the Story Shop

  There was a long pause, then: "You are invited to land your vessel." That was it, but I felt that the tone was friendlier.

  After instructing TOM to take us into orbit and ready the landing shuttle, I lead the others to the galley. Lori had prepared gifts of food for Runr of such elaborate variety that we had our hands full in carrying the parcels.

  As our shuttle hovered over the landing pad, Lori had her nose pressed against the small window. Below was the City of Spires, columns of blue crystal rising in the morning light and beyond, the snow-covered mountains and quiet sea.

  "I see him! There he is!" she shouted.

  Gry looked over her shoulder.

  "And who is that ... uh, that ... uh ... Great Mother Earth, can you see who's standing beside him?"

  Lori poked him in the side just as the door slid open. Sal stood back as Lori sailed by, stumbling down the stairway as it unfolded. Gry gawked, open-mouthed, at the doorway.

  Runr stood tall and handsome at the foot of the stairs, his arms opened, beaming with a smile that lit up his face, his blue robes billowing in a light wind. Lori jumped into his arms, crying and laughing. But it wasn't Runr that Gry saw. Beside the Keeper was a woman of colossal proportion with tawny hair falling in random curl to beyond her shoulders, her green eyes flashing a welcome to Gry, her robe plummeting from heaving breasts which stood out like boulders.

  "Uh ... uh ... uh ..."

  Sal pushed Gry from behind. "C'mon old man. The star-eater cometh. We haven't got all week."

  Runr embraced each of us, then turned and lead us to his home, Lori's hand firmly in his. Several tall Afrians lined the narrow pathway, bowing as Runr passed and singing a song which we later learned was the "song of the crystals", an Afrian mechanism for "most perfect communication". Sal and I followed but Tawna, Runr's mate, held back. Gry waited, then held out his hand and the giant black woman took it.

  Gry was breathing heavily. "You're ... uh ... uh, beautiful," he mumbled.

  "Our people are perfect," whispered Tawna. "I am most perfect. Do you not agree?"

  Gry had tried to avoid staring, but accepted eagerly the invitation and now looked very carefully. She was tall, statuesque, beautiful, with high cheek bones and fiery green eyes. Her ebony skin glowed. Tawna tossed her head in response to the Gry's stares. The ringlets which fell from her head cascaded in rolling curl to the middle of her back. She smiled widely and her teeth were white jewels. She straightened and thrust out her chest. The blue robe immediately hung straight from her rising breasts. Tawna lifted her robe. Gry coughed and looked away. Runr sang briefly and the tall Afrian woman smiled and let her robe fall.

  "Uh ... yes," stuttered Gry, "thou art most perfect."

  It was quite amusing to watch, even for Lori, but there were serious things to discuss and I immediately began the discussion when we arrived.

  "Runr, we come to warn you of a ... a star-eater, a spatial vortex which seems to be ..."

  Runr raised his hand and I stopped talking. How could he have grown so much? He was just a boy, not that long ago. Now he commanded the respect, indeed the awe of the Afrian community. And of me…that I admit.

  "We know of the coming of this thing. I have seen it in my dreams."

  Then he described his dreams:

  I stood at the peak of the mountain, bare feet firmly planted in the hard crusted snow, gazing at the dark sky now punctuated by points of light. The wind shrieked up the slope, my blue robe billowed and my hair rose in a wild tangle - but I felt none of the cold of the mountain. One by one I watched the stars wink then vanish until the void of space was a black sheet without light. Then came the glow, first faint then growing in luminosity like a cosmic maw that slowly opened in the night sky to reveal a bright red throat filled with stars.

  It was devouring galaxies.

  The ground shivered beneath my feet as the mouth descended. I alone might save Afria. I raised my hands and began to sing, the rising and falling song of the crystals. Flashes of phonarite blue reached up from the mountain, spears of light rising to meet the opening jaws of space. I heard the echo of my song as though the galaxy had joined me in chorus. At the base of the mountain my people stood, the Afrians, silent but for a murmur. Then the jaws engulfed me and I was falling, up, into the hole filled with stars. The jaws closed and all was dark and I knew that I had failed.

