Soul-Waves : A Future History Part #4

This is the fourth part of my channeled future history of our planet Earth and humankind. After playing an instrumental role in saving the planet from rising oceans, our hero Shen is given a new role with cosmic significance. Note that you will now find the other parts on a playlist named Soulwaves: A Future History.

Transcript

Welcome to the fourth part of my channel Future History of Planet Earth and Humankind.

After playing an instrumental role in saving the planet from the rising oceans,

Our hero Shen is given a new role with cosmic significance.

Of course he is still unaware of his role as an inserted member of the Council of the Light.

Note that you'll now find the other parts on a playlist named Soul Waves of Future History.

Chapter 31.

Goodbyes.

2079.

Thirty years left.

Shen treated Freya to a night at the top floor suite at the Hotel Kia in Akureyri.

The view across town and over the fjord were even more impressive than the view from the hotel ball.

The suite itself was slightly less grand but very comfortable and homely.

That evening they ate simply and drank at the Backpackers Café,

Which was a relief for Shen after such fine dining over the last few days.

Nobody recognised them and Shen was paying the bill again with no key to this town.

The celestial and bedroom fireworks that evening were both stunning and Shen became brave enough to ask Freya where and from who she learnt tantric sex.

Freya's mouth burst into a smile as her mind flashed to earlier educational delights.

She said playfully,

Oh come on,

What does it really matter when we both benefit from the technique so much?

Freya didn't know at that time about the unique role her essence played thousands of years before when tantra emerged as a rebellion against organised religion.

She and so many others rejected the idea that sexuality should be denied in order to reach enlightenment.

The fact that both Freya and Shen drew upon Wu energy only increased their ability to connect on a level that went far beyond the skin.

He decided to drop the questions and just dive in once again into their good fortune.

The next day was a bit of a whirlwind.

While Shen spent the morning writing reports on the status of the pole flip,

Freya visited her school and handed in her notice.

She felt somewhat heavy about letting her colleagues and the children down but was already getting a sense of a bigger purpose coming her way.

Shen walked across the town to the school gates to pick her up and could see she's been crying.

It's sad to think you might not see these people again,

He said.

It's not that,

I just had a message from my great-grandmother,

Said Freya.

She asked if we can visit her before we go to the other side of the world.

Shen suggested,

Where in Iceland does she live?

Can we drive it or tubeway halfway?

She doesn't.

Burda,

In Norway,

Said Freya,

Worried that she was about to upset Shen's travel plans.

I would go alone,

But she said that she specifically wants to meet you,

Shen.

Shen was already on the tubeway map and saw that they would have to go back to Reykjavik,

Over to Bergen and up the Norwegian coast to Burda.

If we leave in the next hour,

Supper in Burda it is.

So we'll have to overnight and we'll be a day or so late in London,

But we can still get back to Beijing as planned if we miss a couple of stops out on the way back,

Said Shen.

So when did you tell her about me then?

That's just it,

I didn't,

Said Freya.

Shen didn't think to ask Freya how her great-grandmother had actually got in touch.

I still don't know why you're so upset.

I'm more than happy to see somewhere new and meet her,

Said Shen.

The penny dropped when Freya told him that her great-grandmother had told her it would be the last time they would see each other.

The last few days had flashed by,

And Shen and Freya realised they still actually knew little about each other.

They stayed on the tubeway at Reykjavik for half an hour,

As they didn't want to be recognised before it routed onwards to Bergen.

Freya filled Shen in about her very estranged family.

Both sets of her grandparents had separated and went to different points of the globe,

Effectively orphaning her parents.

This sent the mother,

Who was Norwegian,

Into a spin of self-pity,

Which led in turn to her divorcing from her Icelandic dad.

From the age of five,

Freya was dumped on a great-grandmother,

And she idolised her.

We're in touch constantly,

But telepathically,

Said Freya,

Which helped Shen understand a little why she was so upset back in Akureyri.

So there's no question we have to go,

Said Shen.

Freya started to get excited about her new life near Beijing.

Shen's family sounded like a tight-knit unit and the polar opposite of hers.

They both fell silent as the tubeway left Bergen before going up to Burda.

The whole right side of their first-class pod became a real-time display of the stunning Norwegian coastline.

It was breathtaking,

And over in an hour,

As the tubeway sped up the coast at over 1,

300 kilometres an hour.

Shen had checked them into a charming guesthouse,

Which was a nice change from the ostentatiousness of hotels.

It was walking distance from the tubeway port in the centre of town.

They purposely hadn't eaten all day,

As Freya told Shen to save himself for a Norwegian treat.

It was early evening when they arrived,

So they dumped their baggage and walked to the restaurant Bjork.

Influent Norwegian,

Freya ordered everything,

Including the surprisingly delicious local wine.

Shen was lured.

The starter was a honey-glazed veal medallion with almond potatoes.

On a bed of locally grown vegetables.

Shen had his first baked catfish for the main,

With roasted seaweed on the side.

For dessert,

Their eyebrows were nearly singed by the whisky flambe with cloudberries.

When they got back to the guesthouse,

All thoughts of amorous adventures faded as they both fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning they had smorgasbord for an early breakfast and were on the road in a self-drive by 7.

30.

They were heading for a charming fishing village called Keringøy,

Half an hour's drive north of Budø.

Shen introduced Freya to his Sea View glasses as they were driven up the scenic coastal road.

The visual impact was instant.

So this will all be underwater in six years' time,

Gasped Freya.

Not if they license the nanowall solution,

Said Shen.

They are energy independent,

So in theory they'd have to pay for it.

But I had a message from Cheng last night that Norway will be exempt too.

I've no idea why.

Shen was eager to learn more about who was pulling the strings.

When they arrived in Keringøy,

Freya directed the self-drive to a beach.

In the distance,

Shen saw a lone seal swimming towards them.

He was a little shocked when the seal got up on two legs and walked out of the sea and up the beach to where they stood.

The seal wrapped a towel around itself and Freya ran towards what morphed into a small,

Frail,

But obviously tough woman.

Freya gave her the biggest hug,

Lifting the seal off her feet.

Come and meet Shen,

Great-grandma Sara,

Shouted Freya.

After Shen recovered from a crushing handshake,

Sara said in perfect English,

Let's have coffee.

Sara shot off at a pace up a steep track in the hillside and Shen and Freya had trouble keeping up on the slippery slope.

Slightly breathless,

They got to an old shack and Sara was pouring strong black coffee out as they entered.

Shen noticed that every inch of the walls and ceiling were covered in the most amazing artworks,

Some sketches and many watercolors,

Some faded.

