PPC: Origins: Unfinished Tales: Sunlit Miracle

The light of a dying star lit a young world. For countless years the plants brought to the nameless planet by a doomed ship had flourished and spread, covering their world in a blanket of green. But never any further. They were doomed to live forever in a mindless state, never shaping their lives beyond small movements of leaves.

Or at least, that was how it should have been. For the plants to reach their full potential, a miracle would have to occur. A miracle such as that which took place on one unremarkable day.

Far above the nameless world, events were proceeding which none could have predicted, but none could have prevented. Caught in a gravitational web, the star which gave light and life to the world was dragged ever closer to its companion, the mighty black hole. It was only a matter of time...

And the moment came. The yellow star was ripped apart, spreading into an accretion disk that continued to light the world for long after. From that annihilation exotic particles were formed, which traversed the distance to the planet at the speed of light and crashed straight through it.

Fortunately for us, most of the particles failed to interact with the planet, or there would not have been much of a planet left. However, some few millions did, twisting and reforming the genetic and physical structure of the plants across the globe.

On one plain, amid endless seas of grass, stood a single yellow sunflower. Blown by the winds as a seed to its current location, it was destined to remain there until its death... until the wave of stellar matter slammed into it, changing the course of the future forever.

The flower flinched. That’s too bright! it thought, and then, I wonder what can have happened.

It pondered these things for a moment, and then decided that it was of no concern to it. Now, it wondered, what was I doing?

It thought back for a moment, and then froze. I was standing here, taking in the light and air... but I wasn’t thinking about it. I couldn’t think... I can’t think!

He tried, for a moment, not to think, to go back to the bliss of unawareness, but it was futile. He panicked then, running around flailing his leaves. Then he realised he was doing it, and stopped, his petals re-arranging to give the impression of a slightly sinister smile.

No... I couldn’t think. But I can now. Let the world beware – I am now the most powerful plant alive!