A New Challenger Approaches! The Newborn Sun – Part 1
I like where I’m going with Mind Like a Hive, but I feel that I’ve reached a point with it where I’m not certain how to proceed. I’ve got a few ideas banging around in the old noggin, so until I get a better grip on what it is that I wish to do with the story, I’m going to step back and try something new. I believe it will help me get some fresh perspective on which direction is the appropriate one.
I have so many ideas though, that it’s hard to pin down which one I should pursue. I believe that I have a winner in mind which I shall go with, however. I’ve always been fascinated with an Immortal actor in my stories. Think of the Dune series. It’s a branch of my complete and utter primal blinding fear of dying, but I do think that it offers up some absolutely fantastic ideas for stories.
The trouble with having an Immortal actor in the story is that it can often deprive the story of a lot of the tension. Think how bad Die Hard would be if John McClain had never been in any actual danger, or hadn’t accumulated so many injuries over the course of the movie. So the trick with any sort of godlike figure is to use them as a vehicle to drive the story, rather than as one of the primary actors. So with this story, I’m mostly going to be using the godlike figure as a fixed point that the story itself will revolve around. He’ll sort of act like my own One Ring: The story is never told from their perspective, but the action revolves and evolves around him/her/it/they/them/their.
Without further ado…
The Newborn Star, Part 1
“Humanity had finally done it!” my father shouted with his usual overly dramatic fanfare as he continued his tale of how The Midnight Sun was born. “The bombs were in the air, every country firing at the other, the last dying gasp of a doomed race. Billions of people, unable to stop what their leaders had done, waiting only to die.” Her familiarity with the tale didn’t stop the shiver which went up La’an’s spine. What must it have been like, to know that the whole of humanity was about to die, and to be unable to do anything about it?
“The whole of humanity wept and moaned in despair, with no hope in sight. All was surely lost. Yet, humanity was not alone, even in their most desperate hour.” La’an leaned forward, eager with anticipation “The Midnight Sun, their light shining through the blackness of humanities despair, foreswore their attempts to live a quiet life and decided to save humanity from itself.” Her father made an enormous sweeping gesture, and the panoramic display projected above him exploded with the light of the Midnight Sun, which began to combat the falling nuclear apocalypse, sending one missile after the next spinning into space, bare milliseconds elapsing between each powerful stroke of mental energies.
“That night, in the depths of our despair, dawned the Midnight Sun.” A picture of the Midnight Sun appeared, the face as perfectly sculpted as it had been on that night, six thousand years ago. A kindly face, slightly angular, with features of indeterminate sex. A narrow chin, a long forehead, feathered brows, and startling sapphire eyes which were impossible to look away from. “The governments of the world, wracked by the shame of having almost wiped humanity off the map, fell over themselves to agree to the meeting proposed by our savior.” The scenery changed, blurring, then firming out into the familiar shape of the UN Building which had long ago sat upon Earth. The same design shared by every single governmental building from that day to this.
“You know this building as well as I. Here, at the United Nations, the governments of the world set aside their differences and unanimously elected The Midnight Sun as our leader. The Sun at first refused, afraid that their absolute power combined with their godlike abilities would lead humanity into an even worse darkness. In the end, the Sun was convinced to take the lead by a simple argument: They had already saved humanity, and it was now upon them to help guide humanity on a better path.”
Her father paused, leaning in conspiratorially, and mock whispered “But the Sun, as in all things, knew what to do next.” The collected children giggled, and La’an beamed at her father. “The Sun knew that they could not possibly hope to help humanity if they removed all decisions from our hands. The Sun broke apart the chains which had bound humanity for so long. Forever and always, the Sun decreed that there were no nations: All of Earth was united into Terra Prime. Terra Prime was divided into seven governing bodies, each responsible for managing the section of humanity assigned to them. Each charged with the duty to educate, heal, protect, and nurture the men and women in their domain.”
The UN Building was replaced with the seal of the Terra United: A Seven Sided Sun, each of the seven arms radiating from the center a different color. “This is our symbol, the very core of what it means to be a human being. From the center, from the Sun, radiate all of our people. Basking in the warmth of the Midnight Sun, cared for by their power, given freedom to grow under the golden rays, humanity has spread outward from Terra Prime.” The graphic whirled, showing the Milky Way. Imperceptible at first, a golden halo began to grow, starting with the Sol System. A small display showed the years, starting with SE 1, began ticking upward as the light of the Midnight Sun spread throughout the galaxy. Eventually, over two thirds of the Spiral Arm was covered in the golden radiance cast by the Midnight Suns power.
To be continued…
Sunfully,
Justin
