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The Egg (Gadralneure)

THE EGG

The Egg was first sighted by the manned vessel, Ulysses, as it departed the International Space Station Ithaca, in orbit around Jupiter, on it's way to the moon Europa, where it was to set up a base for the purpose of life-discovery on the most hospitable of the Jovian satellites.

It was detected, partially visible, breaking the gaseous surface of the massive giant on the side opposite the Earth. What stunned scientists beyond the seeming impossibility of the object itself, was that it appeared to be moving at the precise speed required to keep it hidden from the surface of Earth. That this paradoxical mass could navigate the dense atmosphere without any seeming fluctuation in its mathematically precise path was almost as amazing to the growing cadre of interested scholars, as its inexplicable indifference to the crushing gravity of Jupiter.

The landing of the Ulysses on Europa was delayed to provide for a more detailed study of the object. In an interview with the captain of the Ulysses, broadcast live (despite the hour-long signal delay) around the world from a studio in New York, the Egg was first referred to as the Anomalous Empyrean Object. It wasn't long before people began calling it the AEO and all manner of AEO websites, astronomy clubs, and fan clubs, in general, began to spring up and deluge the media with an increasingly wide range of speculations concerning the object's purpose and function.

It was on day twenty-seven after sighting, that the AEO began to move, breaching Jupiter's atmosphere completely and hovering motionless. The Ulysses returned to the Ithaca and devoted all its considerable scientific equipment to study of the Egg.

Two days later, a profoundly miraculous process, coupled with an unthinkable tragedy, focused all earthly attention toward Jupiter.

The atmosphere of the giant planet began funneling into the AEO at an incredible rate. More incredible still, Jupiter began to shrink. The process was so swift that the former giant disappeared in two days. There was no appreciable change in the Egg's size. Its mass, however, increased to that of the planet it had swallowed and with it, its gravitational field. This spelled doom for the Ithaca, which like the planet itself was drawn into the mysterious object. Earth mourned. Then panic and terror began to manifest itself within the population.

This panic redoubled as the AEO began to move once more. The Egg started traveling inexorably toward the Sun, 484 million miles away, its gravity dragging a trail of space debris behind it like some kind of celestial lipstick smear. The AEO continuously accelerated and sucked in all the objects in its path.

This was the first opportunity scientists had had to observe the object in its entirety. A vast majority of earth's observational technology now turned to study the mysterious voyager as it moved with increasing speed toward the center of the solar system.

The Egg became the fastest object ever directly recorded, reaching, then exceeding one million miles per hour. It was estimated that it would reach the Sun in two weeks.

On Earth, there was panic. It did not involve looting or lawlessness to any great degree, though a hedonistic doomsday mindset did prevail through certain elements of the population. The primary manifestation of the oncoming unknown was a return to religion. The promised hope of redemption began to assert itself on the collective desperation of humanity.

The Earth, surprisingly, became a quieter place. Even the wars and rebellions which had been the hallmark of humanity since time immemorial, ground to a halt, replaced by charitable groups focused on the distribution of information and goods designed to help people cope and possibly survive the approaching apocalyptic event.

With no options and no plans, the leaders of Earth offered empty prayers and pointless promises to knuckle down and strive forward. No one listened. A feeling of helplessness pervaded the planet as all eyes turned to the Sun.

The AEO reached the Sun on a bright spring day and hovered, unmoving for two days. Then, without warning, the process of absorption began. Slowly and inexorably the massive star was drawn into the Egg. The object's mass and gravitational field increased as the Sun disappeared into it.

The most immediate effect on the Earth was complete darkness and the inevitable cooling of the planet as the atmosphere strained to retain what heat it could. The Earth's suffering did not last long once the Egg began to move once more.

The AEO began a course in Earth's direction. With the added mass of the Sun, it was now effectively a black hole, sucking in all objects within its gravitational field. The Earth was no exception and in the blink of an eye, all life, from mosquitoes to horses to man, all history, all culture, and all hope, disappeared into the great unknown.

The Egg continued moving and drawing in anything within its pull. It traveled onward, how long is impossible to say, since the timekeepers were gone. Time was finally immaterial, as more and more of the universe disappeared into the relentless object. Planets, stars, black matter, nebulas, black holes, and galaxies disappeared into the wandering entity. With each absorption, the Egg's gravitational pull increased, drawing more and more distant bodies into its grasp.

Time no longer existed for the AEO, only distance. Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions, of galaxies vanished in its wake. It was so dense now that stars a half a universe away altered their eternal paths and migrated toward the Great Consumer.

The end of all was at hand. As the last micrograms of matter in the Universe disappeared into the Egg, the endless void finally earned its name. Natural law ended, relativity ceased to exist simply because there was nothing left for the Egg to be relative to in the all-encompassing dark. Even the very edges of the Universe were drawn to the Egg until it was the whole of existence. The Egg was all that was, it was the entirety of being.

Then it happened. The Egg became aware. Not thought exactly, but a vague sentience, an understanding of its own existence.

For half an eternity it drifted, becoming ever more cognizant. True thought found a residence within the infinitely dense ovoid and eventually, as it had been with all thinking beings, it began to question its own purpose.

The Egg lacked any frame of reference for its philosophical conundrum. It had always been alone. It had no memory but the void. After another eon, it began to lament. Determining that existence was pointless and its own destiny meaningless, the Egg mourned. It screamed with a silent voice into the endless abyss that was its home.

It was at the zenith of this primal roar that the transformation began. The Egg began to shrink slowly compressing the whole of creation ever smaller. Voices echoed through its being, as the Egg was concentrated even more. They spoke of aeons, of destiny, things the Egg could not understand. One voice, louder than the rest sought to calm the Egg as it began to feel something akin to pain. In one final crushing surge, the Egg became infinitesimal and then exploded with the force of infinity, long-locked within the object's now disintegrating form. All the matter of the universe propelled outward in a violent coruscating flash. The last thing the Egg heard before dissolving into the glory of creation was the calming voice that had soothed it earlier. This time it cried out loudly in a proudly joyous tone. "Let there be light!"

And there was light and it was good.

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