The Clockwork Heavens

"The Clockwork Heavens" is included as prelude No. 2 in The Juno Contingency.

## Teaser

Three astronauts undertake a mission to be the first to reach the geodesic dome that encloses their planet.

## Plot

### 1. The Last Place in the Universe

Pell is an astronaut preparing for a mission to be the first to reach the "heavendome," an opaque dome enclosing their planet that is supported by six mountain-sized, 12,000-mile-tall "world pillars." At his nation's space launch complex a week before the mission, he is preparing with administrator Dr. Quid and fellow astronauts Foltes and Wenzi. They are all excited and fascinated at the prospect of what they will discover by being the first to touch the heavens.

Pell brings up a fringe theory that the heavendome may not be a natural object but rather an artificial construction. This "Great Change" theory posits that the world was altered somehow 1900 years ago, at which point the heavendome spontaneously appeared. He cites how tribes who supposedly lived near the world pillars' bases earlier than 2000 years ago made no mention of the great struts in their mythologies, despite all later civilizations doing so. There is also the work of ancient astronomers who made primitive calculations showing that the sun was tens of millions of miles away, rather than being simply a luminous disc mounted on the heavendome 12,000 miles overhead.

Wenzi offers other evidence, citing the heavily studied epic poem *Twilight of the Gods*. It describes an heroic figure triggering a war in heaven that results in the death of many gods, including the god of the "tides"—supposedly a phenomenon where the oceans periodically changed heights—and of the "auroras"—where the skies glowed pale green at night. Yet neither of these phenomena exist today. Dr. Quid rejects the Great Change theory as either cherry-picking of shoddy ancient work, or merely the romantic inventions of overwrought storytellers. He notes confidently that there is no physical mechanism that could conceivably raise and lower the ocean's height, and no reservoirs or pumps storing the global cache of water it would take.

Foltes argues that the Great Change may very well have happened, but the answer won't be found by rummaging through more papyrus and folklore, but rather by traveling to the heavendome itself. Quid concurs, and also insists that their nation—the Southern Alliance—needs to get there first before the Northern Alliance does. The NA put the first person into orbit only two years ago, so the SA wants to make up its prestige by being the first to reach the enclosing heavendome. Dr. Quid exhorts them to this purpose; since the universe consists only of their world and its 24,000-mile–diameter enclosing dome, whoever reaches the heavens first will be able to lay claim to the end of the universe.

### 2. To Touch the Sky

The next morning an alert sounds and the base rushes into action. Quid convenes the astronauts early and shares the news that the NA has successfully detonated the planet's first deuterium bomb, which boasts to be much much more powerful than both sides' fission weapons. It is also feared that the NA's own space mission to the heavendome will launch imminently, so they have been given orders to proceed at once. Pell and the astronauts suit up for the mission.

The astronauts quickly board the rocket, though the countdown is aborted and restarted multiple times throughout the day, stretching everyone's nerves. Finally towards sunset they are able to launch, and after reaching a stable orbit they are relieved to hear that the NA mission hasn't launched yet. Commanding the spacecraft, Pell progressively raises their orbit to the height of the dome, which lies at a geostationary altitude.

The heavendome is non-reflective to most wavelengths of light, so the crew uses radio waves to sound out their distance and approach. Wenzi discovers that the heavendome is actually a geodesic dome composed of many triangular sections, each about the size of one of the planet's hemispheres. There look to be no gaps between the tiles at their edges, but Wenzi detects what she suspects are depressions at the vertices.

Mission control radios that the NA mission to the heavendome has just launched and that they are less than twelve hours ahead. Pell was going to have the crew sleep before attempting a landing, but everyone is too excited to break off, so he gives the order to proceed. They bring their orbit to within only a few meters of the edge of the dome, which they keep pace with in their geostationary orbit. With no net gravitational attraction to the tile, they cannot land, so instead they spacewalk to it. Pell is the first to float towards the dome and touch it, whereupon he radios back excitedly, "Man has touched the sky!"

