Chapter XLII: Void Planet

Chapter XLII: Void Planet 

“Alright, the infamous Void Planet.” Serge says over the monitor. 

“What do you want us to do?” Ballester asks. 

“Same thing you’ve been doing, taking samples, talking to the locals, let me know what you find.” 

“Alright, but what if we find nothing?” 

“Then you find nothing.” Ballester, Oigres, and Chimmy suit up and get out of the ship when they land. 

“Woah, gravity is really strong here.” Oigres says. “Feels like we’re walking underwater.” 

“But how can that be?” Ballester says. 

“Maybe it has something to do with the implosion.” 

“Hey look, shadows.” Chimmy points to shadows moving across the ground. “Hello? Somebody?” The shadows keep moving around. The ground starts to crumble and starts to suck them in. They resist, but end up inside the planet. There, they find a race of shiny, gold aliens. The aliens stop and stare. 

“Hi, I’m Ballester Sallone, my son Oigres, and my Security Chief, Chimmy.” The aliens continue to stare. 

“**^#%^*” an alien says. Ballester translates it. “Bring them to the Elder!” The group lets the aliens escort them. It’s even tougher to move inside the planet than it did on the surface. 

“Can you tell me why you are here on our planet?” The Elder asks. They look around, and it looks like they’re outside, with a sun, sky, flora and fauna, as if they weren’t inside of a planet. 

“We come in peace, we’re simple explorers.” 

“You are the first visitors we’ve had in quite a few thousand years.” 

“Yeah, I bet. Can you tell me how you’re able to simulate outside inside of the planet?” Oigres asks. 

“I don’t understand, we are on the surface of the planet. Look at our map.” He pulls down a map. “We are here.” He points to a landmass on the map. 

“The gravity is strong here.” 

“Yes, that is because our core is theorized to be a black hole, formed one day as our scientists were working on a way to make space travel possible, but there was a terrible quake, and it destroyed everything. We rebuilt, but we had to start from scratch.” 

“That explains a lot.” 

“Why do you wear those suits? Our air is fine to breathe.” Ballester takes off his helmet, and his head explodes. 

“I think we’ll keep the suits on.” Ballester’s body disappears. 

“My apologies, do you not breathe sulfur dioxide?” 

“Um, no, we breathe a nitrogen/oxygen mixture with a bit of hydrogen mixed in.” 

“My apologies for your comrade.” 

“He’ll be ok, he knew the risks. So tell me, what do you call yourselves?” 

“We are Gloknicks.” 

“My comrade was a human from the planet Earth. I myself am also from planet Earth, but I am a human/Galaxian hybrid.” 

“Did you say Galaxian?” It’s been rumored that they’ve-” 

“That they’ve been extinct, I know. They just left the planet to travel. Anyway, my companion is mutated human/canine with the body of a food item.” 

“How strange...” 

“The result of a scientific experiment.” 

“I see!” 

“Have your people always been...reflective?” 

“Yes, we used to have a race of silver plated reptiles who used to dwell with us, but they settled on a new planet before the quakes.” 

“The Zorkons?” 

“You know of the Zorkons?” 

“Unfortunately, yes. They tried taking our planet, but we beat them in the end.” 

“Why would they do that? Invade your planet?” 

“They’re a race of conquerors now. They go galaxy to galaxy, planet to planet, conquering any they come across with the smallest bit of intelligent life on it.” 

“Oh dear, yes, they’ve always been ill tempered, but I did not know it was that extreme.” 

“Oh, they’re very ill tempered all right. So tell me, what is the composition of your planet?” 

“Well, our air is sulfur dioxide, our oceans and lakes and such are filled with mercury, our main source of hydration, and everything else is carbon based, with the occasional trace elements here and there.” 

“What about your planet’s core?” 

“I assume the same as yours, a core of nickel and iron surrounded by magma, I don’t believe that ‘black hole’ nonsense, we’d be dead.” 

“According to our readings, your core is a black hole.” 

“A black hole?” 

“Yeah, that quake that happened was your world imploding. A black hole was created when the core collapsed on itself. That’s why the gravity is so high, we’re being pulled towards it. If  you’ll follow us, we’ll show you the real surface of your planet.” 

“Guards, go with them! I do not wish to risk my own life!” The guards begrudgingly accept and follow Oigres and Chimmy up the hole they fell through which looks like a hole in the sky. Chimmy shoots a grapple to the top, and they climb to the top. 

“See? THIS is the surface of your planet.” The guards look on in awe, and see the shadows beneath them. “Go ahead and tell your scientists.” They all head back down, and the guards tell the Elder that what Oigres says is true. 

