In Search of the Destination Star Map Draftsman II: Fate of the Galaxy

Sakya was very confident now. His team had corrected their model of the entire universe, and it was now very close to the one the Shepherds had shown Jonathan. You could say the remaining discrepancies would no longer keep them from guessing the secret of the dark matter leak: the leak was the passage out for the migration. Jonathan didn’t know this. The Shepherds had never mentioned it to him, and even if he had guessed, it would have been hard for him to connect that gap with a migration passage. Dawn Lucius and Sandra were almost inseparable. Even in Sakya’s laboratory they sat shoulder to shoulder; luckily, the old man had grown used to them. The old man had also guessed that Hamilton had a super Star Bridge. He wanted to truly join forces with Hamilton and try crossing over to the Perseus Arm to take a look. But Sandra had him think about it differently. She guessed that Madam Winifred must have had a reason for sending Lord Winifred to the Sagittarius Arm: either the Sagittarius Arm held the secret of the Great Migration, or it was closer to the galactic center. Either way, everything Madam Winifred did seemed aimed at paving a way for her son. Sakya thought about it and agreed with her.

Next they had to work out how to get Hamilton to join forces with them. Dawn Lucius came up with a way. Before he explained it, he stressed that the method wasn’t honorable, but once the others heard it, they found it perfectly acceptable. And so, at sunset on Planet Gorov, a group of small attack craft slipped into the atmosphere in the glow of the evening sky. They circled the laboratory a few times, then dove at the main laboratory and attacked the surrounding roads and shuttles indiscriminately. When the troops Duncan led came down to the ground, some of the attack craft were blown to pieces on the spot and others fled in disarray. Hamilton thanked Duncan, but Duncan wasn’t grateful. All he cared about was whether his sister was safe; as soon as Sandra left, he would take his great army “back home”—Duncan’s exact words. The two of them talked it over for a while in front of Hamilton, and Sandra also felt there was no point in staying on Planet Gorov, so she decided to leave with her brother. And Dawn Lucius? He said he would join them later. He casually asked whether it was safe in the planet’s orbit. Duncan shook his head and said there were already rumors up there that someone was gathering up the scattered stragglers and deserters, planning to seize the laboratory as soon as possible; no one wanted to wait any longer. At that, Hamilton began to give ground. He tried to invite Duncan to keep protecting Planet Gorov and his laboratory. What he could guarantee was that he would share useful information with Duncan, and if his laboratory found a way to make the Great Migration, he would certainly take Duncan’s family along. Hearing a promise like that, which couldn’t be honored right away, Duncan turned and left. Hamilton watched him walk step by step toward the shuttle while the troops following him began to board, and just as the ship’s door was about to close, Hamilton gave in. Dawn Lucius’s dishonorable method had worked.

“I grew up in the Ashton Federation’s laboratories. My family has always been scientists. There’s a story in my family that came from the old Star Map Draftsman: when he was injected with the second dose of energy, he saw a vision, and the fragments showed that this universe would eventually be annihilated. That’s why we have paid such close attention to this matter.” Hamilton said this with his back to everyone. On the screen he opened the actual footage of the super Star Bridge on Planet Vonia. As the test began, you could see every galaxy in this universe bubble; it could jump to any galaxy at all. He turned and pointed at Sakya. “At first I didn’t pay much attention. When I heard about the direction of your research, I thought this universe most likely had a boundary. Then, putting that together with Madam Winifred’s series of moves, I came to firmly believe that the story in my family was true. And I firmly believe the Great Migration has only one destination: a new universe bubble. Unfortunately, we can’t pin down the location of the universe bubble—unless the Shepherds give it to us themselves, or…” Hamilton turned to look at Dawn Lucius and went on, “you can sense it and tell us.”

When no one answered, Hamilton continued, “Yes. The mechanism of universe migration sets up the Shepherds, the Datheon, and the Star Map Draftsmen. You are all the executors of the migration, so you must be able to sense where the new universe bubble is. But, unfortunately…” With that, he shook his head regretfully.

“Unfortunately what?” Sandra pressed.

“You know.” Hamilton smiled provocatively.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Dawn Lucius asked impatiently.

