Every death creates the seeds of a new life (from an Ecology manual).
Once, Betelgeuse VII was a paradise for transgender people and rare sexual minorities, with a booming economy. Now, the planet Betelgeuse S is even a better paradise. The Free State Of Betelgeuse owns both planets and their solar systems. Betelgeuse exploded in a powerful supernova. From the only inhabited planet, Betelgeuse VII, nearly everyone was resettled to a new planet, located at ten light years away. Ten years have passed... and everyone watched the supernova from a safe distance. Now, they want to see if anything survived from their former planet. Could there still be survivals?
It is the year 3088. A reconnaissance and rescue mission is on its way. Chief of the mission is Piccolina, a former hermaphrodite who decided to become a shemale. Also, Delta or Caligula XVIII, the last dictator from the Caligula dynasty, wants to take part of this historical event. Delta is a former man who transformed itself into a hermaphrodite, very old and hardly walking. In 3090, Delta will resign and elections will follow. A new dictator will be elected for a period of five Earth years.
The rescue mission consists of a large ship, shielded against radiation, with ten smaller ships stationed in its hull. The large ship has very powerful sensors and a lot of tasks to do. The voyage of ten light years is done in 15 Earth days. The crew numbers 100 people.
Once the ship arrives, everyone wakes-up from cryogenic sleep. Piccolina gets first into the pilot cabin, then waits for everyone to come.
"Are we safe?" asks Piccolina, lighting a cigarette.
"Radiations are very high, but the ship will hold", answers a pilot.
"Is this the place? I mean, I see no star".
Piccolina takes another drag from its cigarette, then watches the data. The whole area is surrounded by a nebula. Ejected material from the supernova is spreading. It is slowly glowing in blue. Alexa, a hermaphrodite who likes to dress as a woman, is in charge with the observations of plasma and dust environment.
"Very interesting", says Alexa. "We are, after all, the first spaceship to visit a supernova remnant".
"What says the data?" asks again Piccolina, taking another drag of smoke.
"Well", says Alexa, "I see very unusual data. We were flying through the nebula. There are many radioactive elements which naturally don't exist. They decay fast. And we see many useful elements. There are high amounts of technetium, which naturally don't exist, as well as other metals... and mainly, their radioactive isotopes. And as I can see, there are rare earths and even uranium. A dust mining operation certainly will be profitable".
"I see", whispers Piccolina, taking two fast and short inhales of smoke. "I hoped to see forming planets".
"Not so fast", says Gamma, a person who doesn't give much information of its identity and is the chief of planetary study. "It will take millennia for some asteroids or even planets to form from what the supernova left around us. And as yet, we haven't pick up the location of the neutron star. Please wait for my telescope to scan the sky".
Piccolina is nervous and smokes two cigarettes, one after the other, while more data is being collected. The infrared telescope scans all the sky, looking for possible planets.
"Once we locate the neutron star and notice its movement, we can determine where other planets should be", says Gamma. "And once we know where they could be, we can use the narrow angle telescope to find them".
"We need to find Betelgeuse VII", says Piccolina, almost chewing the smoke.
"Calm down", says Delta, just entering the cabin. "Think that people here waited so much. We can wait so little until our sensors detect the planet. I waited my entire life for this".
They have to wait. Finally, the neutron star is located. It is far away from where Betelgeuse was. The neutron star is very small (13 km in diameter), weights incredibly much (about two solar masses) and has a very powerful gravity. It is also very hot, close to 100 thousand degrees K on the surface and it emits deadly blows of X and gamma rays. This is the corpse of Betelgeuse, the remnant of what once the star was. It is almost completely made of neutrons. When Betelgeuse ran out of fuel, the core collapsed into this tiny sphere, releasing a giant amount of energy, which caused the whole star to explode.
But the explosion pushed the neutron star on a slightly different trajectory. Gamma calculates where all the planets should be right now... if they still exist. Surprisingly, Betelgeuse VII seems to be the only one still orbiting, because the neutron star moved in its direction. All other planets are on an ejection trajectory.
"Betelgeuse I no longer exists", says Gamma.
That planet was very close and it didn't have any chance at all.
"Betelgeuse II also no longer exists!"
That was a gas giant, feeding itself with plasma ejected by the star. The supernova blew away all its gas layers, then the inner core.
"I never imagined Betelgeuse II will parish", says Alexa, also lighting a cigarette.
"Betelgeuse III located!" says Gamma. "It is a fireball and its diameter is reduced to half".
"It had 6000 km in diameter", says Piccolina, with a cigarette in the mouth. "I don't think that anyone survived on Betelgeuse VII".
"Betelgeuse IV... I see something, but it is hard to guess", says Alexa.
"What is it?" asks Delta, very patient.
