Light In The Darkness

by Jude Ellery

Consider the work of God:

For who can make that straight,

Which he hath made crooked?

Eustace lovingly placed the paintbrush back in its tray, screwed the lid back on the tin of ‘brilliant red’, and stepped back to admire his work. The Luddmobile was finally finished.

He’d resisted the nickname at first, but Sara eventually talked him around. “Embrace it,” she’d said. “Don’t let them get to you.” The couple raced under the name ‘E & S Lorlight’ for the first seven years, but this time they’d be entering the Intergalactic 3008 as ‘E & S Luddite’. Let the bullies have their fun. They’d get their comeuppance on judgement day.

Eustace and Sara would more than likely finish last again, they always did. They dreamt of winning the prestigious race just once in their lifetime, but in truth were content to just compete. The thrill of space racing was unparalleled, and was a thing of beauty, too; stars and planets became fiery streaks that painted the windows as they sped through the vast blackness.

Although Eustace’s design skills had improved their finishing times year on year, The Luddites were still well off the pace. They refused to follow thirty-first century trends and would not install a Hyperdriver in the Luddmobile, despite the fact that the new mechanism boosted fuel combustion by over a thousand percent and allowed a raceship to travel faster than the speed of light. He and Sara were mocked in all corners of Galactica II, not only for obstinance, but also their generally ‘primitive’ way of life, which included an insistence on using old-fashioned tools. If Dandy, Spieller and Morkel could see Eustace now, overalls speckled with paint, his garage floor laden with wrenches and screwdrivers, they’d never stop laughing.

Even the pair’s antiquated names — so nineteenth century — were the butt of their rivals’ jokes at every race. They were used to it by now, though. It’d been the same since they’d moved to Light, ten years ago.

Eustace, with Sara’s blessing, as always, had chosen a traditional yet powerful engine for the Luddmobile, enabling it to max out an impressive hundred and twenty thousand miles per second. Unfortunately, that was still just two thirds the speed their competitors could reach. He’d installed the driver yesterday and tested it with a few orbits of nearby New Earth. The Luddmobile purred softly and handled perfectly. Now that he’d added the cosmetic elements, the red paintwork and a simple ‘L’ logo in white, he couldn’t wait for the race in ten days’ time.

He closed his eyes and imagined the starting line. A glance to Sara, whose big, beautiful eyes twinkled, reflecting his excitement. One hand clenched in hers, the other hovered above the start key. A quick glance out both windows. Last year, Dandy had been to his left and new entrants, the Techtonics, to his right. Maybe if they just got a better start this year…

A robotic voice snapped him out of his daydream. The sonic transmitter had finished its musical playlist and had begun the Galactic Evening News. The first report was extolling the brilliance of the Hyperdriver.

You just couldn’t escape that moonblasted thing. Eustace knew it would be the Ludd’s downfall again. It was an astonishing invention that was revolutionising the Intergalactic series; the sport had never been so popular, even Eustace had to admit that.

Like most inventions, the Hyperdriver had come about by chance. The famous Foronean engineer, Valian Perry, had been working on a new guidance system for the Quantum bomb, to improve the galaxy’s defence arsenal, when he’d stumbled upon the formula. The exact details were highly confidential — Hyperdrivers sold for upwards of 10,000 hawkings, and Perry held the patent — but it was generally assumed he’d managed to somehow condense the parts of a normal shuttle engine into infinitesimal dimensions. Work on warp engines ceased immediately as other scientists strove to imitate Perry’s creation. None had got near the answer yet.

All that mattered to Eustace, however, was that Perry’s invention was dangerous and immoral. He could afford the part; he and Sara made ample money selling their traditional furniture at the Solar Market. No, money was never an issue for them, they simply didn’t care for New Science. Outside of racing, which was their only extravagance, the Lorlights adhered to a very simple, pious existence, their philosophy centered on achieving a harmonious balance with the universe.

Eustace’s loathing of the Hyperdriver stemmed from its wanton destruction of uninhabited planets. Most race enthusiasts were oblivious to the fact that these new engines required an incredible 1045 joules to run, the number coincidentally about the same amount of energy that could be gathered by converting a planet’s matter into pure energy — through its incineration. The planets, referred to in the instruction manual as ‘universal fodder’, were harnessed using an immense titanium net, slung out by industrial shuttles into the blackness like a trawler rounding up helpless sea life. Eustace watched the nets being dispatched every morning, and could never escape the nausea which accompanied the sight. The experts claimed the planets were expendable, as they thought they’d proved the universe was infinite. Thought being the operative term.

What therefore God hath joined together,

Let not man put asunder.

Eustace yanked back the throttle as he swerved the ship hard to port, narrowly avoiding an onrushing meteor. Hard to see, those, especially at this speed. That’s where having two pairs of eyes came in handy.