“Contact the Heads of Science on all four continents!” Within a few hours, four aliens in lab coats show up. 

“Is what we’ve heard true?” One of them asks. 

“I’ll show you myself, come on.” Oigres tells them. They go back to the hole and he points up, showing them the hole in the sky. They climb the rope to the top and see the deserted wasteland. 

“It’s dark up here, but it’s supposed to be daytime.” 

“I wouldn’t recommend building up here, or even exploring. If it crumbled under our weight, imagine what would happen if you tried to build on it. You could chip it away, but then you’d lose daylight.” 

“So, what do you propose we do?” 

“Patch the hole, but don’t forget you all live underground. Unless you’re afraid the planet will crush you, then I suggest you start building ships to escape with, and a new planet to settle on.” 

“Why would the planet crush us?” 

“Because your core is a black hole, I’m sure you’ve noticed your planet getting smaller and smaller year after year?” 

“Yes, we’ve been trying to figure that out for years.” 

“Come on, let’s go back down.” They climb back down the hole. “What’s causing the day/night cycle?” 

“Until now, we thought it was naturally occurring.” 

“We need to find the source.” 

“I think I have an idea.” Another scientist says. 

“By all means, lead the way.” They get into their version of a car and drive for about an hour. They end up at an abandoned building and head inside. They head downstairs where a room full of generators are running.  

“I had always wondered what these were for.” 

“Did you ever investigate?” 

“No, been busy with my own research.” 

“Then let’s do some exploring.” They make their way through the room, and find a giant screen with a note attached written in their language that says: ‘play me’. The scientist presses some buttons and the screen turns on. In the alien language, the following message is said:  

“Hello, if you are watching this, you’ve discovered our planet’s true nature which can only mean either the time is near for the planet to collapse, you found this room on accident, or you’ve discovered the secret and are willing to prepare the inhabitants to leave before things get too bad. When the planet imploded, we were buried under the rubble and decided to rebuild, but we had no sun, no sky, nothing. We discovered we were forced under the surface, which used to be the old underground, essentially our planet turned inside out. The black hole helps power the generators that generate a new day/night cycle. Upon our discovery, we built a giant, false sun, and projected a light to look like our sky, along with the moons. We estimate that by the year 9523, the planet will get sucked into it and either explode, or end up somewhere else, either way, it’s leaving this solar system. We’ve decided to keep this a secret from the population to avoid mass panic. This knowledge should be passed on to the protégé of the Head Scientist of each continent, generation by generation. If this information gets lost, it could mean the end of our species. There is a nearby planet, NG-566 that is uninhabited and would be perfect for our species. The year 8437 is the last possible year to begin building your ships. Hopefully, technology will have readvanced to the point where space travel is possible. If not, the species is doomed unless you can squeeze yourselves out at the last second. Good luck, future generation!” The message stops and an option to watch it appears. 

“What year is it?” Oigres asks? 

“8997.” A scientist says. 

“So, you missed your window to start building ships, then?” 

“Unfortunately. Did any of you receive this information?” They all shake their heads no. “Neither did I, it must have gotten lost to time.” 

“Ok, so unfortunately for you, NG-566 is occupied, and it’s atmosphere is nitrogen/oxygen just like my planet, but if you want, we can send some ships to evacuate your people and find a suitable planet for you to live on.” 

“That is acceptable, we just have to clear it with our Elders.” A few hours later, the Elders agree to the plan. Oigres and Chimmy say goodbye and reboard the ship. 

“Welcome back.” Ballester says. 

“Why didn’t you come back?” Oigres asks. 

“Meh, I just didn’t want to, your mother persuaded me to...stay.” Ballester and Gorgax kiss. 

“Yuck. You guys are worse than teenagers.” 

“So, what’d you find out?” 

“Contact Serge, I’ll tell the three of you at once so I don’t have to repeat myself.” Arizona is already ahead of them and contacts Serge. 

“What’s up?” Serge asks. Oigres fills everyone in on the details. 

“...so if you could send a few Galaxian ships to rehome these people, that’d be great.” 

“Sure, I’ll ask Gorgon and hopefully they’ll agree. I’m sure there’s some sulfur dioxide based planets, is there, Gorgax?” 

“There is a few, but they’re really far, even from here.” 

“Well, they still have about five hundred years before the planet becomes uninhabitable.” 

“Oh, then it shouldn’t be much of a problem to transport them all, it’ll just take a while.” 

“Ok, let me know what Gorgon says.” 

“Sure thing, guys. Serge out.”