Black Star

“But I’ve been to Othos and Gaiphon. I live on Kouivex. So do you.” Charlie was insistent.

“Look around you, I’ve seen other portals like this one. There is no Kouivex anymore, there hasn’t been for more than a million years. I don’t know about Othos or Gaiphon for sure but I don’t see why they would have spared them. Tarannis was inhabited by some kind of intelligent beings, I think they survived, but I can’t be sure.”

“How can you not be sure?” yelled Charlie. “I want to know what the Hell is happening right now. Help me understand.” He was exhausted.

“I am trying to help you, buddy. There is still almost three hundred feet between us and the outer skin. I don’t know how to get up there and this is the largest portal I’ve found. It’s impossible to see the other planets from here. Believe me I’ve tried. I don’t think they would have spared the others. Except Tarannis, I hope. I hope they’re not butchers.”

“Who are ‘they’ you keep talking about? Some kind of advanced alien race? Destroyers of worlds?” asked Charlie. “I don’t understand.”

“It gets complicated. Think terra-engineers, but on a planetary scale. I don’t think they are aliens either. They were our ancestors, some of them. I’m pretty sure there are others who are, well, immortal. They are the ones still in control. They are our masters and we are slaves to them.”

“But what do they want? What the Hell do they want?

Bron glanced down at his watch again, the third time in ten minutes. Looking out the portal he reached down and picked up the masks, and handing one to Charlie, instructed him to put it on. They stood, side by side staring into space. All at once the space beyond the four stations erupted into a blinding ball of light. Even with the Gmask and its auto dim technology, it burned their eyes. They could feel the heat of the blast through the metal, warming their faces. The ball of energy streaked away from them at an astonishing speed as it shrank into the space beyond and finally disappeared altogether.

“That’s what they want. All of our energy. And more. Nine hundred billion people and a star system to rape our dying star of it’s energy to give it to them.” Bron said, gritting his teeth. “The deliveries are getting more frequent too. I think that’s why the blackouts are getting worse. They’re going to take it all and leave us to slowly freeze to death and nobody will ever even know we even existed. These bastards are cold, man, let me tell you.”

“Where is it all going to?” Charlie wondered aloud, almost to himself.

“We estimate it is sending it to pretty much the center of the universe. To where the OS should be.”

“Please stop talking in code all the time.” Charlie begged. ”What is an OS?”

“It’s the original star, man. The same one that blew itself to pieces some five billion years ago.” Bron smiled at the thought. “Happy birthday.”

The weekend did nothing to calm Charlie down. Locked up in his apartment, head still spinning from Brons’ revelations, Charlie sat quietly on his couch. When his best friend had hinted he had a surprise, some kind of secret to share that would make this birthday unforgettable, Charlie never imagined this end of the world scenario Bron had gifted him.

Alone, with some time to look back and reflect, Charlie recognized a sadness in his friend's constant sarcasm, he seemed uncharacteristically serious, then excusing himself quickly, promising to contact him again before the party.

I have to tell Liz. Charlie thought, wondering how she would take the news. She'd probably think he was mad, and what if she told her father? He couldn't risk him finding out about them. Her foster dad would do anything to separate his only child from a lowly bio engineer from Kouivex.

Charlie stared at the compad for a long time. He owed her this much, even if it cost him everything. “Call Lizzy.”

“Hello, Charlie Stratford.” Her soft voice swept away his worries for a moment. “I thought you had forgotten about me.”

“We need to talk. Soon.”

She could feel Charlie's tension.

"What's wrong?” herself feeling a bit strained now.

“We need to talk face to face, where can you meet me?”

“Charlie, you're frightening me…”

He was aware of her uneasiness, but unable to hide his agitation. “Where?”

“I was heading over to my dad's shortly, but we could go to that little pastry place, the one with that banana bread you like, It's just down the street from my dad's apartment. “

“Perfect, I'll see you in half an hour.” Charlie replied. He felt bad for being so short with her, but this was too much for him to process by himself. He needed to talk to Bron too. But before he could call him, the com lit up with Bron's unmistakable ringtone.