Mission control is ecstatic at the success. The other two astronauts also touch the tile and commence experiments. They are unable to attach to the tile with any of the adhesives or magnets they brought along, and the tile is impervious to all of their tools, so they can't even take samples. Pell had hoped to achieve some breakthrough from their visit, but is forced to end their spacewalk unfulfilled. Back aboard the spacecraft, the SA Suzerain gives them a congratulatory call over the radio, and they take their first rest.

### 3. The Last Day of the Universe

The crew wakes to the news that the NA mission has skipped attempting to visit the heavendome—as they cannot claim to be the first—but is instead staking out different celestial objects. They have been the first to visit the sun, a blindingly luminous 360-kilometer-wide disc mounted on the heavendome. From radar measurements they have also found it to be mounted on a track of mountain-sized toothed gears that run the circumference of the heavendome.

Pell's team is jarred by the news that they are falling behind in discoveries. Mission Control directs them to their next target to land on the moon. They reach it in a few hours, finding it to be a 360-kilometer–diameter sphere affixed to a non-reflective support rod that juts out from another toothed gear track running the circumference of the heavendom. They find that the moon's track and the sun's track do not overlap each other, so that they can run at different speeds undisturbed. Meanwhile the moon being mounted on a rod means it lies slightly closer to the planet, which is how it is possible for it to eclipse the sun. They approach the dwarf moon, though its microscopic gravitation attraction means they must against spacewalk to it. Foltes is delighted to find the moon is not indestructible like the dome, and he is able to take samples for return to the planet.

Upon success of this mission, they hear the NA has been the first to reach the Milky Way, a heavendome-spanning collection of meter-sized lights of varying colors, themselves mounted to the heavendom by different sets of gears. Pell's mission next visits the brightest stars in the sky, finding them to be meter-sized luminous discs. The Southern Pole Star is found to be unique in that it is affixed to the heavendome itself, and not run along a track. They also find that the star-discs are indestructible and cannot be removed.

The astronauts rest at the end of a frenetic day that saw the last mysteries of the universe visited and checked off one by one. Their governments even allow a congratulatory radio call between the NA and SA astronauts themselves, who compare notes about what they found in space. Now that the universe has been fully explored, they share optimism about gaining greater understanding of the clockwork universe and how to utilize the untapped resources of the moon.

### 4. Wenzi's Portal

The next day of the mission is designated for rest, although the astronauts are eager to visit the wonders that the NA team claimed first. Pell argues to visit the sun; Foltes argues to visit the Milky Way; but Wenzi argues that they should be looking for something new, not just revisiting old discoveries. She shows the other astronauts radar scans of the heavendome's tiles, most of which are uniform, but one which shows an odd depression in a vertex. They cannot come up with an explanation, so they radio to Mission Control that they're going to use their rest day to explore this oddity. If this aberration is unique, it will be another chance to discover something before the NA.

They reach the vertex, and further radar scans show it is actually a hole onto a tunnel that leads "deeper" into the heavendome. They are all startled by the prospect of there being something beyond the universe. Pell suggests they pilot inside, and Mission Control overrules him, afraid that they will lose radio contact inside the tunnel. The crew decides to proceed anyway, and feigns loss of communication with Mission Control to disobey their orders.

Entering the tunnel, everything becomes pitch black, and only their radio readings ahead tell them the way is clear. They proceed slowly, taking over an hour to traverse the whole tunnel. Foltes remarks that this journey into the unimagined is making him much more unnerved than exploring the heavendome did. Wenzi understands that here they are destined to find something that people have never witnessed or imagined. Conversation ceases as the exit nears. They turn off their ship's cabin lights and start to see specs of light ahead. Everyone takes to a different porthole to peer outwards.

As they exit the tunnel, Wenzi screams and kicks back from her porthole, terrified and covering her face ...

*Read the conclusion "5. The First Day of Eternity" on Amazon.*