Chapter 1: A Moving Sermon

"Think of that instant, that tiny fraction of a second, when the final supply of fuel is exhausted. The pressure, the phenomenal pressure, caused by the very existence, the very confluence of all these small, seemingly meaningless components, becomes unbearable. And in that instant, the fight seems lost. Hopeless. Yet that is not the end. And you know it. It is the very beginning. Again."

Up until this point, almost two hundred people packed into a room intended to hold, at most, half as many, had been silently listening to the melodious voice in a sort of hazy rapture. Yet he was now drawing them out. A few people were saying, "yes" or "say it!" Many were nodding in agreement. The crowd was coming alive.

"This...instant. This seeming death moment when everything should be crushed out of existence is not that. It is not the end. It is the beginning! WHAT IS IT?"

The crowd shouted back "IT IS THE BEGINNING!"

"And in this moment of so-called atomic madness, things are happening that are simply impossible anywhere or anytime else. Atoms are being MADE! New elements, heavy elements are CREATED! The burnt out by-products of expended nuclear fuel is turned into new elements. Brand new elements."

His voice became quiet, almost as if he were telling a secret to a trusted friend.

"That is the matter that is created. But that is not all. I speak, of course, of energy. There is heat, certainly. Unimaginable heat. But in that instant, that tiny instant of time, you know what else is produced."

As the speaker grew more quiet, the crowd became more silent, intent on hearing his every word, anticipating the moment his oration would explode.

"Light."

The room was silent for a moment.

"LIGHT!!!! EVER EXPANDING LIGHT! IT FILLS THE UNIVERSE, IT RADIATES OUTWARD, IT HERALDS THE DEATH OF A STAR AND THE BIRTH OF NEW LIFE!"

The crowd was shouting, cheering, screaming, waving their hands as if they themselves were radiating bursts of light. The speaker waited almost 30 seconds before continuing.

"We are the atoms, the 'insignificant' cast-off bits. Our presence here is guided by forces beyond any of us. And we have the capability of producing something beyond our wildest imagination. Think what we could do, if only we could radiate the knowledge, the beauty, the love, the humanity, the life we represent. They say white holes do not, CAN NOT exist. They say we are helpless. They say we are fools."

He paused and then subtly changed his expression from one of urgency to one of mercy.

"We do not laugh at them. We do not call them fools. Nor do we think that we simply sit back and let things happen, let events unfold and that we just might be at the right place and the right time. We have a mission. Its importance is beyond any of us, beyond me, you, beyond even the great Black Hole himself. Fear not, for this is a special time and all of you are special, given an opportunity that no one in the universe has ever before been given. For that we are grateful, and we are obedient in our services. We conclude with a silent meditation on the instant of death and birth."

The speaker lowered his head and closed his eyes for a moment. The room was silent, at least as silent as it could be with the already damaged life support system trying to keep the room comfortable for twice its rated capacity. Ten seconds became twenty, twenty became thirty, thirty stretched into a minute. Then the middle aged man, dressed in colorful robes with a collar that covered the back half of his head and fancy hat, slowly raised his head, opened his eyes, and his demeanor shifted from stern to joyous, he opened his mouth, brought his hands up to his mouth as if he were going to shout to the far side of the room, then thrust his arms out while exhaling loudly. The Neutron Star had become a nova. Two seconds later, two hundred people did the same gesture, and the sound of two hundred breaths, simultaneously, silently streaming out was an odd sort of deafening silence that can only be understood once it has been experienced.

The service was over and people began to file out.

"Brother X'til, a moment of your time, if you would. I would speak with you."

A tall man wearing a brown monk's robe, about to leave the room, turned, and walked back towards the speaker. He placed his hands together in the traditional X'tonu'u gesture of respect and said, "Of course, Neutron Star."

The Honorable Reverend Lon Robace Metrra Kalopello, leader of the Children of the Expanding Light in this octant of space, second only to the Great Exalted One Himself, nodded and smiled gratefully. He extended a hand to indicate they should walk towards the far side of the room, near the glass panels that afforded a view of space.

This was a "multipurpose" room. Which meant it was the one concession given to a half-dozen groups. Usually it was the Poker Room; the game tables had been orderly stacked in a corner. Today it was the Chapel. While often non-denominational, today, by its popularity alone, it was definitely a Star Cult only event. Hundreds more had been in the nearby corridors watching and hearing a live feed.

The two men exchanged a few pleasantries while the room emptied, until they were finally alone.

"Brother, I fear we have a bit of a situation."

"How so?"

"You are aware of the stardust that we use for some of our ceremonies, yes?"

"Of course, Your Gravity. Without the symbolic stuff-of-stars, how could we anoint our holy relics?"

"I ask of you to keep the following in confidence: our cache of stardust is missing, and I fear it is stolen."

"In the confusion of the evacuation...?" the acolyte suggested.

"No," the leader said. "We discovered it was missing before our encounter with ... whatever that is."

"A white hole?" volunteered X'til.

"I honestly don't know. The scientists, before they left, really had no idea and were grasping at straws. I have, of course, tried to commune with it, but whatever it is, is not part of the normal course of things in the galaxy. However, I fear it might be a consequence of our actions and misdeeds. The loss of our stardust leads only to woe and misery, and you must admit, that's what we've been seeing."

X'til nodded slowly in agreement.

"But I am not without my insights. Traces of the stardust have been showing up in some of the food recently." X'til snorted indignantly. Lon continued. "Exactly, it is an affront to us and our brightly energetic masters. Having non-believers consume our holy stardust is unthinkable. And that is why I am about to ask for your help."

"Whatever I can do, I shall. But whatever can I do?" asked X'til slowly.

"You have connections. And given the recent...reorganization aboard the ship, I think you are a bit better connected than before. I need you to find out who has it and where it is. I do not believe it has left the ships. I believe one of the cooks have put it in the food. And he must have been given it by someone. This is information that would be in their logs, their manifests, their meal records. They can't break an egg without scanning it and logging it somewhere. I have others that are working on different aspects of this, such as the retrieval, but it is you who must help me find who is responsible for this...travesty."

He paused as the brother took all this in and nodded. Then he continued. "Time is of the essence. Whatever this anomaly is, white hole, quantum stellar object, or something else, we cannot remain here much longer. I know of your past. While clearly much has changed, you were one who had a knack at getting through difficult situations. Make use of your skills and connections to help me help you with your future. Remember, there are always options, and I like having a few options open."

"But all those who remain? What of our siblings in this cluster?" he asked with concern.

"I am responsible for all of the Children. You do what I ask, and I shall tend to our flock."

The brother nodded and left.