“You can’t see the destination because you’re still missing one energy injection. And only a Datheon emissary can give you that injection. Only then will you have the full abilities of a Star Map Draftsman.” Hamilton’s face snapped back to seriousness as he answered.

“How do I find a Datheon emissary?”

“You can’t. Only if they come looking for you.”

“Then what if I use your super Star Bridge to go to the other spiral arms, find the other Star Map Draftsmen, and get the destination out of them?” Dawn Lucius said, pointing at the screen.

“That’s the most direct way. But you need to know that the super Star Bridge has never been tested, so I don’t know whether you’ll come out exactly where we intend. And if it fails, we have no way to try again right now.”

“What do you mean?” Sandra asked.

“The principle of the super Star Bridge is simple. Find a stable black hole and build a device around it that can run antimatter. When we want to let someone through, we start releasing antimatter in proportion. The antimatter cancels out the black hole’s terrible gravity; it’s as if we briefly open a door. By calculating on the force field which black holes are closest to the target location, we have you jump out of that black hole. But we can’t make that much antimatter in a short time, so the current stock is only enough for you to go once and come back once.”

“That simple?” Sandra asked doubtfully.

“Yes.” Before Hamilton could open his mouth, Sakya cut in and answered.

“Then, sir…” Sandra looked at Sakya and went on, “Do the Moreth Federation’s Star Bridges work on the same principle?”

“Something like it. But the black holes in the Moreth Federation’s Star Bridge network are all smaller, so they put the antimatter inside the Star Bridge launchers. Every time you enter a Star Bridge, you have to set a destination and pay in galaxy coins. Actually, at the same time it releases antimatter by measure to cancel out the black hole’s gravity.”

“Exactly,” Hamilton said loudly as he walked over to Dawn Lucius and went on, “but the gravity of the super Star Bridge is greater. Even when we start releasing antimatter to cancel it, an ordinary ship can’t withstand it. Only ships built with the Star Map Draftsman’s technology can get through. So…” Hamilton’s voice grew even louder. “This time, only you can get through.”

Dawn Lucius understood what they were discussing. He looked at Sandra, then at Sakya. It reminded him of Jonathan’s mother. When he had woken up at her place, the old woman had taken him through a black hole straight to the political center of the Moreth Federation. What if, Dawn Lucius thought, they asked the old woman to provide them with dark matter?

“Mr. Sakya, did you know that Jonathan’s mother also uses this method—antimatter—to pass back and forth through a black hole? And that black hole is big enough to see with the naked eye.” Dawn Lucius drew a big circle in the air with both hands.

“Yes, but she won’t give it to you. It’s her promise to the Datheon not to get involved in anything. And she’s very firm about it. Even when Jonathan Moreth Steader stirs up trouble out in the world, she won’t get involved.”

“Really?”

“Give up on that. If it really could be had, I’m sure someone would have thought of it long ago.” Sakya turned to look at Hamilton as he said this.

“All right…” Hamilton swallowed, avoided Sakya’s eyes, and went on, “There’s a location in the Sagittarius Arm that was Lord Winifred’s destination. The secret of the Great Migration must be there. I suggest you take your ship to Planet Vonia right now. Ailven will meet you there and make sure you get through the super Star Bridge. The rest is up to you.”

“Dawn, I’m going too.”

“You stay. Only his body can withstand it. Until we find a solution, ordinary people can’t use the super Star Bridge,” Hamilton said.

