Sample of THE METAMORPHER OF LIFE
A Science Fiction Fantasy Story by John Adams Theibert Jr.
It was called the clearest object in the universe. A one-thousand-two-hundred-mile-wide spherical shaped object made from diamond. It was the inner core of a nearby white dwarf star called, Syel, also known as ‘The Divider of Life.’ It was three light years from the sun, closer than Proxima Centauri, just outside of the Oort cloud. Like all white dwarf stars, it had burned up all of its fusible material leaving behind the nuclear waste product stored in its core. It burned out over four billion years ago and cooled down until it was devoid of almost all light, which was why it was not discovered until forty-two years after the turn of the twentieth century. In 2042 Syel was discovered when it was hit by a local gamma-ray burst from WR 104, a Wolf-Rayet star. It was discovered early after the turn-of-the-century that WR 104 was not directly aimed at earth, so fears of earth death soon subsided.
Yet WR 104 was aimed at something we did not expect, the previously unknown and recently discovered white dwarf star. Syel received a direct hit, absorbing hundreds of times more energy than ten billion years equivalent of our Sun’s energy. The shock wave that resulted blasted away the outer layers of hydrogen, helium, carbon, and oxygen revealing an astonishingly clear diamond inner core, which was warped by the explosion, yet it melted and congealed into a spherical and perfectly clear object. Momentarily, Syel was brighter than the sun, from earth, yet it was almost two hundred thousand times farther away from earth than the sun.
Then something that seemed impossible happened, Syel started accelerating towards earth. The gamma-ray burst had given it life and Syel new for what purpose it was formed. Its purpose was to save life on earth from destruction from the species called, the Kriykyil. The Kriykyil came shortly after the gamma-ray burst. Syel perceived their intentions and used a new kind of energy it had created during the gamma-ray burst it absorbed, called neutrino wave energy.
Through emitting pulses of neutrinos of astronomical amounts, more than the sun will emit in its ten-billion-year life it was able to move, change its gravitational forces, and even effect life on earth. It moved with great urgency, even causing panic on earth. When it arrived it hovered twenty miles above the earth’s surface. The neutrino waves within this twenty-mile distance were at their highest intensity. Anyone within this range would become overwhelmed with indescribable pleasure, staring directly, unblinking, into its perfect clarity, extending their arms, hands, and shoulders as far as they would go towards it, screaming the words, “Syel, The Divider of Life, Syel!” After a year of hovering around the world, exposing all life to its field, it landed over the Mojave Desert, crushing the land completely smooth, yet before this, it evacuated all life from the area.
All life was drawn to its presence. Through it could be seen the stars, even in the daytime, because its outer boundaries went beyond the atmosphere and its transparency was flawless. Before the migration had hardly begun, Syel earned its title, The Divider of Life. It sent out great pulses of neutrino wave energy that was so powerful they could be seen passing through the atmosphere, causing it to glow like lightning on the surface of each wave. The waves traveled at near the speed of light, thrusting across the planet, dividing all life. Now every living creature in the world has a twin, yet we are half of what we were.
I am Xulfiyrial, Xulfiy for short, half human, my twin sister is Silfeyryel, my other half. We were divided like cells. Half of our bodies formed an individual organism. Our bones became harder and stronger. Our heads, bodies, and appendages became thinner. Yet our brains, though smaller, were far more sophisticated, increasing our intelligence. We can regenerate our limbs, organs, and tissues if they are lost and our muscles are more compact, much stronger and quicker than before. At first, there was great confusion, new governments had to be set up, new organizations had to be created in businesses, and medical technology had to adapt to the new organisms on the planet. Everyone chose a new name. Since we were the first generation after the Great Division of Life, we each chose an individual name. They are all registered and they are all different.
Yet, the Kriykyil arrived, after we had established new governments, organized ourselves, and created new astonishing technologies at an amazing pace. The Kriykyil were blue or red cyborg insectoids, seven feet tall on average, and gruesome in appearance. When the Kriykyil arrived, they began first abducting us then they began destroying us. With our new half selves — doubling our numbers from before the division of life — new capabilities, and new technologies we were able to halt their invasion. The Kriykyil left, and then Syel left, yet, some think they will return, some think there will be another division of life, and some want to return things to the way they were. We have separated ourselves into our own faiths and beliefs. We wait for the return of Syel, or the Kriykyil, or both. Either way, our world will never be the same again.
