Challenges: SciFi Short Stories

Black Sphere

Space is like an endless starry night of thousands sun. Among the pitch black darkness you can feel the warms of every stars, unnumbered shades of colours, like shattered silks clothes. Everything is incredible, so incredible that you forget its emptiness, its deadly cold, and here you are in a shuttle in the middle of somewhere out of nowhere, nothing to lose but an empty heart.

"Virgil, Day 450 of Year 45 of the 56th Calendar, I am now approaching the 36th sites of my expeditions. From far it looks like any asteroid but reports showed a weird black dot and geometrical shapes. Now that I am near it, I can see a pyramidal structure, stairs on four sides, with a flat platform on it. Similar to old history Astek's temples. I will now engage the descent. Virgil out."

The space shuttle lands on the asteroid near the structure. Virgil gets out, slowly walking towards the structure, step by step waiting for his boots to pin and unpin his body to the floor, and his yellow fluorescent life-link cord to unroll from the shuttle.

Virgil finally reaches the top of the stairs, exhausted, he observes a huge floating sphere, a black bean, emitting a faint cold glow around it, like an ice-cream slowing melting under the sun, devouring the reflection of the stars. Virgil slowly walks around the sphere until his cord trace a yellow circle. Nothing is perceptible on its surface, but he can feel his curiosity growing at every step. He lifts his arms, approaches with his right hand and gracefully touches the sphere.

A cold sensation flows into his body even though his suit has thermal protection. "It feels cold but doesn't bite", mumbles Virgil. Suddenly a presence takes over his voice and let go a violent and agonizing shout: "Ahhh!" Astonished, he retracts his hand on his chest. He can feel his heart beating fast. For a moment he looks back, left, right, nothing, he is alone, at the top of the structure, overseeing everything, but seeing nothing strange. His eyes lays on the shuttle, brimming with lights, stars among the stars, his life link, his second home. All theses thoughts bring him confidence. He takes another look back at the sphere, touches it another time.

"By the great universe! No way, my arm! Let me go!" another voice emerged out of his mouth, before letting go the same painful cry. Virgil falls on his knees, hands on the floor. The words, the intonation, the pattern are familiar. It sounded like his own voice, like himself but in deadlock situation.

"Me? But I am here. What's happening?" mumbles with frustration Virgil, until his curiosity brings back his eyes on the sphere. Light scratches are visible on the surface, like shadow puppets in slow motion. Virgil, captivated, touches the sphere.

This times four voices screamed in succession.

"It feels cold..."

"By the great universe!..."

"Stop touching the sphere, Idiot!"

"Ahhh!"

The voices doesn't stop, he removes his hand, the voice keeps going, overlaps, getting louder and louder.

"We gonna die!"

"Me? But who am I?"

"..doesn't bite"

Virgil trembles in fear, looks back to the shuttle and hears his own voice far away, agonizing scorched by fire before getting snapped by the cold of space. The image of his shuttle exploding brings him to tears. Despair has now bitten his feet into the glacial floor, he stopped moving and slowly turns around shivering. The dark ebony sphere was now showing reflection of the past and the future. He sees himself, touching the sphere, falling into the trapped floor, getting swallowed by the sphere, the flames tearing the shuttle apart. The voice kept resonating in his ears.

"It feels cold..."

"Ahhh!"

"My arm!"

"I must leave!"

"... bite".

Stuck by despair in the middle of an endless loop, it started when he touched the sphere but he was to frightened to leave it, like in the eye of a hurricane, one wrong move and his body will be shattered by the flows and the waves of a gruesome destiny.

Seconds then minutes, he watched himself through the sphere, pain then calm, he started to see something, his ugly deformed face hearing the last ringing bell of death. Fear was the prelude of death. Overcoming his fear will save him. Closing his eyes, grasping his right chest, one step at a time, he moves sluggishly towards the sphere. The sphere's matter changed like water, he passed through it, felt a lukewarm sensation growing in his body until thunder tears his ears and visions flows into his eyes.

Peoples smiling at him... a new title... head archaeologist for his discovery... a woman with dazzling eyes... kids playing outside. He slowly open his eyes. He had walked past the sphere. In a swift movement he turns back and see a faint golden glow slowly disappearing in the darkness of the sphere. The voice had stopped. He rushed to the shuttle and left the asteroid.

~ 13 years later ~ 

"Brave your fears and discover your future" was written on the huge holo-glass. The asteroid was now a tourist attraction, grass and trees surrounded by a protective dome, like a goldfish in a first-class fish tank. People from all the galaxies started swarming around it, bringing all kind of breath tanks and stores with sweet and nasty food. Even the trap on the floor was not fixed, just a giant mattress was put below, since it triggers itself from time to time and nobody found out how it works.

Today was a special day for Virgil, He was here, on the asteroid, with his wife and kids. His vision went until this day. He kisses his wife, his kids and climbs the stairs with great confidence. Once at the top he waves at them before confronting the black sphere. The atmosphere was less oppressing. The dome's light chased away the gloom and cold silence of space. But the sphere was still the same. Virgil takes a deep breath and touches it. The black mass quickly moves around his arms, Virgil tries to shout but it was already blocking his mouth. He tried beating the floor but the black matter was now uplifting him, covering him like petrol. He gave a last gaze upon his wife, his kids, his third home before getting gulped and crushed by the darkness slowly taking back its spheric shape. During his last moment, he heard an inhumane voice through his body.

"Thank you, Virgil. Fear really taste better when you got something to loose."

"Daddy?" A small girl appears at the top, looks and get mesmerized by the sphere. On its surface, she can see the smiling face of his father. Joyfully she hurry and touches the sphere...

Near the shuttle, running into his mother arms, she smiles from ear to ear.

"Mommy, I saw the future, I will be a big and famous woman, I will be happy!"

"Of course my little girl. Have you seen daddy?"

"There! At the top! He is happy too!" says the girl pointing at the black sphere emitting a faint golden light.