Collapse by Michael Burstein

“Collapse” is a 2008 science fiction short story by Michael Burstein. It is about an astronomer who believes the universe has begun to contract.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Jack Olmstead is an astronomer who has just lost the funding for his project. That is quite the bummer, but as he looks for other lines of research he comes across some peculiar spectral photographs taken by one of his graduate students. It seems that all the galaxies in these photographs are shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum – meaning that they are moving towards us! Well, all this evidence is contrary to the mountains of data proving that most of the universe is red shifted – expanding away from us. What’s a guy to do when he is the only one who has evidence for his claim? What else – he throws himself into his work to the exclusion of everything else. Hmm… sounds like a recipe for insanity to me.

He took another look. “It’s one of the spectra I took. What about it?”

I felt exasperated. “Study it carefully. That’s a blueshift! We’ve discovered that the universal expansion has come to an end. The galaxies are starting to come back together!”

Daniel’s eyes lit up. “That would explain why the universe seems younger now than it did in the 1930s.”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• While this storyline may not sound too enticing, I found it to be quite an easy and interesting read. Michael Burstein is a great writer, and that makes “Collapse” a pleasure to read.
• C’mon – who doesn’t want to read about one of our society’s elite scholars making a preposterous claim about the universe? It’s loads of fun watching smart, educated people make big blunders!

• The bad:

• There was really only one thing that I didn’t like about “Collapse” – the fact that the ending didn’t tie things up all nice and neat. It left me hanging, and that is a little bit annoying. Oh well, it wasn’t too big of a deal for this otherwise excellent story.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 9
• Word Count: 4,628

Where you can find “Collapse”:

• This short story first appeared in the 29 September 2008 issue of the online magazine Polu Texni – where you can still read it for free.

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Michael Burstein, the author of “Collapse”, has a master’s degree in physics? Yep. You can learn more about this science fiction author on his web page.
• Special thanks to QuasarDragon for pointing me towards this excellent story!

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Last Contact, about a field of dark energy that is devouring the entire universe, by Stephen Baxter.

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