#like small planets obviously not earth-sized ones. maybe dwarf planets

[tanadrin]

This is a fun paper on the arXiv: Towards the Minimum Inner Edge Distance of the Habitable Zone. In other words, given a Sunlike star, how close can we possibly get a habitable planet while gerrymandering all the other variables in our favor? The answer is about 0.4 AU, which corresponds to around 600% the insolation that the Earth receives. Toasty! You need a very dry planet, though, not only to prevent water vapor acting as a greenhouse gas, but to prevent a runaway moist greenhouse scenario. They even explore very hot atmospheres (with high pressure, to keep what water there is liquid), but note that DNA and amino acids become unstable above about 500 K.

I would have thought you would need a very thin atmosphere to reduce heat retention, but apparently if the atmosphere is too thin (<0.1 bar), the planet loses all its water in about a billion years. If pressure is too high, on the other hand, you don't get a proper water cycle (heat is too evenly distributed for precipitation to occur). But the dominant variable affecting where the inner edge of the CHZ is is really the amount of water in the atmosphere. Humidity would have to be around 1% (Earth averages 70% at sea level), and the albedo would still have to be decently high so that a good portion of solar energy was reflected back out into space. Clouds would help with that--but by the time you got enough moisture in the atmosphere to form clouds, you'd be getting enough to significantly heat the planet from water vapor acting as a greenhouse gas.

They only look at the inner edge of the CHZ because, as they point out in the introduction, in principle the outer edge can extend to infinity--a planet with sufficient internal heating from, say, the decay of radioactive elements, or tidal heating from a gas giant primary, could remain habitable even in deep space, if it had a sufficiently thick hydrogen envelope. You don't get hydrogen atmospheres around Sunlike stars because near a star solar radiation is enough to cause hydrogen to escape the upper atmosphere--which is obviously not an issue for a rogue planet.

I think in practice the hard limit for smaller stars would be further out than this, because of the tidal locking issue--slow rotators seem to be a bad fit for this kind of extremal climate. Maybe if it was a really small star, so the inner edge of the CHZ had one of those single-digit-day orbits? I kind of like that mental image: an enormous blood red sun that occupies like six and a half degrees of sky, thirteen times the size of the Sun in our own. A totally cloudless atmosphere, water confined to small patches here and there, and mostly near the poles. Because there's not enough water to properly hydrate the upper mantle, you have drip-and-plume tectonics with enormous mountainous uplands surrounded by flat sandy plains. Or even massive Mars-like uplands and huge shield volcanoes, heavily weathered by the thicker atmosphere, but still towering over the landscape. Eventually the interior of the planet may get so cold the carbon-silicate cycle stops and the atmosphere slowly leaks away, driven by the stellar wind of the close parent star.

But there are other issues with the habitability of red dwarf systems, so maybe not.

[apollos-boyfriend]

I am forcibly dragging you back to the stage GIVE ME MORE KNOWLEDGE

OKAY IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT MORE. since i did not watch The Dog's stream i will b referencing this post for most of my rambling.

so like. the first thing that sticks out to me is the canonization of the dream smp, obviously, but also empires. and this is for two reasons: both of these canons already have multiple realities/universes canonized within them. for the dream smp, we have c!cpk, who's a canonical dimension hopper; and for empires, we have shrub, who's backstory consists of her dimension-hopping onto the lands of s1 after her homeland was razed. cpk isn't what i'm gonna really focus on here, because to my knowledge, we don't really know a lot about his backstory (at least, not that i can find on the wiki. it doesn't even mention his dimension hopping, but considering its the dream smp wiki, i'm not surprised). i wanna focus on shrub.

so, shrub's backstory has her world being razed due to aeor banishing cohnal and exor's spirit; however, we also know that exor and aeor were gods in the lands of the empires smp. JUST like mianite, gods seem to exist in multiple (all?) realities, which is a SUPER interesting concept!! i'm using it, combined with mianite, to solidify this as more of a fact than a theory, going by the giga-verse concept. it also solidifies alternate realities existing in general, with c!pk possibly solidifying other realities in general (as in, not mirrors/similar to ours, but completely different realities with completely different people).

it also brings up an interesting possibility of, despite all existing within the same universe, each planet/solar system possibly being made by a different god. it'd explain how the gods were all still real, but how XD was able to make the dream smp and mianite was able to make, well, mianite. there's not "one" true creator, resposible for all of creation and the universe, but multiple ones designated to their own segments of reality.

REALLY focusing in on mianite though, i bring up my all-time favorite piece of lore: our universe is canon to their reality as another alternate dimension. by extension, that means our universe is canon to the dream smp, hermitcraft, empires, everything. and not in the sense that chat is canon, or twitter is canon, our actual reality. where their realities are just stories spun by creators behind a stream, broadcasted to hundreds of thousands around the world for entertainment. cc!ranboo is canon to the mcyt giga-verse, although in a different reality. that's not an au (not in the typical au sense, at the least), that's canon baby!!

i have so many more thoughts about the concept of death and the afterlife and whether it's the same throughout all planets/solar systems/galaxies, the implications of reincarnation and other lives, but that's. for another time. i have brainrotted enough here i think.

