The 13-Minute Universe

Chapter 4 — The Impossible Planet

The planet appeared on every telescope simultaneously.

That alone should have been impossible.

It was approximately forty light-years away, yet its image arrived with no measurable light-travel delay.

ORION detected it.

European observatories detected it.

A lunar telescope detected it.

Even satellites orbiting Earth reported the same object.

The planet was there.

But according to every known law of astronomy, it couldn't be.

Elias stared at the image.

Blue oceans.

Dark continents.

Clouds.

A faint ring of ice surrounding the equator.

Mara stood beside him.

"Atmosphere?"

"Oxygen-rich."

"Life?"

"Unknown."

"Artificial structures?"

Elias enlarged the image.

"Yes."

The surface contained enormous geometric formations.

Straight lines.

Perfect circles.

Triangular structures.

Nothing natural could produce such symmetry at that scale.

Mara whispered:

"Someone built that."

Elias nodded.

The planet's name appeared automatically on the astronomical system.

AEON-13.

Mara stared at the label.

"Why did it name itself?"

"I don't know."

Elias tried to access the planetary database.

The screen returned an error.

OBJECT RECORD PREDATES CURRENT CONTINUITY.

He read the sentence twice.

"What does that mean?"

Mara shook her head.

"It means the database thinks the planet existed before the universe version we're currently in."

Elias looked at her.

"That's impossible."

"Everything about this is impossible."

They began analyzing the planet.

Its atmosphere contained nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor.

The composition was remarkably similar to Earth's.

Then they found something else.

Radio transmissions.

Mara increased the gain.

A voice emerged.

Static.

Then words.

"...anyone receiving this..."

Elias froze.

It was Adrian Vale.

"...do not attempt to approach the planet..."

The transmission broke.

Then returned.

"...you are not looking at another world..."

Mara whispered:

"Then what are we looking at?"

Vale continued.

"...you are looking at the remains of a universe."

Silence.

Elias stared at the planet.

"A universe?"

"That doesn't make sense."

The transmission resumed.

"AEON-1 crossed a boundary we didn't know existed. We thought we had discovered faster-than-light travel."

Vale laughed bitterly.

"We hadn't."

"We had discovered a way to move sideways."

The signal became clearer.

"Every possible universe exists alongside the others. We called them continuities."

Elias began recording.

"Most continuities are inaccessible. Normally, they never interact."

Mara looked at him.

"Then what happened?"

Vale's voice became quieter.

"We opened the door."

The transmission ended.

A countdown appeared.

12:47

Mara stared at the screen.

"What does that mean?"

Elias didn't answer.

The countdown continued.

12:46.

12:45.

He opened the notebook.

One page contained information he didn't remember writing.

AEON-13 IS NOT A PLANET.

Another line appeared below it.

IT IS A GRAVEYARD.

Elias felt his stomach tighten.

"What if we're seeing a previous universe?"

Mara shook her head.

"How could a universe become a planet?"

"I don't know."

They continued studying the object.

Then they discovered the surface structures were not buildings.

They were markers.

Thousands of them.

Each one pointed toward the sky.

All toward the same location.

A dark point above the planet.

Elias zoomed in.

The object had no light.

No radiation.

No visible mass.

Yet it bent the stars behind it.

A black star.

The thing Adrian Vale had mentioned.

Then the planet transmitted another message.

This time, it wasn't Vale.

It was a woman's voice.

"Elias."

He froze.

Mara turned toward him.

"Did you hear that?"

The voice repeated.

"Elias Vey."

He moved closer to the speaker.

"Who are you?"

A pause.

Then:

"I am Lena Oris."

Mara's face changed.

"Lena was Adrian's flight engineer."

The voice continued.

"I have been waiting for you."

Elias whispered:

"How do you know me?"

The answer came immediately.

"Because you have already died in eleven universes."

The room became silent.

"Eleven?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Lena's voice became distorted.

"You keep trying to stop the reset."

Elias stared at the countdown.

"How many times have we failed?"

There was a long pause.

Then Lena answered:

"Twelve."

The countdown reached zero.

The observatory disappeared.