[ FF ] `` The place where no star gave light ''

A rouge planet. Lost in the cold, empty cosmos. The nearest nebulae was lightdecades away, there was no star here. No source of external heat, no supernovae nearby to end it's solitary existence. It was dark, and drifting. 
 
 Beneath the crust, over millions of year, life had found it's way here still. It evolved and thrived near the vents spurred active by the hot iron core deep inside the planet. Over the countless number of years it became aware, discovering love, gods and loss. Scientific thought came next, followed closely by curiosity. 
 
 The studied, postulated, and guessed under hundreds of miles of thick rocky crust, living out their days to understand what was beyond the roof of their existence. Still hundreds of miles below the surface, they worked to penetrate the inner layers to discover what was `` out there.'' 
 
 Time passed and lives were lost in their journey to understand what was above until finally, they broke through. It was then that those first explorers lost faith in their gods. They realized they were Alone, they understood they were drifting and if life existed outside of their planet they would before they were found. This knowledge would destroy them. 
 
 They would arrange an accident, hoping to cause loss of public support to cease the studies. They would sacrifice themselves to spare the shame of a long sought after dream.They would retreat inside their planet, back to the warmth of understanding and forget their loneliness. Theirs was the place where no star gave light.
