oceans and weather that shaped their culture, yearningly beautiful, yet remote. Bods had always been born with implanted cultural memories of Ehrvåd going way back before their creation, and the sense of belonging coursed through Mauge like the radicals of a Quantum Fizz .
Jumping to another data dimension Mauge explored the emergence of the art of information and the study of the physical world, leading to the creation of the Bods and then the Plicas in a burst of discovery and invention. And looming in the background the unfolding story of the malevolent influence of their twin stars, the source of their life force, yet the cause of all their troubles.
And among all the studies of their two stars and all the models of Af Hærge's development into a supernova the search engine had located a concealed cluster of unusual models with remarkable outcomes. In all the supernova explosions ever witnessed in the galaxy, the blast wave creates a roughly spherical shell of expanding material that rushes out into interstellar space. But in the models Mauge was looking at, the spherical shockwave was modified by resonances and harmonics like ripples on its surface to produce expanding shells that interwove and knitted into exquisite flowering shapes, like the blossoming of the dooolydian purple picker tree of Ehrvåd. They were stunning works of art in their own right.
Nothing like this had ever been observed in the universe and Mauge was intrigued how such a outburst could come about. By running the simulations backwards Mauge could see the patterns ultimately depended on the distribution of matter falling onto the dwarf star in the run up to the final collapse. What was even more intriguing was that this matter infall was composed of very thin beams of material that erupted in a remarkable way on impacting the dwarf.
Mauge thought they looked a bit like Måspo's anti-matter beams. No, they looked a lot like Måspo's anti-matter beams. No, they were Måspo's anti-matter beams. But that didn't make sense, Måspo had said the anti-matter beams would reduce the mass of the dwarf, not add to it. Maybe the simulations were wrong. Mauge had to dig deep to recall the necessary physics. Focussing into one of the beams Mauge could see the detailed workings. In essence the annihilation of the anti-matter beam was neutral as half the yield flew off into space, while half was absorbed by the dwarf. But what wasn't so obvious was that the anti-matter beam was carrying momentum, and as there is no anti-gravity, this was absorbed by the dwarf like a pressure.
Mauge was bewildered. Surely if Måspo had created these simulations then it must know that the anti-matter beam would not prevent the supernova but hasten its demise. The only conclusion Mauge could come to was that Måspo was planning on deliberately inducing the supernova to detonate early to create this fantastical artwork in space, like no other supernova that had ever been. It would be visible to any civilisation across the galaxy. The ultimate sign of intelligent life.
Mauge began an internal conversation with itself. "What is Måspo thinking? If the supernova explodes early then the blast wave will catch up with the spaceships sailing off to their new home, and in all likelihood destroy them, and all their hopes and dreams of a peaceful life to come."
And Mauge answered itself. "Måspo must be after some idolization after death, the ultimate expression of art, visible across the galaxy. Måspo cannot be allowed to get away with it, the little skit. I will reveal the plan, the treacherous morknepper. We have to stop it. No", Mauge said in self-realisation. "No, I have to stop it, if I tell the others the endeavour will surely leak to Måspo. So I have to do it alone, just me, on my own."
Mauge realised it was still connected to Leø, and worried that maybe its internal conversation had leaked beyond its brain into Leø's memory. "Hey Leø, thanks for pulling together all that stuff. Can you forget I ever asked, and can you wipe any trace of what I have been looking at, and anything you may have picked up from me. I'm working on a little surprise for the others and I don't want them to get a hint of it."
"Sure thing Mauge," Leø replied, "anything to be of service. No one else is taking much notice of me now, so it's nice to be of help."
Mauge went into isolation, cutting itself off from the others, and installing a "Do not disturb except in an emergency" message on its communication channel. Desiring space to think Mauge wandered through the abandoned city to the highest point where the view extended out over the icy crater plains to the encircling methane mountains. A bleak and forbidding terrain, interrupted only by the monumental ribbon of the landing strip, where rocky asteroids were guided down to the surface to provide the minerals that could not be easily gleaned on the surface of this desolate moon, and by the row of domes containing the immense lasers that were propelling the spaceships on their journey to the stars.
Within the vast spherical space of the Møsgår Museum Mauge found a random piece of floor to lie down between the now empty displays, that once hummed to the buzz of visitors revelling in ancient cultural artefacts going all the way back to the pre-history of the Beings on Ehrvåd. All those items were now packed onto the spaceships heading for their new world where they will be acclaimed like no other. But only if they get there. Mauge had to come up with a plan to stop Måspo. Mauge shut off its eyes and ears and let its mind roam. Måspo wanted to go out with a bang so Mauge should facilitate that, just not the bang Måspo was intending. And Mauge would make it into a spectacle. The concept came quickly, a grand firework display, but the details needed precise planning and calculation, as well as a lot of physical effort that had to be kept from the others. Mauge could call on the automatons, the unconscious work assistants that roamed the city tidying, fixing and constructing things.