Shen's attention was drawn to the most intriguing tattoo on Sara's upper arm.

So,

Shen,

Look into my eyes,

Said Sara,

Spending no time on pleasantries.

I want to know what you are here for.

Immediately,

Shen realized Sara was a woo,

Just like his mother.

The whole space inside the shack shimmered.

He saw Sara morph once again,

At first into a young woman,

And then into what he guessed was a tall male Viking warrior.

He's the one,

Said Sara,

Densifying and directing her message to Freya,

Look after him.

Did you see what I saw,

Asked Shen of Freya.

Yes,

Said Freya,

Kicking him to shut up.

Shen,

You have my blessing to look after my great-granddaughter for the rest of your life,

Said Sara,

Softening her tone.

I will be keeping a close eye on you both.

The young couple smiled at each other,

And Freya squeezed Shen's hand.

Drink your coffee,

Urged Sara.

It's time to go.

At this,

The air in the shack cracked and fizzled.

Right in front of their eyes,

Sara's body became translucent,

And she left the room.

When she did so,

All the drawings and paintings on the wall disappeared too.

Shen looked at Freya,

And she looked at him.

Freya looked radiant,

Smiling from ear to ear,

With not a tear in her eye.

When she died seven years ago,

Shen,

She told me she would come back to see me.

Chapter 32.

Last Chance to See.

2079.

30 years left.

They spent the trip back to Buda in silence.

Freya resisted all of Shen's questioning until they stopped for a quick lunch at the Enkop cafe bar.

They both needed a drink and ordered two large craft beers.

What you saw was a re-ascension,

Explained Freya.

I was with her when she first left the planet,

And that was my first experience of an ascension.

There was no body left,

She just decided when she wanted to return to the light.

Shen realized he had as much to learn from Freya as she did from him.

My mother will simply love you,

He said.

And me her by the sound of it,

Said Freya.

At 1pm,

They took the tubeway back to Bergen,

And without stopping,

Across to London for three nights.

Back in a first class private pod,

This was Shen's first experience of lovemaking while travelling at high speed.

Shen had booked them in at the Savoy,

But in a different suite than the one he'd been in on his first visit.

He didn't want the memory of his last dalliance to be picked up on by Freya.

The plan was to share some time with Freya in the amazing city,

As he'd seen none of it on the way through.

It was a lot more fun with someone else anyway,

And he'd developed a taste for it.

On the first night,

He wined and dined Freya in the Savoy Grill.

The glazed omelette Arnold Bennett was her favourite too.

They spent the next day wandering around the Natural History and Science Museums,

Two of the greatest collections on the planet,

Of the diversity of life and the smartness of humankind.

At the end of the afternoon,

Shen popped into Imperial College unannounced,

As it was around the corner from the Savoy.

He'd been to the Savoy several times,

Shen popped into Imperial College unannounced,

As it was around the corner from the museums.

He was hoping to give Freya a sneak preview of the nanowall models.

He was both dismayed and surprised to hear that Mike Spence had already left for Beijing,

Along with his assistant Simon and all the models.

That evening,

They wandered around the bars and pop-up restaurants in trendy Hoxton.

Shen appreciated the anonymity.

On the last day,

They went cultural and historical,

Visiting the Tower of London and then taking the riverboat up to Hampton Court.

Shen was getting the sense that there was more to save in London than just its financial institutions.

The following day,

Shen left London with a new sense of urgency,

As they took the tubeway under the Channel,

Which seamlessly continued as a maglev overland to Paris,

Where they spent two nights.

Being the City of Love,

The bond deepened and strengthened.

At 35 metres above sea level,

Paris was safe,

Until the latter part of the century,

At least.

From there,

They spent a night in Geneva,

Which at 375 metres elevation,

Along with the whole country,

Was well beyond any inundation.

It would just get a little warmer as the city moved southwards,

Along with the whole of Europe.

Their grand tour then took them through the spectacular Alps,

Through tunnels not long enough to make love in,

Over into Northern Italy.

They had a whistle-stop tour in Pisa,

4 metres,

To see the Leaning Tower,

Before spending a night in Rome,

37 metres,

In the Cavallari Hotel,

With a stunning view over the Vatican.

Shen was not yet savvy about the politics between the Catholic Church and China.

He could not know either that the deal to protect Rome and the Eternal City were two parties together.

The broker in this deal was to be the world's first female Pope,

Joan,

And ironically,

The world's last Pope too.

Almost single-handedly,

She was destined to harmonise all the world's religions,

But sadly,

When it was all a little too late.

The next day,

After a tour inside the Vatican,

They went across to Venice for what they didn't know would be their last ever night in Europe.

Freya was getting the hang of Shen's previously planned trip,

And how he'd engineered it as the last chance to see these stunning locations on the planet,

Unless,

Of course,

They bought into the seawall project.

Shen explained that Venice could not be saved,

As it was already inundated,

And it would be easier,

Although equally unfeasible,

To move the whole city inland.

From Venice,

They went overland by Maglev,

Down the east coast of Italy,

And from the port of Brindisi,

In the heel of the country,

They took the Tubeway across to Egypt.

As they disembarked on a new continent,

Shen observed that the great sprawling coastal port of Alexandria would be a tough engineering project.

They took a Maglev to Cairo,

Which,

At an average height of 23 metres,

Would need saving too.

Shen wondered if the ancients knew something when they visited the Great Pyramid at Giza,

Lying at 139 metres above sea level.

From Cairo,

They took a leisurely boat trip down the Nile to Luxor,

Safe at 76 metres.

They took in the spectacular light display under a half-moon,

Accompanied by celestial fireworks from the comet's tail.

It was just over a week since the moon transit,

And they were already noticeably lessening in intensity.

Shen and Freya stayed on the boat overnight and just slept.

They were both somewhat exhausted.

The next day,

Shen woke to a message from Chang,

With whom he had shared his travel plans.

Disappointingly,

He was told to come back to Beijing as fast as possible.

This meant Mauritius,

Cape Town and Mumbai were off the agenda,

But at least his stopover at Goa was still OK.

What slightly annoyed Shen even more was that Chang had arranged for him to come back via Dubai,

Where a hastily arranged conference was about to start in two days' time.

Chang informed Shen he'd be making a presentation on how he found the comet and on the nanowall project.

He also told Shen not to mention anything about wave-powered electricity generation.

This was to be Shen's immersion into the world of global economics.

The Middle East had ceased being the world's provider of petrochemicals in the 30s,

And had become the world's largest exporter of solar-generated electricity.

They would be paying China for their licenses.

