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October 22, 2024

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The burning bush, the world snake, the Kraken, and djinns were once thought of as hallucinations brought on by ignorance. It might have been easier to see angels descend from the night sky without knowledge of the galaxies that gave them light.

 

But if I learned anything from dancing to the devil star it’s to believe our ancestors for when Earth was a child, it had unlimited potential. A planet springs to life when we lay our first footprints, and only by contamination does it reach maturity.

 

This was the case when Mars became the first ruby in Earth’s crown. The astronauts lost fuel during the voyage due to meteoroids grazing the hull. They prayed for some way of getting back to their loved ones and awoke after one night with a full tanker.

 

On Mars nowadays, with its holiday homes, mines, and nuclear power plants, there is about as much chance as having your prayer answered as on Earth. You have to go further, as I did, to reach the ear of the gods while they flee from the stink of civilisation.

 

The HMS Einstein was headed for Callisto — the first of its kind, as NASA had long kept the moon a reserve for magic in the solar system. My shipmates included an old billionaire in search of immortality and astrologers whose science was fading.

 

We discussed the sighting of monsters along the way. Dragons now roamed Venus after it was terraformed into a spa of eternal summer. Golems tore up solar panels near the Sun and dead passengers had to be ejected lest they rise with an appetite for flesh.

 

“It lends credibility to vampires,” mused the billionaire, though he was kept alive via daily blood replacement and almost was one himself. “They were the final push of supernatural forces in post-industrial times to keep us from becoming gods ourselves.”

 

(I doubted that was the case, for mercy had been shown to the settlers of Mars and they came in a spaceship. It seemed to me that the gods either blessed or cursed their chosen few until we multiplied into uncountable billions of intermingling people.)

 

“My servants came to hunt vampires here,” continued the old man, winking at his crew of cloaked men with stakes and machetes. “Should the darker side of Callisto prove barren, we may also attempt to locate a fountain of youth or philosopher’s stone.”

 

This was foolish, I thought, for if anything should be taken from new worlds, it wouldn't be material but spiritual. The oracles of ancient Greece had access to higher dimensions. I wanted to explore territory more unfathomable than even wells within black holes.

 

Jupiter’s appearance at the window cast a pall of silence upon us. The pilot honed in on its most mysterious moon as we held our breath. Callisto, dark and spotted with bleached craters, was a crystallisation of space itself with the allure of a gemstone.

 

I was surprised by its radiance at nearly a billion kilometres from the Sun. Even Jupiter, with wind like fire, gave off less light. This surprise turned to disappointment as we entered orbit for a spot to land and saw numerous mounds, inexplicably burning in a vacuum.

 

Many others had already arrived with my idea. Witches leapt and stamped to the beat of the flames while druids cut animal throats. It was only a matter of time before they drained the moon and left with the final slivers of sorcery for themselves.

 

I demanded that the pilot land before it was too late, despite the protests of the crew. They were afraid of sacrifice by the chanting people. I yelled at the pilot that they were all looking for a good excuse not to pay and she set us down before my next sentence.

 

Though the air was only just breathable, the sound of my cough didn’t travel. Neither the warlocks nor witches paid much attention to us. They were too focused on worshipping through their dust-driving dance; sparks of lightning shot between their fingers.

 

The other passengers emerged behind me and their eyes followed the flames up to Jupiter which loomed over the horizon like a devil star. It must have inspired something within them for they tossed the man who came for eternal life onto one of the bonfires.

 

Our lungs filled with magic, and we joined the dance.

Copyright 2024 - SFS Publishing LLC

Dance to the Devil Star

The most magical party in the solar system

James Machell

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