Rahul called the others, rushing them to the university’s physics lab. A first-year student, David,
joked that either the Sun had a problem or the four-billion-dollar equipment did. The year was
3089. The university had recently developed a device linked with a satellite to track and record
the solar activity in real time. The reading on the screen was alarming; in the past five minutes,
the solar irradiance had fallen from 1361 W/m2to 1094 W/m2. Even David, who was usually the
funny one, became dead serious. However, he did suggest turning the four-billion-dollar
equipment on and off. Professor Taarosh cleared his throat while enlarging the reply he received
on the screen. It was from a nearby observatory, saying that they, too, got the same reading.
Rahul remembered that energy in the Sun’s core takes about 100,000 years to escape the
Sun’s interior, while some neutrinos that interact weakly with matter take about 8 minutes to
travel from the Sun to Earth. Mia, Rahul’s childhood friend, then suggested that perhaps the Sun
is not dying at all. The professor shot back with, “Then why is the Earth receiving less sunlight?”
Rahul, still analysing the data, exclaimed, “Visible light level is dropping; however, the infrared
radiation is rising. Something or someone was clearly absorbing the Sun’s energy and releasing
some of it as infrared radiation.” Satellite images showed that the sunspots seemed to be
moving, something unnatural. The number of sunspots was also increasing, at least until they
concluded that they were actually enormous, alien structures covering the Sun.
David remembered reading something similar. He quickly ran to the library and returned with a
book in his hands. A theory that had not been taken seriously a thousand years back could
explain everything. ‘The Dyson Swarm: A theoretical network of structures built to harvest a
star’s energy.’ Rahul, after hearing that an unknown civilisation was harvesting energy from the
very object responsible for humanity’s survival, suggested sending out a message to them.
Solar irradiance dropped to 723 W/m2
. Communication was the only hope. They contacted a
major space laboratory to broadcast the message. The sky grew noticeably dark, with only a
portion of the Sun still visible. The screen began the countdown for the message to reach the
swarm, and everyone waited helplessly for a reply. The message read “This star is already
occupied; kindly do not steal it from us. Our survival depends on it.”
546 W/m2
. Panic continued to spread across nations. Governments, making statements that
never helped, kept insisting everything was under control and would soon get better. Families
gathered together to say their final words. Desperate times often unite everyone. 6 minutes and
54 seconds. Waiting felt like forever, and to make things worse, the response would take
another 8 minutes to travel back. The silence was awful, leading to final wishes and
confessions. Even though the world was ending, relationships continued to begin.
4 mins and 28 seconds. Tears flooded the tables. Laughter filled the rooms. There was
absolutely nothing that could be done. The structures were too big to be destroyed. Launching
an attack would take far too long. And humanity did not have time. A few began praying. David
said, “I am sorry, Sun. I take back every joke I made about you.” The countdown reached 1 min
and 12 seconds. Solar irradiance was only 203 W/m2
. A few specks of light could be seen in the
empty sky. Everybody relied on the stored electricity. If darkness continued, photosynthesis
would stop, eventually harming us. Batteries had been created, but no one had ever thought of
creating a backup Sun. And even then, the temperature would gradually fall, and Earth would
become incapable of supporting life.
The countdown stopped. Even at the speed of light, the message took 8 minutes. A reply should
have taken a minimum of 8 minutes even if it was sent immediately upon receiving. To
everybody’s astonishment, the reply took only 13 seconds. David thought that either aliens had
broken the known limits of relativity or sent the message from a closer location. The enormous
structures began uncovering the Sun nearly 8 minutes later. Everybody began cheering and
celebrating. However, the reply was in English. It should not have been possible. And the
message simply read, “Ok.” Then the professor noticed that the aliens had another target. They
were heading towards Earth, and a separate shuttle was as close as a few kilometres.
Could they have already been studying humanity? Taarosh sighed and muttered, “Seven years
of studying humanity, and they still forgot about the one star I told them not to harvest.”
Everyone in the room froze. His screen flashed: “PLANET INSPECTOR TAAROSH – HOME
SHUTTLE ARRIVING.”
