Kinder des Schicksals 4 (Xeelee 9): Resplendent

interiors, and eject them back into the medium when
the stars die. So as time goes on, the medium is increasingly
polluted.’
    Impatiently I snapped, ’And the point?’
    ’The point is that an increase in impurities in the interstellar
medium lowers the critical mass needed for a star to be big enough to
burn hydrogen. So as time goes by and the medium gets murkier,
smaller stars start lighting up. Lieutenant, that star shouldn’t be
shining. Not in this era, not for trillions of years yet; the
interstellar medium is too clean… You know, it’s so small that its
surface temperature isn’t thousands of degrees, like Earth’s sun, but
the freezing point of water. It is a star with ice clouds in its
atmosphere. There may even be liquid water on its surface.’
    I looked up, wishing I could see the frozen star better. Despite
the urgency of the moment I shivered, confronted by strangeness, a
vision from trillions of years downstream.
    Tilo said bookishly, ’What does all this mean? It means that out
here in the halo, something, some agent, is making the interstellar
medium dirtier than it ought to be. The only way to do that is by
making the stars grow old.’ He waved a hand at the cluttered sky.
’And if you look, you can see it all over this part of the halo; the
stellar evolution diagrams are impossibly skewed.’
    I shook my head; I was far out of my depth. What could make a star
grow old too fast?… Oh. ’Dark matter?’
    ’The matter we’re made of - baryonic matter, protons and neutrons
and the rest - is only about a tenth of the universe’s total. The
rest is dark matter: subject only to gravity and the weak nuclear
force, impervious to electromagnetism. Dark matter came out of the
Big Bang, just like the baryonic stuff. As our Galaxy coalesced the
dark matter was squeezed out of the main disc… But it lingered
here. This is the domain of dark matter, Lieutenant. Out here in the
halo.’
    ’And this stuff can affect the ageing of stars.’
    ’Yes. A dark matter concentration in the core of a star can change
temperatures, and so affect fusion rates.
    ’You said an >agent< was ageing the stars. You make it sound
intentional.’
    He was cautious now, an Academician who didn’t want to commit
himself. ’The stellar disruption appears non-random.’
    Through the jargon, I tried to figure out what this meant.
’Something is using the dark matter?… Or are there life forms in
the dark matter? And what does that have to do with the Xeelee, and
the problems here on Shade?’
    His face twisted. ’I haven’t figured out the links yet. There’s a
lot of history. I need my data desk,’ he said plaintively.
    I pulled my chin, thinking of the bigger picture. ’Academician,
you’re on an assignment for the Admiral. Do you think you’re finding
what he wants to hear?’
    He eyed me carefully. ’The Admiral is part of a faction within the
Navy that is keen to go to war with the Xeelee - if necessary, even
to provoke conflict. Some call them extremists. Kard’s actions have
to be seen in this light.’
    Actually I’d heard such rumours, but I stiffened. ’He’s my
commanding officer. That’s all that matters.’
    Tilo sighed. ’I understand. But - ’
    ’Lethe,’ Lian said suddenly. ’Sorry, sir. But that mud is moving
fast.’
    So it was, I saw.
    The mud was filling up the valley, rising rapidly, even as it
flowed towards us. It was piling up behind a front that was held back
by its own viscosity. As it surged forward the mud ripped away the
land’s green coat to reveal bare rock, and was visibly eating away at
the walls of the valley itself. Overlaying the crack of tree trunks
and the clatter of rock there was a noise like the feet of a vast
running crowd, and a sour, sulphurous smell hit me.
    The gush out of the mountain’s side showed no signs of abating.
That front was already tens of metres high, and would soon reach the
village.
    ’I can’t believe how fast this stuff is rising,’ I said to Tilo.
’The volume you’d need to fill up a valley like this - ’
    ’You and I are used to spacecraft, Lieutenant,’ Tilo said. ’The
dimensions of human engineering. Planets are big. And when they turn
against you - ’
    ’We can still get you out of here. With our suits we can get you
over that bridge and to the transport.’
    ’What about the villagers?’
    I was aware of the woman, Doel, standing beside me silently, just
waiting. Which, of course, made me feel worse than if