The Outer Rim ©2018 Garrison Clifford Gibson
There
are galaxies such as the Silky Way that have existed in various forms
since near the inception of the Universe. Some of the stars; fewer
than 30%, are remnants of that early age when the Universe was less
than a half billion years old. Red dwarf stars burn slowly and fade
away at a pace less than the time required for the black hole called
Sagittarius A would need to consume all of the remaining stars of the
galaxy.
The
Silky Way resembles in form, a starfish with four main tentacles and
a few lesser that are irregularly structured with fractals of
millions of stars about which most often orbit planets from gas
giants to small rocky worlds. Sagittarius A is like a mouth at the
center of the tentacles drawing its arms back into itself for
destruction. That is, it is a masochistic self-hating nihilist
bringing about its own destruction, though it may well be that it
envisions itself as a kind of auto-immune disorder that will
transform all normal mass into something else, something greater,
after it consumes and annihilates everything that exists. In some
ways a black hole is a role model for the Aristarch class of human.
Because
of Newton’s inverse square law of gravity regarding distance and
force, or better put in terms of Einstein’s curvature of space
expressed in general relativity, the spiral arms of the Silky Way
swirl around the horrendous hungry mouth at the center of the
wonderful whirlpool drawing every bit of matter in the galaxy to
destruction; it is a predictable wheel of fortune with a predestined
end; unless the galaxy is lucky enough to be disrupted by collision
with another galaxy drifting into its path bring millions of stars in
wrenching whipsaws tossed into reorganize like anarchic union
remnants placing themselves in new alignments of convenience. Yet
destiny may slingshot individual stars into extreme orbits beyond the
edge of the galaxy, and even through the galactic halo into the
darkness of true intergalactic space.
Humanity's
search for sentient alien life had existed for several thousand years
already and none of that was ever found, for a simple reason.
Sentient life forms that were smart enough to reach beyond their own
biological nursery soon realized that the primary role of primitive
life that is the consumption of other life for its energy and
tastiness made concealment of their awakened intelligence from other
advanced species a priority if they were to survive. The latent
characteristics of all biological life may not disappear when it
achieved an advanced form of intelligence.
Species
that gambled with their existence and broadcast their development
loud and clear for the galaxy and Universe to encounter were soon
snuffed as rival sentient beings. Sometimes they were actually
consumed as new species of ate on alien menus. Sometimes the newly
awakened species camouflaged their presence from the Universe and had
a good chance for survival. Though the Universe appeared devoid of
alien, sentient life, it was not. Many lived within double-hulled
spheres surrounding red dwarf stars that burned at 4000 degrees
Fahrenheit for eleven trillion years- fairly cheap and sustainable
batteries for warming worlds.