[nottonyharrison]

Alright I’m going to talk about Star Wars and the general galaxy population’s awareness of Jedi for a minute, in relation to Earth. A nice easy touchpoint for most to get their heads around.

Beware, here be maths. And a lot of contextual rambling

Now, the gffa is (according to the canon tab on Wookieepedia anyway), about the size of our own galaxy at it’s largest estimate. I don’t remember where I read it’s actually a ‘small’ galaxy (idk maybe i’m imagining that), and the Milky Way is the second largest in our sector after Andromeda ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ , but I’m going to go with the wiki here.

The top end estimate for the Milky Way is 400bn stars (may be as few as 100bn), and at least the same number of planets. So lets call that 400bn planets.

Now let’s say 50M of those are potentially able to support life (i.e. they’re in the habitable zone). This is where I veer away from wookieepedia because that says there are 3.2bn habitable systems (not planets, so there could potentially be multiple moons and/or planets in each one... I’ll get into that later). This is based on an estimate by the Kepler Space Observatory Mission team re: the Milky Way.

And then let’s say... a tenth of those are able to support complex life forms. It’s important to note that because gffa populations are able to migrate, it’s probably reasonable to assume that at least a quarter of these (again, we’re being pretty conservative here) have been settled or have evolved intelligent life.

So that gives us... 1,250,000 planets that are populated by intelligent life.

It’s probably reasonable to admit that due to the large population of the entire gffa, and the seemingly reasonably accessable access to starships with the ability to travel faster than light, all (or at least the vast majority) of these planets are mapped.

Now Coruscant’s population is around 3 trillion, but of course that’s a bit of a spiders georg scenario. Let’s call an average populaton half of what we have here on earth, which might not sound that conservative, but it’s only 0.13% of Coruscant’s population so... I think we can give it a pass.

So 4bn multiplied by 1,250,000 (the number of planets populated with intelligent life forms) equals...

Five quadrillion

A conservative estimate for the population of the gffa is five quadrillion if we ignore the wookieepedia entry’s mention of habitable systems

Honestly I had to go back and google the number to make sure I had that right. And then do the whole calculation a second and third time to make sure sure because that number is big.

Now, obviously there are planets that aren’t going to be habitable due to things like atmosphere, or topography, or any other number of reasons. But then we already know there’s also a large number of moons that are habitable (Yavin IV and Pantora probably being the most obvious examples), so it’s reasonable to think that balances out. But, let’s be even more cautious and halve that number anyway. Let’s say the galaxy has a population of 2 quadrillion.

Now, how many Jedi are there? Again, not confirmed and very much disputed especially if you consider the agricops, medicorps, and educorps, as well as current padawans and younglings, let’s say 50k. 10k knights and masters (which is the general consensus), and 40k of everyone else. That’s probably being generous.

That means the Jedi population is about... 0.000000001% of the total galactic population.

0.000000001%

So when scaled to fit Earth’s population, that is less than one person.

OKAY SO

What about what Wookieepedia says? 3.2bn habitable systems?

Let’s say each system has an average of 1.5 planets, moons, or dwarf planets that are settled. Now some of these are going to be real backwaters obviously, so we’ll reduce the average population to 500M. Just for funsies.

That makes a population of  1,600,000,000,000,000,000 which is one quintillion, six hundred quadrillion.

Compared to Earth’s population of (just under but for the sake of simplicity) 8 billion, this is 0.000000000003125 Jedi per 8bn people. You would have one Jedi per... (’scuse me for a sec) THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY BILLION PEOPLE.

That’s four thousand Earths.

So next time you ask how can this character possibly not know about the jedi (and I mean there’s other things to consider like the Empire’s suppression of all things involving Jedi during their tenure which you might think sounds ridiculous but realistically propaganda is an extremely effective tool to make people forget), ask yourself if you know the name of the current UN secretary general. Or the head of the World Health Organization.

And then think about the second estimate. Just sit on it.

IDK about you but even with laser swords I doubt a vast majority of the planets in the galaxy have any concept of the Jedi or what they do.

This actually blows my mind I need to have a wee nap now.

[annoyedbritishperson]

Alien Anatomy

I’ve kinda been thinking about alien anatomy and here’s some vague conclusions I can come up with.

Insect: so there’s the idea of insect type aliens and if they’re anything like earth insects then their size would be limited by the amount of oxygen (or whatever they breathe) is around. So larger bug aliens could only exist with high breathable concentrations so their planets atmosphere must be a minimum of 30% of their preferred breathing gas. Also, exoskeletons can only be thick to a certain extent before they can’t breathe so larger sized insect aliens would have a thin (compared to smaller insects) exoskeleton; but that doesn’t mean that they can’t have the biological equivalent of steel making up their exoskeleton, they’d still need support if they’re on the larger size, flight could also get a little tricky if they’re on the larger size (basically they might have to go into different methods of it but idk, I’m not a professor on insect flight)

Reptile: so like insects their size would also be limited, but not by air/atmosphere composition but by temperature. The closer to the equator (on earth) the hotter the temperature, and, if you haven’t noticed, the bigger the reptile species. Only the largest reptiles live in the hottest places, you don’t exactly see a saltwater crocodile in Norway. To put it simply, it’s because of their heat regulation; they’re ectothermic. If they live/ evolved on a world with similar temperatures to ours then largest they could be would be a large monitor lizard. And don’t ask “what about dinosaurs? They were lizards”; taxonomically yes but their living descendants (birds) are exothermic, suggesting some sort of transition along the evolutionary line.