Both Shen and Freya knew that their manageable trip was coming to an end,

And that they would be settling into a new life together.

They got to Dubai the next evening,

After a trip by tubeway under the Red Sea,

And then routed across the Arabian Desert by maglev,

Past an interminable sea of solar arrays.

Over the next few days,

In between conference sessions and meetings with seemingly hundreds of princes,

While holed up in the Burj Al Arab overlooking the Palm,

They started hatching plans.

After a gap of nearly a month,

With little contact but the odd email,

Shen made a call home to introduce Freya to his parents.

Shen was expecting some admonishment for not calling,

And hoped the news about Freya would help.

It did.

You must move in with us,

Said Jia.

Jia said she was awoo immediately,

And that she could become the daughter she'd always craved for.

But there's no spare room,

Said Shen.

Oh yes there is,

Said Huey.

I've got a new,

Much bigger printer.

We've been busy,

Shen,

While you're away,

Explained Jia.

I knew you would not be coming back alone,

And we've printed an extension at the back of the house.

I'll send you a video and the plan,

Said Huey.

You can start thinking about what furnish you'd like.

Send me your designs,

And I'll have them printed by the time you get back.

You are both amazing,

Said a relieved Shen,

Again feeling that his life was being mapped out for him,

And that it was all far too good to be true.

I can't wait to meet you both,

Said Freya,

Smiling from ear to ear.

She felt Jia and Huey would give her the loving family she'd always wanted,

Along with a life with the most amazing man she'd ever known.

She too could not believe her luck.

Even with their super sensibilities,

Neither Jia or Freya had any inkling as to the parts they would all play together in acting out the plans of the counsellors.

Chapter 33 Permutations There was no rest for a counsellor as there was no concept of time.

Literally at the same time,

In each galaxy in this universe,

Other experiments were being carried out.

The purpose,

As always,

Was to see what happens when the void is densified.

At the same time Shen was sampling the delights of the golden beaches of Goa with Freya,

Three virtually identical experiments were playing out in galaxies far,

Far away.

In one,

Shen did not meet the love of his life and spent his entire days as a bachelor.

In another,

The comet made a direct impact with an uber-Earth,

Terminating its fifth epoch and merely seeding the sixth epoch with panspermia.

The third experiment did not require any insertion.

The planet harbouring its fifth epoch sentience was allowed to superheat and perform its own reset.

When you have infinite time,

There is more than enough time to run infinite permutations.

You can leave it to each epoch to create the next.

The survival of the fittest will tell,

In 2020 hindsight,

Which was the best and most exciting route.

Being a counsellor was the best job in the universe.

It was one only entrusted to those who would not overly dabble.

From a vantage point right at the Earth's core,

The counsellors could see that the first stage of the termination plan was in place.

The North Magnetic Pole was now over the Antarctic Ocean and the South Pole right on top of Iceland.

As well as cosmic fireworks,

Icelanders would be soon treated to seeing the Aurora Australis right overhead for the first time.

Not that they looked that much different to the Aurora Borealis.

Over the coming hundred linear years,

The now contra-rotating iron core would be driven back by internal tidal forces to right itself and flip back to rotate along with the Earth's orbital spin.

Disruption to the protected magnetosphere was inevitable as multiple pole pairings would start to spring up across the planet.

It was now less than 30 Earth orbits before the second stage of termination would hit.

Chapter 34 Union,

2079 Just under 30 years left.

By the time they arrived in the Lalit Beach Resort in Goa,

Shen had ascertained that the Earth's axial tilt had already shifted by a full 0.

1 of a degree.

His models predicted a 5 degree shift by the end of the century,

Starting rapidly and then slowing.

The initial measurements seemed to fit the model.

Over the last few days,

Several dormant volcanoes had awoken,

And there had been increased seismic activity right around the Pacific Ring of Fire.

A tsunami was imminent.

Shen had also predicted an increase in atmospheric ash,

Which would cool the planet down for around 5 years,

And actually delay the melting of the ice caps.

Once the dust settled,

Though,

Coastal inundation would be rapid,

And the initial 40 metre rise would occur by the end of the century.

There wasn't much time.

Shen and Freya wished they had more time to walk up and down the beach,

With waves gently lapping at their feet,

And a golden sun being absorbed by the ocean.

Nobody on this beach realises that the waves will be 70 metres above their heads in a few decades' time,

Said Shen.

Do the plans include saving this place?

Said Freya.

There's no reason we can't roll this out across the planet,

So long as each country agrees to the terms.

Once they see the first nanowalls,

We think they will all want it.

You are going to be busy and travelling a lot then,

Said Freya.

I hope not.

Once the topographic design is done and a test wall is built,

The system is pretty automatic.

The bots in the test sites seem to know what they're doing.

That evening,

They had a sumptuous barbecued meal with locally caught fish.

They sat with a tablet each,

Populating Huey's design of their extension with bespoke furniture.

They were especially proud of their concept for a circular yin-yang bed,

And this inspired a lengthy session of tantra,

Before finally sending their grand designs to Huey for printing.

When they first heard they were having their own room built,

Freya bought a large rug and many fabrics for blinds and drapes in the Souk al-Bahar in Dubai.

They were already on their way to Beijing,

Ahead of them.

The next day,

They took the tubeway all the way to Shanghai.

Shen treated Freya to another night of luxury in the Four Seasons Hotel.

As it was too late to travel to Beijing,

They were too tired for tantra that night,

But caught up in the morning.

The maglev deposited them in Beijing at lunchtime the next day,

And Huey and Jia met them as they got off the cable car at Tigran Hills Park.

Jia and Freya's soul waves entangled immediately,

Having been dancing at some distance apart for millennia.

They both had the sense they had met before.

When Freya confirmed later that her mother was a practitioner of Norse sorcery,

Known as Sedir,

This came as no surprise.

When they arrived home,

Huey took them through to the extension,

His pride and joy.

Jia had already laid out the rug,

Hung the blinds and drapes,

And arranged the silks from the souk over a circular rail around their bed.

That is just as I would have done it,

Exclaimed Freya.

I know,

Said Jia.

This was to be the start of a long collaboration between the two sorceresses.

They lunched together before Jia took Freya for a walk in fragrant hills to get to know her some more.

While they were out,

Huey grilled Shen on the impact of the comet's passing.

Shen opened up and told him about the nanowall project,

But felt he better keep quiet about what he'd seen in Thornwater's lab.

So when do you start,

Asked Huey.

Tomorrow,

Said Shen.

Good.

When you come back in the evening,

I have something to show you that will help.

