"The Death of a Star" - A rough draft of a new story

[shamansun]

( PS: This is a very rough draft. Literally the first incarnation of
the story. I want to it to be a bit longer, and much more immersive/
descriptive, yet without losing the narrative quality.... If you're
interested, let me know what you think of it, and what can be done...)

The Death of a Star

Nested in a cluster of stars, a sun began to breath its last. For
billions of years, this solar system had seen wonders and horrors. It
had encountered endless comets, drifting planets and alien galaxies.
Now, it was ready to begin the slow process of shutting down. The star
would soon begin to expand, purging the inner planets of all surface
features, as if to return them to how it was in the beginning; fiery
and fierce. After expansion, the star would rapidly collapse on
itself, creating a dense dwarf and turning off the lights, forever.

On a planet nearer to the sun, life continued to thrive in the oceans
and forests. Evolution on this world had mastered its diverse
environments, moving with the ebb and flow of the elements. Many
species had settled down into stagnant equilibriums, as if something
within them knew that they too would perish with the last light.

Near the jungles of the equator, a creature had developed a curiosity
for the heavens. As time passed over eons, it had grown a mind, laid
the first stones and, many years later, observatories.

Only a thousand years more had passed, and this docile but curious
race had built grandiose cities, roads and infrastructure; modeled
after the constellations themselves. It was theorized by their
philosophers that one could sail through the heavens, if they could
only reach them.

It had not occurred to them that they lived on their sun’s last
flicker of light until the day the sky turned red. A hundred years had
passed since the invention of their first telescopes, and the sky
became enflamed, if only for the better of an hour. It was then they
suspected something was wrong in the heavens. Stone temples became
intricate observatories, and the many sciences of what we would
consider alchemy, physics and biology were cultivated. Particularly,
they grew restless from merely watching the heavens, and sought to
reach them. Their cities seemed to grow taller, as if yearning to come
in direct contact with their star. Bricks were soon replaced by
synthetic materials, and cities transformed into what we may consider
lush paradises of knowledge and innovation.

Time seemed to have only blinked for a moment, when the Star-Gazers
had fired an object into space. Many more satellites had followed, and
their scientists had begun to construct plans to send the first Gazer
beyond the atmosphere. The ships were modeled after the massive flying
animals that inhabited the skies; The Gliders, who could slip in and
out of the outer layers of the atmosphere with natural ease. Even
still, they could only touch space for a few brief moments before
having to re-enter.

Upon studying the winged creatures further, it was discovered that
some variations of their species could leave the planet permanently,
using various methods; harnessing the powerfully dangerous sun rays,
ionizing their backs and pushing them forward. Others seemed to use
various methods of anti-gravity. It was the other life forms on this
planet that seemed to know what was coming, and some of them had
evolved into wondrous space-farers.

As the years continued, the Star Gazers would eventually master the
art of “Space Gliding.” It was during this time that the Second Red
Sun appeared. It lasted three days too long. Masters of astronomy,
these beings knew that their star would not last. Having modeled their
computers after their own brains, they began running complex
mathematical projections. Two-thousand years; this was all that was
left of their star before it would expand, inevitably and violently
engulfing the worlds it once nurtured. The Star Gazers began a massive
exodus that the planet had never seen before, pulling every last
resource to construct fleets of ships designed to carry millions. A
vast, web of fleets that, together formed an ark from their world, and
ark that would one day find another planet to sink its roots and begin
again. Vast gardens were built in space, where the beasts and
vegetation would be able to live on for perhaps another thousand
years. Their scientists predicted it would not take that long to reach
another star, and hopefully, another world.

It was decided the Star Gazers would make a record of the planets, and
extract valuable resources as they left the system. Thousands of
smaller ships were thus built to gather an infinitude of materials;
Pods to collect smaller elements from gas giants, Diggers to load
metal, ore and ice buried beneath the surface of moons. “Comet
Catchers,” were sent out years ahead, only to rendezvous with them as
the Star Gazer fleet exited the solar system, carrying vast amounts of
water.

Eight hundred years had passed, and the exodus was nearly complete.
The fleet had stopped by the outer gas giants to extract water from an
aged moon.

Beyond the expand of the inner planets, the gravitational tides would
alter the perception of this last race. An ocean moon, slowly freezing
over, was touched down on by the Diggers. Upon landing and mining for
various resources, geologists discovered something perplexing. Beneath
the layers of ice, near the equator of the moon, there seemed to be
the remnants of life. Archaeologists quickly excavated, and to the
surprise of everyone, a civilization was discovered. Ancient artifacts
lied buried from ages past, curious metallic structures, the
fossilized remains of towns, ships and even bones were unburied from
the depths of time.

It was difficult at first to determine, but scientists estimated this
civilization had existed billions of years earlier, during the solar
system’s middle ages.

Some were amazed at the discovery. Others were disheartened; the
chance for meeting another sentient race had passed long before the
star gazers had emerged from their primordial evolution. Were they
destined to be so alone?
Upon digging further, the history of this race suddenly ended--How
could this ancient species have no beginning? It was first thought
that they had colonized the outer system in ages past, eventually
moving on to the inner planets. Some religious groups of the Star
Gazers even theorized these ancient visitors had laid the seeds for
their own intelligence, eons ago.

If only they had a little longer, they would have discovered the
truth.

The sun began to erupt violently, shooting plumes of fire and gas deep
into the solar system. What was left of the delicate atmosphere of the
home world, had now erupted in flames that had not been seen since the
conception of the planet. Oceans boiled in ways no eyes could bear
witness to, and the shrill screams of the life remaining on the planet
could almost be heard across the silent gulf of space. The Star Gazers
wept for their home.

By now, they had reached the outer limits of the system, beyond the
belts, the clouds and the gas giants; they were at last safe from the
death throws of their mother star. Only shreds of evidence remained of
the alien visitors amongst the drilled chunks resources excavated from
that moon. Yet, as the solar system became nothing more than a
flickering, violent speck in the distance, the archaeologists had come
to a startling theory.

Had they only known that the beings on what was once named Europa, had
also called the third planet of this very sun, “Earth,” the Star
Gazers may have taken more time to excavate the remains of their
distant relatives. Only now, as the sun breathed its last did they
realize this stunning discovery; only now was the last remnant of
human kind lost in the flash of light that was once our star.