SF Drabble #399 "The Added Mass"

The warpgate was old, but well-maintained. Gas and dust had been pouring through it steadily for a thousand years, giving way for decades at a time to streams of solid rock: planets having been  disassembled, sifted for useful materials, and their detritus sent here to fall into the hot, radioactive atmosphere of the brown dwarf below.

"Any minute now."

"You must be very proud."

"Why?"

"To be the Administrator when the project reaches completion."

"Nonsense. I'm just the last in a very long line of—"

The reactive glass darkened to protect their eyes; still the flash was dazzling.

"Fusion underway."

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