6 Billion A.D.

Synopsis: Rigel, by chance immortal, witnesses the collapse of the universe over 10,000 years.

Call to Action: Besides the basic plot above anything is fair game. We have 10,000 years to cover so there is much freedom to explore subplots. Feel free to edit, change, improve, delete, add to the story. Even a sentence or two would be helpful. If a large enough number of people contributed in this way; producing material daily, weekly, monthly, this could be a great project. Jump on board and help create an open-source novel.

Chapter 1: (...)

Tentative Synopsis: Rigel, a botanist, embarks as a passenger on a ship headed to a galactic conference only to find out that he has an incurable disease, and six months left to live.

1.1

The landscape glowed beneath the evening sky. Seven suns burned through the solid mauve canopy above their walk. They approached the cave's dazzling mouth as if on eggshells. The two marveled at the life form that had pulled them so far across the stars. “Once in a hundred years!”

“Do you want me to extract Rigel?” Gine asked. “What’s so special about those little lichens anyway?”

“Everything. There’s a pattern here, extremely rare. And no, we’re not going to extract, just observe.”

“For how long?” Gine asked. “I honestly don’t know. However long it blooms. A botanist must be patient.”

“If you say so. What a way to spend your birthday.” Gine grinned.

This was the beginning, before things slowed down. I was a young 64 then. I'm surprised I remember. After all, it was 10,000 years ago.

...

I arrived home later that night (describe trek through countryside?). My loft was empty, uninspiring, spartan. I liked it that way. The screen to the far side of the space blinked, announcing a new message. From my father.

[paragraphs need reworking to fit story] Jaia!" a male voice said as incessant pounding grew louder. "Please, I will beg you if I have to - you have to help us, we have to rebuild. Please!" Silence.

"I don't know what we're going to do, I just don't know, she's the only one left," the man said muttering on and on to himself as he grew weary and plunked himself down on the doorstep. He sat motionless staring into the distance hoping it was all a nightmare, one he would awaken from any minute.

"And what if I don't?" a female voice finally said after an eternity.

"You know the answer to that, Jaia," he said.

"No, I really don't," Jaia said, her voice distressed. "You always said everything we were doing would be here. That it all was for the greater good. Look around you, Zayen. Does this look good to you?"

"There was no other option!" Zayen said. "Did you want to sit there and just watch it all be destroyed? I wouldn't change it Jaia, I hate to say it, but I wouldn't." "Just go away," Jaia said.

"I would but being that you're the only person still alive that can help me, I can't leave without you can I? And trust me, begging you kills my soul almost as much as they did."

1.2

The year has gone by and this isn't going as we thought. With many others to find, we are becoming more and more desperate. In case you haven't figured it out we are all survivors of globalization. The universe is intact but the planet is dying. There is no sign of vegetation and we have been surviving with nutrient packs combined at meal times or if you're lucky you have a complete meal.... at this point all humans sterile and we are walking the Earth to find the mother of all people. Yes, you are correct Mother Earth has a human sister who lends PURE eggs to the facilities where the generations are produced.

I am what you would call a reboot human. I chose the name Graysin myself, because sin can be gray and that is the world today. A reboot human is a body and mind that has been used by machines for our organic electric energy. The machines use our electric current to fuel future generations with sensory exchange. Like charging the babys with human affection and touch so they develop their ultimate electrical capacities. Once my energy starts to deplete the humans are discharged. Basically the machines put us outside to live or die. Upon discharge I was naked. Terrified.

Being curious of the world around and filled with many new feelings, I cried. I do not completely understand why. We rebooted humans have no names, only QR codes. We have no understanding of the new science only of our existence and our role.

After crying I began to feel fatigued so I slept by the facility gate feeling its protection and safety.

At the sun slid below the horizon the night cooled quickly and I began to feel anxious. Everything was new and unrecognizable.

I began to perceive that there was something moving in the distance.

1.3

...

The galaxy was in crisis. A conference was called concerning all 1000 members of the League. The top minds of the quadrant were to convene on the planet (...).

...

This, more than anything, was the impetus of my tale, because if not for a chance ...

...

I received a transmission from my father. He was a stern man who never minced words. (better description). He held the rank of general in the League. At that time the League was new and they needed someone like him. The demands of the League were incessant, urgent, and my father saw them as a challenge.