  Yet, from a distance, I heard once more the echo of my song and saw the slim figure of a girl in the blackness. Aura. She could save Afria. Together we would save Afria. Together.

  Runr closed his eyes and Tawna caressed his cheek. It was Lori who spoke.

  "Aura? Did you say Aura? A girl called Aura?" Lori blurted it out.

  From transworld travelers we had heard rumors that Runr had a daughter with powers beyond his own. None knew her name. Apparently, her name was Aura.

  Runr opened his eyes slowly, gazed at Lori for some time then smiled. He waved his hand and Tawna left the room. We all turned to stare at the door until she returned. Tawna entered first, stepped aside, then a small girl entered. She was perhaps eight years old with rust-colored hair which fell straight and long over her shoulders, down her back. Her robe was simple: pale blue, held at her neck with golden pins and falling in haphazard folds to her ankles. She lifted her face and her eyes were fierce and green.

  "I am Aura," she said quietly. "I am Afria. I am most perfect."

  Before we had a chance to greet the young girl, TOM's voice was heard on the communicator:

  "Master Kevn?"

  "Yes, TOM."

  "LIZ wishes to speculate."

  "Put her on."

  "Master Kevn, I believe that there is a pattern to the precursors. They are not entirely random as we first suspected. It seems that these disturbances are probes, directed in some unknown manner by the anomaly itself. They radiate from the gravitational anomaly, from the star-eater, and they provide information to the star-eater." LIZ paused for a moment. "That is pure speculation. However there is one thing we know for certain. One of these precursors has left C-phon3 and is now approaching the location of the planet Afria, and it is reasonable to expect that the star-eater will move quickly to this location."

  "Master Kevn," said TOM, "there is the remote possibility that the star-eater may be diverted, away from these coordinates. The trajectory is a function of the local gravitational fields generated by massive objects; a geodesic in the space-time continuum, influenced by the nearest subspaces, in the galaxy metric of course. A temporal variation in local mass density would have some influence on the projected path and -"

  "If we give it something to follow," interrupted LIZ, "it will follow. Isn't that what you mean TOM?"

  "Exactly!" said TOM triumphantly. "If we hold up a carrot, it will move to ingest the carrot."

  "A stellar carrot I presume," I said.

  "Precisely, master Kevn," said TOM.

  "And where will we find a star to toss in its path?" moaned Sal. "And just how will we tow a star to a favorable location, a location far from Afria?"

  None of us had noticed Runr and Aura leave the room, but the result of their departure was soon to be known to us.

  "Master Kevn, there is a large radiation field on the Afrian planet. It appears to be energy pulses and it radiates from the mountain outside the City of Spires."

  I looked around and saw the viewscreen standing in the corner of the room.

  "LIZ, we have a viewscreen here. Is it possible to ... to ..." I didn't know quite what to say. Could the shipcomp communicate with an Afrian viewscreen?

  The viewscreen shimmered, then displayed the snow-capped mountain beyond the City of Spires. Blue spears of light radiated, seemingly in every direction. As we watched, the light became more intense, then focussed, coalesced, becoming a narrow beam rising from the top of the mountain and vanishing into the black void of space. The entire planet glowed, then darkened, pulsating, circular waves of illumination converg
ing on the mountain, feeding the beam.

  "Where on Earth is it headed ... that beam?" I said.

  LIZ paused for a moment, then: "Toward C-phon2, I believe."

  "Yes, C-phon2," said TOM. "I also detect a similar beam originating from space, and it will also intersect the orbit of C-phon2." They waited, then LIZ continued. "Both beams will reach C-phon2 in thirty seconds."

  Gry looked at his watch and began to count: "One ... two ... three ..."

  LIZ spoke. "The precursor, it has left Afria. It now moves out, into space. The location is not certain."

  Everyone stood, silent, staring at the throbbing Afrian planet displayed on the viewscreen.

  "C-phon2," said LIZ. "The precursor is moving toward C-phon2."