The four of them had a fabulous evening together,

With Shen showing them pictures from his grand tour.

Neither Huey or Jia had ever left China,

So they were overly impressed.

Freya just wished she could have been with Shen for the whole circumnavigation.

She had only left Iceland once,

For a weekend in Denmark,

On one of the last remaining ferries,

And her feet had not really hit the ground since they'd met.

Out of deference to Shen's parents,

They didn't quite christen their new bed that night.

The next day,

Shen left early to meet with Cheng and Mike Spence at the university in Beijing,

And left Freya in Jia's hands.

It was right down to business when Shen arrived at Cheng's office in the university.

Cheng asked Shen to bring them up to date on the measurements of the magnetic pole flip and Earth's axial shift.

Cheng asked,

So is everything as predicted?

I did spend time over the models,

Said Shen proudly.

Shen was ushered through a hidden door in a bookshelf behind Cheng's desk,

Into a large oval ante room that he had no idea existed.

Mike Spence shook his hand with some vigor and said,

Here's where we're up to.

They will be completed by mid-2083.

He showed him to one of three large tables in the centre of the room.

Shen was surprised to see detailed and accurate models of Reykjavik,

Shanghai,

London and Dubai.

Dubai,

He asked?

Yes,

Thanks to your presentations,

They've signed up and paid up.

They won't need our wave power,

As they have so much solar,

But we need their money.

The Middle East is bankrolling our project,

Which means we can move swiftly,

Said Cheng.

Here's phase two,

Set for completion end 2084,

Said Mike who showed Shen models on a second table of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia,

Muscat in Oman and the whole island of Bahrain.

And what's covered in phase three?

Asked Shen.

The third table had a hodgepodge of coastal cities right across the globe.

You have a few packed months of presentations,

Shen said Cheng.

Shen learned that representatives from Japan,

Canada,

The USA,

Southeast Asia,

Australia and New Zealand,

South America,

India,

South Africa and surprisingly the Netherlands were heading over to Beijing over the coming months.

Mike will be working on the designs and you will be our chief salesman,

Pronounced Cheng.

Shen realised he'd landed his first real job.

Up to that point,

He'd had his studies paid for by the state.

He discovered that he was about to become salaried,

Thus receiving a not inconsiderable sales commission for each country that signed up.

That evening he shared his exciting news with Freya and his parents.

Freya was relieved that Shen would be primarily working in Beijing for the foreseeable future.

After dinner and before retiring,

Huey showed Shen into his workshop.

I've been working on this idea for some time,

Said Huey.

In a one metre square container covered in sand on its base,

Huey showed Shen a miniature 3D printer.

The printer started whirring away and within a few minutes produced a number of parts using the sand as its raw material.

The parts started moving under their own volition and a second printer appeared.

The second printer started a process and another set of parts assembled themselves into what looked like a small truck.

That's amazing!

What's the next trick?

Asked Shen.

The truck drove itself over to the first printer and moved it half a metre across the container.

The first printer then printed its own truck that went and fetched the second printer over to join it.

Could you use these scaled up?

Asked Huey.

We sure could.

Can you come and meet Mike Spence tomorrow and bring this along?

Asked Shen.

That was the moment Shen made his first hire.

Shen told Freya what he'd seen as they snuggled up for the second night in their yin-yang bed.

Freya then told Shen what Jia had asked of her and that's if she'd like to start teaching at a school for Wu.

There is something relaxing about having your fate sealed and worries about your future dissolved.

The counsellors took full advantage of this relaxed feeling between them.

That night when the twins were conceived,

They made sure the egg and the two spermatozoa were imbued with an extra double dose of their essence.

Chapter 35 Shen Day 2080,

29 years left.

In the time it took Freya to come to full term,

The Earth's axis has shifted a full two degrees just as Shen had predicted.

Also as modelled,

The large amount of atmospheric ash from the increased volcanism cooled the planet,

Delaying any more rapid melting of the poles.

By home water birth,

With Akiko's help,

Freya brought near-identical twins,

Eva and Kristen,

Into the world on the 5th of March,

2080.

It was a full moon and also the day the cosmic fireworks began again,

As the Earth's orbit once more crossed the tail of the comet.

Huey and Shen had 3D printed a nursery off the side of their extension by then.

Shen and Freya had got married in the previous autumn,

With just his parents present as witnesses.

Freya didn't even tell her parents about it,

Much to Shen's relief.

Huey and Chia turned out to be excellent grandparents,

Which was just as well,

Since Shen and Freya had become very busy,

With both of their work commitments having increased considerably.

Fortunately,

Shen was only travelling to and from Beijing by cable car,

But was putting in long days.

Huey came with him at least once a week,

Now he'd been officially seconded on a salary to the project.

Mike Spence and his team were busy designing the implementation of the nanowalls in Reykjavik,

Shanghai,

London and Dubai.

Shen spent his time on initial design models for new cities,

And countries were now signing up in their droves.

Freya had become a full-time teacher at Fragrant Hill School,

Where Chia was also taking some classes.

Shen had not really paid attention to what they were up to,

And why Madame Bien had surfaced again as the headmistress of the school.

Fortunately,

The school had a crash,

So Freya and Chia had been able to go back to teaching within a couple of months.

With so many people in high places being briefed about the nanowall project,

It would be impossible to keep the news about the impending sea level rise a secret.

So on the 17th of March,

The anniversary of the passing of Comet Shen,

As it had now been renamed on social media,

A news conference was held to brief the whole planet.

The whole world was watching.

The conference was broadcast appropriately from the Grand Lecture Theatre at the University of Beijing.

President Miang opened the conference by clearly stating and affirming China's position as lead caretakers for the whole planet.

He opened the conference saying,

As many of you know,

The passing of Comet Shen a year ago has destabilised our planet,

And we now know the sea levels will rise by 70 metres in the next 50 years or so.

Our technology will be freely available to all,

He pronounced.

But we know it is technically unfeasible to save certain areas.

Some people will have to move.

We plan to use the same technology that will construct the sea defences to build new cities in the hills.

Huey smiled when he heard this,

Knowing his contribution had significantly expanded the nanowall team's brief and scope.

This threat to humankind is also our chance to pull together and work as one,

Miang continued.

We came together at the start of this century to curb our CO2 emissions and to save the ice caps from melting.

We cannot save them this time,

But we have the political will to do whatever is humanly possible for the good of all.

The cameras cut to the presidents of Russia and the USA and representatives from the major economies nodding in agreement on the front row.

Let me hand you over to the discoverer of the comet to explain what is happening,

Said Miang.

