Dying Sun

It hasn't always been this way. The old ones talk about a time where the sun shone bright, warning the earth so it was hot a quarter of the year. They speak of a time where the grass was green and the plants grew outside.

All this is unimaginable now. As long as anyone except the oldest among us, can remember, the plants have been grown in growing pods, lit by growing lamps. Natural light is rare. All are encouraged to be in it at least a half hour a day.

Announcements are broadcast reminders of the importance of Vitamin D. Stepping out of the comfort and safety of the regulated housing units into the dying light of the dying Sun has become a ritual.

The earth is cold. Again, the old ones tell that there were times it was always this way, but only for a quarter of the year. Now it is all the time. Warmth is found in the housing units and the growing pods. The cold is braved by the masses, hands and faces uncovered, long enough to get the dwindling vitamin D.

Newborns are taken out at a week old, lifted up towards the sun. It is believed that this helps them thrive. Most old ones chose to die outside, faces towards the sun.

They used to be buried underground, this was before the cold caused it to freeze. Now, their bodies are used for fuel. Burned in the giant underground furnaces that heat the housing units, their deaths help keep others alive.

Before the sun started its slow death, wood did the same. Trees are another thing they recall that most don't. It took longer for trees to die then it did for the grass and other plants too. There are some that remember their towering presence. The evergreens lasted the longest. Used to the cold and shorter hours of sunlight, they held on for years after all the others succumbed to the dying light.

The last died fifty years ago. An announcement was made and the world grieved its passing. They knew it heralded its own.

The caves became the sources of the new housing units, furnaces, and growing pods. All animals that survived, outside the fish and sea creatures, were moved underground as well. Giant zoos were created to protect them.

As for the fish and sea creatures, there is a belief they continue under the frozen waters that used to be ponds, lakes, and oceans.

Underground cisterns provide water for human and animal use. None is wasted. All urine is collected to be treated and used for the watering of plants. Animal waste is dried and used as fuel.

That is the present. But how did the sun start to die?

“It was noticed slowly, by astronomers, those trained to look for such things. Funny enough, it was first spotted on the moon. It reflects the sun, or used to. Its brightness started to fade. Charts were made to track it. After a few months, it was obvious. The sun was giving less light. A department was created to investigate it. That is how they did it then,” he chuckles, his voice hoarse with age, “thought enough study could solve anything. A year passed and others, outside the scientific community started to notice. Gardens weren't growing as they used too. Crops were scarce. The governments of the world, yes there used to be many, had to decide what to do.

An announcement was made. Nothing to upset them, not then. They still thought it could be changed. The people were informed that, yes, the sun was diminishing but that there was no reason to fear. The greatest scientific minds were on it,” he chuckles again, “they may have actually believed it. Another year passed. The farmers could no longer graze their cattle as the grass was almost all gone. Only crops in greenhouses were growing. The Earth's temperature dropped an astounding twenty degrees . Nothing compared to now but a very big deal then.

That is when people really began to panic. There was a run on the banks. Places where money, ah a way to pay for things then, was kept. Stores, places where goods used to be sold, were overrun. People were buying and stealing everything.

The governments knew something needed to be done. That is when the idea for the underground furnaces and growing pods and cities was developed. It is naturally warmer here, you see. The sun, at that time, was only shining half the time it used to, but it was still enough to get some things done.

It was a civilisation saving decision. We still lost quite a lot of people. To despair, mostly. You see, during that time, the sun was necessary to lift moods as well as warm the earth and give crops a way to grow. People would get sadder in the winter, the quarter of the year when it was cold, months. Due to shorter days and longer nights. When nights started lasting for over half of all time, they couldn't adjust and took their own lives.

Others died from the cold and lack of proper food. It was chaotic, food was rationed, with children getting the most. Cruel, some said. But logical too. Those older weren't the future. They had to protect humanity.

Within ten years, the sun was only shining for two hours a day. The moon couldn't be seen at all. Now it averages Forty-five minutes a day.”

“What will happen when it doesn't shine at all?” One of the children listening asks.

The old man lowers his head. “We will probably die. Not right away. It may take years. We have, after all, adapted quite well to life underground. But, even now, we don't know all the sun does, or did. The ocean used to be controlled by the moon. It would cause the tides to come in and out. Now, the moon is gone and the waters lay under ice. A dying Sun has taken the plants and a lot of the animals. There used to be such amazing varieties. But now, only a select number can be seen at the zoos. We have a few you never see unless you are processing food,” he sadly shakes his head, a tear of sorrow falling down his wrinkled face, “as the sun has taken all types of beauty in its dying, who’s to say it will spare us humans.”

The children are led away. It is the old one's final lesson. He steps out into the dying light and waits to die.

The why though, you wanted to know the why. It is unknown. Science continues to search until humans move underground.

Everything dies. It is as close of an answer as anyone can give.