Mammalian: size can obviously stay the same maybe bigger/smaller than what we know (for mammals it’s mostly gravity and pregnancy limiting our size) whether they evolved on a planet with more/less gravitational pull. Mammal variations such as marsupials might get around the pregnancy issue since their young are born around the size of a jellybean and monotremes just lay eggs (btw the pregnancy issue is basically that the bigger the mammal the longer the pregnancy and the longer the pregnancy the more time you’re vulnerable to predators) though if you’re a pack hunter, pregnancy might be less of an issue since you are the predator and those in your pack could bring you food so that you wouldn’t be in any danger by hunting (the prey could choose to attack as a form of defense).

Birds: now you can bring in your dinosaur anatomy since they’re technically one in the same (though velociraptors were likely not unnaturally intelligent). This isn’t a rule based off of fact but if you base the bird/dinosaur design off of Jurassic park dinos then you’re out (THE THERAPODS (carnivorous bipeds: velociraptor etc) SHOULD’VE HAD FEATHERS! T. rex might’ve been the exception as they could’ve been big enough to regulate their temperature without insulation but I digress) they would also be able to get around mammals size issues as they don’t have to worry about since they typically lay eggs and have a lighter structure meaning larger size (have you ever held a bird? They’re strangely light, as if they’re constantly inhaling helium instead of oxygen)

Fish: all I know of their physiological limits is that it’s a little similar to the insects limits as oxygen concentrations (or any gas really) is almost always in higher concentrations in the atmosphere than it is diffused in the oceans. As long as they have some sort of propulsion and streamlining to a degree there would be less rules with this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Amphibians: they would have to be heavily reliant on the liquid they evolved from and their skin would be weak to infection (at least ones they haven’t evolved against) they might be able to metamorphose like bugs through their life too.

Mollusks: for those who don’t know mollusks include things like octopuses (yes its octopuses not octopi) and snails. Due to the lack of set bones you could have as many appendages as you please, ones around the mouth are likely as it would help with eating. Early in their evolution basically all mollusks had shells so it wouldn’t be unheard of for your alien to have one too though they could also have lost them (like squid or octopuses) or chosen to adapt them into a bone like structure (like cuttlefish) though that would prevent their awesome ability to squeeze into anywhere. Their skin could also be used to communicate or camouflage as they’re notoriously good at changing their colour and even shape to fit their surroundings.

Plant based life: by this I basically mean a moving plant. If they regularly photosynthesise then their need lots of leaves or their equivalent, they’d likely have a bark like exoskeleton to keep them from flopping about as they move, if they don’t, they’d likely stay small; like bowtruckles from fantastic beasts. If active then they would get rid of rooting into the ground as a method of nutrient extraction for something else, they could have a mouthpiece to transfer water directly to a xylem and have some sort of digestive system equivalent for minerals etc.

Planet: I need to put this in because it sorta affects all creatures. If they evolved on a planet with less gravity then they could potentially become space faring sooner as they wouldn’t have as much of a problem reaching escape velocity. There’s also more potential for flight and bigger “mammals” on these planets. Their orbiting star can affect them too; if they’re around a red dwarf then they’d have more time to develop but their planet could be tidally locked meaning there could be limited habitability on their planet, either too hot on one side and too cold on the other but there’s a small line between the two where liquids could exist and life could evolve, it would also bring in the fun concept of them being like “WOAH, NIGHT AND DAY? WHAT IS THIS?!” Since all the time it would look like twilight/dawn on their planet. If they’re orbiting a supergiant star then they’d have to evolve quickly since supergiant stars don’t live that long before going supernova; this could suggest that they’d have super short lifespans, a year (for us) might be super old to them and they could think were immortal since we live so long (even by our standards) their planet would also have to be much further away to be in the habitable zone so their star may be dimmer from their perspective and, as a result might not evolve eyes. Life on a planet orbiting a supergiant star could also survive with less of a magnetic field (they’d still need one though, but life could still exist with a weak one) so life on their planet could have less geographic activity, therefore less volcanoes and less earthquakes. Other mainstream stars like our own might not differ much when it comes to development and lifespans, it just matters how long they’ve been there/ how long through the stars life it is.

Blood: the colour of an animals blood depends on its needs. Since all animals we know of use oxygen I’m basing the colour on what we know of oxygen breathing life. Hemocyanin (blue blood) would be better used in cold climates so if your creature evolved on an icy planet it’s blood would likely be blue. It gets its blue colour from copper instead of iron. Remember, evolution works as survival of the good enough so if the planet was extremely cold in life’s early emergence then they’ll likely gain this colour and stick with it regardless of whether their planet is cold later in its life. Haemoglobin (red blood) is overall more efficient so if the planet isn’t that cold then red would be more likely to occur. Hemerythin (violet blood) is a simpler structure compared to the first two; going along with the rule of ‘survival of the good enough’ a lot of creatures could possibly have violet blood due to its simplicity. Biliverdin (green blood) is a pigment, it doesn’t carry oxygen and occurs when haemoglobin breaks down but makes animal more resistant to disease meaning that it would be more likely to occur if they evolved in a disease infested environment, likely as a result of lack of predators since disease would replace them in culling their population.

