The Greatest Emptiness

by James Moran

“Good, I caught your attention.”

“Here at the center of the galaxy, you stick out.”

“And why’s that?”

“The standard of cleanliness you observe surpasses that of the outlaws and murderers
sheltering in these parts. Who referred you to me?”

“No one. That’s how I was able to find you.”

“Explain yourself.”

“I asked Bilious of Consor. I inquired at the mechanics guild on Parthay. I put the word
out at the Market of Rotting Things on Alatrax. The longer the uncomfortable silences, the more
I knew I was getting closer. I also noticed that everyone within seventy solar systems of your
outer reaches suffers from Gambleen Worm. Then I spotted you with this visor.”

“Is that a Stinch visor?”

“Yes.”

“Procured from the Tarflans?”

“The very same.”

“Out of curiosity, how do I appear to you, visually?”

“Well, you don’t. That’s why I had to wear the visor. With it on you were easy to spot
once I was within a few dozen solar systems, considering you’re a brownish-gray haze extending
over several hundred thousand solar systems. From here, though, you appear more like gaseous
tendrils threading around this desolate, chalky moon and that distant sun and somewhat clouding
the entire sky.”

“Interesting. I have never seen myself. What brings you to Tungsten?”

“I’m looking for some real estate.”

“Real estate is my speciality. What kind?”

“I’m looking for a small handful of uninhabited solar systems all neighboring each other.
Then I’d like to purchase seventeen hundred surrounding systems. They can be inhabited or not.”

“And may I ask what use you plan for the uninhabited systems?”

“They’ll provide residence.”

“And the surrounding systems?”

“They’ll be outfitted with surveillance mechanisms and traps.”

“For whom and against whom?”

“That business is my own.”

“Of course. And payment?”

“I own a scattershot of several thousand systems spread across the Scrilbian side of the
black hole’s tidal belt, about a dozen degrees from this location. You can easily use one after
another as stepping stones to take a tendril of yours far abroad, from whence you can probably
draw another hundred fifty thousand systems into your infection.”

“Sounds almost too good to be true.”

“May I ask you something? What will you get from infecting so many systems along the
tidal belt?”

“I’ll get systems, which is what I do.”

“But why? You’re a vapor. You can’t touch anything in those systems. You can’t hold
any of it. You can’t use it. You can’t enjoy it.”

“You’re talking awfully fast.”

“It’s because I’m excited. I’m excited to do business with you! I’m excited that my life
has dropped me to a level so low I’m forced to do business with a wraith like you!”

“Oh, give up the act! You blew your cover the moment you opened your mouth. Go back
to the Galaxy Law Enforcement and tell them you found me. Tell them to come get me. I will
offer you a front-row seat to watch your whole army tip into the black hole. Your kind has too
much mass! You call me a wraith? I can’t touch anything?? Well, guess what? You have so
much mass, and you can’t touch me. Try it! You can’t get rid of me! I’ve sent more agents like
you home with Gambleen Worm than I care to remember. You made a mistake coming here that
you’re going to regret for the rest of your short life!”

“Tungsten?…yoohoo…Tungsten?…I’m over here…on this moon, several thousand
systems away. That’s right. Is Tungsten tongue tied??”

“What? How did you move so fast?”

“Is that how beings with mass move, Tungsten?”

“How did you do that?”

“This is the first system in my offer. From here you can move to the next and the next. It
may require more patience than you’re used to. Yet, I’m sure one thin limb of your haze will be
all it will take to infect almost double your domain.”

“How did you move like that?”

“What moves faster than light, Tungsten?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s correct. Nothing. And where does nothing live? Nothing lives in a black hole.
That’s where my people live. Why I’m on this side of the tidal belt is my business. The Galaxy
Law Enforcement are the exact folks I’m seeking to conceal myself from by purchasing some
real estate from a creep like you.”

“Then why specify uninhabited planets as your residence when you are just going to
threaten inhabited and uninhabited planets with your booby traps? Why care? Why not just
choose which systems to inhabit, wipe out anything living there, then set your outlying traps?”

“Because I don’t like the scent other beings leave behind. Can we begin the transaction
now?”

“No.”

“You want to test the merchandise? It’s right here. The moon I’m standing on is the last
moon on the last planet in the first system in my exchange. It’s a fabulous system to start us off.
It’s right here. I can see you quivering.”

“I shall inspect the system.”

“Once you enter, you won’t want to leave. First, agree to vacate the systems you sell me.”

“Why? I have no mass.”

“You have a little.”

“I have no smell.”

“I’m sensitive.”

“Take off your visor, then. You won’t notice me.”

“I don’t like the thought of that. Anyway, once you start leeching out into this new
territory you won’t miss the handful of systems you’re going to vacate for me.”

“Very well.”

“Then come and inspect this fabulous system. It’s all yours. Oh, wow, you move fast. I
can already see you drifting past this moon. Heading straight for the heart of the system, are you?
You’re ambitious. Is something wrong? Your texture appears altered.”

“What is this?”

“Feeling a pull?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the black hole.”

“I’m feeling a strong pull now.”

“It’s the black hole, like I said.”

“But I have no mass.”

“You have a little, actually. But it’s not about mass.”

“Then what is it about?”

“You’ve entered what my kind call a ‘gravity web.’ This system and the surrounding
ones have struck a gravity balance with the tidal belt. They should be falling into the black hole,
but they’re not because their positioning offers an equilibrium. By entering this system you’re
passing closer to the black hole than you’ve ever been, and you’re upsetting the equilibrium.”

“I am trying to resist but slipping. I am unthreading from my systems! I cannot hold on to
them. I cannot find a way to stop falling. Help me!”

“It’s inevitable, Tungsten. You’re heading into the black hole. The pull is strong. I’m sure
you’ll agree with me now. Wow! You see? You’re flying by at a nice speed!”

“What is happening? Stop this! Stop this now!”

“Just a few moments, Tungsten. Just a few moments more, and all of you, all of you will
be pulled in. Then you’ll know what’s inside. But I’ll offer you a preview: it’s empty inside there, Tungsten. Supremely empty. Lesser emptiness always gravitates toward greater emptiness.
Don’t struggle against the pull, Tungsten. That’s actually your own nature pulling so you can
unite with a greater version of yourself. And who am I? I’m the part of you that knows the way
to obtain everything isn’t by obtaining more real estate. It’s by becoming supremely empty.
Goodbye, Tungsten!”

“Have mercy on me, please!”

“I am. Just let go, Tungsten. You’ll see…”

James Moran is a professional astrologer and author who regularly publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry. His published work can be found at https://jamesmoran.org/the-creation-playpen and he can be found on instagram @astrologyjames.