Shen was still only 21,

But the last year of presentations had made him very comfortable with public speaking.

Just as well,

As 9 billion people were watching him.

He was also adept at explaining complex concepts in the way everyone can understand.

Using amazing CGI graphics that he created himself,

He showed how the comet's magnetic field had flipped the Earth's core completely.

This in turn had led to a gyroscopic shift in the Earth's axis which would then result in the melting of both ice caps.

This left the ash in the atmosphere settled by the middle of the coming decade.

Shen had been briefed by Cheng to say nothing about what would happen to the Earth's magnetic field as it started to flip back.

By the turn of the century,

The holes in the magnetosphere,

Caused by the emergence of multiple north-south poles,

Would mean it would be lethal to stay outside for any length of time in the day.

The increase in UV would also have a massive impact on the biosphere.

Shen wrapped up by showing an animation of the Earth passing through the comet's tail right through to the next century.

When he sat down,

After handing over to Mike Spence,

He wished he and Freya could have been back in Reykjavik that night,

On what Iceland were now celebrating as Shen Day.

He still had the key to the city,

But,

As a new parent,

Couldn't envisage using it again for the foreseeable future.

Professor Spence took over and showed detailed models of the first cities to be protected by 2083,

And explained how the seawalls also generated unlimited free electricity.

He also explained how the roll-out after that would be carried out by local teams,

Who would be trained in a new academy he was setting up and heading up in Beijing.

He went on to explain how low-lying farming would be decimated,

And how nano-factories would be providing food under artificial light,

Which would be available 24-7,

Powered by the nanowalls.

Like Shen,

He was told not to reveal all,

Especially that wormeries would be providing protein currently obtained from meat production.

The world was to change its diet,

Like it or not.

President Miang wrapped up the conference throwing down a gauntlet.

So every year,

Enjoy the display of fireworks.

Sleep in the knowledge that we are looking after you,

But also take responsibility for your own futures.

Learn new skills,

Look after the infirm,

And most of all,

Be mindful about bringing no more children than you need into a world with limited resources.

The conference ended with a picture of a spinning globe entitled Planet Earth 2150.

It was clear to see which areas were not planned to be saved.

Over the next few years,

The closing sentences of Miang's address took hold as the popular zeitgeist.

At the time of his speech in 2080,

Around 300 new human mouths needing to be fed were born every minute.

This was compared to 150 human mouths that took their last breath in the same time.

By the time the Earth passed through the comet's tail again in 2081,

This number had equalized to 150 births and deaths a minute.

After 3 million years,

Since Epoch V began,

The human race had come to the point of zero population growth.

Chapter 36.

Reprocessing.

When a sentient soul sheds its mortal coil,

It loses its attachment to matter in the density,

And it is reabsorbed into the void.

There is no review of deeds good and bad,

No recounting of karmic points.

There is just a period of loving embrace and reabsorption.

As there is no time in the void,

This period is neither long or short in Earth years,

It just is.

The soul can re-densify any time and anywhere it so chooses.

This could be on another planet,

And at any point backwards and forwards in time.

So reincarnation is neither linear nor singular.

A soul can have parts on the same planet at multiple times,

Or on any number of planets in different galaxies across the universe at the same time.

All disparate soul parts are connected by soul waves.

Such entanglement means they will eventually come back together.

In the density,

This affords souls a great opportunity not often capitalised upon.

Information,

Healing and love can pass by way of soul waves between soul parts.

So addressing an issue in the present can help a part of a person in the past or the future.

Future versions of souls who appreciate this is how things work can send messages to other versions of themselves,

Anywhere and any when.

As the messages are passed by way of soul waves outside space and time,

They are delivered instantly.

So a soul can incarnate in two different bodies at the same time,

As sometimes but not always happens with identical twins.

When this occurs,

As it did with Eva and Kristen,

Powerful psychic bonds emerge as the soul parts densify.

Sometimes education systems can annul these bonds,

But fortunately,

Not when they are nurtured correctly,

As the twins would experience at Fragrant Hill School.

So when a planet goes through a dramatic event where many lives are terminated or self-terminated,

The counsellors are kept busy.

Mostly,

They are providing the loving embrace so needed by souls in transition.

They are then entrusted with the onward processing of that soul.

One of the most efficient ways to effect this is simply to send that soul back around the same loop several times.

So some people loop around exactly the same lifetime several times.

As there are so many things people miss,

They tend to fill in a few of the gaps they previously didn't notice.

Sometimes,

The live plant alters subtly to send the soul on a new trajectory.

Of course,

This leads to some souls in the density experiencing many occurrences of déjà vu and prescience,

And not an inconsiderable amount of luck.

It also allows souls to expand and grow rapidly and to become shining stars.

This leads to such souls missing the uncanny ability to meet people at the most perfect times,

And they are often heard saying,

Don't I know you from somewhere?

Or haven't I met you before?

Sadly,

Some can also experience bipolar disorder by being pulled back to an older version of themselves in the density,

Where events played out not so well.

At the same time,

Their unique abilities allow them to experience flashes of brilliance and to tap into the bliss state they experienced in the void.

Some of these more troubled souls end up caught in a temporal tug of war,

And they can have a propensity to self-terminate in order to get back to that bliss state in the void.

So in the last hundred years of Epoch 5 on planet Earth,

The number of cases of bipolar disorder increased rapidly,

As did the number of suicides.

Only the counsellors had the perspective to know this was a natural by-product of such planetary transitions.

They had managed countless of them in countless other galaxies.

They also knew a soul should only go around this type of temporal loop a maximum of five times for their own safety.

This was why Epoch 3 had to be terminated on Lemuria.

When the secret got out that it was easy for a soul to loop back by the act of suicide,

The whole population of the planet was planning a mass self-termination,

Led by a beguiling high priest called Triton.

He was taken out first,

And after reprocessing,

Deposited in another galaxy far,

Far away.

The planet Lemuria was then vaporised,

And the rest of the population was held for batch reprocessing while the next planet in the system was being made ready for densification.

Chapter 37 After the Sea Rush 2083 26 years left.

By 2083,

When the first nanowalls were successfully in place,

The ratio of human birth to deaths had altered still further.

Planetary-wide birth rates had fallen to less than 100 a minute,

And deaths had increased to over 300 a minute.

The latter figure was caused in no small part by the people who decided moving from the coast was not for them.

Nor was living any longer on a planet at such time of turbulent change.

Suicide rates were rocketing.

In 2083,

Eva and Kristen were three,

And started nursery at Fragrant Hills School.

Their eclectic mix of Chinese and Scandinavian features made them stand out.

