Red Giant Night

Continuing with this little story, I puzzled over what Angus McCloud's limo driver had just said about having faith in the future. Then I started to get a little peeved because I had been promised a free ride home and what I seemed to be getting instead was a mini-tour of another solar system.

But, before I could muster up the courage to complain, the limo continued to glide through this strange planet's atmosphere, from east to west, as if seeking a safe place to land. This was the scene outside the limo's canopy. But we didn't seem to be landing.

"We are seeing what nighttime on your planet Earth will look like when your sun begins its transition from being a Yellow Dwarf to becoming a Red Giant," the driver told me matter-of-factly.

"And this is as dark as it will get then?" I asked, startled at the thought.

"Yes," he replied, "but only for a very short time. When your sun reaches the Red Giant stage your planet will be consumed."

"Why are you showing me this?" I asked. "Nothing can prevent the sun from becoming a Red Giant when its fuel begins to run out. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Wrong," he said rather cryptically as he stared at me over his shoulder.

..to be continued...