Limbs and organs: limbs such as arms and legs have no real set boundaries though it’s a good idea to make sure that they keep the same amount of limbs or less of them based on the creature they and other creatures on their planet have evolved from (e.g. we have four limbs in total because the first terrestrial vertebrates had four, animals like snakes etc have lost theirs over time but none have gained any limbs because you’d need to have severe evolutionary stress to specifically gain limbs or die: otherwise it’s too much effort for extra limbs). Organs you can go crazy with, you can have as many eyes as you want and in insect like aliens you could even forgo the need of a heart (or heart equivalent) due to their different respiratory system (you could get rid of lungs then too :P) you can have as many sensory organs as you want though you should take into account their planetary surroundings to make sure each organ is necessary (e.g. little to no constant light could mean no eyes/eyes that detect different wavelengths than us)

This has been an unnaturally long 1:30 am shitpost but I felt like I had to say something. Thanks for reading, laters.

[clownsgobeepbeep]

Genuine

@grotesquegabby

After so long, I finally just finally wrote this darn fic. Sure it’s in the “past”(before any of the drama has happened), but I think it’s rather nice and a break from all the angst. uwu’

“Davey, why aren’t you ready yet?”

The sailor looked up from the book he read, turning to the doorway where he saw his mother who soon walked in.

“But I’m already ready.”

“I think you should change into something else a little more loose, who knows how much you’ll be walking and moving around.” Jelly sat next to Davey on his bed, just as he sat up to shrug.

“I don’t even know where we’ll be going mom.”

“I’m guessing it’ll probably be the carnival, or something simpler.” she shrugged before standing up and going over to his drawers to pick out some clothes. “How about this? It would go well with a jacket and the shoes Ula bought for you.”

“Well, I guess.” Davey shrugged before taking the clothes from his mother who smiled and walked out, closing the door behind her, but not before saying one last thing. “I’ll make you some lunch for now and prepare some snacks.”

“Kay, thanks mom.” Davey nodded as he now changed into the new clothes, then going to his closet to find the new shoes purchased by Ula. They were some navy blue sneakers with little white anchors, they were so great and did match with his shirt. Once done, he walked out of his room and headed towards the kitchen where he found both his sisters and mother.

“Hey there sailor.” Ula smiled at Davey who gave a wave. “You ready to go?”

“I guess.” Davey shrugged as he sat next to Cordelia who had her hands on the table under a light, then turning to Davey. “What are you doing?”

“Ula just did my nails.” Cordelia happily wiggled her fingers. “We’re gonna go out to the mall later and have some girl time! Even Penny and Phoebe are coming. Right Ula?”

“Yeah.” chuckled Ula who bit into a waffle. “Since you and Schrader and gonna be having fun all by yourselves.”

“I don’t even know where we’re going Ula.”Davey repeated before Ula gave a shrug.

“That’s even better, especially if it’s with Schrader.” she winked then looking over Cordelia’s nails. “They’re done. Now go change out of your pj’s.”

“Okay!” Cordelia jumped off her chair before dashing away from her room, Jelly turning away from the stove and placing a plate with some fish in front of Davey.

“There you go, now eat up. I don’t know how long it’ll be till Schrader takes you out to eat.”

“Thanks mom.” Davey nodded, then eating his lunch before hearing as the doorbell rang which made him raise his head.

“I’ll get it!” Ula announced before excitedly walking away, Davey hearing as the door opened and Ula’s giggles followed soon after. Once the giggling ceased, Davey saw as Ula and Schrader walked into the dining room and the sailor noticed a lipstick mark on Schrader’s cheek.

“Hey Davey, how’s it going?” he asked before Davey finished eating his meal.

“Good.”

“And how about with you Mrs. D’Vitt?”

“I’m fine, thank you Schrader.”Jelly embraced Schrader before everybody turned back to Davey. “You ready to go now Davey?”

“Hm, yeah.”

“Here are your snacks t-”

“Schrader!” exclaimed Cordelia who now ran towards said man, jumping into a tackle-hug as Schrader gave a quiet ‘oof’, still holding and hugging Cordelia. 

“Hello Viking Princess, how have you been?”

“Amazing! I’m gonna have girl time with Ula and our cousins!” Cordelia excitedly shared out, then presenting her nails. “Look at what Ula did!”

“They look beautiful.”Schrader commented before kissing Cordelia’s hand, making her giggle before she was set back down. “Looks like we’ll be splitting now.”

“Ula, can’t we hang out with Schrader and Davey instead?”

“Are you saying you’d rather spend time with them than me? I’m pretty offended Cordelia.”

“No! I was just kidding!”

After some goodbyes, Davey and Schrader walked out of the house, Davey stopping in his tracks as he noticed that there was no car on the street. Instead…

“We’re going on...that?” Davey pointed at the motorcycle neatly parked as Schrader gave a nod.

“Or would you prefer to walk? I unfortunately don’t have a car, just this cycle.”

“No, this is fine…”Davey mumbled out, growing nervous the more he approached the motorcycle, then being helped on by Schrader. 

“Make sure to wear your helmet.”

