The Voice from the Stars🔊

Once upon a time, in a small, secluded village in the outskirts of Marseilles, lived a humble baker named Antoine. Every day, he would rise before the sun, knead the dough, and bake the baguettes to perfection. Antoine was loved by his fellow villagers, not only for his delicious baguettes, but also for his kindness and jovial spirit. He had a simple and routine life, barring an eccentric obsession with the cosmos. Amid baked goods, flour, and yeast, he also housed a giant telescope in his bakery, on which he spent hours gazing at the stars, captivated by the mysteries of the universe.

On one particular night, a meteor shower was expected, and Antoine closed his bakery early to prepare for the spectacle. As the canvas of the night sky unveiled itself, Antoine saw not just a meteor shower but a dazzling celestial ballet that stole his breath away. Amidst this cosmic spectacle, Antoine heard a soft, melodious voice. He spun around, but found no one. The voice came again, this time clearer and brighter, echoing in his ears. 'Antoine, help us,' it implored.

Shaken and surprised, he realised that the voice came from the skies themselves. He replied, seeking clarification, but instead, all he heard was a faint melody that seemed like coded messages. Intrigued and determined to decipher it, Antoine dedicated himself to the mystery presented to him, pouring through books on astronomy, seeking experts, and scribbling what felt like millions of notes.

Weeks turned into months, and one day, a break came. Antoine finally decoded the message. It was a distress call from a distant civilisation in the Andromeda galaxy, pleading for help from an impending disaster. They had sent a SOS message across the universe, which had found its way to Antoine.

The information was overwhelming, and Antoine found himself in a conundrum. He considered revealing it to the world but realised the enormity of such unverified information might cause panic. He decided instead to rely on his instincts and his passion for stars. He believed that the solution will be found where the problem emerged – in the stars themselves.

With a fresh zeal, Antoine plunged himself into research, deciphering clues from the decoded message, learning about wormholes, building a rudimentary radio transmitter and juggling it all with his daily baking in his small village bakery.

As the inhabitants of the distant world had explained in their message, a dark cloud of cosmic dust was inching dangerously close to their star system. Clear calculations showed it would blur out their sun, plunging their world into eternal darkness. With no sunlight, their civilisation was doomed.

After much thought, Antoine devised a bold but plausible plan. The cosmic cloud was composed of ice and other elements, and if he could divert a significant meteor shower towards it, it could ignite the elements in the cloud, causing it to disperse. Using his home-built radio transmitter, Antoine relayed this plan back to Andromeda.

Months passed with no response. Antoine feared the worst. But one night, the melodious voice graced his ears, 'Antoine, thank you. You saved us.' Tears of joy welled up in his eyes as he gazed up at the twinkling stars.

The humble baker remained a silent hero. His life resumed to what it was - baking bread, sharing laughs, and watching the stars. Though none in his village knew about the extraordinary tale of their humble baker, from a distant corner of the universe, a whole civilisation looked at the very same stars with gratitude for the friend they had in Antoine, the baker from Earth.