After Dawn Lucius and Sandra had talked it over, he went to Planet Vonia as planned. Ailven and Minister Zhou Qing were both there. Under their guidance, Dawn Lucius heard the details of what would happen after he entered the super Star Bridge. His expression was a good deal more tense than Jonathan’s had been the first time he went in. It wasn’t that these devices beyond human capability impressed him; it was that he didn’t know what awaited him—the delight of meeting a new civilization or another Star Map Draftsman, or the pressure of facing such a situation alone for the first time. Probably both. When Ailven saw Dawn Lucius, he was as easygoing as before, chatting and laughing with him. Unlike others, he rarely felt any reserve toward the Star Map Draftsman. Dawn Lucius simply took them aboard the Sane ship and flew toward the super Star Bridge. All along the way, Ailven was curious about every corner of the ship and burrowed everywhere like a tireless little hamster until he was dripping with sweat and finally sat down. He was thrilled that Dawn Lucius was going to another spiral arm and treated it entirely as his own affair; then he looked as wistful as someone about to set off on a long journey. While Ailven was busy, Minister Zhou Qing told Dawn Lucius the information he had gathered, including what new powers were starting to rise and so on. None of it mattered anymore. No wave keeps rising forever; it always recedes in the end, sooner or later. Dawn Lucius listened politely to Zhou Qing’s account, which was mostly beside the point. Perhaps everyone wanted to ease the tension of the moment with small talk. Dawn Lucius also expressed his gratitude to Zhou Qing from time to time for letting those scientists help build up the Solar System. Zhou Qing asked, too, whether the Solar System had been able to find materials for building ships like the Sane ship. That had been solved, thanks to Zhou Qing’s scientists, who had found a substitute by synthesis. The Solar System was building ships fast. It was the civilization’s only goal: no layers of approval, no obstacles of any kind—the whole population was building ships.

“As long as it’s going smoothly. If you need any more help…” Zhou Qing said with a nod, and Dawn Lucius reached out and patted his arm.

“Thank you, Minister Zhou. You’ve done more than enough for us.” Dawn Lucius looked at Zhou Qing gratefully and smiled.

“You’re welcome. At a time like this, if the knowledge we’ve accumulated can help another civilization rise, and if we’re lucky enough to survive this Great Migration, then naturally I’ll be all the happier.”

“I believe we will, Minister Zhou. I’ll give it everything I have.” Dawn Lucius squeezed Zhou Qing’s hand firmly.

“Having you is our good fortune. But I’m still rather worried. What if you go over there and the people there won’t tell you the destination either?”

“It won’t come to that. We have no conflict with them. Besides, the more advanced a civilization is, the less it will set out to harm a far less developed civilization with intent to destroy—just like the help you’ve given us.”

As the ship slowed, they arrived at the super Star Bridge. Once it had come to a stop, Ailven first took several of the accompanying scientists to liaise with the operators here, and Dawn Lucius and Minister Zhou Qing walked out one behind the other. Just as they were about to leave the ship, Zhou Qing suddenly stopped, turned to Dawn Lucius, and said, “I want to ask you a favor.”

“Don’t say it like that. Minister Zhou, please just tell me.”

“The Great Migration—when the time comes, if it doesn’t go smoothly, I want to ask you to take my daughter with you no matter what. Let her aboard the Sane ship. Whatever happens, your special status will surely protect her.”

“That…”

“What is it? If you need me to do something in exchange, just say so,” Zhou Qing asked anxiously.

“No, no, there’s no need for an exchange. Minister Zhou, I’ll take your daughter with me. But I don’t know whether the Sane ship can really get us through. If we haven’t found the destination before the Great Migration, then the universe will be dark, there will be no energy, and the super Star Bridge won’t be able to start. That’s what worries me.”

“That isn’t your fault. Wonderful—as long as you can take her with you. Thank you, thank you.” Before Dawn Lucius could reply, Zhou Qing hurried off toward the operations room.

While waiting for the console to be calibrated, Dawn Lucius contacted Stacean Lucius. Neither said a word about what this trip was for. They talked about how they felt about their children, and in the end it turned out Dawn Lucius had less experience as a father than Stacean Lucius did. After all, Dawn Lucius had left when Stacean Lucius was four. To be precise, through a twist of fate he had put on the Star Source and slept for seventy Earth years in the Moreth Federation, while Stacean Lucius had been with his daughter Katherine all the while she grew up. Perhaps because he had grown up without a father, Stacean Lucius doted on Katherine; even when she often openly defied her own father at the Administrators’ Assembly, Stacean Lucius still let her have her way. Hearing the tone that signaled calibration was complete, Dawn Lucius had to go in. He wanted to tell Stacean Lucius not to worry, that he would certainly find the destination for Stacean Lucius’s sake. In the end he was afraid—afraid that his promise wouldn’t be kept, just like that time before. Dawn Lucius swallowed and tried to say something, and Stacean Lucius spoke first: “You’re a good dad. Go.” Dawn Lucius nodded. Struggling to keep his already reddened eyes from shedding a single tear, he turned his face to the side, and only when the call ended did Dawn Lucius scrub a hand hard across his face.

