He dreamed of the barren city again. The dust-swept empty streets, broken lights, abandoned cars, rust creeping over, silence, complete silence. No matter how many times he told himself it didn’t mean anything, there’s always the lingering doubt. What if? He’d been away for three years now, anything could have happened. His sweet Layla he always imagined pushing little Sam on a swing could be dead for all he knew. Sam, too. On July 3rd, he'd spent the whole day trying to picture the boy blowing out the candles on his cake and opening presents, but maybe his little Sam never got to turn five, maybe he’s not waiting for Daddy to be back and tell him everything about all the wonders he’d seen in his voyage.
‘What wonders?’, Brady asked himself in the hushed voice he used to talk to himself. It had seemed weird at first to be doing that, but what choice did he have? He’d go mad without hearing a human voice, even if it was his own. They’d warned him he’d be without radio contact as soon as he’d reach the limit of the galaxy, but there was no way to grasp what being alone, completely, absolutely alone would be like.
‘Who’s to say I’m not the only one left alive in this fucking universe?’
Home had been growing cold for decades, for all the comfort they lived in humans were turning gray and sullen, trapped on a planet that had no secrets left, yet too afraid to venture outside of their small world. There’s nothing but other cold and lonely planets, none as good as this one, what’s the point of even trying? If all the scientists said so, it must be so, they figured.
They never said it outright, but Brady was now sure that’s why they’d agreed to send the Explorer out, to prove their point - there’s nothing out there.
Brady himself had come to believe they were right, he longed to hear from them, anything, even the cracking voice of a lab technician giving him the stats he could read on the displays in front of him. He wished he could tell them about the star that was following him. If only to hear colonel Harris laugh: ‘You’re imagining things, my boy, there is no star following you! Who’d even heard of a thing like that?’
But he was alone. And the star was there, always on his trail for the past eight months, the ultimate space chase.
It was a rogue star, he was sure of that. He’d read everything about rogue stars on the encyclopedia on the main computer, yet it didn’t make sense. Even if the star had broken free of its own universe, it was not supposed to be following his ship, his passing did not generate enough pull to capture a mighty star, yet there it was on a relentless pursuit, gaining up speed, coming ever closer. It will be months till it came too close, at least that’s what he hoped.
Brady had done some slight course corrections, hoping to shake it off, but every time the star adjusted gracefully, as if it had a mind of its own. Who’s to say it doesn’t?
It was stupid to think like that, he knew. He was a scientist, not a bloody poet, he didn’t have time for silly notions like that.
Two more years until he’d start the journey home, if he managed to lose the star that is, he could not risk dragging it back to destroy his home. If there’s nothing left but barren cities, it would still be the only home he had left.
The tiny dot, the small metal cage with the tiny creature inside was its best hope. If only it could get close enough to show him all its splendor. It had traveled many galaxies in search of one small creature like that, but had found none until now.
‘We could be together - I’d be your sun and you could follow me. I’d show you all the wonders in this Universe, if only you’d believe in me. You don’t need to be cold and sad with all the magic floating around.’
But the little man in his tiny ship never stopped and never listened. His dead eyes only saw the dead rocks hurtling through space. No point in chasing him. He wouldn’t understand.
Brady was glad the day he noticed the star was lagging behind. Its light seemed to be waning, too. ‘About time’, he thought. Now he was free to head back and report the scientists were indeed right, there was nothing out there.
Story written for @mariannewest's freewrite challenge, today's prompt was: space! Check out her blog and join our freewrite community.
Thanks for reading!
