A little later than I meant to, but we’re on to a new day and more writing fun!!
! I am still trying *fingers crossed* to actually stick to 10-15 minutes.
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Prompt: Stars start disappearing from the sky, one by one. Then, one day, the sun disappears, leaving the whole earth in freezing darkness.
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: 15 Sci-Fi Writing Prompts to Fuel Your Creativity – 2024 – MasterClass
Time Spent: 40 minutes
Word Count: 996
Prompt: Stars start disappearing from the sky, one by one. Then, one day, the sun disappears, leaving the whole earth in freezing darkness.
It began with Alpha Centauri. That was the first star to disappear from the night sky. Astronomers barely even noticed at first, and once they did, they spent the following week trying to find out what was blocking the light from our nearest star. And then the second star had disappeared from the sky. It average one every week or two at first, and then two, and then whole patches of the night sky, everywhere in the world, were disappearing. It didn’t seem to make much difference how distant the stars were, or their position, or anything else, they were simply gone.
The entire world seemed to freeze as every night they looked up into the sky in confusion and an odd sense of loneliness at not seeing the tiny points of light overhead that had been there for the entire recorded history of earth. The scientific and amateur astronomical community worked feverishly to find out at reason or explanation for it, or if something was blocking the light, but could find nothing. If there was something between us and the stars, it emitted no detectable light, radiation, or anything else detectable.
It took nearly a year for all the stars to disappear so that the only things in the sky were the sun during the day and the moon and the planets of our solar system at night. Wild theories were proposed, and tested, and thrown out with abandon, achieving nothing, and everyone else seemed to be brought either to a state of tranquility or near insanity at the trackless black of the night sky. And then the planets started to disappear from the sky.
This brought a renewed frenzy from everyone as one by one, our nearest neighbors disappeared, or else were blocked by whatever it was. The world once more froze, this time in fear of what they all dreaded would happen next. It kept us waiting for several months.
It was, ironically, a Sunday in the most common division of the march of time on the planet, when the sun went out. Those that were on the daylight side of the planet reported the light of the sun suddenly dimming. It was at first like being seen through clouds of increasing thickness and then, starting from the edge, it seemed to shrink down, more and more, until there was nothing but blackness.
The world burned. Faced with a vast and now truly empty sky, for without the light of the sun even the moon could not be seen, a madness took hold with some hording supplies, others letting all inhibition and boundaries go and running wild, and still others lighting huge and destructive blazes in a mad attempt to have light and increase it as much as possible. The civilizations, which we once saw as so advanced, built upon thousands of years of technological and ideological advancements, tore itself apart within a week. A few isolated pockets, often by or at least led by scientists managed to survive, but little else.
The world froze, without the light and heat from the sun, the temperature dropped suddenly, at first unleashing fast storms form the sudden cooling, and after that it was just so very, very cold, everywhere. Those that survived began making plans for a way to establish settlements underground with artificial power and light and ways to grow food. With this focus on survival and attempt to find places large enough to accommodate what people there still were with some sources of heat either from the earth or artificially created, that no one noticed that horizon was beginning to come close and closer as if a wall of darkness was approaching them.
Two figures sat upon a frozen plain of what was once called Mongolia. One of them sat in an old leather armchair and was smoking a pipe, the other was scanning the darkness around them.
“Fascinating,” remarked the standing figure.
“Yes, these humans are curious bunch, although they do have some intrigue to them,” replied the seated figure between puffs on the pipe.
The standing one rolled their eyes, “don’t go native on me, we have an assignment to do.”
The seated one sighed, “I know, I know.”
“We are to observe, report, and conduct assigned tests.”
“I said I know,” snapped the seated figure.
They both were silent for a moment before the standing one said, “they do have some rudimentary intelligence, I suppose, although at least some of that stems from their complex relationships with the animals they have kidnapped from their environments and warped to their needs.”
“I believe the humans call it ‘domestication’”
The first figure waived dismissively at this, “I am aware, speaking of which, did the humans pass this latest test?”
The seated figured laughed, “oh goodness, no. That kind of panic and paranoia indicates a deeply divided society and their willingness to harm others to get what they want are not enlightened behavior in the slightest.”
“Hmm, very well, I suppose we should reset everything and hope that when we return to 1239 cycles that they have grown up a little.”
The two figures moved to stand next to each other. With a waive of the hand, the chair and pipe disappeared, and with one last look at each other, they both closed their eyes and nodded at the same time. They were gone and the sun was back in the sky, as were all the missing planets and stars. In fact, everything was as it was nearly two years ago, the day before the darkening of the stars began. What had happened was only in the dreams of a select few. A strange wistfulness and newfound appreciation for the stars. A sense of understanding seems to pervade every countenance for a little while, but none could express it into words.
If anyone knew of the tests for humanity and who, or what, those strange figures were, none could or would ever know.
Story got a little away from me, but another one I get really into writing. This story is somewhat a homage to Isaac Asimov’s fantastic short story, Nightfall (it is seriously brilliant, I would strongly encourage everyone to check it out. It is short.
Hope you enjoyed and that you are having a wonderful day and get to do, or experience, something creative.
– Jon
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