It was obvious Kristen had a gift for languages.

They all spoke Chinese around the house,

But Kristen had picked up both Icelandic and English.

Eva preferred spending time with Gia in the garden,

And had a special touch and bond with plants,

Insects and some of the small mammals that lived in the hills.

It was apparent Madame Bien was heading up an unusual school,

As the subjects taught were not standard.

Freya,

For example,

Was charged with teaching children across all age groups how to use their intuition.

Other teachers had been drafted in to work specifically on all aspects of creativity.

Classical subjects were addressed through the creative and intuitive processes.

This accelerated learning,

Which was more fun.

The pupils mostly came from all corners of China,

Apart from a smattering of children born to foreigners domiciled there.

Like many newly married couples with children,

Shen and Freya were both burning candles at both ends.

Shen came back quite late each evening,

But they both made weekends sacrosanct for quality time with the children and each other.

Saturdays were spent playing with Eva and Kristen.

On Sundays,

Gia and Huey repetitively took their grandchildren out for the day to give the newlyweds their own time.

Alone in the house,

Shen and Freya explored oneness with each other and were getting quite advanced and experimental with the merging of their bodies and consciousness.

The next two years of their lives fell into this comfortable pattern.

The construction of the first sea walls triggered the start of mass migrations.

By 2085,

The Earth had tilted three degrees on its axis,

And the ice caps had started to melt.

People noticed that the sun was rising and setting at different positions on the horizon over the seasons.

The shift was real.

The nanowalls turned out to be less formidable and imposing than people imagined.

They were adaptive and intelligent,

So only built themselves up to around two to three metres to cope with the initial rise in sea level.

If nothing was in their way,

They could also move sideways and backwards if needed.

So it was the notable shift in the sun's position,

Rather than the rise in sea level,

That galvanised people into moving.

Low-lying areas like Florida and the deltas of the great rivers of the Amazon,

Yangtze and Ganges were too vast and low-lying to save.

Areas outside the main cities in the Netherlands and Denmark would succumb too,

And heading for the hills was the only option.

National borders were fast dissolving as people started to work together and cooperate.

All in all,

Humanity was concerned but generally chuffed with its ingenuity and collectively believed they would pull through the pole shift.

It might take a couple of hundred years,

But the caretakers of Earth in the late 21st century were laying down a new way of being for their descendants.

The melting of the ice caps was thankfully quite gradual,

And the sea level rose by less than a metre each year.

Everyone had plenty of time to move inland to higher ground.

In a gold rush,

The people that make the most money are those who sell the shovels to the prospectors.

In what became known as the Great Sea Rush,

A whole new set of industries were set up.

On coastlines the world over,

Many of those who could afford it literally moved their whole house on large trailers.

Those who couldn't,

Turned their hands to helping others move.

The money they earned then funded their own moves.

The infirm and elderly were adopted by people who were given government subsidies for their philanthropy.

Huey's designs for 3D printed houses,

Furniture and whole villages were made freely available.

Right across the planet,

3D printers were printing more 3D printers along with all the automated construction machinery needed.

Where the soil types were favourable,

Mike Spence's soil-eating nanobots were used to create the raw materials needed.

At Shen's insistence,

Huey also made plans available freely for 3D printable flat pack caravans that could be towed behind a self-drive.

Like Shen had done,

Some people decided it was time to go and visit places that might not be around for much longer.

Last chance to see parties were held at locations around coastlines the world over.

Problems became solutions.

The global threat was bringing the world together at last.

Shen was sensing his time on the Nanoworld project was coming to an end and he started to look back at his earlier two big data projects.

A good programmer never deletes their work and will leave algorithms running in the background.

Two anomalies alerted Shen.

The first was that since April 2058 there had been no sightings of barged dolphins in the Upper Yangtze.

The second was that the numbers of ocean-going cetaceans had started to drop again year on year.

This led him to wonder how the two events were connected and caused him to think about letting Cheng know what he had found.

He knew Professor Cheng had been secreted away somewhere in North China on yet another project.

He desperately wanted in on it as now he was getting a little bored with nanowalls.

The thought of leaving Freya,

His children and Beijing had made him prevaricate on making a call.

On a grey Monday morning in autumn 2085 when Shen was contemplating a week of boring meetings and presentations Cheng,

As was his way intervened by turning up at Beijing University unannounced and calling Shen into his office.

Shen noticed he seemed more gaunt than last time they met.

So we've saved the planet Shen said Cheng,

Shaking his hand and ushering him to sit down on a large sofa next to him.

Shen noticed a shift in attitude from sitting the other side of a desk.

Tell me about the dolphins Shen said Cheng.

How do you know?

Your data is my data answered Cheng.

Shen briefed him on what he had discovered and Cheng knew it was time for Shen to begin his next project.

Cheng stood up with a little wobble and took Shen into his anteroom once more.

The models of cities surrounded by nanowalls had been replaced by a new set of 3D models.

In the centre of the room was a large industrial facility with tall gantries.

The Zhejiang Satellite Launch Centre asked Shen who then scanned the rest of the room to see three other tables.

Well spotted Shen and here's our new moon-based test site with Cheng leading him to the next table.

On it were four large round dome-shaped structures surrounded by a number of assorted smaller buildings.

Shen recognised the terrain inland from Reykjavik and then Cheng showed him to the next table which had a similar construction but on a greyer terrain.

And this is the same base on the moon asked Shen?

Yes Shen,

The landmass on our home planet is decreasing so we are going where there is no limit to the land available.

The moon?

No said Cheng,

Taking him to the fourth table where Shen saw a model of what he thought was the Grand Canyon in the USA.

This is the Val Marineris on Mars said Cheng.

Cheng had Shen excited again.

Are you telling me you'd like me to work on this project?

No,

Not yet at least Shen.

You might not be alive when we send people to Mars.

I certainly won't be said Cheng.

What I want you to work on is finding out how long we have got before we have to leave.

Chapter 38 Neurosphere If humans knew about the existence of the Council of the Light they would rightly sleep better at night safe in the knowledge that their best interests were being looked after.

Those who acknowledged the existence of the councillors only had to have a thought for it to manifest in the density.

They were the sages,

Mystics and wu.

To allow humans to sit at the top of the food chain on land on planet Earth the councillors had to also manage the whole biosphere below to support them.

At the same time,

The councillors maintained a coexisting and interconnected water-based food chain so that whales and dolphins could sit at their respective pinnacle of evolution.

Unlike humans that at one time seemed to be hell-bent at decimating their numbers cetaceans had known for millennia how to respect and manage the food chain that sustained them.