What followed went fairly smoothly. Dawn Lucius remembered what Sandra had said and treated it as just one more of his countless Star Bridge trips. Wherever he jumped to most likely wouldn’t have any wild beasts, nor any random pirates or wars. “But you know, there may be lots of women over there prettier than me. You have to restrain yourself, understand? I’m all you need, understand?” When they said goodbye on Planet Gorov, Sandra had pinched Dawn Lucius’s chin hard as she said this. It was a teasing habit she had newly picked up from Katherine; she was becoming more and more like a Solar System person. Dawn Lucius flew the Sane ship slowly up to the device that looked so much like a giant sunflower. It was just as it had been the first time he saw the super Star Bridge demonstrated. When the net woven of light began to turn white and the passage opened, Dawn Lucius summoned his courage and charged in. Leave the rest to fate—that was what he was thinking at the time. Minister Zhou Qing watched the data on the screen nervously until the super Star Bridge went dark again and the data stopped moving. Only then did he begin pacing uneasily around the room. Over the communication link he told the laboratory on Planet Gorov that everything had gone smoothly—“as expected.” But in his heart he wasn’t sure whether this really counted as smooth. Zhou Qing and the other scientists had to stay behind. When Dawn Lucius started the super Star Bridge from the other side and came back, he wanted to be the first to see, or the first to hear with his own ears, the information about the destination. Even though the super Star Bridge no longer needed anyone to operate it, Zhou Qing stayed resolutely. But Dawn Lucius could no longer see any of this.

When the Sane ship began to slow down, Dawn Lucius’s heart leaped into his throat; he even felt a little pain in his stomach. When the autopilot assistant announced that they were about to jump out of the Star Bridge, it also issued a warning that Star Map Draftsmen could not cross spiral arms, and the voice reeled off a long string of laws and penalties issued by the Datheon. Dawn Lucius didn’t take in a single word. He stared straight out the viewport at the stars being left behind, their light stretched into lines of different colors. The voice assistant began counting down, and every number was like a heavy punch slamming into Dawn Lucius’s temples. Dizziness bunched up between his brows. He felt he couldn’t breathe; every breath left part of itself in his lungs, and he felt his windpipe was already stuffed full of tension. Only when the Sane ship instantly raised its energy shield and swiftly veered down and to the right did Dawn Lucius see clearly what was before him. An intricately built twin-hulled ship appeared in front of him. Its two bodies were neat rings that looked like oversized gears, with many protrusions between them. Those devices were perhaps meant to stabilize the top-shaped fortress in the middle of the rings. The top of the fortress was covered with a dense array of antennas, the middle seemed to hold living space, and the bottom had many inverted triangles that seemed to interact with the protruding devices in the ring-gears. Above the two rings ran a horizontal connecting structure, like a bridge. On the deck of the bridge were round devices of different sizes and shapes, and at each end of the bridge stood a tower. Faint lights flickered along the ship’s outline, as if it were breathing.

Because he was so close, Dawn Lucius was absorbed in watching the ship and didn’t notice that the planet behind it had turned gray and hazy. But he could clearly see strings of lights on the ground, and in some places the lights were brighter, as if marking landmark buildings. The Sane ship scanned the whole area and detected no signs of life, nor any active channel for contact. It was as if a family had hurried off on a trip and simply forgotten to turn off the lights. Dawn Lucius checked the star map of this place. The sun of this star system was already in old age. As the Sane ship rounded the planet in front of it, he saw that the once-red sun here had evolved into a neutron star, now giving off a soft blue light. To its left were two smaller stars; the nearer one was quiet, while faint light could be seen on the farther one. Most striking of all was the huge planet on the right. Even seeing it from far away, Dawn Lucius was awestruck. On impulse, Dawn Lucius flew the Sane ship straight toward it and stopped above its rings. These weren’t natural. They looked more like many rings nested one inside another, all in the same plane. Where the rings met, the lights were bright, and from far away he could see small shuttles parked in a bustling crowd within the light. And on every ring rose forests of tall buildings. Dawn Lucius had to swallow before he could breathe fully; this civilization was far more developed than anywhere in the Orion Arm. Nothing special could be seen on the planet inside the rings, and the lights on its surface weren’t noticeable. A few ships floated outside its atmosphere. Dawn Lucius rescanned the whole planet and still found no signs of life. All he could do was fly halfway around the planet and try every channel, but there was still no word.

