I Remember When There Were Stars (Short Story)

I remember when there were stars.

According to the accepted definition, there were not useful stars in my lifetime. Stories are told of places where stars were beloved most for their visible light. Now, we know that there are other ways to see. Sound can be used to see, at a far lower energy cost than light. Two or even three more generations of us will live in a world with enough air for sound.

The sound will be gone someday. I'm sure the engineers will find something else to replace it. The engineers here are miracle-workers.

Stories are told of a time when stars were beloved for warmth. Warmth also has other sources. We now have a fungal mat that can be used as both food and clothing. It is a true miracle of modern science.

The true importance of stars is to feed the food. I never saw such stars. Nobody living has. I never ate such food. Hardly anyone living has. The wealthy preserved some. The last of it was eaten years ago. I know the flavors of all the fungal mats, and I have tasted some of the cheaper flavored proteins. They serve those at weddings sometimes.

There are stories about some who lived in the time of feeder stars. Some of those names are remembered. There are stories about some who lived in the time of warming stars too. None of those names are remembered.

The oldest stories are of those who said “today's mistakes are tomorrow's misfortunes.” There was a time when that was believed. It is no longer. Our current path might have been delayed for a generation or two if the Contrarian Society had not made their preparations for a heat death. This would have changed the date on which fate will arrive. It would not have changed our fate. The mistake of the Contrarian Society was the greatest of all that are told in our stories. Yesterday's mistakes only scheduled today's misfortunes.

The names from those times are long forgotten. Storage became expensive.

I wish I knew the names from those times. Those stories are my favorite. The mistakes of those times scheduled my fate. I would not have lived to see the end of starlight if the Contrarian Society had been eliminated earlier. I would not have lived at all, had they succeeded.

They will tell stories of the time I live in because of those mistakes. There is little else to pass the time. We marked the passage of time with the darkening when I was young. At one time the darkening was so slow that it was hardly noticed. That's what the stories say. In my youth, every time you turned around there was something else you could no longer see. This went on until nothing could be seen. I find that time does not seem as real without a way to see it. The time can still be marked by the movements of electrons around atoms, but it is hollow time.  It grows ever shorter, but seems not to pass at all.

We will tell stories as long as there is sound. What else is there to do?

There are so many stories here. I cannot tell you any more. The light is expensive, and there is no air between us. I'm lucky to have been able to tell you this one.

They are turning off the transmitters.