_____________

“That…”

“Yeah?”

“That...was pretty great.”Davey turned to Schrader, completely surprised after the motorcycle had finally stopped and was now parked. “I never thought riding a motorcycle would be so great. My mom always made it seem so scary!”

“Well, she is afraid of riding one as well as planes.”Schrader chuckled to himself before getting off the motorcycle and helping Davey once again, taking his helmet and placing it on the vehicle. “Now, you still have your backpack?”

“Yeah, it’s right here.”Davey nodded while presenting it, even looking inside to see that all his belongings were intact. “Now that we’re here...where are we?”

“Glad you asked.”Schrader smiled before leading the way towards a building that looked rather old and maybe a bit abandoned. “There’s this exhibit kind of thing that opened recently, though it’s gonna be here temporarily, so I thought I’d bring you here. It’s pretty interesting from what I’ve heard.”

“It’s not some horror, nightmare stuff, is it? Like the stuff you and Ula like, with all the slashers and knives and masks. ‘Cause this building sure looks like it. “

“Nah, it’s just a super old building.” Schrader reassured him before he opened a door that lead to a lobby where a ticket booth sat. He paid for two tickets which Davey noticed were a bit pricey, but Schrader didn’t seem to mind, then taking him to a stairway that was dark unlike the room itself. The only illumination in the stairway came from a series of small blue lights that was tucked into each side of every step. Davey followed along, eventually looking up as he started to notice tiny, twinkling lights. The more steps they went up, the more lights that appeared as if to look like a galaxy.

 Soon enough, they reached a door that Schrader opened as a light now came through, or rather so many lights. Davey’s eyes widened at the strings and rows of lights that were shining beautifully, changing through several colors to create patterns and such. There was an infinite amount, or at least that is what it seemed like thanks to the mirrors surrounding everything.

“Do you like them?”Schrader turned to Davey who’s jaw slightly dropped, and he gave a soft nod while the lights even twinkled in his eyes. “Well good, ‘cause there’s a lot more ahead of us.”

“Can, can we stay in this area a bit longer?”

“Well, sure. In fact, let’s take a picture, yeah?”Davey nodded as Schrader took out his phone, snapping a few pictures before handing it over to Davey. “Take a picture of yourself but through the mirror on the floor, it’ll make a nice shot.”

Davey once again nodded, taking the phone as he attempted to take a picture. However, he waited a while to get just the right colors, until he dropped Schrader’s phone.

“Oh no!” Davey exclaimed before hurriedly picking it up and examining it, his heart dropping at the sight of a large crack on its screen. “Schrader, I’m-”

“Hey, Davey.”Schrader carefully took the phone, looking it over before smiling at the boy. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just a crack.”

“But I broke it.”

“Did you take your picture?”

“No, but-”

“I can always buy a new phone when I have enough money for one.” Schrader shrugged with a chuckle, crouching down while giving Davey the phone back. “It’s really no problem, don’t worry. I’m not angry, I won’t ever be.”

_____________

After going through another “star” filled hallway and another room filled with astronomy and physics themes, Schrader and Davey entered a dark room in which it was mostly dark, until you walked further in and looked up.

Davey’s eyes widened once again, and it sure wasn’t going to be the last time this happened, green observing what were colorful, floating planets and nebulas and more. They weren’t models nor LED lights just hanging around, but rather holograms. He reached a hand up as if to grab one and to his surprise, he actually did!

“Is this supposed to happen?”he asked Schrader who nodded, grabbing another planet which “hovered” in his hand.

“Of course. You can play around and make your own little universe.”

“Hey, where’ Jupiter?”Davey excitedly asked as he and Schrader now began searching before said planet was found. Schrader brought it down for Davey who admired it, watching as its red spots actually swirled around. “No way! Its storms are actually moving!”

“Storms?”

“Oh yeah! These two are storms with a size bigger than Earth and they spin on Jupiter’s atmosphere.”Davey explained before poking the planet, making smaller orbs appear which amazed him. “And these are its 79 moons, the highest amount of all the planets in our galaxy.”

“That’s so fascinating. Which one has the least?”

“Venus and Mercury. But also the dwarf planet Ceres. None of the three have a single moon, whilst Earth and the dwarf planets Makemake and Eris have one each. And did you know that practically every moon has a name?”

“I did not.”

“Eris’ is named Dysnomia after a Greek goddess, just like how the Romans believed in gods who were just the Greek ones, but with the names of the planets.”

“I didn’t know any of this.” Schrader smiled while lowering another planet, a rather small and cold one as its temperature was even felt. “Who’s this one named after?”

“Hades, known as Pluto by the Romans.”Davey took the little planet as he admired it. “But nobody really considers Pluto a planet anymore, it’s just a dwarf planet now. A lot of bad stuff happens to it which I guess is why it was named after Hades. Life just doesn’t go their way.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah...oh hey look! A supernova!” Davey ran towards a star that was slowly expanding, obviously in the process of exploding. “This is what I’ll do to you if you ever hurt Ula.”

Schrader kept quiet for a moment before Davey gave a chuckle.

“I’m just kidding.”

“Ah, ha ha, got it.”

“But I’ll still get you.”