It was hard to imagine anyone surviving here. Even with a city left this intact by the civilization before, surely no one could bear such profound loneliness. What Dawn Lucius couldn’t figure out was this: if all these buildings were so well maintained and the lights were still on, why were there no signs of life at all? Could someone have blocked all the signals? Dawn Lucius didn’t want to have come for nothing. He looked through the Sane ship’s handbook and found no trace of any Star Map Draftsman within range. He decided to land on this planet and look around. Dawn Lucius picked the direction that looked brightest and flew that way. All along the way, the Sane ship threaded among enormous buildings like a bee flying aimlessly through the Amazon jungle. He chose a blue ring and passed through its arcaded bridge, which was surrounded by hoops. The buildings ahead were like the dome-roofed houses of fairy tales, most likely home to dwarves who ate nothing but mushrooms and strawberries—otherwise, who would build such adorable houses? Although the lights were all on, he noticed that the plants on the ground had long since withered, as if something had sucked all the water out of them in an instant. Only after he had passed through several hoops did he understand that these hoops encircling the ring must be energy field devices. When they were working, they were like the greenhouses used to grow vegetables on Earth, and the buildings and plants below grew in a hothouse. But when the people here left, they had shut off the energy field, exposing these plants to absolute zero, and so they had ended up the way they were now.

The Sane ship had flown over almost all the rings without detecting any signal, which made Dawn Lucius more and more anxious. He kept questioning the AI assistant and kept having it widen the search range, and the conclusion was that this place seemed to be nothing more than an empty room. Dawn Lucius left the rings, broke through the atmosphere, and flew toward the land. On the ground there was a rather conspicuous structure. Its outer ring was a plane pieced together from very regular rectangular buildings; in the middle was a hollow, seven-sided inverted cone with rooms of different sizes on it; and in the center of the innermost artificial lake was a sphere. It looked like a large garden or entertainment facility. As he flew down toward it, the signal receiver got a response, right near that sphere. No one replied, but the system detected two moving objects there—like two people out for a stroll. Without stopping to think, Dawn Lucius flew toward them, and by the time the ship stopped near the sphere, the two moving signals still hadn’t disappeared.

Dawn Lucius chased after them along the path around the edge of the sphere. Everything here was white, and the buildings were as smooth as if carved from a single piece. Two strips of white light ran along the edges of the path. He looked at the signal tracker in his hand: the two moving signals were coming toward him, and they seemed to be speeding up. Dawn Lucius couldn’t help quickening his pace and ran toward them too. Right at the turn, he saw clearly what the two signals looked like. They wore loose one-piece white cloaks and white shoes, and behind their sleeves, which fluttered in the wind, were all-black torsos covered with dense little blue dots. Dawn Lucius was sure those dots were faintly blinking. When he looked up, that person—or rather, that creature—had a head shaped like a human head, but without any of the features a human face should have. The skin was all black, like their arms. Dawn Lucius quickly ran a scan, and he understood.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” The two robots stopped in front of him.

“Who are you?” Although Dawn Lucius knew they were robots, he couldn’t help asking.

“Caretakers.” As the robot answered, the little blue dots all over its body blinked rhythmically.

“You maintain this place?”

“Yes. We are assets of the Ponlehai Civilization of the Sagittarius Arm. We are responsible for maintenance, and for passing on information.”

“So where did all the people here go?” Dawn Lucius asked, glancing around.

“They left on the Great Migration.”

“The Great Migration? You know about the Great Migration? Where did they go?”

“Come with us.” With that, the two robots led Dawn Lucius off in the direction behind them.

