15 The Illuminati

“There had long been a legend among some Terrans — while others would call it a myth — of a secretive cabal who controlled the economy or society or the course of history. It was thus not without a sense of irony that the founders of the Illuminati named it such.”

“Formed within the ConSci, this group of eschatologists was anything but secretive. They welcomed anyone who would listen, and espoused complete transparency, a philosophical stance that lent itself to naming this age the Enlightenment. Modeled on the Vulcun scholastic monasteries that birthed the ConSci itself, Luminaries first studied the evolution of stars and their systems, and of their galaxy. They quickly realized that every star has a cycle of life, and more to the point, every star dies and destroys whatever planets it once supported. And this end awaited Terra as well.”

“Terrans could for the first time face their ultimate fate, events so far in the distant future that rather than despair, they embraced the possibility that there might be a way to avoid it. Every Terran who listened to a Luminary, and it wasn’t long before most Terrans did, affirmed the experience by adapting some part of life toward the ultimate goal of overcoming the unavoidable. Over thousands of generations, as science and technology changed, the problem remained, and unprecedented resources were available to not only study it, but every possible speculation about how to avoid it. The more they learned, the more dire their destiny seemed.”

“The Illuminati finally confirmed that the life of the Terran system was half over, that it had a mere three billion years or so before its primary star, after gorging on its stellar partner, would explode in a supernova. Worse, over the course of the following one or two billion years, most habitable star systems in Galaxy Isla would share the same fate.”

“The solution was as obvious as it seemed impossible. They had to leave their galaxy, and find their way to a new home.”

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