_____________

“This is the last room I think, and I think you’ll enjoy it.” Schrader stated while he and Davey walked through the second to last hallway with a galaxy inside, then opening the next door that lead them into another darkness. This one however, had normal lights above to be enough illumination to show what was below.

“Why is it all black?” Davey tilted his head before Schrader turned around to completely face Davey.

“Because this is what they call,”Schrader started before throwing himself backwards onto the ground as he slowly sunk into it. “ The Soft Black Hole.”

“We can lay down on this?” Davey asked as Schrader lifted his head to look at him properly.

“Of course, But every movement each one of makes affects the other.”

“Like this?” Davey hopped onto a spot next to Schrader which, while Davey sunk down, Schrader was lifted up, making him laugh.

“Exactly, but also  this.” Schrader then rolled on over, making Davey fall onto his stomach, landing on the pillow like ground which made him laugh.

“You were pretty wrong Schrader, this room is horrible.” Davey jokes before rolling over as he went down due to Schrader’s weight.

“Hey Davey.”

“Yeah?”

“I dare you to try walking.”

Davey looked over at Schrader who had now managed to sit up, so Davey playfully scoffed before standing up. At least, he made an attempt to before his first foot sunk deep in as his knee followed.

“This is a lot harder than it looks.”

“Indeed.”

“I think..”Davey took a deep breath as he now pulled his leg out, lazily fixing himself as he was now laying down. “I think I’m just gonna lay here and take a nap.”

“You know what?” Schrader struggled to crawl over to Davey, eventually sitting and laying next to him with his hands on his chest. “Me too.”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you both to move away so others may share the experience.” an employee asked the pair through a speaker.

“Ah, bug off.”

“We better listen Schrader, or the next time you kiss Ula, it’ll be behind a glass window in jail.”

_____________

As the sun had now set and the skies started to grow darker, Davey sat beside a window, watching the mixture of colors. Eventually he turned to what was actually the front, having heard some plates be set down in front of him, Schrader now joining him on the opposite side of what was a booth.

“You know, I kinda get why my mom and sister like these shakes.” Dacey commented before sipping from the straw that was inserted into a milkshake made for him by Schrader. “They are pretty good. And this place is great too, especially with the music and theme.”

“Well thanks, that means a lot coming from you.”

“Really?” Davey tilted his head as he now looked at Schrader who gave a nod, sliding over Davey’s order to him.

“Yeah, sure. You’re Ula’s brother.” Schrader grabbed his own milkshake. “It’s not like Ula’s the only one I care about, you know. I even care about her best friend Ama. Everybody important to Ula, is important to me.”

Davey blinked a few times, remaining silent for a moment before looking down at his food which was still warm.

“That’s...cool.” Davey mumbled out before placing Schrader’s phone on the table. “I noticed you have a lot of pictures of Ula here.”

“Ah, you saw those?”

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, nothing to hide.” Schrader shrugged before drinking from his milkshake and pointing to Davey’s food. “You’re not gonna eat? You must be hungry.”

“Oh yeah.” Davey nodded before he began eating, slowly chewing his food as he kept on thinking to himself. As he took another bite from his food, he glanced over at Schrader who was looking outside the window in which it was finally the evening.

“Schrader?” Davey finally called out, having Schrader look at him before swallowing his food.

“Yeah?”

“Do you...do you really love my sister?” Davey questioned before Schrader looked at him rather surprised. 

“What, do you mean?”

“Is your relationship with Ula serious?” Davey went again, seeing as Schrader placed his burger back on his plate before wiping his hands with a napkin.

“Yes, it’s pretty serious Davey, and I really do love her.” he nodded. “Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

“I just want Ula to be safe. I don’t want her being hurt, I want to protect her.” 

“Oh, well, I understand.”

“I love Ula a lot and if anything were to ever happen to her, I’d...I’d be really, really upset.” Davey stated as he looked straight at Schrader, pretty serious. “So, how much do you love my sister?”

“A lot Davey. More than you could ever imagine.”

“Describe it.”

“Well,” Schrader started with a quiet chuckle. “Ula...she’s a wonderful person like no other, she’s unique even if people say she’s just like your mother. She’s got so any talents and this beautiful, adorable look. I love every single detail about her, from the tip of her high heels to the top of that little head.”

“What’s...your favorite part about her?”

“Favorite part? I’d say...it’s her voice. She sings better than an angel and a songbird, she’s so majestic when a song comes out of her lips. But honestly, her voice alone, not even singing, it’s beautiful. It’s my favorite thing to hear, and I’d die if I was never able to hear it again.”

“And...how long have you loved her for?”

“Davey, heheh...this, this is honestly gonna sound maybe...creepy if I’m being honest.”Schrader nervously laughed, but still spoke away. “Before Ula and I ever met, I already had a big crush on her.”

“Wait, what? Since when?”

“If I tell you, promise not to tell anybody?” Schrader asked before Davey nodded, so they both leaned in so Schrader could whisper. “Ever since we were about your age. Every day, I’d leave little gifts for her, even if it was a simple cookie.”

“You’re her secret admirer?” Davey’s eyes widened before Schrader gave a nod and embarrassed chuckle. Davey watched as Schrader’s cheeks turned a pinkish hue at the thought of it, and this is when Davey started to realize how things really were with Schrader. 