They only ate what they needed and left enough for the food chain to self-manage itself.

At the junction between sea,

Land and air,

Sometimes the food chains would mix.

Fish were known to eat low-flying birds and many birds could dive to considerable depths to eat fish.

Penguins had even dispensed with the need to fly and were graceful and fast underwater as were seals,

Sea otters and dugong.

But the councillors only had to manage the food chains and interact with the odd channel and medium to keep planet Earth spinning.

The main reason for this was that most of the day-to-day affairs were delegated to Mother Earth herself.

Her consciousness was encapsulated in the noosphere.

Here lay the knowledge and wisdom of how to run a planet.

All noospheres of all inhabited planets across all galaxies were connected by solar waves so that best practice could be shared.

Mother Earth,

Known as Lady Gaia by her home star,

Was not left to her own devices.

This home star,

Also connected at its centre to all other stars by solar waves,

Was also entrusted by the councillors to manage its solosphere.

The solosphere was a nurturing ground for all planets and their moons and is bounded and eventually stopped at the heliopause.

This is the place where the solar wind is counteracted and annulled by the galactic winds.

The magnetic fields of all planets had touchpoints on the surface of the Sun known as magnetic mixing points.

Occasionally mixing points merged and this allowed for transfer of aspects of consciousness between planets.

The Sun micromanaged when this would be allowed,

Normally at times of transition.

The Sun controlled the position of each planet and its own radiation output such that the inhabited planet of choice at any one time was kept in the Goldilocks zone,

Not too hot not too cold.

Billions of kilometres away from the Sun lay a spherical cloud of icy bodies known as the Oort cloud.

Humans had detected this cloud and understood correctly that it was where most comets came from.

What they didn't fully appreciate was that the Sun was in control of the passage of comets in order to bring in new RNA and DNA variances now and again.

What whales,

Dolphins and humans didn't know was that the Oort cloud prevented any soul waves from other sentiences on other planets in other galaxies from penetrating the inner solar system.

The only soul waves that made it went from a sentience to their home star and from the other home stars to other sentiences.

Somewhat ironically Epoch 1,

2,

3 and 4 humanoids knew this intuitively which is why the Sun was revered as a god and why many Epoch 5 humans still worshipped and rested on a Sun day.

Chapter 39 Bigger Data 2084 25 years left.

His new brief suited Shen much more than the nanowall project as he could largely run it from home.

Another extension was printed and built mainly to house monitors to display all the data collection from either land-based or space-based observatories and telescopes.

Cheng had given Shen access to his own dedicated quantum computer whose location was a closely guarded secret.

The first thing that Shen noticed about running his algorithms on this platform was the speed.

Results came back instantly.

It wasn't long before he discovered it was sending him results before he'd even thought for that level and detail of analysis.

This computer was based on tangled hierarchy and could almost think for those who built it and used it by anticipating what might be asked of it next.

It was learning what Shen wanted to learn.

The project suited Freya too as the four-year-old twins were quite a handful as all inquisitive quick learners tended to be.

Shen gave them astronomy and cosmology lessons in the evenings and at weekends,

Letting them see just a mere subset of the data at his disposal.

In the following year his lines of research did mean that he had to make the first of several trips away.

This would be the first time he and Freya had not slept together since they first met.

They both found the proposition of separation somewhat tumultuous.

He managed to delay his first jaunt until after the 17th of March so that he and Freya could enjoy the cosmic fireworks from the comet's tail with Eva and Kristen.

They were now old enough to appreciate their majesty if not their source or significance in their lives.

Shen's trip the following month involved an overnight when he went to meet the team at the Purple Mountain Observatory.

He took a self-drive to see parts of China he'd not yet visited while he still could.

The team on the mountain were to be responsible for the scanning of the skies for potential impactors.

They were only told to feed the data to Shen and not breathe on the existence of the quantum computer.

This aspect of the project was to run itself,

And over the coming years,

Despite intensive and detailed scanning,

It appeared that nothing of any significance was earthbound for centuries.

From Purple Mountain he took a self-drive to Shanghai,

Which meant he could see the nanowalls first-hand.

He then went by tubeway to Sydney,

Naturally in a first-class pod.

He was looking forward to this trip,

Especially as he'd heard the tubeway was now using Thornwater's nanotechnology to speed up and smooth down the ride.

It worked.

A crossing that used to take six hours was now done more smoothly in just three and a half.

Shen had booked pod one,

Which was right at the front,

Right behind the driver's cab.

One of the perks of booking it was that it had a door so the occupants could ride up front for some of the trip with the driver,

Who was mainly there to monitor systems as it drove itself.

The speed and smoothness of the ride was truly mesmerising.

The normal hum and rumble of the tubeways was eliminated,

And the driver impressed Shen with his knowledge of the technology.

The levitating surface was not just on the bottom of the pods,

But completely encircled them.

Shen learned the tubeway was only running at less than half its theoretical speed limit for safety reasons.

The driver had no idea,

Of course,

Who Shen was,

And what he knew about the levitating surfaces.

He arrived refreshed in Sydney at lunchtime,

Right outside the impressive Opera House.

Shen was pleased to see the nanowalls were already up to five metres,

Countering a sea level rise now of two metres.

He was even more pleased he could walk around without anyone knowing he was involved in this project.

He took a water taxi for a quick bite to eat at a restaurant at Milsom's Point,

Giving him a panoramic view over the harbour.

He'd already booked a table with a window view.

Diners sniggered at the lanky and geeky-looking Chinese man donning virtual reality glasses who was looking around the bay while he ate.

Shen had brought his sea-rise glasses with him.

He was the only person in the whole of Sydney that day looking at the water underneath Sydney Harbour Bridge by the end of the century.

He'd also modified the virtual views so he could stand on top of the nanowalls looking down at any point and any height in the future.

By 2120,

He could see that the roadway and train tracks of the bridge would be lost forever with just the middle section of arch poking above the waves.

After lunch,

He picked up a cell drive to take him out to the park's observatory 300km to the southwest.

He could have gone by maglev but wanted time alone to call Freya and to think.

The park's observatory had several radio antennae used to receive live televised images of the Apollo 11 moon landing back in July 1969.

The dishes were still functional but it was the expertise of the team that Shen was interested in harnessing especially as they were the world's leading experts on gamma-ray bursts or GRBs.

Something had popped up in Shen's initial research that he felt he'd like a face-to-face meeting for.

The leader of the team was Professor Silky Stephens who a younger,

Unmarried version of Shen may have had designs upon.

His devotion to Freya and the children and the growing sense of the importance of his mission meant those thoughts were now far from his mind and groin.