"I see three fireballs. The planet disintegrated and... I don't know how, but its hot nucleus remained, while the mantle formed two moons".
"Fuck!" curses Alexa, almost falling its cigarette down.
"Betelgeuse V located... and looks surprisingly well", says Gamma. "Let me do a spectroscopic scan, because I don't believe this".
Piccolina lights another cigarette, looking at the data. The planet had a diameter of 9500 km, now it has 8200. It was almost completely made of water ice. Now, it appears to be covered by a global ocean.
"I need a break", says Gamma, lighting a cigarette too. "A water planet survived. It makes no sense to me".
"It depends if the planet was lucky enough to fit into a gap of the explosion or to be hit by a more powerful plume", says Alexa.
"I know, but... my brain refuses to accept. Well, Betelgeuse VI didn't make it", says Gamma. "I see nothing left where it should be".
"That planet had a diameter of 7000 km and it was bare rock!" says Piccolina, very nervous, knowing what planet will be next.
"Betelgeuse VII, located!" shouts Gamma.
"Is it ok?" asks Piccolina, blowing smoke while speaking.
"It appears so..." comments Alexa, looking at the data.
"It appears to have the same diameter and to be relatively cold", says Gamma. "This is a miracle. And don't forget that it is the only planet still orbiting the neutron star".
"Maybe someone survived", whispers Delta.
"Betelgeuse VIII located", comments Gamma. "Also this planet appears to be ok, only with a little ocean of lava. But the rest of the crust appears to be cold and solid".
"When Betelgeuse was younger", says Delta, "these planets formed its Kuiper Belt. Temperatures were below -200 C there. But, when the sun became a red supergiant, temperature rose to water melting point".
"Betelgeuse IX, not located", says Gamma. "I see small fireballs, less then 1000 km in diameter. The planet broke apart".
"The sun devoured all its inner planets when it became a red supergiant", continues Delta. "Only two planets survived and the Kuiper Belt".
"Betelgeuse X located", says Gamma. "It is a fireball".
"Now", continues Delta, "these planets will cool down and freeze in the extreme interstellar cold. They will probably roam forever in the galaxy".
"Betelgeuse XI detected", continues Gamma. "It appears to be a very hot ocean world".
"Now, for the last planet", whispers Alexa, taking the last drag of smoke. "It was so far away, that temperatures never climbed above -100 degrees C".
"Betelgeuse XII located", says Gamma. "But, it lost half of its diameter. Only its rocky core remained".
With this data, they go to Betelgeuse VII, hoping to find something. As they arrive, they notice the planet is covered with a layer of dust of a few meters thick. This dust is made of calcium magnesium, sodium, aluminum and iron, mixed with many metals heavier then iron. Also, it is highly radioactive.
Nothing from the former Geography remained. Quite nothing. The planet is unrecognizable. There are no mountain ranges, no oceans, nothing. Just an endless plain, perfectly flat. The supernova eroded about 4 km of the crust.
"Let's get to work, people!" says Piccolina.
If there are any survivals, they certainly are located somewhere underground. Most of mines were not so deep, at maximum two km below the surface. People that went there had no chance. Only very deep mines have survived. But since there are no remnants of the former Geography, how could anyone know where the former mines should be? They have a high detail digital map of the planet... but where to start? They know where the poles are, also they locate the magnetic poles, which shouldn't change their positions too much. That is good enough. Finally, they add the map over a fast magnetic scan and locate where saviors should be.
Piccolina takes the radio and announces everyone from the rescue teams, designating search areas. All the ships will detach and scan the surface, looking for possible signs of human presence. Every human body produces a bioenergy field, which is very faint, but can be detected with powerful instruments. The ISA, which supports the rights of any former settlers, insists that any newly annexed planet should be previously scanned with bioenergy sensors. Any newly annexed planet, without this scan, will not be recognized.
A few painful hours follow. Rescue ships scan the planet. Then, a ship responds via radio:
"This is Savior 3, I am picking up a signal. Four people seem to be here at 50 meters below ground. I am proceeding to build a well".
Each ship has the capability to dig a vertical tunnel, insulated, then to build a small landing base there.
"This is Savior 6, I located a big community. I think there are a thousand or so. At 200 meters beneath surface. I am building a well".
"This is Savior 7, reporting. I see signs of activity on the surface. There is a colony not deep beneath. A few hundred survivals located".
"This is Savior 1, I detect a hundred people at 1000 meters beneath surface. Proceeding to build a well".
Messages keep coming. There still are people here. They survived the supernova. The scan continues for days, until the entire surface is charted, but the only survivals are located within the first hours, where deep mines were. Overall, there are 137000 people still alive, located in 465 different places. It is a miracle. These people managed to survive the impossible.
The largest group numbers 1341 people. They settled in a mine that was 4 km deep... and now it is only a few meters below surface. They built a small base on the surface and started to extend their caverns.