I hadn't seen him in years. “Happy birthday, son. “ his long, stalky face looked stilted. I could tell he was worried. But he nevertheless tried to show joy.

“I will be passing through your sector, and was hoping I could (scoop) you up, so that we might spend some time together.”

What...brings you through the (backwater)?” I asked.

“A matter of importance. It is also urgent. But I would also like to see my son. It’s been too long.”

1.4

The cruiser Maxilon was passing through the Crab Nebula on its way to the conference to which my father had been summoned. It was being held at a secret location, on one of the fringe worlds of the League.

I arrived at the lift. The ship was massive, one of the Leviathan-class interstellar cruisers. Its black perma-steel hull sparkled, bright and dark, translucent and opaque, sinister and beautiful.

...

1.5

The scientists were perplexed. "How did we not see this?" Tular Renn, a brilliant astrophysicist fresh from Orion Prime Institute of Technology cried out, his eyes scanning the holographically projected image in front of him.

"We should have known about this decades ago," interjected an older female scientist.

A man at the end of the table stood up. "It seems impossible, and yet the data is quite clear! The speed of light has slowed down. This could have well started thousands of years ago!"

"That's preposterous! The speed of light is a constant." came another voice in the conference room deep within the Department of Sciences, a department of the League.

"Or so we thought," replied the Tular Renn.

The General stood up, "I am not after theories! What are we to do about it?"

"We're not sure, we project hundreds, perhaps thousands of galaxies have already been consumed. And the effect seems to be accelerating.

I interjected, without thinking, "how long do we have?"

"And you are?" the ... scientist queried.

"That's my son," the general replied. "He's a scientist of sorts."

"But why is he here?" The general raised his voice, he's here because I want him here!, and that's that"

"If you insist," the ... scientist replied.

The meeting went on for hours. I hardly grasped any of it, but it became clear that the first effects of the (rift) would be here in decades, if not years. A hundred, a thousand years? before things became completely inhospitable; no one really knew. Would the universe really be destroyed? Could it be an elaborate hoax? In all honesty, at the time, I didn't care much, when it really came down to it. I would be long dead before it happened.

1.6

The ...

1.7

... At the request of my father I went to get a long overdo physical exam. The room was crowded with (instruments). It resembled (...). “Pardon the mess. We are in the process of (revamping) this facility.” The doctor was an older man, with dark orange skin. Spots cluttered his large, round face. He was a Belerion I believe. “I am...” The doctor interrupted, “you must be Rigel. General Vango talks about you all the time. He’s informed me to give you every test there is. The doctor paused for a second. “Where are my manners, I’m Doctor Condel, or Co-del’-ondel-o’ris if you have the patience.”

It was strange to hear that my father talked about me. I always thought of myself as a chore to him. An inconvenience that needed to be met every couple of years. But I knew he loved me, even if In his own way. And I did love him, in my own way. That is why I agreed to this ridiculous physical, to make him happy. That is why I agreed to take a ride on this ship, to leave home. “Dr. Condel, where do we begin?”

...

... I had been diagnosed with a rare (genetic disease). I only had six months to live, at best... Everyone avoided me, refused to make eye contact with me. There was a stigma around my disease that hurt to hear it mentioned.

–Chapter 2 started–

Discussion

• Technologic development of the League? They have explored most of the galaxy but have yet to go beyond the rim. They can harvest energy from stars directly but have yet to construct a Dyson sphere, or at least the project has never been undertaken. The technology to destroy a star and create a black hole is there, but is illegal, due to its potential as a weapon. They have just recently begun to harvest dark matter for practical purposes. Much of the technical details can be ignored due to the story being told from the point of view of Rigel, who doesn't really understand what is going on.

• Tentative Synopsis, Chapter 2: Rigel, in search of a cure, ventures out of League territory to a far off planet following rumors of an illegal medical procedure.

Tentative Synopsis, Chapter 3: Rigel finds himself on the planet of the immortals, falling in love, but also needing to leave after a short time.

Tentative Synopsis, Chapter 4: Desperate in love, Rigel searches for Sophiy, spanning hundreds of years.

Tentative Synopsis, Chapter 5: Rigel finally finds Sophiy who convinces him to play a pivotal role in the League as a new threat emerges.

Navigation

• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10