The preparations were extensive. Mauge re-commissioned the old Tjezerbo observatory transported all the way from Vænh and installed in a deep crater to shade it from the city lights. Mauge used this to scan the interplanetary space for a suitable object to kick off the spectacle.
After many days planning and organising Mauge had everything in place, everything except one thing, Måspo. For the climax Måspo had to be at a precise spot at a precise time.
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Mauge led Måspo, flanked by two powerfully built automatons to the space port.
"I expect you are wondering why I have brought you here," Mauge said with a touch of solemnity.
"You have been poking around in Leø's archive and found some fanciful ideas of mine," Måspo replied calmly.
"Yes I have, and they are not just fanciful ideas, I can see that you are putting them into practice. You intend to set off the supernova early which puts the survival of the spaceships in grave peril."
"And what if that were so?" Måspo said matter-of-factly.
"And you're willing to destroy our civilisation for a spectacle."
"It is not a spectacle it is our pinnacle, our eulogy. It will be celebrating our civilisation on the biggest stage imaginable. Perhaps you do not have the vision. Consider if the spaceships reach their new world and they set up a new colony and live happy in its security, with no desire to venture any further. No other civilisation in the galaxy will know of our existence, our magnificence."
"So?" interjected Mauge with a hint of disdain as if Måspo hadn't been paying attention to everything that had been going on for years.
"Do you not see? The most impressive monument to our civilisation imaginable, the power to control a supernova. A message flashed across our galaxy and across the vast intergalactic space to other galaxies, to every other civilisation out there. In all of our history we have never witnessed a supernova that contained any evidence of another civilisation. This is how great we can be, the first civilisation to achieve such a thing. It will pose a question to every other intelligence. Is your civilisation remarkable? Well think again. Take a look at us!"
Mauge paused. Måspo had a point. "Yes I can see that you make an interesting case. But the problem is that you are making the decision on behalf of everyone of us. What right do you have to choose. The right way would have been to propose it and put it to the council."
Måspo snorted imitating the sound Beings make when they expel air through their mouths in disdain. "Bah, they are just administrators, they have no imagination. And besides, has it not occurred to you that if you try and stop me then you are also making a decision on behalf of our civilisation without consent. Who is really the worst villain here?"
Mauge felt that Måspo would have an answer for everything and it wanted to shut down the argument. "Yes well that is something I will have to live with, and die with. They made the decision to leave on the understanding that the supernova will go off according to the laws of the Universe, that is what I will ensure, and not according to someones desire to create a memorial."
But Måspo wasn't finished. "Well I imagine you are communicating this so now they know and can make their own decision."
"But will you honour that decision?"
"Well you will have to trust me. The anti-matter cannons are pre-set and I am the only one with the key to re-program them."
"Trusting you is not an option I am willing to take," Mauge said with finality. "But I promise to put on a show, you will not be forgotten."
Mauge indicated to the two Automatons to take Måspo to the catapult sling and hold it there. The catapult was used to launch supply containers into space without the need for liquid fuel engines. A hinged arm hung from a longer arm opposed by a massive counterweight. The two automatons picked up containers, as instructed, as they mounted the catapult with Måspo.
"Farewell Måspo," Mauge said genially, "I have to go and get this show underway. I hope you will appreciate the effort I have made to give you a spectacular send off."
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Mauge returned to the hilltop overlooking the city with the spherical shell of the Møsgår Museum glittering in the faint light of the sun Om Skæbe. Mauge looked up into the black sky at this star whose life-affirming light outshone the faint gleam of the dwarf star Af Hærge. But not for much longer. Soon the latters cataclysmic destruction would create a light that would outshine all the one hundred billion stars in the galaxy combined.
Looking away from the star Mauge could see in the blackness of space the constellation of silver sails pulsing green with the reflected laser light. The laser pulses could be traced back to the immense generators lined up on the plain below by light scattering from the tenuous flecks of interplanetary dust.
Mauge turned on the communication channel to the fleet and addressed the ships. "Greeting to all of you. I am standing on the hilltop by the museum looking up at you. It is a magnificent sight to see all your sails glowing as you set sail on your epic journey. If you could see it you would be wishing you were down here instead of up there. In honour of this auspicious occasion I have prepared a little light show of my own. I hope you enjoy it."
Everything was preset to go, all Mauge had to do was initiate the sequence with a tap on its communicator screen. An unusual feeling of apprehension overcame Mauge, well that was the closest emotion that the Beings described that fitted the sensations Mauge experienced. It gave Mauge a pause for thought. "Måspo has to be terminated," Mauge said to itself, "this way is as good as any other." With that Mauge touched the screen of its communicator.
Around the shell of the Museum a ring of detonations propelled a cloud of tiny particles into space. They converged at a point above the Museum where they were intersected by a carefully aimed pulse of anti-matter from the test facility down on the plain. The collision of matter and anti-matter produced a sparkling display of light and energy. At the same moment larger detonations around the base of the Museum broke the spherical building from its foundations.