After walking some distance, they came to the main doors of the spherical building. The robots raised their hands to unlock the access control. Inside it was pitch black and nothing could be seen, but the robots walked straight in. Dawn Lucius hesitated a moment, then followed the robots’ backs by the faint light. He clenched his right hand, thinking that if anything dangerous happened, he would first protect himself with the Star Source. This seemed to be a very large space, though it was only a small part of the interior of the spherical building. He could feel regular ridges in the floor that dug into his feet as he walked on them. Cold, damp air drifted freely around his ears, crept down his neck to spy on his back, and left wave after wave of chill on Dawn Lucius’s skin. After walking like this for a while, the two robots stopped. They stood side by side and again held both hands out flat in front of them. The blue points of light on their bodies began to pulse, faster and faster, brighter and brighter, and before long the whole hall lit up.

It looked very much like a temple—a high-tech version of a temple. Great pillars covered with star maps grew from the dome down toward the floor; near the floor they turned into cubic plinths, and on each plinth stood a statue of a man or woman with a different appearance. Some held books, some held weapons, some held special ornaments. The dark brown floor was also carved all over with star maps, which was why Dawn Lucius had felt it dig into his feet. The robots turned to look at Dawn Lucius, and he felt they were inviting him forward, so Dawn Lucius walked up beside them. They raised their hands again, and a platform of nested rings rose from the floor, stopping at about half a meter high. Then the innermost ring began to glow and spin, until all the light had gathered at the center and a huge star map ran from the floor straight up to the dome. At the bottom of the star map was a sphere, marking the current location of the Ponlehai Civilization, surrounded by the known galaxies at the edge of the Milky Way. Above the sphere were several curves with other galaxies floating on them. One of the curves was more prominent, and near its upper part was a blinking sphere that seemed to be marking something. Up at the dome were rings upon rings of nebula lines, with galaxies of every color on them. Dawn Lucius noticed a line of light rising from the floor that pierced the entire star map and stopped at the very center of those rings in the dome, where it kept blinking.

“The Ponlehai Civilization—that is our migration route.” The robot pointed to the more prominent curve, then to the blinking sphere, and continued, “That is where we are now.”

Dawn Lucius tried to make sense of the star map. Was this what this universe bubble looked like? Was the center of the topmost ring the destination? “When did they… I mean, when did you begin migrating?”

After that, Dawn Lucius went over what the robots had told him. The Ponlehai Civilization had begun migrating one hundred sixty-one years ago. They could have left directly through a super Star Bridge, but their leaders and Star Map Draftsman hoped to help more lower-level civilizations along the way, so the whole civilization’s fleet had planned the current route. Along this route they lived while helping the civilizations they passed build super Star Bridges and ships. But the robots said that the entrance to the DeFi Passage had already opened. “The DeFi Passage?” Dawn Lucius interrupted. In the conversation that followed, Dawn Lucius learned that the DeFi Passage had been built by the Shepherds. They had already stabilized the road to the new universe and opened the gate for migrating to the new universe bubble. The civilizations that could make it in time would have a chance to reach the new universe; those that couldn’t would be annihilated inside this universe bubble. The robots also told him a good deal about the other spiral arms: they had all begun migrating long ago, because the Datheon had notified their Star Map Draftsmen. Since the Orion Arm had no Star Map Draftsman at that time, the civilizations of the Orion Arm knew almost nothing about the migration. Dawn Lucius’s head was full of the DeFi Passage—a passage that might close before long, after which the dark matter of this universe bubble would pour rapidly into the new universe bubble. Unfortunately, the robots couldn’t answer his questions.

When Dawn Lucius said goodbye to the two robots, they showed no emotion at all, but they kept saying, “We are already on the road of migration.” It was as if the souls of those two robots had gone along with the migration ships. As he flew away in the Sane ship, the robots didn’t wave goodbye; they only repeated the actions programmed into them more than a hundred years ago, endlessly patrolling the assets this civilization had left behind. The Sane ship went to the coordinates it had arrived at, and Dawn Lucius activated the device Hamilton had given him. With mixed feelings, he returned to Planet Gorov.