3. Broken Bites

As the spaceship neared the planet, maps were consulted. Paper maps of the solar system, because of course Arren’s father owned those. Reluctantly, he admitted that they were a benefit now, with all electricity off.

“There’s not supposed to be a planet here,” he concluded. “So we’re pursued by a roaring enemy who can move entire planets?”

They’d hoped for more clarity as they drew close. It didn’t come. Because of the holes, the planet had very weak gravity and the spaceship could scrape past without fear of colliding.

Arren secretly put on his AR-GLASS and activated its magnifying glass. Something moved on the planet’s surface. He didn’t need to zoom in much to recognize them: gigantic creatures walked back and forth. Some seemed enlarged versions of animals he knew, from home, while others were unknown. They all seemed to sleepwalk, uncontrolled, staggering towards … something.

Food. Safety. How did you survive on a planet with holes? A planet that was far from round? Such a thing could not appear naturally. Physical forces would always try to find a balance, which meant spreading your material evenly around you. That’s why planets automatically became a sphere. If he imagined the holes weren’t there, he could see this planet used to be one too.

Bites. They looked like bites. This planet had been a tasty snack to some monster.

His AR-GLASS warned him. The spaceship’s battery was draining. Arren quickly shut it off and hid it in his backcapsule.

“We must land at some point,” said father. “Looking for food and fuel.”

“Not here,” said Arren. “Those animals would eat us alive.”

It was hard to judge at this distance, but he thought one paw of a lion there would be as large as an entire human. If their jaws were just as large, they might even eat the spaceship instead.

Now that their planet had been eaten, they only had a tiny space to live on. Arren felt like he should help the poor creatures, like you do when you find a sick stray puppy. But what could they do? He felt powerless. Fighting against forces he didn’t understand.

Jannih confirmed Arren’s proposal with a nod. She didn’t dare speak anymore.

“We fly on,” said the captain. “But we land on the very first planet without immediate danger.”

“That should only take an hour,” said AR-BOT in Arren’s ear. “I detect the next planet there. I must insist, though, that you think twice before landing anywhere.”

Arren smoothed out the wrinkled paper maps. Someone had drawn the current path of the rocket with a felt-tip pen: a straight line back to Nibuwe. At their current speed, in an hour, absolutely nothing was near that line.

“So there’s also not supposed to be a planet there,” whispered Arren. “Are you sure, AR-BOT?”

Silly question. Of course the robot was certain. AR-BOT’s voice sounded like she grinned. “I must insist you stop doubting me so much.”

The map was enormous, many meters by many meters. They were flying in some tiny corner of the galaxy. Somnia, Nibuwe, it was all a drop in an ocean that was mind-bogglingly vast.

Humanity had discovered many messages, maps and conversations over the years. AR-BOT thought they belonged to Ardex and the original godchildren. In many conversations, they talked about the planet Dalas and how it was all the way at the other edge of the galaxy.

It became the goal of humanity. Reach Dalas, reach the edge of the galaxy, reach … God?

Well, then they’d have to cross five meters on this map first, which was an incomprehensible distance in real life. They would never make that without hyper-intelligent robots.

As father exited the control room, a crowd of passengers stopped him.

“What is going?” a woman at the front demanded.

“When will we arrive?”

“Why are we going back?”

“Answer us!”

His father stayed silent until they gave him more space.

“There was reason to think CAJAR had taken over Omnobereus. We chose to be on the safe side and modified our journey to a different planet. There is no reason for panic and we’ll land shortly.”

Father lied against his own passengers! Why? Did they not have the right to know how likely they were to die any moment?

“Your father makes illogical choices,” said AR-BOT. “No wonder he’s afraid to lose his job. My database states that lying only has a 4.5% success rate.”

The crowd was satisfied and scattered. Father gave them all a warm smile and stepped back inside the control room.

“Arren. Once we land, you go to the planet surface and search for usable material. Then you report your findings with me.” He looked to the side. “Jannih, go with him.”

Yes, yes, his intentions were clear. He wanted them off the rocket, away from passengers and the control room.

An hour later they spotted the next planet, as AR-BOT predicted. Arren and Jannih wore their spacesuit and stepped onto the surface.

