Unlight Read online

  UNLIGHT

  A Science Fiction Novel

  Chandra Shekhar

  A Science and Prose book

  Copyright © 2018 by Chandra Shekhar

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by Jeff Brown Graphics

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chandra Shekhar

  Visit my website at www.ScienceAndProse.com

  Science and Prose, Princeton, New Jersey

  CHAPTER ONE

  Flight

  “So this is what a dying planet looks like.”

  Anna’s exclamation was lost in the roar of the helicopter as it carried her and the other four passengers westward toward the Australian desert, its engine struggling in the near-cryogenic conditions. After leaving Simpsonville and its surrounding expanse of fields behind, they had skirted the hamlet of Balindoo and were flying over a vast, arid expanse devoid of even a dried shrub or a leafless tree to relieve the sandy monotony. Behind them, instead of the golden blaze of the morning sun, a muted glow bathed every object in a ghastly shade of brownish crimson and turned the barren landscape into a sea of clotted blood.

  As Larry flew the chopper, his passengers gazed in horrified awe at the frozen wasteland underneath. Anna put a hand on his shoulder and shouted: “How much longer?” Larry’s reply was drowned out by the helicopter’s engine noise and whirring rotors.

  Larry took his eyes off the control panel and glanced at his passengers, four shapeless hulks swaddled in layers of improvised winter clothing. Beside him sat his fiancée Nicole and, in the seat behind, her mother Elizabeth. Next to Elizabeth, clutching her grandmother’s thickly gloved hand, was Anna, Nicole’s older daughter. And with her face almost jammed against the other window sat Anna’s younger sister Jessica. The women’s ashen faces bore witness to the horror of the past few weeks, all their warmth and vivacity gone.

  They trust me, Larry told himself. I won’t let them down. And at that moment the motor started sputtering.

  “What’s that sound?” cried Nicole.

  “Engine stalling. Too cold for the fuel to ignite. But we’re almost there. Look!” Larry pointed to an assembly of giant rust-colored balloon-like objects near the horizon. As they drew closer, a vast structure on the desert floor that seemed a cross between a techno-art installation and an advanced alien spaceship came into focus before the women’s astonished eyes. At the center of this structure the metallic surface of a perfectly hemispherical dome as tall as a three-story building glowed a ruddy orange in the fading light. Six evenly-spaced corridors radiated out from it, each terminating in a dome about a third smaller than the central one. Curved, tunnel-like structures connected these peripheral domes to each other, creating an overall assembly like a giant six-spoked wheel with studs.

  “What the hell is that?” Anna shouted.

  “The Shell.”

  “The what?”

  “The Shell,” Larry shouted. “It’s where we’re headed.”

  “But what is it?”

  “Home.”

  A sudden loud metallic rattling shook the cabin and its passengers. The helicopter swayed and bucked so violently that Larry had no choice but to bring it down for a landing. As they neared the ground the engine cut out completely. In the sudden silence, the chopper fell like a stone. It hit the ground with a deafening metallic screech, its chassis twisting and shearing. Everyone screamed. For a long moment, the chopper leaned over with its nose in the sand, its still-rotating blades slicing into the desert floor and whipping up a mini-sandstorm. Then it slowly righted itself.

  For a few seconds nobody moved or spoke. They sat still, gasping, hearts racing.

  “Everyone okay?” said Larry finally.

  “No,” said Nicole. “Not okay at all. But alive.”

  “No bones broken,” said Anna. “Jess?”

  “I’ll live.”

  “Grandma?”

  “I’m fine, dear. All shaken up, but unhurt.”

  “Then let’s get out,” said Larry.

  With great difficulty they kicked a door open. Anna and Nicole jumped out. Jessica and Larry freed Elizabeth from her harness and helped her down to the ground before jumping out themselves. Larry’s legs nearly gave way as he landed.

