“None of that is going to kill you. Knowledge of the Endplague has destroyed civilizations far older and more stable than yours.”
“I’m just a violin teacher from Monterey Park. I doubt that I can affect a civilization,” Shizuka replied. “Unless you’d rather not tell me…”
She paused there, letting the silence do its work.
“Ever wonder why,” Lan finally said, “if there is intelligent life out there, that the universe isn’t teeming with activity?”
“Maybe the universe is filled with introverts?”
“Shizuka.”
“Well, you asked.”
Lan took another breath.
“As a civilization progresses, it goes through wars, pandemics, catastrophes. Those that survive grow more astute, more perceptive, more advanced. Diseases are conquered, infirmity eliminated. Life spans increase. Suffering becomes largely a memory.
“Meanwhile, their explorers and historians find evidence of past cultures, and cultures before that. At first it is exciting. But all they keep finding are ruins. And slowly, either through science or history, every advanced civilization becomes aware of a disturbing possibility—that their future may end in ruin, too.
“The civilization then rushes to probe other stars, even other galaxies; it increases its research, attempting to manipulate space, time, in the hope that somewhere, someone might have found an escape, a loophole.
“But eventually, they find, and solve, the mathematical equation that explains the entire universe.”
“I think our scientists are working on something like that too,” Shizuka said.
Lan shook her head. “They’ll need to find the Grand Unified Theory a few more times before they can even begin to understand what ‘everything’ is—sorry, I didn’t mean to offend your civilization.”
Shizuka shrugged. “No offense taken.”
“Still, should your civilization survive, it will eventually find the same equation. And that will be your death sentence. For in that equation, there will be no forever, no eternity. Nothing.
“And this collapse, and all its attendant despair, is the Endplague.”
Shizuka was puzzled.
Space aliens, she could understand. Purple skin? Cute. Two elbows? Weird, but fine. Galactic warfare? Frankly, expected. Being a refugee? Of course.
But how could the mere concept of mortality be enough to topple advanced civilizations? People live, people die, and so what?
“You make an idea sound like a disease.”
“What else would the Endplague be? We can repair genomes, neutralize toxins, eliminate biological pathogens. Besides, different species have different physiologies. However, every sentient race, by definition, evolves a mind.
“From that point, collapse is inevitable. Death may happen gradually or suddenly. Some civilizations waste away. Some commit mass suicide. And some revert to violence, try to re-create empires, and perish in a needless galactic war.
“That is the path that our own civilization has chosen. Endplague-induced warfare has already decimated entire star systems. Our Star Patrol has been transformed into the Imperial Army. And though the Imperial government has not acknowledged it, the collapse is accelerating. That’s why I had to take my children and escape. After all, their father is one of the voices urging battle…”
Shizuka understood something of Lan’s sadness, and of course her need to leave a galactic war.
Yet something in Lan’s explanation seemed lacking.
If the Endplague was a type of despair, then it was less an affliction of the mind than of the heart. And for afflictions of the heart, did they not have anything like poetry, music, or even sappy movies with star-crossed lovers?
Shizuka wanted to ask, but she knew Lan would dismiss her.
And yes, Lan had said this was something that would occur far in Earth’s future, but it did not seem much different than anyone realizing they were mortal.
Nor was music a mere diversion, or distraction from truth. If only Lan understood this. Maybe Lan could hear some— “Oh, no!”
“What? What?” Lan asked.
“We’re on the 710 South.”
Shizuka had been too busy pondering the Endplague to notice the interchange. How long had they been going the wrong way? So much for the Promenade and the walk on the beach …
Shizuka tried to keep smiling as she exited the freeway and stopped in a shopping center parking lot.
Now, where were they?
Of course she’d miss the interchange!
Lan berated herself. All she had wanted was to tell Shizuka thank you. Instead, she had just told her about the Endplague.