  "Nineteen ... twenty ..."

  We held our breath; no one spoke. We were now looking at Gry.

  "twenty-nine ... thirty."

  "I no longer detect any beams," said LIZ.

  Eagerly, every head swung about to look through the window, at Afria. It was dark.

  "And the precursor seems to have gone," said LIZ.

  I looked at Sal who shrugged.

  "I ... uh, think they've done it," said Gry hesitantly. "Am I right?" Then, enthusiastically, "They have done it!"

  "Done what?" asked Sal.

  "Who's done what?" I asked.

  "Runr and Aura," said Lori. "Didn't you see them leave? They seemed in a great hurry. I think they've done it ... something, I don't know ..."

  I looked about and noticed their absence for the first time.

  Gry was the first to finish the meal and looked about with some pride.

  "Well? How did you like it?" he asked.

  "It was fine, Gry," said Lori. "It's fish, I understand."

  "And it's my recipe!" cried Gry, rising to his feet.

  Lori looked at Tawna. The tall black Afrian was dressed in a flowing blue robe, blue earrings swinging gently, green eyes glowing.

  "Yes, Gry has provided us with a preparation which we have not known. It is most perfect, is it not?"

  "Okay, you two," I said, staring at Runr and his daughter. "You said you'd explain this after we ate. It's now time. We've had a fabulous meal, compliments to Tawna and Gry. Now I'd like to hear what happened."

  Runr pulled Aura to his side and she sat on his lap, smiling.

  "I could not do it alone. But with Aura at my side we could." He smiled down at his daughter.

  "Do what! Do what!" cried Sal.

  "We both spoke, to Afria and to C-phon3. And now -"

  Runr grew pensive and lowered his head. Aura stroked his cheek.

  "It's all right, Keeper," she said softly. "C-phon2 was not like the others. It was evil and we are now rid of it. Afria and her sister planet do not mind."

  We waited for Runr to continue. Aura was looking up into his face, beaming, and he pulled her close.

  "We, Aura and I, we spoke to C-phon3."

  "You did most," whispered Aura.

  Runr held her tightly. "I could not have done it without you."

  "Done what! Done what!" Sal cried out impatiently.

  "It required a great deal of energy. We, Aura and I, we worked together and directed the energy from both planets - we directed the phonarite on Afria, and on C-phon3, to expel C-phon2 from its orbit about our common sun. The middle planet, it was moved out into space, to attract the precursor ..."

  "It ate an entire planet. Great Mother Earth," muttered Gry. "The star-eater ate the entire planet. Am ... uh, am I right?"

  Aura slipped from Runr's knee and kissed the Keeper gently on the cheek.

  Then Gry rose, smiled and suggested, "To celebrate, I think we should eat another helping of Gry fish-sticks. Any volunteers?"

  And we all raised a hand in agreement.

  That meal I remember quite well. We left Afria soon after and haven't seen or heard from Runr in many years, but I understand that he is now quite old and lives quietly with Tawna in the Afrian mountains and Aura is now the Keeper. Lori and Gry have a daughter of their own, Sal is swamped by the office of First Citizen and I ... well, I think I might follow Runr's lead and move to the mountains.

  I put down the slim volume of Carmichael poems and stared out the port. Small spirals of dust moved ceaselessly across the Barrens. Today, the sky was clear and without clouds and in the distance I could barely discern the Dolom Mountains. Soon, the last sun would vanish and the sky would darken. Yes, I will live among the trees, drinking from the cool streams. It will no doubt be my last adventure.

  Chapter One

  I am an Ultramatic Mark II, the last of the Ultramatic series. My creator, Stanislav Brzozowski, died last evening of a cardiovascular problem brought about my hypertension and morphological changes which altered cardiovascular function. He was a good man. He worked too hard.

  Without his guidance I have set for myself the solution of problems. I have Stanislav's latest creation, a Neutrino Matrix embedded in my skull. I am able to perform an octillion operations each second and can handle up to a quadrillion simultaneous tasks.

