Red Star

Prologue - The Magellanic HeresiesFragments recovered from the journal of Senjen Vorst, planetologist of the deep space exploratory vessel Magellanic Cloud, as reassembled and translated by Ondo Ynwa Lagan from discoveries made on the (now extinct) planet Maes Far. Warning: These fragments form part of the Magellanic Heresies as proscribed by Concordance. Ownership or propagation of these documents is considered an act of extreme heresy against Omn. Read or distribute at your own risk. …the three stellar masses meant that we were forced to translate from metaspace at a much greater distance from the centre of the system than normal. Frustrating! It will take many weeks to reach the planet. Telemetry is, however, slowly giving us a more complete picture of the stars and their single world… …we now observe small degrees of orbital perturbation in the movements of the three suns. Frankly, it's a relief. The wilder theories of some of the crew can now be discounted; these are not artificially engineered stars, as if such things were even possible. Their motions are remarkably regular, but that appears to be a natural phenomenon, the chance arrangement of gravitational influences holding them in their patterns of movement about each other. Eventually, as they lose mass through normal stellar radiation, this regularity will fail, and it is conceivable that two or even three of the stars will collide or fuse… …so much for the suns, but what of the planet and its moons? Some on the ship are convinced significant terraforming has taken place on this world, but they are unable to explain how that could be achieved – or why anyone would go to such lengths. The number of viable planets in the galaxy far outweighs the number of cultures requiring relocation or room for expansion, and this must always have been the case. This planet, especially, with no land masses upon it, is hardly a good candidate for occupation… …a strange conversation with one of the chemists on board, Dragonel Vulpis. He wanted me to support his view that the planet is anomalous, unnatural in some way. He actually used the term supernatural. He more or less pinned me to the bulkhead as he spoke, his eyes wide, unblinking. The man used to amuse me, but he becomes more and more alarming. Something has broken inside his brain. I explained that the apparent regularity of the planetary and lunar motions is an illusion caused by our lack of time perspective; that the orbital patterns are in constant flux, and we've simply arrived at a galactic moment when everything appears to be in clockwork equilibrium. We don't live long enough to see the pattern. He wouldn't have it and grew angry. I must talk to the officers about him before he causes more trouble; the long voyage appears to have taken a psychological toll upon him. A single, disturbed crew-member can have a hugely destructive effect upon a ship… Three hours after Selene and Ondo's arrival at the dead star… Part 1 - Diurnal