The Lightkeepers
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The Lightkeeper's Project, hidden from view in a remote sector, was essential to all living things. After uninterrupted millennia of success, the cost of recent failures was beginning to add up to an unprecedented catastrophe.
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Tasked with the responsibility of initiating the nuclear fire at the heart of every nascent star, the Lightkeepers had done their job well, but a menace from beyond the limits of known space threatened them and the future of the entire universe. The Lightkeepers were the only thing standing between all life in the universe and the forces of chaos gathering on the far side of the cosmos.
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In the midst of the ongoing disaster, a young man discovers the depths of his love for a young woman whose safety is far from assured as she travels across the galaxy in pursuit of answers. Will she survive long enough to find the all-important key to their failed efforts and prevent the downfall of everything the Lightkeepers have worked for since the beginning of time? Will he be able to save her or even himself?
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Chapter 1: Another Failure
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Lost in deep thought, young Aeolu disregarded the insistent wail of the great klaxon which, in their infinite foresight, First Generation had installed to alert the Lightkeepers' station when a proto-star failed to ignite. For uncounted centuries it had remained adamantly silent, but in recent times its jarring tone had too often disturbed the vital work carried on by the Lightkeepers.
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At its first, strident note, salt-and-pepper haired Abdal started across the extensive complex of the Lightkeepers' outpost, headed for the control room in the vast sea of machinery which monitored the progress of innumerable solar projects throughout Nexus Octant, a region of deep space where stars were coaxed into life in a great profusion of heat, light and dazzling color.
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The machinery's main control console was a broad bank of dials, buttons, selectors, knobs and switches. Flashing lights dotted the huge expanse of its face, and the needles of its myriad meters whirled in near-constant agitation. A slight hum emanated from within as it surveyed the many far-flung specks of its nuclear charges, and it queried the readiness status and level of development of each of several billion solar systems in the otherwise immense emptiness of the galaxy. In front of the machine's console sat the oldest living Lightkeeper, a wizened relic of the earliest period of a program that was designed to seed Nexus Octant with life-giving stars. Talking only to himself, Aalst said softly, "This makes no sense at all."
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Calculations on critical stellar mass and nuclear core density blinked on multiple readouts. Figures for hydrogen utilization and comparative luminosity marched across the display before him as Aalst continued to mutter softly to himself and his hands flew across the bank of keys at his fingertips. He double-checked and triple-checked his calculations, then shook his head. Nothing in the numbers added up to the failure he was witnessing. The long-accepted equations that governed nucleosynthesis - mathematical statements which, through long eons of time, the Lightkeepers had used to seed billions of stars - refused to yield any answers that explained this catastrophic disruption of the immutable laws of physics.
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Undeterred, Aalst’s fingers continued to fly, caressing the symbols he had invoked countless times before. He never lost confidence in his ability as he initiated, once again, the sequences that should have sparked an embryonic star into radiant life, but the star still refused to shine.
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As Aalst worked determinedly at the controls of his massive console, Aeolu contemplated his place in the vast network of the Lightkeepers’ labyrinthine home. Towering mountains of machinery buzzed around Aeolu, vibrations that he felt throughout his compact body, and the various clicks and thumps which signaled ongoing processes that were the Lightkeepers’ sole purpose for existence.
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Meanwhile, Aeolu continued to stare out the thick, crystalline view port where he stood. In his field of vision shone the glowing core of Nexus Octant, shimmering with light from a millions of infant stars – newborn from the perspective of Aeolu and those like him - coaxed to life by the Lightkeepers' project, an endeavor whose lifespan had encompassed innumerable millennia.
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Somewhere out in that enormous reach of space - the vastness of which he now studiously ignored – a vessel plied the cosmos, a research craft that searched for areas of potential development for the Lightkeepers’ work. Aeolu’s thoughts were focused only on that tiny ship, forgetting both the immensity before him and the duties he was neglecting.
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Only moments after the klaxons wail began, Abdal arrived in the central control chamber and made his way to the station beside Aalst. After hitting the button that cut off the klaxons warning, Abdal turned to study the display in front of him. All the telltale signs of another failure stared back at him from the console. Stellar mass was nominal and hydrogen utilization within prescribed parameters, but the nuclear fire at the heart of the proto-star had failed to ignite.