“Hey. Buddy, how's your head doing?” Bron asked with an audible smirk. I was wondering when you might drop by, I've got more news. And I need your help, if you're up to it.”

“I'm going to see Liz. I need her to understand, I mean if I could understand myself. I can't keep something like this from her. Don't worry, I'll leave your name out of it.” He hoped Bron would understand.

After an uneasy silence, Bron conceded. “I get it man, it’s okay, maybe we can get her to help us too. You need to get over here buddy.” Bron’s usual over the top enthusiasm would normally have made Charlie feel better, however, under the circumstances it made him even more anxious.

“I’ll swing over after I talk to Liz. I’ll see if she wants to come. You know she already thinks you're crazy. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, she likes me. Can you blame her?” His smirk was getting louder. “Jimmy and Deano are gonna be here soon, we’re gonna make this right man, screw those bastards. This will be their wake up call.” He was getting more excited as if he was steeling himself on the idea. “Hey, gotta go, sounds like they're gonna break my door. I'm telling you, this is happening now. Hurry up and get over here.”

Charlie tried to cut in, but the com was dead. “What the hell is he thinking of doing now?” Distressed at how fast his whole world was spinning out of control, he couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. He needed to see Elizabeth more than ever. The door shut behind him with a hollow, metallic clang as he headed downtown.

An hour had passed and the slice of banana bread sat staring back at Charlie half eaten. He still hadn’t heard from Liz and was getting more worried by the minute. Neither Bron or Elizabeth would answer his calls and he was feeling strangely vulnerable sitting here by himself. Unlike most of the customers, Charlie wasn’t from here. He had been engineered on a much smaller budget and it showed. He was sure everyone was looking at him.

He tried to make himself smaller, to blend in with his surroundings, thinking of when he had first seen Liz. The exclusive office party that Bron had somehow forged his and Charlie’s invitation. How this beautiful woman seemed to float through the crowd of mortals like a single thread of silk weaving itself into the middle of a boring patchwork, only to end up at his table.

Suddenly, Charlie’s mobile went off. Snapping out of his daydream he quickly answered it. “Hey, where have you been? I've been freaking out. Are you okay?

The voice on the other end was Elizabeth’s, but unlike Charlie had ever heard before. She sounded distant and oddly calm, maybe sad.

“Something’s happened. I need you to come up right away.”

“What’s going on? Are you okay? Come up where? To your apartment? Your father would kill me.”

“My father’s dead. I killed him. I had no choice, Charlie. I need your help.”

Charlie sat silently, the pressure within his head threatening to explode. “I don’t, don’t understand. The entire restaurant was shrinking away from him and he began to feel dizzy.

“Please hurry, I can’t do this myself. I’m in his apartment, it’s on the top floor. The penthouse. You need to help me now.”

In shock, Charlie managed the short walk to the apartment building and found his way to the elevator. He had time to try and make sense of what was happening during the five minute ride up to the penthouse, but he simply couldn’t wrap his head around it all. There was a heavy interior door greeting him as he stepped out of the elevator. Charlie put his hand to the door and pushed. It swung open easily and without a sound. What he saw in front of him sent a shiver through his body.

Elizabeth was crouched over her father’s lifeless body, the obvious signs of a struggle surrounding her. She stood up and turned to face him. She looked at him with tears welling up in her eyes. They were darker than normal, full of fear and hatred at once. The droplets of blood and brain matter splashing a grotesque play of freckles on her otherwise flawless complexion.

“I’m so sorry Charlie, he wasn’t my real father, you know. He was going to ruin everything. He turned on us a long time ago.”

“I don’t understand. We need to get the hell out of here. I’ll call Bron, he’ll be able to figure this out…”

“Bron’s dead too, they all are. They wouldn’t let it go. We need to finish this now.” She was crying now as she walked up to Charlie and kissed him gently on his lips.

“I’m so sorry, I do really love you.” She raised the gun to his face.

“Goodbye Charlie Stratford."