World Was

The Galactic Hopping Adventures of Bahb & Errl. Exploration/Survey Team Zero-Alpha

WORLD WAS

The Galactic Hopping Adventures of Bahb & Errl
Exploration/Survey Team Zero-Alpha
Log 21922
A Funny thing happened on the way through the Sol system



“Pull up! Pull up!” Bahb screamed, yanking the flight yoke hard to starboard. The ship shuddered, alarms blaring as space warped like a funhouse mirror in front of them.
Errl gripped the edge of his console, knuckles pale. “Bahb! That was a black hole! In a wormhole! Who the hell hides a black hole in a wormhole?”
The viewport rippled back to normal, leaving only the echo of the gravity surge. Bahb let out a low growling “Woooah…” that reverberated through the cockpit.
Errl’s chest rose and fell like bellows. “I felt like a greased rat shot down a trash tube. Next time, just maybe don’t aim us directly at space anomalies that want to chew us up.”
“I saw it, Errl. Barely,” Bahb grunted, spinning his chair toward him. “If it had been any bigger, we’d be scattered atoms. Good thing it was small.”
“Small?!” Errl’s voice cracked, dry with leftover panic. “It was invisible until it nearly swallowed us whole! And unless my eyes are still spinning, that thing followed us.”
Bahb tapped furiously at his console, scanning. Minutes ticked by before he sat back, exhaling a guttural sigh. “You’re not wrong. It trailed us for half a parsec, shifted every time the wormhole blinked. A black hole should not play fetch.”
Errl swallowed. “Guess nobody told it that.”

Their ship drifted into the quiet edges of a modest star system on the galaxy’s spiral arm. Last trip through, they’d logged a rare jewel: a small blue planet wrapped in oceans, orbiting just inside a gas giant’s embrace.
This time, they approached cautiously, looping the planet in wide arcs. Instruments hummed. The water-world spun serenely below.
Then—bright flashes. Tiny, sharp bursts across a vast landmass. Then more, glittering like sparks on the far side.
Errl leaned forward, squinting. “Bahb… tell me those aren’t projectiles.”
Bahb’s head snapped to the viewer. Trails of light streaked upward—hundreds, climbing fast. His chair squealed as he lunged for the controls. “Errl! Please tell me I’m dreaming—because it looks like they’re shooting at us.”
“Not dreaming.” Errl’s scanner wailed. “Nuclear payloads. Radioactive as hell.”
Bahb’s growl turned into a chuckle as he gripped the yoke. “If they think lobbing nukes at us is going to work, they’re dumber than we thought.”
Errl smirked, half-serious. “Maybe it’s their version of a welcome parade.”
“Some welcome!” Bahb slammed the jump drive. Space folded, then snapped. In a flash, the planet shrank behind them. “Let’s see them catch that.”
But Errl wasn’t done staring. He zoomed the viewer back in. “Wait—Bahb. Look! The rockets—they’re falling back. They’re arcing down!”
“That fast?” Bahb craned his neck, watching the perfect curves of fire streaking across the globe. “They shouldn't have run out of juice that quick…”
The arcs weren’t random. They fell in mirrored patterns, slamming into the planet’s opposite hemisphere. Blinding flashes blossomed like dying suns.
Errl’s voice dropped. “Those are nuclear detonations. They’re bombing themselves.”
Sensors flared red. Bahb’s eyes widened at the readouts. “Massive fallout. Lethal dust clouds wrapping the atmosphere already.”
Explosion after explosion painted the globe until the surface was shrouded in choking darkness. For several rotations, more flashes flickered beneath the clouds—like a death rattle.
Errl sat back, whispering, “They’re burying their own world.”
Bahb wiped sweat from his brow. “Well, I’m sure as hell not landing to take readings.”
“Radiation’ll last longer than we’ll be alive,” Errl muttered, fiddling with the climate controls as the cabin grew warm.
“Make a note in the log,” Bahb said quietly. “Return in a few millennia. If there’s anything left we might go down to see what survived.”
They sat in stunned silence, watching the once-blue world fade into a swirling, radioactive veil.
“No one’s going to believe this,” Bahb finally said. “Not until they see the footage. And even then… they’ll call it fake.”
Errl, still recording, gave a weak grin. “Prize-winning documentary if nothing else. Maybe a blockbuster holo-flick.”
“Yeah,” Bahb murmured, giving the shrinking planet one last glance. His voice rumbled with that trademark growl. “What a waste.”
“Yeah,” Errl echoed, the growl deep in his throat too. “Wow.”
They watched until the planet was ...gone.


M. Alan Greene
2006-19-08

Copyright © 2006 by M. Alan Greene. All Rights Reserved.