 “She still wears that ring she got a long time ago.” Davey added on.

“Yeah, I know. It’s pretty cute, but Ula still doesn’t know this. So no telling, got it?”

“Alright, sure.” Davey nodded as well before drinking from his milkshake. “But, tell me...why did you only give her gifts, but never introduce yourself?”

“I was a shy kid Davey, Ula makes me feel..really nice. Ula is the reason why I smile every day. She’s brightened my days since day one, even if she doesn’t know it.” Schrader sighed, and a bit dreamily. “Ula has had so much impact in my life like nobody knows…not only is she in my life, but all of you guys. All of you? All of this? This is the highlight of my life.”

There was a silence once again in between the two as they stared at each other, Davey feeling a tiny smile appear on his lips.

“Hey Schrader, would you ever trust me?”

“I already do.”

“But why?”

“Because I like you. You’re great, even if you’re a little salty sometimes.”Schrader joked before Davey gave a frown. “But really Davey, you’re great. Don’t ever change who you are.”

“Well, if you really like me...prove it...with a secret.”

“A secret? I just told you one.”

“But I was asking for you to prove that you love my sister.”

“Well if you put it that way…”Schrader gave a small shrug, thinking for a while before his expression turned somewhat melancholy. “There is something...it’s, pretty embarrassing. Only my brother and Dante know this.”

“Ula doesn’t?”

Schrader shook his head before looking out the window, hesitating a bit before finally speaking again.

“I’m really afraid of going into water, and I don’t know how to swim.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, I could...help you out with that fear.”Davey suggested as Schrader now looked at him. “But only if that’s what you would have wanted.”

Schrader gave a smile and soft nod before Davey smiled back at him, then propping up an elbow on the table with his pinky held out.

“There’s just one more thing I need you to do before we head back home later.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“You said you love Ula, a lot.”

“Yeah.”

“And that she’s practically your everything.”

“Yes.”

“And that we’re also important to you.”

“Exactly.”

“Well,” Davey started as he motioned to his pinky. “Promise me that no matter what...you will never hurt my sister.”

Schrader chuckled to himself as he brought his ar, up as well, wrapping his pinky around Davey’s with a smile.

“I promise.”

[spacecollaborative-blog]

Short Story: Alien

The plants on Gliese 581 c are pitch black and the sky is dark red. Because Gliese is a little nearer to its sun, a red dwarf, than we are to ours, the planet is tidally locked so one half always faces the sun whilst the other never sees the light. As a consequence, one half of the planet is so cold it freezes life immediately, whilst the other is so hot it melts life immediately. Yet, there is a small strip of land encircling the planet that’s not too hot, not too cold and could sustain life. There’s also a massive cosmic structure called the Large Quasar Group which is four billion lightyears wide. Scientifically, it makes absolutely no sense. Cosmic structures can only physically grow to a size of 1.6 billion light years. Yet this Large Quasar Group, the LQG for short, has another 2.4. No one knows why or how. The fact that scientists have also found rips in space hardly needs mentioning. But with all these mysteries, all these uncomfortable little uncertainties, all these completely unexplainable happenings, people still question the probable fact that we’re not alone in this universe.

The question of whether life exists beyond Earth is one of humanity’s most profound and unanswered questions.’ – Dr Kevin Hand

It was only when Daniel came to tidy his lawn at 9am that he saw the letter beneath two crushed and empty Fosters cans. It was beginning to peel open as the cold dew festered through its white envelope, smudging the words Mr Daniel Hardy on its front. It had been a while since Daniel had received an interesting letter, especially one that refused to be delivered through the post box. But, there were things to do. Not only were there the two Fosters cans that guarded the mystery letter, but there were another three under the Rhododendron bush and one, this time a Corona bottle, standing by the pansy pot. Also, there were four dead pansy heads that needed removing, a new weed by the fence, the whole garden needed watering too. But this little letter with his smudged but legible name on it was waiting so the garden must be tidied. It only took him a few minutes.  

He took a little while, when the garden was done, to look over the envelope. It was exciting, receiving a letter, and Daniel wanted to take his time over it. Take a few minutes to wonder about who was writing to him and why. But anticipation ate in to him, as it often does, and when it came to it he ripped the envelope open.

‘There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost certain that there is life somewhere in space.’ – Buzz Aldrin

‘Sounds like your classic scenario.’ Rachael had said when she finally replied to Daniel’s email. ‘Check the forum, though.’

Daniel had, of course, checked the forum and they had, of course, confirmed it to be your classic scenario. But Rachael had a certain expertise in the subject that Daniel had yet to truly find elsewhere on that website, her knowledge on extra-terrestrial life could only be rivalled by his own. She had, one time, encountered an alien in the flesh on a holiday to Thailand, she was an expert on the details and theories of Roswell and she had many a time offered her own convincing theories on the government’s reasoning for keeping evidence of alien life away from the public. Her profile picture, however, was the 5th Doctor which was obviously a complete denial of the new dimensions Christopher Ecclestone brought to the character. Alas, that was of no matter, Rachael was one of the few online who could actually make a distinction between fictional works and factual evidence. She was the only person worth consulting over the mystery letter, and he daren’t investigate it any further without her approval.

