The Star

[lastlib]

We could not tell, before we reached the nebula, how long ago the explosion took place. Now, from the astronomical evidence and the record in the rocks of that one surviving planet, I have been able to date it very exactly. I know in what year the light of this colossal conflagration reached the Earth. I know how brilliantly the supernova whose corpse now dwindles behind our speeding ship once shone in terrestrial skies. I know how it must have blazed low in the east before sunrise, like a beacon in that oriental dawn.

There can be no reasonable doubt: the ancient mystery is solved at last. Yet, oh God, there were so many stars you could have used. What was the need to give these people to the fire, that the symbol of their passing might shine above Bethlehem?

---The Star, by Arthur C. Clarke, 1954

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[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

1. "Mourn not for us--

...for we have seen the light. Have looked on beauty. Have lived in peace and love. Grieve but for those who go alone, unwise, to die in darkness and never see the sun." From the Twilight Zone episode.

[lastlib]

2. Nice!

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[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

3. Thanks for the Clarke reference