Ten days had finally past, and despite their expert control of the Luddmobile, the Lorlights were predictably lying eleventh. Dead last. Bringing up the rear. Drifting in everyone’s wake. Hoovering up stardust. Still, Morkel was in their sights — or on their radar, at least. His raceship, the Hellbailer, was customised primarily for combat. Though he had installed the Hyperdriver, Morkel preferred to overtake his competitors by blasting them out of his path, rather than outracing them.

A minute later the Lorlites had caught him up. Morkel had become entangled in a battle for ninth place with the Techtonics, and had evidently come off worse. A gaping scar down the port side of his craft was the result of a hefty bump or a cannon. The Techies were learning fast, then; fighting fire with fire was their answer to Morkel’s aggressive tactics.

Eustace stepped on the nitro boost as the Luddmobile spiralled by the Hellbailer. Passing him was the easy part; keeping out of his crosshairs and getting out of range was the true test. The G-Force from the nitro boost shunted the couple back in their seats, and Eustace struggled to keep hold of the wheel as Morkel’s first shot zeroed in. Eustace swerved up and to port again, and the Hellbailer’s displacer beam arrowed past the Luddmobile and into the blackness. Without thinking, Eustace dipped to starboard, as another beam whizzed past them on the opposite side. Morkel must have spent his pre-race preparations working on a quickfire gun mechanism.

“Hold on tight, Sara,” Eustace grimaced. “This might get a bit hairy.”

Seven more shots were dodged before they finally shook the Hellbailer off. With the damage to his raceship, Morkel’s only chance of winning the race now was, in fact, to blow the rest of his competitors out of the dimension, but trundling along at half the pace of the Luddmobile — and slowing by the minute — he didn’t have much hope of even getting within range.

As Morkel slid off Sara’s radar, another blip entered the screen. It was the Techtonite. Eustace would have settled for anywhere but last at the start of the race, but now that he was in the groove, he knew he could overtake these neophytes. They might have the gadgets, but they didn’t have seven years of experience.

Eustace purposely veered the Luddmobile off course, narrowly avoiding another meteor storm and bending round a large gaseous planet — it could’ve been Neo or Stasis, at this speed it was difficult to tell — using the giant’s gravitational pull like a sling shot. Despite the shortcut, the Techtonics were still too far away. Sara consulted the radar.

“Nice move, Eust, but they’re still pulling away. You need to pull another trick out the bag.”

“How far ahead?”

“Ten, maybe twen… wait… they’ve gone! It must be a malfunction, I’ll check the backup.”

Sara fiddled with the dashboard, tapping at gauges, while Eustace continued to concentrate all his attention on piloting the craft. Narrowing his eyes and tightening his grip on the wheel, he began to take more risks. More than once, he only just engaged the nitro in time to avoid being sucked into a nasty collision when scraping past planets’ gravitational fields for the ideal racing line. He glanced at his dashboard array. Only one blast left. He’d better save that; they were only half way through the race.

Meanwhile, Sara was becoming increasingly flustered. The backup display confirmed that the Techtonite had disappeared. She replaced the power cells in both displays, but the readings remained unchanged.

“This is weird, Eust. What’s going on?”

Before her husband could answer, a blinding light flashed well in front of them, and before their eyesight returned, a shockwave rocked the ship. The Lorlights were ripped from their seats and landed on the hard metal floor, knocked unconscious on impact. There they lay, motionless, as the Luddmobile continued, now somewhat erratically, on its incision through space.

Yet,

He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.



Sara was the first to come around. Unable to rouse her husband, but relieved that the ship recorded his telemetry as normal, she took control of the Luddmobile, steadying its somewhat wobbly attitude and proceeding cautiously on a forward heading. She was familiar with the basic controls but hadn’t piloted a raceship in years. Nor was she sure what disaster awaited them further along their course. What had caused that explosion? There was no sign of damage to the planets she cruised past, no debris floating past the windscreen.

After another few minutes, Eustace awoke. Feeling his head tenderly, he gratefully found it still intact. He looked up to see Sara in his seat, stoically although somewhat clumsily manning the craft.

“What in Light was that?” he asked.

Sara jumped in her seat, unaware Eustace had revived himself, and turned to see how he felt. In doing so, she inadvertently twisted the wheel. The Luddmobile yawed to port and narrowly avoided an oncoming planet.

“I think I’d better take over, eh?” Eustace said with a grin.

Sara gladly ceded the controls and performed a diagnostic on the instrument panel. Everything seemed in order and the ship was unscathed by whatever blast had hit them. But the radar still showed no sign of the other raceships.

“Where have they all gone? They can’t have finished the race already, we were only out for a matter of minutes.” Her puzzled expression was mirrored by Eustace.

