Traveling in total silence through the vacuum of space, the alien ship was on its maiden voyage to another world. It would also be its last. The moon traveler had only gone to Kahnu’s moons and never ventured into deep space before.
Mahhzee turned around in her seat and directing her thoughts to Jorh only, said without a word, “Jorh, I think it’s started. I can see something on the aft viewer.”
“Thanks, Mahhzee,” he replied, switching his attention to the view outside. He could see that the brightness of the object at the center of the window had increased since they had last checked. The bright space body in the far distance was Kahnu, their home planet.
The past three and a half days had been excruciatingly long for all. Exhausted, depressed, and on the verge of mental breakdown, the small crew was growing sick of the confinement of the ship, and the relatively small space the twenty-six of them had been sharing since their departure. The living quarters would have seemed adequate in size for any human being, but the Kahnus were over five meters tall on average, dwarfing any man. For them, the individual sleeping compartments of the ship, most not exceeding six meters in height and ten in diameter, were desperately small. The Aruk they were in was a cargo and personnel transport, never meant to travel for more than a few days at a time. Accommodations did not include comfort for such short trips. Only the main control room and cargo bay were of significant size. But even there, when all twenty-six were gathered in the largest open space of their vessel, it still offered hardly any room to move around. But the most difficult thing to surmount had been the feeling of despair they had all felt by leaving their world to its tragic fate, losing everything and everyone they had ever known and loved. Their spirit was lower than ever, and now they were about to witness a sight none would ever be able to forget.
After informing the rest of the crew, Jorh and Mahhzee, along with all the other passengers, turned their attention to the rear window of the ship.
The first visible sign that the carnage had begun came from a flicker of light, far in the starry background. At first no brighter than a small speck in the night sky, it quickly grew in size and brightness, and within seconds became a blinding white and yellow light, as bright as the sun. Even from eighty million kilometers away, they could all visualize the mountains erupting, the icy crust melting, the valleys burning and the oceans boiling. The Kahnus communicated telepathically, and although none were trying to, their combined feelings were compiling on top of each other, causing each and every one of them to sense the entire group’s distress. All those they had ever known, their families, friends, loved ones, their homes, the Klomags… The destruction would be complete, they all knew it. For the next few minutes their pain was unbearable… Finally, after a gradual decrease in brightness, a gigantic ring of fire blasted its way across the galactic backdrop, and dissipated into the nothingness of empty space, blinding them all for several seconds.
Everyone remained totally silent and stoic, all eyes wide open, almost unable to accept the horrible reality. They had just watched in agony the destruction of their home planet, unable to do anything, left feeling completely powerless. Kahnu, their beautiful world, full of life, home to thousands of animal species, the grand Klomags, the Shirzu turners, the Tayags… their own Kahnu civilization… It was all gone, scattered into space, in one instant; forever.
As the true realization that none would ever again see their world or their loved ones finally hit them, one by one, they slowly collapsed to their knees in silent cries and moans, fraught, heartbroken, and feeling utterly defeated. Mahhzee, although as stricken as any of them by the tragedy, maybe even more so by the added sense of responsibility now weighing heavily on her, slowly turned her seat back in the forward position, and with great effort, tried to keep herself together, as she returned to the task at hand: Get the ship and its precious cargo safely to Kesra.
An hour later, only a distant smudge of reddish amber, glowing softly and unremarkably, remained where their planet once was. Lost in the crowded starry background that seemed to have already forgotten the incident, the dim glow would soon be hard to spot amid the other stars.
What none of them knew at the time was that the aftermaths of the destruction of their world would also have dire consequences elsewhere. As faith would have it, a few thousand years later, their erratic orbits eventually bringing them into the path of our own world’s gravitational pull, several asteroids, leftover debris from the Kahnu catastrophe, would crash on Earth, causing the ultimate demise of the dinosaurs, and changing the course of our planet’s natural evolution forever.
Most of the passengers had now made their way back to their sleeping quarters. Mahhzee, refocusing her attention on their destination, brought Kesra in view. The red planet had been in sight for a couple of days already, growing a bit more each hour. Now, its image took most of the forward view. They would be entering its thin atmosphere in less than two days.
“Jorh, I think I’m gonna go lay down if you don’t mind. My eyes are killing me, and the rest of my body doesn’t feel that much better.”
“Of course, Mahhzee. Go get some sleep, you deserve it. Goodnight!” he telepathically replied. Looking at his sister walk away, he couldn’t help but turn his attention to Gahneo, who was already following her. He realized how different he felt about the two of them, now that they had been together for a few years already, and so much had changed for all of them. Gahneo was a good companion for her, and he was making her happy. That was all that mattered, really. He was glad they had each other. For a moment he thought of himself and Faylah, his lifelong love. She was gone. She had passed away almost two years earlier. A freak accident. She had fallen off the… He shook the image out of his head. After making sure everyone had left the room and the ship was still on course, Jorh left the main deck and made his way to the cargo bay.
The human observers and their three alien companions followed. The younger Jorh entered the large space. In its center, they all recognized the twenty-six hibernating capsules they were now familiar with. The alien checked a few controls and turned his attention to the Zarfha in the middle. He raised his arm and was about to communicate a telepathic command to the sphere when he heard something move in the far corner of the room. The sudden movement was so unexpected, Jorh almost tripped. Knowing everyone should have been back in their respective quarters by now, he finally spotted a dark figure in the shadows.