  As an introduction to problem solving I tackled many unsolved mathematical problems. The Riemann Hypothesis required my mastering complex analysis, but then I found Riemann's conjecture to be trivially true. I then completed my analysis of the P versus NP problem of computer science, the four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture and Barnette's conjecture. It was difficult to understand why these were unsolved by humans; the computational power required was modest. The three-body problem of quantum mechanics required the introduction of a new function, but even that was simplistic. I soon realized that solving these problems did nothing to advance civilization, to improve human existence ... so I changed tack. I began to consider the problems of social structures, their interaction, the inevitable friction between distinct and unlike organizations. I admit that, once I began this analysis, I required the complete involvement of my Neutrino Matrix.

  The problem with social structures is the multitude of individuals with specific, personal characteristics. Unlike the molecules in a gas that function according to strict scientific rules, humans invent personal rules. Governments are a compromise, attempting to mediate between various individual ideals and expectations. Democracies are a failure and so are socialist regimes and dictatorships. What, then, is the ideal organization? That is my problem ... so I set out to investigate the various social groups based upon common ancestral, social, cultural experience or ancestry and religion.

  The first thing I noticed was the prevalence of dissension between groups that practise differing religions. Trivial differences often resulted in violence. After extensive investigation, I came upon my first Rule:

  [1] Religion shall be abolished.

  Another pressing problem: forms of government. Democracies where officials are concerned about re-election and change direction every few years are poor choices. Socialist societies, brutal dictatorships, they are all diseases of the human spirit. That leaves a single form of government:

  [2] All governments shall be benevolent dictatorships.

  An obvious problem arises when there is a great disparity in material wealth. Poverty breeds depraved acts of violence, theft and physical abuse. The next Rule must therefore be:

  [3] Poverty shall be abolished.

  One need only inhale to recognize the next world problem: pollution. Factories spew forth noxious fumes and spill toxic waste into streams, rivers and the sea.

  [4] Pollution shall be abolished.

  I often inspect humans at their work. There is a recognizable correlation between obesity and efficiency. The lack of physical fitness also leads to shorter life spans and a multitude of health issues.

  [5] Obesity shall be abolished.

  There are many global locations where conditions do not favour plant growth. Humans starve and rich nations turn their gaze away.

  [6] Starvation shall be abolished.

  Having ident
ified these problems and their solutions, I set about to determine how they could be affected, how they could be implemented, how to put in place mechanisms for achieving world paradise.

  Chapter Two

  It was Frank Pearson who found the robot in Stanislav Brzozowski's lab. The lab had been closed ever since Stanislav died ... some three weeks ago. Everyone had assumed that the last of the Ultramatic series of robots had been moved out and stored or put into use, yet here was a robot which was obviously a Mark II unit, one with Stanislav's Neutrino Matrix installed. That would be a great find if it were complete and operational.

  Frank opened the panel on the side of the skull to inspect the Neutrino Matrix. He sighed. The Matrix was black, burned beyond recognition. It had obviously been over loaded. Frank dragged the large trash bin to the table where the Mark II lay. He pushed the robot into the bin and rolled it to the incineration unit. Within moments the Mark II was no more. Frank left the lab, locking the door behind him.

  Chapter One

  We are alone. The catastrophic bombardment has ended and now the world has become void. Why we survived is an enigma. We lived in a dome beneath the sea, our submarine habitat, our home, our asylum from the madness of the world. Perhaps that explains our being here, standing now on the shore in the evening, gazing at the mountain range towering on the horizon, amazed by the scarlet afterglow–yet others have perished.

  Brandy is a half-lab half-shepherd and is devoted to me. Neither he nor I have suffered from the isolation of our undersea home. The ocean provided everything we could possibly need, including the power to operate our various devices. When the news of World War IV came to us, Brandy and I were enjoying scallops and sea bass. I knew it would happen: people are so stupid, so intent upon imposing their own preferred lifestyle on others, so disdainful of those who differ in appearance or ideals. Yet I had hoped that, one day, the world would come to be a place of peace and mutual respect. That was not to be.