Chapter 1. — The Return of Syel
Xulfiy was on a single occupant probe to Titan to check out Ligeia Mare — the Sea of Ligeia — named after the ancient Greek siren. She braced herself for the atmospheric entry burn. As her probe entered the dense orange atmosphere of Titan it began to glow bright vermillion. She felt the vibrations of the reentry. Closing her eyes, instinctively, she knew those vibrations were harmonically correct, even though the system to display this could tell her the same. After the abrupt deceleration from the dissent, the parachutes deployed. The retro rockets fired a few feet from the ground, creating a soft, dusty landing. “Landing sequence is complete. I’m going outside to have a look-see,” Xulfiy said.
“Okay Xulfiy, ‘popping the cork’,” mission control said. Her earphones crackled and popped with static, from the atmospheric disturbances of the signal. Orange light flooded in from the opening hatchway. As the hatchway door cleared its radius, she lunged out, landing on the surface of Titan with the light spray of dust at her feet. She could hear the crackling of the supercool layers of ice that covered the shoreline where she had landed. She was giddy with excitement. She felt herself smiling broadly.
“I’m going to take a sample from a liquid, hydrocarbon pool,” Xulfiy said. She could see the geologically young cliffs and mountains off in the distance, on the banks of the sparkling, hydrocarbon sea. Ligeia Mare was larger than Lake Superior, so it was not possible to see across it, especially since the horizon was closer on Titan than on earth. She could see the geologic features clearly, even through the haze, as the computers in her suit digitally enhanced the images and projected them on her visor’s heads-up display.
The color of her suit was bright viridian, which could help rescuers locate her if she became trapped on the surface by a cryo-vent, or a cryo-tar pit, or any of a number of other obstacles, which she had trained to overcome, yet to which she might succumb, nevertheless. Xulfiy bent down and pointed her bright sea green gloves at the pool. She touched the tip of her glove’s fingers to test the pool’s content. Concentric waves rippled out from the place where she touched, intermingling with the waves created by the winds. Her glove’s fingertips had sensors on them that could detect and calculate the percentages of liquid hydrocarbon that they touched. “I think I’m getting a good reading. Approximately, eighty percent methane, twenty percent ethane. If this pool is representative of the rest of Ligeia Mare I think the extraction operations are a go. I will continue along the shoreline to make certain,” Xulfiy said.
“Okay Xulfiy, once we have a representative sample we’ll let you know. Keep up the good work,” mission control said.
After an hour and a half of collecting data, jumping over rocks, chasms, and walking along beautiful glistening frozen beaches, she saw flashes of light from overhead and felt the raw, unmistakable, immense pleasure that she had once enjoyed over fifty years ago. Xulfiy could hear the screams, “Syel, Syel! The Divider of Life! Syel, Syel!” Yet, she did not know where they were coming from. She had a flash of realization and she saw her up reaching outstretched greenish gloves and sleeves through her visor and realized she was screaming. Xulfiy was hyperventilating, causing warning signs to come upon her heads-up display, yet, she could not see them.
The enormous globe of clear perfect diamond stretched across the horizon hovering overhead. It obscured the orange haze revealing a startlingly clear and majestic view of Saturn, with its vivid rings, and billions of stars in the background. Syel began to strobe its energy waves far more powerfully than it had over fifty years ago on earth, the first time it came. Pulses of neutrino wave energy thrust through the atmosphere, each distinct and brilliant white, three waves every second. The pulses washed over her, jolting her body with every pass. She could no longer hear the screams because her body was in a crescendo of ecstasy beyond anything she had ever experienced. Her muscles were flexed to the point of muscle failure; her eyes were filled with tears, unblinking, and rolled back in her head; her jaw was wrenched open. The event caused her to lose all consciousness.
When Xulfiy woke up she was in an emergency transport. Humming in her ears intensified as she gained awareness. The rescuers slowly came into focus. She muttered the words, “Syel? Where’s Syel?” But they didn’t understand, Syel had gone and she was the only one who knew that she had returned.
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