Once the sky was illuminated by the copper-red star Betelgeuse. Now, only a very dim, pulsating light, arrives here, carrying deadly doses of gamma and X rays. The pink sky now is black. The forests and the oceans are long gone. Now, all what remained is a black, hard crust, made of solidified rocks, covered with a thick layer of radioactive dust.
**********
The mission returns with a big success. From now on, ships for passengers and cargo will travel every day between the two planets, while new underground towns will form on Betelgeuse VII, attracted by the mineral-rich dust, which could support a powerful industry. Some people will return to Betelgeuse VII, even if, by far, the place does not look like it did before. Also, some survivals will go to Betelgeuse S, after their relatives that they have long been separated from.
This story might have been influenced by my husband's strong interest in astronomy. One day, he showed me the star Betelgeuse on the sky, telling me that soon it will explode. After a few days, I had a dream, about a future human colony there. The dream repeated over and over, almost in every night, each time with new details and with other aspects. Then, after nearly a month, I could no longer take it and I decided to write. Almost everything in this story comes from there. Only small details, like the names of some characters, are added.
One might ask: Why did I mix so many rare sexual minorities, cross-dressers, transgender people and hermaphrodites in this story? Why is a cis-woman so interested in such subjects? Well, here is the answer. Yes, all this mixture was in my dream, but it is not only this. Me and my husband are what I like to call 'soul transgender'. Many told me that I have the soul of a man in the body of a woman... while he has the soul of a woman in the body of a man.
The way 'Love & Supernova' is wrote, is not what one would expect from a female writer. Usually, women are attracted by soaps, by love stories and more personal things, not by astronomy, politics, violence and sci-fi books. This is a prove that I am a woman with a man soul. The same can be said about my husband. We never had the courage to go to the extremes, like public cross-dressing, not to mention the use of hormones, surgery or implants. Anyway, in the place where we live, this would be quite impossible.
The abundance of rare sexual minorities comes from something personal: we both are sfenists. Everyone tried to force us back into the 'normal' population, to get married against our will and have an active sexual life. It is a miracle that we found each other and made the family we wanted to. The only people who understood us, are people from other sexual minorities and also transgender people. We have a big respect and support for them.
The Love & Supernova series have a secret message: that people like me (belonging to rare sexual minorities) and people like you (transgender people) are not inferior to anyone. As one can see, in the series, people of Betelgeuse VII are facing the most horrible danger of all: a supernova. Despite this, they manage to find a solution, without asking for interstellar help or requesting asylum. They manage their own economy and their own destiny. By comparison, today, we see states that ask for international aid, only to finance their internal debt.
Many 'normal' people (as they consider themselves) discriminate those they see 'not normal'. There are places in the world, including where I live, where gay people are murdered. Transgender people are not killed, but strongly discriminated and forced to leave. We, sfenists, have a better life, but still... we prefer to hide. Yet, if you apply a test of intelligence, you notice that we are not inferior or mentally ill. We are just different.
Why do some people hate us so much? I tried to find an answer. They associate us all (classic or rare sexual minorities and transgender people) with extreme porn. Well, in many situations, this is not the case, especially for me, as a sfenist. Nearly everything I wrote in Love & Supernova feels well under general audience. I imagined a place where we could live a peaceful life. How would that society look like? Just like in my dreams. People will practice cross-dressing on the street without any problem. There will not be a porn hole of hell, but a society very similar to ours, except for the barriers that discriminate us. Then, children born in this environment, will take their own decisions. Influenced by their parents, they will build the hermaphrodite race, willing to belong to both sexes at the same time. Diversity will strike at a level we can only imagine. But, it will still not be the return of Sodom and Gomorrah. It will be a complex, unique society.
I've seen this world in my dreams, getting formed, passing the most difficult problems that could exist and reaching maturity. Well, I am not a prophet, so don't expect that humans will settle on Betelgeuse around the years 3000.
I just hope that, one day, the world I dreamed almost every night for three months, will exist somewhere.
**********
Thank you to all who supported me, corrected me, explained me the proper TG terminology and who helped me write this material.
Thank you to all Big Closet Top Shelf staff, who generously hosts the Love And Supernova series and many unique and impressive works.
Special thanks to my family, who strongly supported (and even forced me) to write.
P.S. I released the Love & Supernova series, together with my other series The Legends and Smoke And Pantyhose into public domain. This automatically means that anyone can copy and post them. You can even publish them on another site, even sell them as they are or in a different version. You can use them as a source of inspiration. Everyone can copy all my texts or parts of, post them anywhere as they are or modified versions and even sell them. The only thing that you CANNOT do, is to have author rights. This is not possible, under any circumstances. If you know what public domain means, you got the point.
May you all be happy!
Ana Imfinity