  The temperature had fallen below minus 50 degrees Celsius. Torn out of the relative warmth of the helicopter cabin, the five of them began shivering violently. We are minutes away from freezing to death, Larry thought.

  They had already begun to move toward the nearest peripheral dome of the Shell that loomed like a ghostly bubble half a kilometer to the west.

  Way too far. We can’t make it.

  Larry tried to keep the panic out of his voice. “We can make it if we run.”

  They began a desperate scramble across the desert. Their lungs burned from the frigid air and their feet sank into sand that felt like liquid ice. Their eyes struggled to focus in the somber red glow that seemed to obscure rather than illuminate. Anna and Larry, both athletic and fit, managed the best. Jessica, screen-addicted and sedentary, found the going tough, her legs and lungs barely equal to the challenge. Nicole needed all her grit to keep going, though her legs felt like they were being amputated without anesthetic.

  Elizabeth knew she wouldn’t make it. Unused to anything but warm weather and gentle domestic activity, she knew she couldn’t survive long on this nightmarish tundra. After the first few meters, she could no longer feel her limbs, and every few paces she stumbled and fell.

  “Please, leave me and go,” she begged, but the others would not let her give up. As soon as she flagged, stumbled, or fell, one of her companions propped her up and urged her forward with hoarse words of encouragement. And when she collapsed a few dozen meters from the dome, Larry simply lifted her up and staggered the rest of the way with his load.

  In this fashion they finally made it to the dome. They wheezed and panted, struggling to catch their breath, feeling as if their lungs were on fire. Larry twisted a handle and pushed hard. A door swung open. The moment they stepped inside the dome, Larry swung the door shut. They were out of the desert and inside the Shell.

  And they were as shut in by the deadly cold outside as if a jailer had turned the key.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Entry

  Inside the dome, air at a relatively balmy 10 degrees Celsius caressed them. Recessed lights illuminated a curved room resembling the interior of a planetarium. Bottles of water and boxes of energy snacks sat on a low rectangular table in the center of the space. The rest of the room was bare. Airlock-style doors to the left and right and a regular door on the far wall interrupted the smooth monotony of the dome’s interior.

  “Is everybody okay?” asked Larry, panting. Nicole and the girls nodded, shivering, too out of breath to speak. Everyone looked anxiously at Elizabeth until she gave a weak thumbs-up sign.

  “Then help yourselves,” said Larry, pointing to the items on the table, and for a few minutes, the only sound was that of food and drink being ingested amidst noisy inhalations and exhalations. Finally, Nicole put down her bottle of water and gripped Larry’s hands. “Honey, we’ll thank you later, but first, some explanations. You’ve kept us in the dark for too long.”

  Larry cleared his throat. “Well—”

  “Is this what you were working on, building this shelter?” Elizabet
h cut in, her breath still wheezy. “All this time when we barely saw you?”

  “We thought you’d forgotten us,” Nicole said.

  “How could you even think that?” Larry exclaimed.

  “I told you we should trust him!” Anna said, turning to the others.

  “Is this where we’re going to live?” asked Jessica.

  “Yes and no. This is part of our shelter, but only a peripheral building, the Entry dome. Now that you’ve had a chance to catch your breath, I’ll take you to the Central dome. That’s where we’ll live.”

  “Is it like a real house?” said Nicole. “With a kitchen and living room and everything?”

  “Absolutely, though it won’t be like any house you’d have seen.”

  “How big is it?”

  “Pretty big. But you’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

  Larry’s words had a cheering effect on the group. They still trembled from the shock of their narrow escape, but the prospect of finding themselves in a comfortable house calmed their nerves somewhat.

  “I can’t wait,” Anna said.

  “Me too,” Larry said, smiling despite the tension that clenched his gut. “But we need to clean ourselves up first.”

  “Clean ourselves? Why?” Nicole asked.

  “Bugs,” said Larry. “We can’t risk taking in any six or eight-legged friends. If they hitched a ride with us, we might never get rid of them. The Shell is a pesticide-free ecosystem.”

