Читать книгу The Writer - Danilo Clementoni - Страница 14

At almost sixty-five light years from earth, the red giant named Aldebaran dimly illuminates a barren planet known by the name of Kerion. Its surface, which nowadays features only arid deserts, parched rocky landscapes, deep dry gorges and smooth plateaus, was not always like this. The planet began its slow decline about ten thousand years ago when, for reasons as yet unknown, the metallic fluid which constituted its core began slowly but inexorably to reduce its speed of rotation, causing a relative progressive reduction of its magnetic field.

Nowadays, Kerion’s atmosphere, once composed mainly of nitrogen and about twenty percent methane, is virtually inexistent. In fact, the harmful rays from its star, no longer shielded by the powerful planetary magnetic field, have gradually dissolved it and reduced it to about 0.1 percent of what it once was. Seas of liquid hydrocarbons used to occupy almost half the planet. Lakes of methane and countless expanses of iced water were dotted around the land above sea level and life flourished luxuriantly. But the catastrophic event apparently marked the destiny of Kerion. For millennia, its inhabitants tried to find a solution to restart its core but without success. Since the start of the slowing down process, they have also tried venturing into risky and extremely long interstellar voyages in search of a planet, similar to their own, to which they could move, but none of these missions has ever been successful.

When their vital resources were almost at an end, they became more or less resigned to their inevitable extinction when, one of the brightest minds on the planet proposed what for most of the population appeared to be an absolute folly: get rid of everything that could "die". The Kerian in question began a series of experiments which, within a few decades, led him to extract what we might call their "soul” from the material bodies of his fellow beings, thus releasing it from its bond, until then believed to be indissoluble, with the physical body. The very essence of some volunteers was separated from the living matter and implanted in new, fully mechanical structures. This gave birth to a new species, based entirely on cybernetic bodies but equipped with their own intelligence and that cosmic essence called soul or, more simply, life.

The separation of the souls of all the inhabitants was completed in just a few years but, given the scarcity of suitable materials for making the new cybernetic bodies, the transfer went ahead far too slowly. So, it was decided to organise the conservation of the "essences" in special dedicated egg-shaped casings, so as to be able to preserve them from destruction until their new exoskeletons had been made.

The first new beings created, now virtually immortal, therefore began a new saga of exploration of the cosmos searching, this time, for planets that could provide them with the necessary raw materials for the completion of the project. Ten were identified, even at distances of several hundred light years from their home planet, on which actual real laboratories were built where the resources of the planets were extracted and used on-site for the creation of new bodies. The presence of helium-3 which, through a complex system of nuclear fusion, would guarantee each individual new Kerian’s structure a virtually inexhaustible source of energy, was paramount. To reach all those so very distant planets, veritable interstellar portals were created through which the containers with the souls of the inhabitants and the necessary equipment were transferred to the assembly workshops. The creation of each individual body, the implanting of its soul and its complete activation required a very long procedure each time but, for them, time was no longer a problem.

"We’ve received a strange message from plant /\” announced the Kerian in charge of transmissions.

“What’s the message?” replied his commanding officer, who answered to the name of Supervisor RTY and whose body shape greatly resembled a kind of very long-legged arachnid with a massive body.

“Strangely it was interrupted before completion. This is what reached us,” and he transmitted the communication fragment in sub-light.

Laboratory attacked. We’re sending back ...

“We’re sending what? Attacked by who?"

“There wasn’t anything else. Since then communications with /\ have been interrupted."

“Let’s try to re-establish them as soon as possible and find out what’s happened” ordered RTY. "There are more than ten million souls in that laboratory waiting to be transferred.”

"I’m well aware of that," said the transmissions officer. "But, for the moment, the only thing I’m receiving is the signal from container (|) which is going through the intercommunication tunnel.”

"Perhaps that's what they’re sending back to us.”

“We’ll soon find out. It’ll be here in three hundred and twenty cens."