Their question was soon answered. As Eustace steered a course through a minor solar system and out into the last quarter of the race, an incredible sight greeted them. A great black hole had opened up to starboard, the sheer size of which neither Eustace or Sara had ever seen. It engulfed the whole right window and half of the main windscreen display. Its centre wasn’t black, however, but so bright a white that looking directly into it was excruciating.

“What in…” Eustace muttered. The couple looked at each other, bewildered.

“Either we’ve died and that’s the path to glory, or something unthinkable has happened,” said Sara.

“Let’s assume it’s not the former and steer well clear,” Eustace replied.

At that moment, a sonic wave crept up on them from aft. The ship began to shudder uncontrollably. Just when it seemed as though the Luddmobile would break under the pressure, the Hellbailer whizzed by. At least, the display identified it as the Hellbeiler. It was travelling at more than twice the speed of light, and shot by them, a tiny, blazing comet. It was impossible to see whether Morkel was still at the helm, and there was no time to raise him on the com. Like a shooting star, it plunged straight into the heart of the black hole and was gone.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

They will soar high on wings like eagles.

As the Luddmobile cruised into the home straight, the enormity of what had happened struck its pilots. The long string of virtualights between Light and New Earth were still green, meaning no-one had finished the race. Sara checked the dashboard. They’d again bettered their previous time, but were still nowhere near a race-winning pace.

“They can’t all have been…” Sara began, her face a ghostly white. “My God, Eustace, have they all been sucked in?”

Her husband wasn’t looking much better. “They must have. This is horrible.”

The pair bowed their heads in sorrow. The Luddmobile was mere seconds away from claiming its first ever win, but what good was winning a one-horse race? Two enormous jumboscreens displayed the cheering crowds on the two nearby planets, somewhat startled to see the Luddmobile leading the pack, to be sure, but far too enthusiastic to be aware of the tragic events. Their cheers faltered and become a confused babble when Eustace brought the Luddmobile to a full stop on the brink of its inexplicable triumph.

“We can’t, Sara,” he said solemnly. “We can’t. It wouldn’t be right.”

Nodding her agreement, she joined him in abandoning their ship and transporting to Light. They were greeted by Siarra G. Hendel, the chief race co-ordinator. Hurrying over to the Lorlights, she ushered them into the race headquarters.

“What are you doing? Where are they all? There was a bright white flash on the comlinks, our videoships all went offline, and we’ve not been able to raise them since. Why didn’t you finish? Are you feeling unwell?”

Hendel’s questions tumbled out too fast for the poor couple, who were doing all they could to stand on suddenly wobbly legs. With some effort, Sara eventually managed to splutter out what they had seen. To her amazement, Hendel didn’t seem very shocked at the revelation. She spoke into her compad, and presently none other than Valian Perry himself walked through the door. After a hushed confab with Hendel, and a moment’s pondrance, he addressed Eustace and Sara.

“Mr and Mrs Lorlight, there’s been a… how shall I put it?… miscalculation. It seems as though a universal imbalance has occurred, an eventuality we’d ruled out when we worked out the infinity formula. It’s revealed a previously undiscovered phenomenon — the white hole that you saw — which must have been growing, off our radars, since I invented the Hyperdriver and began converting the universal fodder. Anything powered by the universal fodder was atomically linked with the imbalance and therefore pulled into the hole to restore the balance, as it were. That includes all the raceships but yours, which was not fitted with a Hyperdriver, and the videoships, which were installed with them this year to provide better footage. I shan’t bore you with the technicalities behind it, but in layman’s terms, it means the universe can’t be infinite. Of course, minor fatalities aside this is a brilliant scientific discovery that will hel–”

Incensed, Eustace cut him off. “Minor fatalities? Innocent people, have died, and all you can think about is your science?” He spat the last word out and Sara grasped him tightly around the waist as he lurched forward to confront Perry. Held back from the scientist, he instead plucked an an open Hyperdriver manual off Hendel’s desk and hurled it at the man. Caught off guard, Perry was knocked to the floor.

Eustace reached into his pocket and extracted a small, red book.

“All our lives we’ve been mocked for this,” he said, as he waved the tome containing his simple philosophy at the dumbfounded Perry. “You scientists, you claimed you’d disproved our beliefs, argued that your clever tests made them impossible. Well, I refused to believe you, and now, finally, maybe you lot will see sense, too.”

Breaking free of Sara’s grasp and waving off her concerned cry, the red-faced pilot took a deep breath as he stepped forward. Perry cowered, but instead of striking, Eustace held out a hand and pulled him gently to his feet. He pressed the small book into the scientist’s hand, whispered something in his ear, patted him on the back, then turned and left with his wife.

Confused, the scientist thumbed through the book, apparently looking for a specific passage. Finally, he settled on a page.

Do not repay evil for evil,

Do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Do not take revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written:

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay.

If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.