  “That’s not really—” Jessica began, but Anna cut in quickly: “Something like that happened in Biosphere, didn’t it?”

  “Why is that relevant?” Jessica said.

  “Well, it too was a sealed, self-contained ecosystem.”

  “But what’s Biosphere? And what happened there?” Nicole asked.

  “It was an experiment in Arizona where people lived in a closed ecosystem for two years. Some species of ant got into the facility and wouldn’t leave.”

  “That’s right,” said Larry. “We don’t want that to happen here.”

  “But how do we clean up?”

  Larry pointed to a door on the far wall. “There’s a bathroom just outside.”

  The others found the mention of that mundane convenience oddly reassuring. Though life as they knew it had ceased to exist, here was something familiar.

  “Ah, a hot shower!” said Anna. “Half an hour under that will hit the spot. Who’s first?”

  Larry shook his head. “No, it’s not that kind of shower, I’m afraid. It’s just a ten-minute rinse.”

  Anna’s face fell. “Oh no! Ten minutes each?”

  “No, not ten minutes each,” Larry said. “Ten minutes in total.”

  “Just two minutes each? Are you nuts?” Jessica snorted.

  Larry looked to the older women for help.

  Nicole laughed. “Eight minutes each, maybe. Perhaps even five. But two minutes? What were you thinking?”

  “Unfortunately, the tank holds just ten minutes of water.”

  “Bad planning,” said Jessica.

  Larry shrugged his shoulders. “Probably. But we can’t change it now.”

  Nobody spoke for a few seconds, and then Elizabeth, still breathing hard, said hesitantly: “I have an idea.”

  Larry turned to her eagerly. “Yes?”

  “Why don’t we shower together?” she said.

  “Are you kidding?” gasped Anna. “No way!”

  Nicole, after an incredulous laugh, warmed to her mother’s idea. “I guess that’s one way to do it.”

  Elizabeth looked at Larry. “Would you mind?”

  Larry colored and looked away for a second, then made a quick decision. “Yes, let’s go for it. In fact, let’s leave our clothes and shoes here before entering the shower. It’ll reduce risk of bugs even further.”

  Seeing the girls hesitate, Nicole said: “Larry, turn the lights off. Make it less embarrassing, man! Anna, come on, don’t make a fuss. Let’s get this over with quickly.”

  Anna groaned. “Ok, Mummy, if you say so,” she said and began to unzip her jacket as Larry dimmed the lights and then stripped himself down. After some hesitation, Nicole and Jessica followed suit and helped Elizabeth, who was struggling with stiff fingers to unzip her jacket. Soon they all stood in the nude, shivering and avoiding each other’s eye in the chilly dimness.

  “Give me a second, and then follow me,” Larry said, passing through the doorway. The women heard the sound of showers being turned on, and in seconds a thick, inviting cloud of steam emerged. “It’s ready!” they heard Larry shout. They needed no further urging to feel the delicious rush of steaming hot water on their shivering bodies. The washroom had several dozen showerheads spraying water down with great force. The horror of the past several days—the storms, the freeze, the riots, the destruction of almost everything they held dear—receded from their minds. Feels like soaking in very hot, heavy rain on a moonlit evening, Anna thought incongruously. Soon the women were ecstatically soaping themselves, their embarrassment forgotten. Even Elizabeth forgot her fatigue and aching muscles. They laughed and giggled, nudged each other and pointed to Larry, who stood huddled in a corner with his back turned to them. Far too soon for the women, and not a moment too soon for Larry, the water flow dropped to a trickle, and a minute or so later, even that stopped. Hot dry air then blew through openings on the walls of the partition.

  “I know how much you were enjoying this, but I’m afraid we’ve run out of water,” Larry said, handing out towels. “The hot air won’t last. Let’s dry ourselves quickly before we start shivering.”

