Cycle

It had been waiting and traveling for a long time, inside the cocoon.

There had been a time when there was haste, when there was doubt; those were no more.

It was moving towards the point where it would all end and eventually begin again, with every step of the way meticulously planned for ages.

As many times before, the universe was collapsing. The creature would be at the center of it all.

There was no question as to what was next.

All of its past moments had been revolving around this precise goal. All the technology was in place and the degree of certainty was absolute.

The enclosure had been built to support the whole universe around it, on top of it, trying to get in, and it had been built to withstand it for an indefinite period, gaining new energy by feeding on the surrounding matter. All that could be required would be right outside.

The creature kept heading towards its goal, the point in which the universe would finally converge.

Once there, it would wait for the universe to surround it, and then it would wait until the universe decided to be again.

The cocoon had been carefully designed to minimize the loss of energy within. At the same time, it was built to gather more energy from the matter around it.

As the creature traveled the final length of its long, long journey, the longest that any being had ever taken of its own accord, the sensors showed a signal.

Everything had been predicted and accounted for, except this.

It was a problem.

One cannot wait somewhere and expect to be surrounded if there is another something expecting to do precisely the same thing. And there could be no other reason for another something to be there.

In the distance, something else, moving towards the same point, something that had also been waiting and preparing.

An eternity of preparation, an eternity of deep thinking, of mentally and physically playing all the steps and possibilities, and yet, the unexpected.

What was that other object? What was on the inside? Another being? A civilization? Electronics? Nothing?

And what would happen when the two tried to be at the center of the universe as it closed on itself? Would the two of them be destroyed while trying to prevail?

And what would the other object do when it detected the creature? What if it already had?

After an eternity of obstacles and difficulties, this wouldn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t be the one not to be overtaken.

The two kept moving, approaching their final goal and approaching each other slowly while doing so.

Pondering and planning, the creature stayed on its track, every moment collecting data on the other object. If there was a way to annihilate it, to make it disappear, should an opportunity arise, it would have to be taken.

The cocoon had no means of destruction, but it had other things, and the other object couldn’t be flawless. Or could it?

Plotting, the creature pondered whether the other object itself could be doing the same against it.

Had the object detected it yet? Was it plotting in return? Nothing made it seem that way, but probably nothing would give away the intentions of the creature either.

There didn’t seem to be any flaw in the object’s design. Nothing that could be taken advantage of.

The creature had nothing prepared for this moment. This was not what the enclosure had been created for.

It listed all the options for destruction and the other ones too: giving up and let the other take its course, trying to communicate, persuading it to give up in some way…

Suddenly, there was nothing. No object. No creature. They were both no more.

There is a difference between one eternity, two eternities, or an eternity of eternities of preparation, and the center of the universe remained.

And it kept waiting, as it had done before, time, and time again, and time again.

Others had come. Others had failed.

Some of them had even realized what would happen to them. Most had not.

Some had come prepared. None enough.

In fact, there had been a time when the center wasn’t the center, but itself an object in space, heading towards that point. And it succeeded, as it had now and as it would again.

Outside the universe, the creators analyzed.

Most cycles wouldn’t bring new data, just like this one, but others would, and so the experiment would continue until there was no more time for experiments and their own journey towards the end had to begin.

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