Back in China,

He put his scans of historical GRBs into the quantum computer and it had reconfirmed a correlation he'd spotted before.

Since the swift gamma-ray burst mission had launched in 2004 superseded by a Chinese replacement in 2033,

The biggest of the GRBs detected seemed to trigger a reduction in the number of cetaceans in the oceans.

Shen briefed Silky about his student project on cetacean numbers and on a little of what he was up to now.

She was equally puzzled and sceptical.

She gave him the benefit of the doubt,

According to his fame,

As the discoverer of the comet.

But most gamma-rays don't make it through the atmosphere,

Never mind the ocean,

She said.

I know,

But they must be picking them up somehow.

Magnetic field distortion,

As Shen?

That's possible,

As we know whales navigate using magnetic field lines and powerful bursts of gamma-rays can distort the magnetosphere,

She answered.

Professor Stevens loves Shen's big thinking and his open approach to working with big data,

So they hatched a plan.

Shen connected Silky directly to Monique Armstrong over in Monterey,

Hoping she wouldn't mention their dalliance.

Silky also arranged for access from ESA's Swarm constellation that measured Earth's magnetic field from space.

The Swarm was only supposed to be active until 2021,

But China had taken over its management and eliminated it.

We'll correlate the GRBs and magnetic field distortions going back to 2014,

When the Swarm was first active,

And connect you in with the live data feed.

Over dinner that night,

Silky took the opportunity to tell Shen something that had been bothering her since she first graduated 15 years ago.

She was hoping his objective and lateral approach might be able to shed some light on it.

We've detected really strong GRBs coming straight out of the heart of our Sun,

One every five years,

She explained.

Is that even possible,

Asked Shen?

No,

GRBs are massive events that we usually pick up from distant galaxies billions of light-years away,

She said.

Could the Sun be some sort of repeater,

Said Shen,

Offering a lateral suggestion?

No,

If anything,

It would absorb them,

Much like our atmosphere,

She said.

And when was the last one?

A month ago,

The 17th of March,

To be precise.

All sorts of alarm bells went off in Shen's head.

So was there one in 2079 and 2074?

Yes,

Exactly the same date,

Confirmed Silky.

And I think there may have been going on,

Since at least when SWIFT was launched.

Shen went to bed alone that evening,

Much to Silky's disappointment.

She was excited,

Though,

To be invited into something she sensed was big.

The next morning,

When they met again,

Shen masterfully diverted any of her attempts to get more from him.

He,

However,

Was mining Silky for all she knew about GRBs.

His ears lit up when she said,

They are one of the worst possible events that could hit a planet and have probably caused mass extinction events in the past.

Which extinctions in particular,

Asked Shen?

That we don't know,

As there is nothing to detect in this many millions of years after a burst may have hit,

Silky replied.

This got Shen thinking that there must be a way of finding out.

They parted company after lunch,

Agreeing to stay in close contact.

That afternoon,

He headed back to Sydney in the self-drive,

Briefing Cheng on the way about the GRBs with the five-year cycle.

It was then that Cheng realised he'd have to expand Shen's remit somewhat.

At Freya's suggestion,

Shen treated himself to a night in Sydney before heading back the next day.

He was grateful for this,

As,

Over dinner,

He worked out a way of finding out the source of the GRBs.

He did not know at this time that this is exactly what Cheng had planned for him.

Chapter 40 Cosmic Jokes As the counsellors sat everywhere and everywhere,

They of course knew what was unfolding on planet Earth in 2085.

They'd choreographed it in detail,

After all.

For the channels and mediums of Epoch 5 that tuned into such synchronicities,

These kind of coincidences came as no surprise.

Everyone else either didn't notice or thought their scientific theories and models were a little incomplete.

The counsellors found this amusing,

As their main use for such coincidences was to awaken those in the density.

It also brought a kind and caring smile to the guardians from Epoch 7.

Epoch 5 humans,

For example,

Had no real idea of who or what was behind one of the biggest cosmic jokes right in their backyard,

Within full view for a large proportion of the time.

It involved a smaller body,

Assumed to be lifeless,

Which was a conscious stardust called the Moon.

During most of the period of Epoch 5,

The Moon ended up orbiting the Earth approximately every 27 1 3 days,

And it rotated on its axis every 27 1 3 days too.

This meant it always kept the same face to the Earth.

It was also exactly the same size as the Sun when viewed from the Earth's surface.

Spectacular solar eclipses gave a constant reminder to this cosmic coincidence.

The Moon had been inserted into orbit around the Earth by an Epoch 7 civilization in a temporal causal loop that spanned millennia.

The prime purpose was that so Epoch 5 humans could spawn into an Epoch 6 civilization and then onwards to Epoch 7.

Such tricks became easy once it was learned that the dimension of time was as malleable as the three spatial dimensions of the density.

Before the Moon was in orbit,

All life on planet Earth was asexual.

In order for the stardust to become sentient several billions of years later,

The Moon was placed in orbit to trigger the division of the sexes.

The new Earth-Moon system was extruded by the collision between a smaller version of Earth and a planet around the size of Mars.

The Moon was spun off by the lighter outer layers of the coalesced planetoids.

Once everything cooled down,

After the cosmic brilliance and the orbit stabilised,

The Moon began to act as a clock so that new bisexual lifeforms could better time their reproduction and death.

Epoch 2 was started.

Even by the time Epoch 5 had spawned sentient life,

The Moon still had a massive effect on ovulation cycles in many species.

Lesser known was exactly how it affected the consciousness state of the sentient lifeforms.

At full moons,

Dolphins and whales became more promiscuous.

And the police forces put more bodies on the streets as the lunatics would come out of the asylum.

As with all such cosmic jokes,

The evidence was there to be found for those who were interested.

The same was true of the cosmic joke behind the GRBs with their five-year cycle.

The counsellors had brought the interloper into the binary star system a half billion years ago,

Around when Epoch 2 spawned Epoch 3.

Every five years,

The interloper reached its perihelion with the binary system,

And this proximity led to the release of a massive amount of energy,

Right across the spectra,

But primarily as gamma rays.

This wasn't the punchline of the joke,

However.

When the red dwarf interloper made its closest pass every five years,

The system was directly behind the Sun when viewed from Earth.

This is why the occlusion by the interloper hadn't been picked up by optical telescopes scanning the cosmos for such potential supernova candidates.

To obfuscate matters further,

Counsellor 7 had created an impenetrable dust cloud which emanated from a spinning black hole.

It was around 100 light-years from Earth.

This had made the GRBs previously undetectable.

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