But her confirmation of it to be ‘your classic scenario’ gave Daniel the authority he needed to start planning. It was well known within his community that you do not go searching for an alien without proper preparation. Aliens are not to be trifled with, if they made it to earth before we made it to them, then their technology is far superior to our own. The general rule was to keep away and watch from afar. But, there is a certain amount of protection that must be acquired in order to ensure safety if an unprovoked attack ensues, of course. Daniel had exactly twelve and a half hours until the letter stated he needed to be in the clearing by the park in the woods and he had rather a lot to do.

‘I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it is yet to appear on planet Earth’ – Stephen Hawking

‘Hey,’ said someone from down the aisle. ‘Hey, Sir.’

It was one of the boys who lived up Daniel’s road. He had curly, dirty blonde hair, most kept behind his studded ears but some dripping down over his eyes. He was wearing the same brown jacket Daniel always saw him wear when he walked to the bus stop for school every morning, although Daniel sees him less and less nowadays, and his name was Jack.

‘You’re the one who lives up the road, ain’t you?’ He said.

‘Yes, Jack.’ Daniel replied.

‘How’d you know my name, Sir?’ Some of his friends had joined Jack now. A girl with long hair and two boys with short hair who were smiling. ‘Are you a pervert, Sir?’

‘Jack.’ Said the girl as the boys laughed. She knew his name too.

‘You’re right, you’re right. Sorry, babe. Can I help you, Sir? What you here for?’ Jack said.

Daniel was at the corner shop for batteries. Double A, for his torch. He already had two in there, but who knew how long they were going to last? They’d been in there quite a while now and batteries notoriously never say when they’re going to leave. Better to get replacements now then to be stuck in the middle of the woods in the dark.

Jack’s friends left him then, but Jack himself offered to show Daniel the way to the batteries. But by the time they got there (the batteries, it seemed, where really quite far away) there were no double As left.

Imagine the moment when the world wakes up and the human race realises that its long loneliness in time and space may be over — the possibility we're no longer alone in the universe.’ – Matt Mountain

Daniel sat by the edge of the clearing. As of yet, there had been no other life save the two rabbits whose eyes had shone white in the glare of the torch. It was thirteen minutes past one and there was no sign of any extra-terrestrial life. Daniel clung to the letter, safely protected by its now dry envelope. Fourteen minutes past midnight and still nothing. The slight clench of frustration began to creep up through his body. Fifteen minutes and nothing. Sixteen and nothing. Until, seventeen and something. Something had appeared through the gap in two of the trees, a silhouette against the orange glow of the city sky down below, and Daniel froze. He tried to shine his torch toward it but the light was beginning to dim now and only reached a few metres forward, casting no light on the mysterious shadow that stood frozen at the opposite side of the field.

And then, suddenly, white light. The whitest Daniel had ever seen, coming from four quite large circular sources. It glared through the wood, casting long, willowy shadows across the clearing and bathing Daniel in its luminous glow. Another two figures appeared in different gaps in the trees, forcing two more stretched stripes of black to lay across the clearing. This was accompanied by a low hum of engine, crackling against the silent of the night, and the acute smell of melting rubber. No doubt the smell of the burning petrol used by this species.

It was overwhelming, and absorbing. Every sense was met with something alien and every thought Daniel had ever had had been confirmed in an instance. It was a feeling of complete fear and complete excitement. Every ridicule, every rebuke, every rejection had been justly destroyed, maybe even parodied, but this moment. How Daniel wished he had a camera, there would be no feeling greater than sending this to every person who had denied the existence of aliens; away to his teachers, his friends, his parents. He had met aliens and he was filled with a satisfaction so great it made him realise how it was Rachael came to be the way she was. But how was he to communicate with them? His first words to this new lifeform would be printed forever.

‘Hello?’ Almost a reflex reaction. Ah well.

And then the lights went off and Daniel was thrown to the bottom of a black lake. The darkness went over his head, encompassing his whole body, filling his throat and restricting his breathing. He blinked and took in staccato breaths until the red city highlighted the figures once more.

And they were running. Running towards him at such a speed Daniel barely had time to register his panic before they were almost upon him, completely black with the orange of the city keeping its distance behind the trees.

He ran. He was completely ashamed of it but he got up and ran. Absorbed by panic and fear, he ran. But they kept coming at him.

He daren’t look behind him but long, metal pellets were hitting his back. And the silence was marred by high siren-like shrieking.

They followed him until he hit the first street lamp.

Watch out if you would meet an alien. You could be infected with a disease with which you have no resistance.’ – Stephen Hawking

He first told Rachael everything and then he wrote it down in his folder. He wanted to check with her before he posted it on the forum, he wanted her to tell him the most important details, to help him recall the experience in the most convincing way. She would know how to put it, what words to use to make it sound real and then he would tell the world that they were real. The infinite universe full of impossible happenings, full of diamond planets and dust clouds that taste of raspberries and smell like rum, full of unexplainable rips and phenomenon cosmic structures, has the most likely thing on earth: life. And Daniel had proof. His fear turned to a hyperbolic excitement the moment his front door slammed behind him. He’d been searching his whole life. And now he knew that they were not alone in the universe.

He checked his computer. Rachael hadn’t replied yet.

Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.’ – Arthur C. Clarke

- Rhiannon Whale