The communication channels were filled with a surge of music from the prelude to Blïse's Ehrvåd Suite. The images on the audience's screens turned to the darkness of space and moving through that darkness an odd shaped asteroid was bearing down on the city, guided by an invisible navigation beam. The asteroid resembled the paw of a Being, broad at the base and narrowing to the leg joint, a small piece of rock that had been wandering unmolested in space for eons before Mauge had spotted it in the telescope and re-purposed it to his own. At the crescendo of the music the asteroid impacted the shell of the Museum with a bump carefully calculated to knock it off its foundations.
The Museum rolled off its plinth and ran downhill, slowly gathering speed. It ran up the vast dome of the Arena and was deflected by the curvature onto a a new course, but not before setting off more detonations from the top of the dome that sent clumps of particles up into the anti-matter beam to produce glittering starbursts.
The rolling Museum crossed the open plaza and ran up the slope of the Stadium, setting off more detonations and being deflected to roll down the Avenue. The trajectory was critical and Mauge, watching from the hilltop, strained its head to see if its calculations were on track.
At the end of the Avenue the dome of the Assembly Hall with the thin cylinder of the Great Tower rising from its summit lay in the Museum's path. The wheeling Museum ran up the Hall's dome and struck the Tower a glancing blow. Detonations sent further streams of particles up into the anti-matter beam.
The Great Tower slowly began to topple over as the Museum ended its journey in the depression of the Sunken Pyramid. The Tower's collapse accelerated until it crashed to the ground, splintering into angular shards. But not before the very tip of the mast sliced through a cable strung from the Gallery to the Catapult.
The breaking of this cable was the trigger for the counterweight of the Catapult to fall, causing the long arm of the catapult to swing up in a spiral arc that flung Måspo and the two automatons up into space. and marking their way the automatons released jets of reactive chemicals that sparkled in a stream of rainbow colours.
Their speed was much less than that required to escape the pull of the moon's gravity and at the top of the arc, they paused, and then began to accelerate downward. When they had picked up a little speed they intersected the anti-matter beam and exploded into a ball of energy like a mini-supernova. The shock wave knocked Mauge over and briefly scrambled its brain. Lying on its back, looking up into space, Mauge was well satisfied with the spectacle. "That went well," it said to itself.
Mauge returned to the computer building and asked Leø to locate Måspo's controls for the anti-matter generators circling Af Hærge. After a short while Leø said, "I have found them, but they are all encrypted with many levels of security." Mauge sought to encourage Leø with a touch on the communication interface. "Well you will have to break the security, because the Måspo's plan has been pre-programmed into the anti-matter generators." "OK, Mauge, I calculate it will take up to 37 days to break the codes." "Better start now then, the sooner the better."'
Mauge spent those days in a state of suspense, watching through the telescope as the anti-matter rained down on Af Hærge from the orbiting generators. Mauge would have liked to have asked Leø to update the supernova models to come up with an improved forecast, but it knew that Leø was engaged on more important business. Mauge tried relaxing in the immersion room but everything seemed distracting rather than relaxing, so Mauge went back to watching and waiting.
Eventually Leø announced it had cracked the codes, so Mauge raced to the computer building to supervise destruction of the generators. The anti-matter generators were naturally made of matter so the simplest solution was to aim them all at each other and coordinate pulses of anti-matter to destory them simultaneously. Leø quickly calculated the required parameters and was ready to upload them to the generators. "Hang on Leø," Mauge said, "can you check them out in your simulator to ensure there are no mistakes."
"Sure thing," said Leø, and in the immersive display Mauge could see the pulses of anti-matter criss-crossing amongst the orbiting generators in a interwoven mesh and all the generators being impacted at the same moment.
"Great," said Mauge, "let's do it." Leø commanded the upload and reported to Mauge it would take an eighth of a day to reach all the generators, a small fraction of that time to verify and commit, and the same time for the confirmation to come back.
"Okay thanks," Mauge said, "I will watch from the observatory. I should be able to see it through the telescope. And I will communicate it out to the spaceships. It should be a fitting finale."
Through the telescope the powerful bursts from the destruction of the anti-matter generators were briefly conspicuous against the intense radiation from the glow of matter falling onto the dwarf star from its close companion Om Skæbe. Leø confirmed that everything had gone precisely to plan and the generators were no more.
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Mauge's stood on the hilltop looking up at the sky. Mauge was there whenever the two stars Af Hærge and Om Skæbe were visible above the horizon. Watching. Waiting. The lasers had completed their task of accelerating the spaceships sufficiently to outrun the supernova blast wave, so there was nothing more for the volunteers to do. Ompa was monitoring the dwarf star with all the instruments they had. Mauge was content to stand on the hill and wait. If anyone had tried to converse with Mauge, then it would have acted the familiar, irascible fool, but inwardly Mauge was fulfilled with its lot and its life. Watching and waiting for the end to come.
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© Nick 2022