A very short story
Written by Steve Neill
Once there were two stars and each one had an Earth-type planet orbiting them. On these two worlds were civilizations of intelligent species. They were humanoid, like our own, and faced the same challenges our civilization is facing.
The first planet, we will call Aurora, had the same growing pains of being a tribal species plagued with greed, hate, aggression, and war. That’s not to say that all the inhabitants were of these things but predominately religious wars and beliefs were holding back their evolution. They were controlled by fear.
Many of their people wanted to reach for the stars and explore space but the governments and religious fanatics that ran the world resisted. They denied their scientists and the things they discovered about their planet and universe.
All the technology that was developed on Aurora was done always to promote personal greed. This technology was destroying them. There were people fought and protested to no avail. Their warnings were not heeded.
Even worse, the people of Aurora never pursued the exploration of space. They believed they were alone and there was nothing to find in space. They believed they were the chosen of their God’s children. They never became a space fairing race. Their beliefs kept them ignorant.
Their planet faced a terrible climate disaster and it was too late to do anything about it. At the last minute they tried to fix things and failed. Life became hard. They had to live underground in sealed buildings with climate control with freezing conditions, fires, and fierce storms raging on outside these habitats. The planet was trying to shake it’s back of these people that would destroy it.
One day the worse thing imaginable was revealed to them through their telescopes and the few scientists that survived. Their star or sun would go Nova.
They knew then that no God or technological breakthrough would save them. All the energy they spent on war, hate, and greed never afforded them spaceflight. They never colonized other worlds or ever once traveled in space. They were doomed without a life boat.
It wasn’t long after that their star erupted in a bright fire ball that could be seen across the galaxy.
The second planet, that we will call Hope, also evolved a humanoid species that also went through its tribal phase of evolution but took a different path. One day they looked up and agreed the real solution was to travel the stars and work together as one race in peace.
They turned their weapons of mass destruction into engines that would power their spacecraft to other worlds. Once they were able to leave their solar system, they reached other stars with new worlds. They met other species and communed with their cultures.
They colonized and made their homes on these other worlds. War, hate and greed had been long left behind to be replaced with passion, love, and exploration of the Universe the highest attainment for an advanced civilization.
Back on their home world Hope the scientists discovered that their home world star would go Nova just like Aurora. They moved quickly to evacuate the inhabitants and all its treasures from the home world to the colonies.
Thousands of light years away from their home world they stood on the surface to watch the night sky. It was time. They could just see the star that gave birth to their civilization twinkling in the night sky. As they watched, it erupted brighter than anything in the night sky and it was gone.
Their home world was gone but they survived. They continued to survive for millions of years. They amassed so much knowledge about the universe, spirit, time and space they became masters of reality beyond what mere technology could afford. They traveled the Universe to other worlds that were in danger of being lost.
In the silence of the night the people of Planet Hope communicated with the bright souls whose light shined brightly in the dark on these troubled worlds they found. They were attracted to the light they could see.
They knew these souls were the hope of these worlds. These souls were the key to turning the tide of their world from hate and fear to hope and survival with just a little help.
Short Stories by Steve Neill