The Lines Between Our Stars by Lyndi Allison

Author:Lyndi Allison [Allison, Lyndi]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2021-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

16

Jason - Rhea

“Do you think a spark set off the Big Bang?” Gloria’s voice sounds far off. I’m glad she asks. Someone has to say something and I couldn’t handle any questions about my baby sister.

“Yup, for sure. The universe expands from a single starting point.”

“But where did the spark come from?”

“I don’t know.” I look at the sky. Without light pollution and satellites there are so many stars.

“How can something come from nothing?” Gloria shivers.

Goosebumps form on my arms. We gather gnarled branches into a pile doing our best not to make them crumble. I rifle through my haul bag to find the waterproof case with the fire starter. The limbs crackle and give off a hint of butterscotch as they burn. Smells better than the corpse Draca said she could smell. Where is she? I look in the cave and find her curled up behind the angel statue. Her loud snores contract and expand the cave like they did back in the lab. So, dragons do sleep.

I sit by the fire and check my heels. The air already hardens the ooze into scabs.

“I thought Dad made up the setting in his book. But Mom’s known about Rhea for a lot longer than she lets on.” Gloria pokes the fire with a stick. “It has to have been my dad who etched those words on the wall.”

“Didn’t your dad die a long time ago?” Yikes. Is it okay to go there?

Gloria winces. “Yes, but before he died, he wrote about life on exoplanets. Three of them, Rhea, Erde, and Gaia, the habitable planets that orbit Vega, Deneb and Altair, the bright stars in the Summer Triangle.”

I place another branch in the fire. So why has Dr. North hidden the first flight? Did she find something the Agency wants to keep quiet?

“If you don’t think a spark set things off what do you believe?” Crap. Why’d I ask?

“Not sure. But all the right elements need to come together at precisely the right moment to create something more complex than it is on its own.” Gloria tosses in the stick she used to poke the fire. “An intelligent life? Maybe.”

What elements came together to stop Gabriella’s breathing?

“So what? You’ve got a myth to explain it?” I hold my hands near the fire.

“One? There are many. But I don’t think you want to hear them all.”

“The universe started small, exploded, and expanded quickly. And sadly, one day it will cease to exist.”

Scientists used to think it would be a Big Crunch. Now they can’t agree on a whole list of Bigs—Big Freeze, Big Crunch, Big Change or Big Rip. But we still have a few billion years to find out. I yawn. My brain is as thick as sludge.

I unroll my sleeping bag and pull out my blanket. Toss it to Gloria. She spreads it on the ground and lies down. “Here, you can use this as a pillow.” I pass my towel to her.

“The answer to what started the universe is forty-two.

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