  Once the steam had dissipated and everyone was dry, the women’s bashfulness returned until Larry provided everyone a thick hooded robe and padded slippers to match. The robes wrapped snugly around their bodies, holding and enhancing the warm glow from the shower.

  Larry then led them to an airlock door on the far side of the washroom. “We have an unheated corridor to cross. Let’s do it quickly.”

  The door swung open, and they stepped into a dimly-lit tunnel about twenty meters long. Larry shut the door behind them. It was bitingly cold.

  “Hurry, now.” Larry urged the women along. A few seconds later, just when the glow from the shower was wearing off and they were starting to shiver, they found themselves at the end of the tunnel. Larry opened another airlock and ushered them through.

  “Welcome to the Central dome,” he said. “We’re home.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Central

  The chamber that greeted them was similar in shape to the Entry dome, but there the resemblance ended. Unlike Entry, Central was warm and commodious. On one side of it sprawled several overstuffed couches cradling a medley of cushions and bolsters in leather and velvet. The wall behind sported an assortment of Indian silk tapestries of elephants, peacocks, and symbols from Eastern traditions, interleaved artfully with impressionist landscapes and Dutch still-life paintings. Small round rosewood tables nestling between the couches bore delicate porcelain vases in white and cobalt, smiling brass Buddhas, and regal Ganeshas fashioned from ivory, teak, or marble. Larry pressed a switch, and a bowl of amber liquid hanging from the ceiling bubbled gently and wafted fragrances of rose and sandalwood.

  Another side of the chamber boasted an array of computers, electronic displays, and data banks scattered amidst glass-topped desks and wire-mesh chairs. The remaining third of the room hosted a cavernous tent, open at one end, lined and carpeted with thick layers of fur-like material.

  Central dome evidently housed a snug living area, a high-tech work space, and a warm sleeping spot, but that was not what made the visitors gasp.

  From windows on the far side, bright sunlight streamed into the room. It wasn’t the feeble, blood-red glow that garishly lit the desert outside. This was the real thing—gleaming, golden, resplendent with the joy of life. The women stood in silent awe, marveling at the spectacle.

  Anna was the first to recover. “Well, that’s one sight I thought I’d neve
r see again!”

  Nicole grabbed Larry’s arm. “What is this?”

  Seeing the awestruck look on their faces, Larry’s proud smile turned sheepish. “Actually, it’s not really the sun.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “It’s a full-spectrum lamp behind the wall. And the wall itself is just a transparent electronic panel.”

  “So your sun is fake?” Jessica asked.

  “I’m afraid so. Just a digital creation.”

  “Who cares?” cried Anna. “I love it. Don’t you, Mum?”

  “I do, and I’m going to pretend it’s real.”

  “How about you, Jess?” asked Anna.

  “Too bad it’s not real.”

  Larry looked slightly crestfallen. “I’m sorry …”

  Elizabeth rushed to his support. “If it’s an illusion, it’s a lovely one,” she said. “It brings joy to my heart.”

  She sank into a couch, sighing with pleasure, and the others followed suit. Larry put his arm around Nicole as she nestled against him. They sat in silence for a while, basking in the warm glow of the make-believe sun.

  Elizabeth then turned to Larry and clasped his hands. “Larry, I know how modest you are, but would you allow us to thank you? For saving our lives, for creating this shelter, and for all you’ve done for us?”

  Seeing Larry blush and fidget, Anna came to his rescue. “Enough with the hero worship. The guy has some explaining to do.”

  Nicole smiled and nodded. “If we’re going to start thanking him, there’ll be no end to it.” She turned to her fiancé. “Honey, you’ve been a mystery man for too long. Tell us what’s going on. With you, with this place, with everything.”

  “Yes, Chief, time to come clean,” said Anna.

  Larry grinned for an instant, and then his expression grew somber. “It all started two years ago, as you know, when they first spotted a strange object entering the solar system. My friend Fred Walcott gave me the inside story.”