The fiery ball violated the interstellar darkness. The Bioguard turned toward the human female at his side. The comet was reflected as wedges of fractured brightness in his bulbous eyes.

“We are doomed.” The Bioguard’s manner remained calm.

“What is that thing?” Serall asked, twisting back to the port. She was transfixed by the glowing streaks, which nearly obscured the stretch of milky white stars that punctuated the dark. “I’ve never seen…”

“Hold.” Minack’s word bit into Serall’s words. “I must check my star maps to be sure.” The Bioguard marched over to the blinking control panel, scowled, and scratched his hairy neck. Then in one quick motion he pulled out several old paper charts. Flipping through the rolls he found the dog-eared one of choice. He unscrolled the complex drawing and compared the markings against the active star sensor.

“As I feared, this comet is uncharted.” His eyes flipped from one source to the other. Finally he straightened with a grunt and moved back over to the port. He spoke with certainty. “This is the beginning of the end.”

“What?” Serall glanced at the Bioguard who came to her shoulder height. “What’re you talking about?”

“Comets are a thing of space that travel in endless loops—unless they disintegrate. I had hoped this was one that had been seen before when the tail had a different configuration but there are none marked anywhere near here.” Something resembling a chuckle died in his throat. “As I breathe—no other sight could be worse than this.”

“Why? What does that thing have to do with us?” To Serall’s landborn eyes the comet was like a sun which had been pushed from its rightful path. Now the descending fist of fire carved a luminous course, seeming to reach even closer to their tiny space vessel. She stared at the apparition, sucking in her breath. In places she could see right through the yellowish tails to the stars beyond, as if everything on the other side was normal.

“See—behind?” He tapped a dark fingernail on the port covering. “The twin trails?”

“Of course. How could I miss them?” Frustration edged her voice. “I don’t need you to point out the obvious. I’m asking you what that has to do with us.” Serall couldn’t pull her eyes away from the sight that was so unlike anything she had ever seen in the skies of Riatha.

“If you will show some patience, human, that is what I am explaining. That is a comet. Normally I would be pleased since they contain much frozen water—a good source of liquid.”

“Normally?”

“Yes. But this has twin tails.”

“So you said in case my eyes missed. So what? Does that mean it doesn’t have any water?”

“These frozen balls can have any number of tails, in front or behind depending on whether they are nearing or passing a sun. You see it is a sun’s heat that causes…” he dismissed the rest of the sentence with a flick of his hand. “We Bioguards are a space faring race who have only one prophecy concerning comets. ‘When you see a tailed one, mine the water; no need to run.’” His extreme arm muscularity rippled as he gestured. “That applies to all comets except this particular tail configuration alone.” His lips moved little as he continued to speak. “‘But beware! If twin tails come to be, then no place is safe to flee. The darkness comes.’ So you see, we are doomed.” Minack repeated his previous condemnation.

“No, I don’t see. What darkness?”

“When the twin-tailed star is seen, life as we know it will soon come to an end—at least soon in the cosmic sense.”

“You mean we’re in danger of that crashing into our ship? Can’t we just stay away from it?”

“No. Our own deaths would be a small thing. I am talking about the ultimate blackness, a time when the light of life will no longer shine anywhere.” Minack’s deep eye ridges furrowed; then he reiterated. “All life shall perish.”

“And you believe this’ll come to pass because now we’ve seen this twin-tailed star?”

“Yes.” He left the port and busied himself rerolling the chart. “We even have evidence, you and I. This comet existed before we saw it and bad things have already happened. My team was killed. Your home planet Riatha was blown up when the crysolium exploded. Now I would say those were just the beginning. These twin tails warn us of something already begun, something that can not be stopped.”

“How do I know you’re not making this up?” She turned to him. “You have reason enough to hate me—as you said, your team is now dead.”

“You killed them.”

“I had no choice. You know rather well that for me it was either kill or be killed. So now how do I know you’re not just saying all this to frighten me? Make me doubt myself?”

“Because Bioguards only say what is so.”

“Even to me? Your kind has been exterminating humans for generations. We are enemies.”

“I speak only truth.”


“And I know this because?”

“I say it is so.” His protruding lips tightened.

“I see. Even so, a prophecy is just words unless you allow your mind to interpret events so that they fit. I mean, what about the dark skies prophecy of Riatha? It’s true the events leading up to the destruction of Riatha supported that prophecy—but what about the rest of it? ‘…Once more a zaddack will be sent forth, One Who Knows, to lead the deserving children of Riatha to the land of the blue sky, so that the circle of balance can once again be restored, making right what was made wrong in the time of dark skies.’ We have the zaddack on board. If that prophecy is true then things should get better now. Which prophecy is true?”

“My people are born of logic.” He slid the well-used chart into its slot. “We are not given to fantasy. ” The Bioguard went back to his calculations. “This is the only foretelling my people have. I believe it to be true.”

“Where did the prophecy come from?”

“The beginning of time.”

“That’s ridiculous.” A chill ran up Serall’s spine.

“I am just repeating what was told to me, what I would teach my little ones if I had any.” Minack’s black nailed fingers curled on the hard edge of the control panel. “Well, nothing can be done anyway. What we have seen we have seen. And even if this twin-tailed star were in a different quadrant, away from our eyes, it would still be out there condemning us all.”

Serall stared at the myriad clusters of glittering stars, which now paled next to the shimmering blazes of the comet. When they had been forced to take to this ship a few weeks earlier she’d thought that their path to old Earth would be simple after the hardships she’d suffered. Now it appeared Allthatis was extending a flaming hand right toward their ship. Serall blinked against the encroaching luminescence. She wondered if, indeed, Ati’s fist would strike.

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Copyright 2006 by Karen Daniels