This planet had been eaten too, but with less of a passion. It also gave him a clear view of the surroundings. If their pursuer had a large spaceship, he thought he might be able to spot them now. He saw nothing but darkness.

Jannih shrieked with every step. She clung onto Arren as if her life depended on it. He tried to stay strong, especially with father’s eyes at his back, but his heart nearly exploded in fear too.

“Analysis done,” said AR-BOT in his ear. “This planet knows a few edible plants. Yes, I was surprised too.”

“Useless to us,” said Arren.

Ever since research proved that plants also had emotions and could communicate, eating plants had been outlawed too. They now made all their food by combining raw organic particles into nutritious balls or cakes. Similar to the gnawed planets, but now it was the humans taking bites.

“There are also enough nutritious particles,” said AR-BOT. “And fuel to generate electricity. The signals I am registering suggest a fertile field just behind those rocks.”

Since starting their return journey, the food on the spaceship had to be divided into smaller and smaller portions. Arren’s stomach rumbled at the thought of food. Father said those balls from the machine tasted like plastic and he still secretly ate plants when nobody was looking.

The further they drifted from the spaceships, the worse AR-BOT functioned. Her energy and original code all had to come from his workroom. She tried to say something, but it was just noise and random words.

“Arren, erm, who are you talking to?”

Jannih realized the answer herself.

“Are you insane?” she whispered. “Captain Kirren will throw you off the ship if he finds out!”

“Then he mustn’t find out!”

They walked around the rocks. Hesitantly. One misstep and you might fall into a “bite” out of the planet. At the ground level, these holes looked like deep craters and cliffs, sometimes wide enough that you could not see the other edge—the planet simply appeared to end all of a sudden.

They stood eye to eye with a gigantic dog-like creature.

Jannih screamed. Arren grabbed a stone and threw it at the monster.

The stone bounced off of it, as if the dog was a statue. But not one made of stone. The dog was lifelike, including fur and teeth, but didn’t freeze on the ice cold planet.

The monster also didn’t respond. Maybe it wasn’t dead, but it also wasn’t dangerous.

Arren looked past its paws and spotted moving creatures. A pack of dog-likes, similar to the statue. They were large, but nothing near those animals from the first planet.

“That is,” croaked AR-BOT, followed by more static noise. “Hespryhound.”

“Hespryhound? The Heavenmatter? That magical pet dog of Feria?” Arren asked.

Arren placed his hand, covered by a thick layer of spacesuit, against Hespry’s paws. It felt like being in the presence of a god. As if the touch alone would give him extra strength and energy. Perhaps he’d hoped to make it come alive as well.

It wasn’t to be. The Hespryhound stayed silent.

The dogs behind him did suddenly sprint at them.

Arren threw his machine into Jannih’s hands. It was a large inflated ball with a thick, flexible trunk at the front. A galactic vacuum cleaner.

“Suck in as much material as you can!”

The ground around them slowly disappeared as the particles entered the machine. The dogs were closing in.

Arren stepped forward, hands raised.

“We come in peace!”

Jannih called him insane and already retreated to the spaceship.

The dogs kept running, tongues lolling and eyes mad.

“Who destroyed your planet?” he asked.

Arren didn’t know what he was doing. The legendary Mindy had once proved that animals were intelligent too, and that they, with effort, might be able to communicate with humans. On Platsu they lived harmoniously with animals, even though the Radio Silence of Platsu still meant nobody received any news or messages from them.

But could the dogs even hear him, through his spacesuit?

He sunk down. The dirt below his feet had been sucked away by Jannih. She’d filled the entire ball. Other crew members did the same in other locations, hundreds of meters apart.

Arren stood alone in front of the pack, without weapon or protection.

The dogs slowed down. They pushed their snout again Arren’s glass helmet, making his vision foggy. They barked.

AR-BOT, to its own surprise, could translate. “Flee while you can! Flee! Silly human creature! Arrogant human creature! Nobody can defeat this monster!”

“I …”

They were too large to take onto the ship.

But what if these were Hespry’s children? Could they save something of the original godchildren? Father would love it: back to the past. He would love it too: the magic would help humanity progress forward.

“I will come back for you.”

Arren turned around and was the last to enter the spaceship. Father pulled him inside. His other hand held a laser gun pointed at the dogs.

Before his father could cause a disaster, Arren hit the big button to close the doors.