Chaos - Vesna McMaster

In the beginning, there was milk. Then the Great Chef dropped in some vinegar, and lo, the milk did separate. And after that, the Great Chef took aside the curds, and there was a great straining, and a salting, and a pressing, and after due time for reflection, there was cheese. And all saw that it was well. Since then many things have changed, substances sublimated and altered, but in honour of this event, to this day the moon is still made of cheese.

The benefits of the Great Cheesemaking are somewhat more vividly recalled in the story of Vishnu enlisting help from the demons and gods to churn the Sea of Milk, producing the elixir of immortality. On sampling a fine cheese, who indeed could question the divine wisdom of this course of action – even if the use of a poor innocent five-headed snake seems like an unnecessary detour into esoteric branches of animal cruelty.

Now, much as we all know and love these creation stories, one question still remains. What became of the whey? Ah. Full of nutrients, fat with the liquid goodness of all that milk; in volume far greater than the solids. Once probes finally manage to sample deeper into Jupiter’s gaseous, swirling mass, there will no doubt return with the answer to that question.