Birth

Eternal darkness was its home. Here it zoomed around, or whatever it was that it did. It is hard to measure speed when there are no landmarks to measure it by, no air resistance to feel. For all it knew, it could be racing, crawling or standing perfectly still.
The only thing that changed around it was the others. It could feel them; close by sometimes, farther away on other occasions. They were communicating with each other, but it never joined in. It liked to be for itself and wonder about its small world. Or was it a big world? Was it a world at all, or just a place within a world? It had never encountered any barriers, but it never knew where – or if – it was going, anyway.
It wanted to know, though; it was curious. The first thing it wanted to study was speed, and how fast it could move. Then it could try to find the boundaries of its world and measure space.

It had taught itself not to move. It didn't work to perfection; sometimes it could feel itself vibrate slightly. But it never went anywhere.
It was sure that the easiest way to gain knowledge was to stand perfectly still and learn from the ever-changing surroundings. Watch and learn, or listen and learn, because there was never anything to see.
The only thing it had learned so far, though, apart from standing still, was that the others didn't care for knowledge. There was nothing in their communications that woke its interest; nothing about their world or who they were. The others informed their surroundings of their existence merely.
But it didn't give up hope. It waited patiently for something different.

Vibration. The world shook like an earthquake, but none of them had ever touched any ground. They tumbled, having completely lost control, bumping into each other. Communication rose to a cacophony as panic gripped them, and nobody understood anything.
Then there was a new source of energy, sucking at them, drawing them close like a loving mother calling her children, or maybe like a hungry monster longing for food. They could not escape, there were always others pushing them closer to the heart of it all.
The heart of a new sun.



"Grandpa, how did the universe come into existence?"
"Legend has it that there once were two molecules; one stood quiet and still, while the other moved as fast as it could. When they collided, the impact was so strong that other molecules were drawn towards them, colliding, exploding, binding – forming a whole universe."
"It's a bit like romance, isn't it?"
"Yes, you could probably say that. But we don't even know if it's true."