Before the children on the field had recovered their senses, lightning broke out as the atmosphere ionized under the Dead Star’s radiation. Long purple arcs crossed the sky, and grew denser as earsplitting thunder rolled.
“Quick! Into the classroom!” Zheng shouted, and they all raced back, shielding their heads against the thunder that split the sky and threatened to split the world in two. Once inside, the trembling children clustered around their teacher. The Dead Star’s light shone through the windows on one side casting clear rectangle patterns on the floor; lightning through the windows on the other side flashed that side of the classroom with purple electricity. Static filled the air, metal attachments on their clothing clicked with tiny sparks, their hair stood on end, and they could feel their skin tingling all over, as if their clothing had grown spikes.
Below is a transcript of transmissions between the Russian space station Mir, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and the American space shuttle Zeus, by Mir’s final crew before its deorbiting:
Commander: D. A. Vortsev
Flight engineer: B. G. Tinovich
Mechanical engineer: Y. N. Bykovsky
Environmental engineer: F. Lefsen
Station doctor: Nikita Kasyanenko
Crew: Joe La Mure, solid state physicist; Alexander Andrev, astrophysicist
EM COMMUNICATIONS:
10:20′10″, MIR: Don calling Baikonur! Don calling Baikonur! Base, acknowledge. Base, acknowledge.
(No response. Static.)
10:21′30″, BASE: This is Baikonur base! Baikonur calling Don. Please respond.
(No response. Static.)
INFRARED COMMUNICATIONS:
10:23′20″, MIR: Base, this is Mir. Main system interference is too high, so we’ve initiated backup communications. Please respond.
10:23′25″, BASE: We hear you, but the signal isn’t stable.
10:23′28″, MIR: Difficulty with orienting the transmission and reception units. Orientation control circuit chips have failed due to radiation, so we’ve resorted to manual optical orientation.
10:23′37″, BASE: Fix the transmission and reception units in place. We will take over control.
10:23′42″, MIR: Done.
10:23′43″, BASE: Signal normal!
10:23′46″, MIR: Base, can you tell us what happened? What should we call the thing that appeared all of a sudden?
10:23′46″, BASE: We know as much as you do. Call it “Star X” if you want. Please send us the data you’ve obtained.
10:24′01″, MIR: We will transmit observation data beginning at ten o’clock for the integrated radiometer, ultraviolet and gamma ray instruments, gravimeter, magnetometer, Geiger counter, solar wind meter, and neutrino detector, as well as 136 visual spectrum and infrared images. Prepare to receive.
10:24′30″, MIR: (Data transmission)
10:25′00″, MIR: Our space telescope has been tracking Star X since it first appeared. Given our level of sensitivity, we cannot estimate its angular diameter, nor have we found any clear parallax. Dr. Andrev believes that those two points together with the energy we’ve received mean that Star X is outside the solar system. This is just a hypothesis of course. Data is insufficient, and there’s lots to be done by ground-based observatories.
10:25′30″, BASE: What have you seen on Earth?
10:25′36″, MIR: A large-scale hurricane in the equatorial region is moving northward with an estimated wind speed of 60 meters per second, judging by our observations of the changes in clouds over the equator. This may be due to the unevenness of the sudden influx of heat on Earth from Star X. Oh, and a large amount of ultraviolet radiation and blue flashes, possibly lightning, in the polar regions and currently expanding to lower latitudes.
10:26′50″, BASE: Report on your own status.
10:27′05″, MIR: Not good. The onboard flight control computer has been entirely fried by the high-energy rays, backup systems too. Their lead shielding is inoperative. Monocrystalline silicon solar batteries are totally fried, and chemical batteries are severely damaged. We are now entirely reliant on in-cabin isotope batteries, which are woefully underpowered, so we’ve had to shut down life support in the main cabin. Life support is functioning abnormally in the living cabin. We’re close to having to put on our space suits.
10:28′20″, BASE: The base feels that under the present circumstances it is inadvisable to remain in orbit, but also that a soft landing is impossible given the damage to the systems. The US space shuttle Zeus is in low orbit 3340; it was in Earth’s shadow and suffered only light damage and is still capable of reentry. We have made contact with them, and the Americans have decided to carry out the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty concerning rescue of astronauts and take you on board. Parameters for speed reduction and engine operation to follow…
10:30′33″, MIR: Base, the station doctor wishes to speak with you.
10:30′40″, MIR: This is the station doctor. I believe there’s no point to the transfer. Cancel it.
10:30′46″, BASE: Please explain.
10:30′48″, MIR: All astronauts aboard the station have received an ultralethal 5100 rad dose of radiation. We have only hours left to live, so even if we returned to Earth, the outcome would be the same.
10:31′22″, BASE: (Silence)
10:31′57″, MIR: This is the commander. Please allow us to remain on Mir. This station is humanity’s farthest outpost for observing Star X. In our final few hours, we’ll carry out our duties to the full. We will be the first astronauts to die in space; if the opportunity presents itself in the future, please return our remains to our homeland.
The Dead Star lit up the cosmos for an hour and twenty-five minutes before it vanished abruptly. Only then were radio telescope arrays able to detect its remains: a swiftly revolving neutron star emitting a precisely separated EM pulse.
Faces pressed to the classroom window glass, the children watched the sunset that wasn’t, as the blue-black of night descended on this peculiar evening. The light of the Dead Star faded into a twilight that occupied half the sky before quickly shrinking down to a small outlining circle, its color transitioning to white. Most of the sky was dark now, and scattered stars were visible. The halo around the Dead Star continued to contract until it finally vanished, leaving just a point where there once had been a gleaming light source. Once the night sky returned to normal, it was the brightest of the stars, but continued to dim until it was just another star in the galaxy, and five minutes later, the Dead Star had completely vanished into the depths of the cosmos.