Speck 3: Chapter 12 — Death Of The Ulu Universe Exoplanet

(Solomon and Mason visit a dead exoplanet destroyed by the Cosmic Destructors, where Solomon contacts a foreign object)

Tom Maglish
Adventures of Speck, Part 3
5 min readJul 20, 2024

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Deep within the Fineas Galaxy is the Ulu Universe, where an Exoplanet was flourishing with all forms of life. Blue skies above, land drifted on Teutonic plates, and large oceans of blue can be seen at great distances from outer space. The seas were bountiful with aquatic-like life and plenty of underwater vegetation. The land also has plenty of plant and animal life. Within the creatures were many forms of intelligent life creating a food chain of proven dominance on the planet. The most dominant creatures were the Regets, who are comparable to Earth’s humans in physical and mental abilities. Unlike Humans, the Regets became attuned to their nature, yet were advanced in technologies unlike any forms created by humans. Their weapons were designed for protection blended with their bodies, very effective in warding off individual intruders. If attacked they could overcome their invader by a simple touch of the finger, which would disrupt the invaders’ nervous system. Their breath could paralyze their foe’s body. Their voice can disrupt the opponent’s minds. Hand-to-hand combat they were supreme. But when the Cosmic Destructors invaded their exoplanet, the Destructors killed their civilization with laser canons and sonic boomers fired from outer space. The Regets were defenseless against mass destruction. Once destroyed, the Destructors took over and ravaged the planet, then departed through the wormhole leaving the planet dead to the Cosmos. A few Master Regets retreated underground to hide from the Destructors but were killed anyway. Before they died they were able to store their defense technology inside a cubicle in hopes that other Regets may survive and recover it. Unfortunately, no Regets survived.

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Speck floated down to the surface of the dead exoplanet, while Solomon and Mason stared through the portal at the dead planet. The land was charred black and the seas were brown. The sky was gray.

“Speck, is the environment safe for us to be out there?” Asked Solomon.

“Solomon, It is safe but unstable. It has a weak ecosystem,” said Speck.

“Speck I want to explore this dead planet. Please take us to the surface?” Asked Solomon.

Speck lowered to the ground and opened its entrance. As Solomon and Mason walked out they could smell sulfur.
“Whatever was here was incinerated,” said Mason.

“Be careful where you walk and avoid touching anything,” cautioned Solomon.

Stepping off the entrance onto the ground, Solomon sensed the ground had a crust-like surface.

“I don’t know what happened here, but whatever it was it incinerated everything,” said Mason. “I mean like a giant furnace. Like a nuclear explosion!”

“Look over there,” said Solomon as he pointed to a pile of debris. “Its body remains.”

“Oh my gosh!” Said Mason. “Genocide perhaps.”

“Worse than that, total planetary extinction,” said Solomon.

As they continued to look at the surrounding area, they could see evidence of a world that once flourished there, but now only ashes remained.

“Speck. Do you sense any living life, plant, or animal on this planet?” Asked Solomon.

“Solomon, I sense no life, plant or animal,” replied Solomon. “Solomon, I do sense an energy source coming from underground. It’s not alive, but it is unusually abnormal.”

“Speck, where is it coming from?” Asked Solomon.

“Solomon, it is a great distance from us. I will have to float you to it,” answered Speck.

Solomon and Mason returned to Speck and once inside, Speck floated a great distance from where they initially landed and came to rest on the ground.

“Solomon, the signal is coming from that opening. Perhaps several hundred feet below,” said Speck.

“Speck, can you give me a glow to take with us?” Asked Solomon.

Speck provided a piece that glowed enough to cast a ubiquitous light and Solomon took it with him to the opening. Mason followed Solomon close behind.

The opening resembled a lava tube from Earth. The glow lit their way through a tunnel that descended into a labyrinth of passageways. One way went up, another went to the left, and a third went further down. Recalling Speck said it was several hundred feet below, he decided to take the path downward.

As they continued downward, they discovered more charred remains and debris. After a constant decline, Solomon and Mason found a chamber where several remains surrounded a vault-like enclosure.

“I wonder if this is what Speck was telling us?” quizzed Solomon. “Speck, can you sense that signal through my cap?”

“Solomon, the signal is strong. Be careful,” replied Speck.

Solomon and Mason began to study the vault thing as they walked around it.

“What do you think it is?” asked Mason.

“I don’t know. It seemed to be made of some kind of metal-like material,” replied Solomon as he touched the side of the vault.

Suddenly the side he touched moved and opened up.

“Whoa! Be careful Solomon,” cautioned Mason.

“OK, I will be,” replied Solomon. “I just want to see what is inside of it.”

Solomon moved the glowing thing near the opening to see a small object covered with a cloth. He reached in to remove the cloth to expose a half-spherical object.

“Hmm. Interesting,” said Solomon as he reached inside the vault to touch it.

“Don’t touch it!” Yelled Mason.

It was too late. Solomon touched it passed out and remained standing with his hand stuck to the object.

Mason afraid to touch either Solomon or the object helplessly watched Solomon in a frozen state touching the object. Eventually, Solomon let go of the object and fell to the ground.

“Solomon, you OK?” Asked Mason.

At first, Solomon did not respond. After a minute he regained consciousness and looked up at Mason.

“What happened? Where am I?” Asked Solomon.

“We are in this cave and you touched an object and passed out,” said Mason.

Nodding his head in recollection, Solomon said, “Yeah. Let’s get out.”

As they started to ascend from the tunnel, Speck called to Solomon.

“Solomon, you are in great danger. We need to leave this planet, NOW!” Said Speck.

Ascending from the tunnel, Solomon and Mason saw the dead exoplanet in a collision course with another planet. Getting into Speck, Solomon said, “Speck, slide us to safety.”

With perfect timing, Speck floated away from the dead planet into outer space as the dead planet broke apart from the gravity of an approaching giant planet. Then changing into zero dimension, Speck made a slide into a healthy wormhole as the dead planet’s pieces exploded on the surface of the giant planet.

Solomon and Mason looked from the portal as it opened far away into a another galaxy.

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Tom Maglish
Adventures of Speck, Part 3

Retired. Self published short story book. Working on publishing Children Picture Books. Writing short stories.