The Gem Lords

Answers - Part 4

     "So," said Thomas as they sat back in their chairs, the last few grapes forgotten in their bowls. "The red sun's going to blow up, is it?"

     "Yes," said Sheena, now all serious and down to business again. "There is no doubt. We thought at first that the stars of Tharia's universe might be different from those in the universe where we first learned of the phenomenon, but then we observed distant stars in Tharia's universe exploding, and when we examined Derro, using techniques learned in that other universe, we saw that its fate was sealed."

     "When will this happen?" asked Lirenna. "How long have we got?"

     "It's hard to be sure," said Barl. "At least a thousand years. Maybe two or three thousand, but no longer than that. That may seem a long time to you..."

     "No, it doesn't," said Thomas, though. "Not when you consider the millions of years that have passed since the demise of the nonhuman Tharian civilisations. The G'Toff, the Llanoks... I used to imagine the world as it might be millions of years in the future. Mankind gone, some other race occupying the planet, building tall cities, but if what you say is true, there won't be any other races. Humankind will be the last."

     "It's humankind we're primarily interested in, though," said Barl. "Or, more accurately, it's ourselves we're interested in. Saving Tharia for future races yet unborn will be a bonus."

     "But how will it happen?" asked Thomas. "How can Derro just explode?"

     The gem raks glanced at each other. "Tak understood the process," said Sheena. "Don't you remember?"

     Thomas concentrated. "Not yet," he said after a moment. "Maybe it'll come."

     "I hope so," said the dark skinned woman, "because if it doesn't, we're finished. Those memories, and his vitamorphic skills, are what we really need if we're to do this."

     "His vitamorphic..." began Thomas in surprise. "His ability to create new forms of life? What's that got to do with Derro? How can some new form of life possibly stop a star blowing up?" Then he froze however, while all the gem raks stared at him expectantly. "The star dragons!"

     "You remember?" asked Barl excitedly.

     "No," said Thomas. "I'm afraid not. I remember embryonic dragons growing in glass tanks. Like the gem steeds, but different. Their very tissues altered to a completely different metabolism."

     "They all died," said Topaz. "They grew for a while, but died before their gestation was complete. That was the problem Tak was never able to solve and which drove him to such desperation that he was willing to risk using quasi magic."

     "What will these creatures do?" asked Thomas. "How will they affect the evolution of a star?"

     "Maybe we should wait for the memories to come naturally," suggested Jade.

     "No," said Sheena, however. "Telling him now might hasten their return." She hesitated before speaking further, though. If Thomas lacked Tak's knowledge of stellar physics, then she'd have to describe it in terms that a medieval scholar would understand, if she could.

     "A star is like a big bonfire," she said. "When a bonfire's beginning to die down, there's a pile of ash in the middle and a circle of unburned wood around the outside. Well, a star's a bit like that. They're made of gas, but basically they're just big bonfires. As the gas burns, it's turned from one form of gas to another, and gradually the star develops a core of the, the second form. The ash, as it were. Now, you can stoke up a bonfire by kicking the unburned wood into the middle, into the hot ash, and it occurred to us that we might be able to do the same with a star. If we could stir up the star, so that the unburned gas around the outside was carried down into the interior..."