The Search for a New Ure (short story)

The planet of Zorna stood still, almost as if it barely existed since the explosion of the star Ure, their life source. On the planet of Zorna in one of its few remaining countries, a young male sat at the edge of his seat next to his grandmother. He had been born a century after the lost of Ure, knowing only of the darkness that spread across the sky. His grandmother had told him stories of the life she had led before. Now she lay dying, wasted, all of the synthesized electromagnetic radiation treatments have done her no good. Her dull black hand wrapped around his, tightening until he winced from the pain. Her eyes bore into his, taking a shuddering breath before she breathed, “Find another star system so our kind can live on.” Zorr nodded silently as the hand from his grandmother slacked and fell from around his hand.

                He was going to find another Ure.

                Over the next decade, he gathered different Zornians who he thought would prove to be useful: Limo, a navigator, Sar, a pilot, and Frani, a scientist, were just some of them. He then announced to all the civilians of their country they could join on a journey to leave their solar system and search for a new one, one that contained a star bright enough to sustain their lives. He didn’t know how long this journey would take or if they would even succeed but without even trying to find another solar system that could support their kind, their doom was inevitable. Many were skeptical that this venture would prove to be successful and chose to remain on Zorna. Zorr could hardly blame them. He didn’t want to leave their wasted little planet either but he had to. He didn’t want to see the rest of his family and friends die because there were no infrared rays for them to absorb into their skin, keeping them alive.

                It took months before they were ready to depart. They built a ship that could absorb the few electromagnetic radiation rays that still hung in space, the ones that were emitted just the moment before Ure mysteriously imploded, such as ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays; all the electromagnetic radiation from around the 10¹⁶ to 10²⁴ frequency. The synthesized electromagnetic radiation rays created by scientists were of little help. Many children died because their bodies rejected these treatments. They could not absorb the high frequency ultraviolet rays directly without contracting cancer due to the extremely high amount of UVA rays that were absorbed. This is what happened to Zorr’s daughter.

The only wavelengths of Ure that the scientists could even partially produce were ultraviolet rays and radio waves. The radio waves are used on Zorna for radios so that all could enjoy one little thing in their lives now that so few of them were left: music. The ultraviolet rays sustained life but it could not replace the infrared radiation that Zornians desperately needed. The Zornians absorbed infrared radiation to creat the energy they needed to prosper and lead healthy lives. Life spans were shortened to a mere three decades after Ure was lost. Some lives ended even quicker. That’s how Zorr’s wife died.

                As the civilians entered the ship, Zorr noticed something strange. The color of his skin had turned from its normal pale gray to something completely different. Lots of others noticed this too and began to panic. Frani calmed all of them down.

                “These are fluorescent lights,” her voice rang clearly over the intercom radio. She held a microphone in her hand. “The lights are powered using mercury, which is changed by electricity into energy and release photons of light. Phosphors are then used in order to change the light from ultraviolet wavelengths to those in the visible light by lowering the energy of the wavelengths and releasing the rest into heat. Since Zorna scientists are unable to recreate the 400 nanometer to 700 nanometer wavelengths of visible light and distribute it throughout the planet without Ure, none of you have seen your true skin color until now. There’s no need to bloody panic.” She shut off the microphone and muttered to herself. “What do they teach children in schools nowadays?”

                The journey turned out to be a bit of a humdrum adventure. The first few months was filled with the excitement of finding a new home for the Zornians and their people, hoping to provide a better life for the future generations to come, but their space ship had circled through the solar system for several months. Most of the passengers on board got fed up and wanted to return home, for they had lost all hope. Zorr struggled to gain control over them as a few civilians tried to overtake the space ship to turn it back to Zorna. He was arguing with the rebel leader when the emergency sirens began to blare and the lights blinked continuously. Zorr turned to the window to see what the situation was about. A large black hole stood not too far from the large window that allowed the Zornians to see the outside their space ship. Zorr discerned with dread that the space ship was heading for the hole.

                “Get back to your rooms!” Zorr roared at the rebels, who scurried off like rats.

                Zorr battled with the black hole by assuming manual commands of the controlling of the ship. The black hole had already had a grip on them. Zorr’s hand trembled as he realized that he could do nothing about it, releasing the controls. He sat back in his chair and stared as the black hole was drawing nearer and nearer. All they could do was wait for the end. They reached the edge of the black hole, seeing nothing but an endless abyss from outside the large window. The fluorescent lights of the space ship faltered ever so slightly and then, blackness.

                “Hello?” a voice broke through the darkness. “Hello?”

                Zorr blinked open his eyes. A blinding light flooded through them. He used his hands to cover his eyes. “Who are you?” he asked, struggling to remain exposure. “What do you want?”

                “Dude, I’m just trying to help you,” the voice answered. “You seem a whole lot of … erm… cold there.”

                Zorr sat up, shading his eyes. They widened in shock. All around him, as far as the eye could see, he saw different colors. They weren’t the shade of black or gray but all sorts of different colors, indescribable.

                “According to the Zornon Locator 3000x, we are a planet known as Di-Calx 10,” said Frani’s calm voice. Zorr saw her coming up from the side. She wore strange clothing that covered most of her skin which was now a light color.

                “Dude, I dunno’ what that thingy your holding is, but this ain’t no Dee Cal Ex 10 or whatever,” the voice said, annoyed. “This is Earth.”

                Frani ignored him and rattled off on more statistics. “It seems that their star, Xan—“ “The Sun!” the voice went off again. “is still in living condition, for at least a couple millennium from now. It has all the required wavelengths, ranging from 10^-16 to 10⁸. Their infrared rays are approximately 7.4 x 10² nanometers to 3 x 10⁵ nanometers, showing that we would be able to absorb their rays without damage to ourselves or our skin. They have visible light rays already in their environment.” She pointed to her skin. “It would seem that our skin reflects most of the 400 nanometer to the 700 nanometer, but absorbs some wavelengths of the ‘red’ wavelength since we are of a pinkish color here on Earth.” She looked pointedly to the side, where the owner of the voice must have been standing. “My hair however seems to have attracted a lot of attention. It absorbs all the visible light rays except those that are from the 490 – 560 nanometers, so you could say that my hair is the same color as the plants that cultivate this planet.” She turned back to her Locator. “According to some preliminary studies I’ve done on some of the younglings that arrived with us on Zorna-Reo X-194, they will not die from the exposure to ultraviolet rays or any other rays for that matter.” And for the first time, Zorr saw her lips twitch into something of the semblance of a smile. “You did it, Zorr. You found a new home for us.”

                Zorr lowered his hand. This world was bright, almost cheerful looking. It didn’t have the tenebrous and gloomy feeling of Zorna. His skin was no longer a pale gray but a ‘pinkish’ color as Frani put it. He remembered the face of his daughter as he told her stories about life before the explosion of Ure. Her gray eyes were always widened in excitement as he got to the part about a world where different colors flooded the viewer’s eyes and flowers that were all sorts of bright colors, unlike the pale grays of Zorna. His wife came in, smiling and serene, as he went on about all the adventures that his great-grandfather had in Zorna.

                Zorr stood up. He had fulfilled his promise to his grandmother. He had found another Ure.

                “Dude, seriously, we need to get you some pants.”