I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Or where I was going. I guess, nobody really did. It wasn’t like we all knew for sure, without any doubt that we were going to be something in the future. We want a lot of things, all the time. No matter the century, no matter the age.
I was having a perfect picnic while staring off into space. On a floating sphere. Somewhere in the Andromeda Galaxy.
And it was beautiful every time. No matter the planet.
As the stars twinkled from the expanding supernova, I pinpointed my position using the constellations. I checked my reader, noticed for it to alarm me once I was out of time. I swiveled my scope and keyed in the runes that told it to ignore the stars, the dust, and the debris. It calculated the necessary equations instantly narrowed its field of view.
My reader sounded two tiny beeps, a signal that it finished predicting my limited time. Ten minutes and the entire system was going to succumb to the unbeatable wave. We’d learned to plot our routes through black holes. We’d reinvented physics and science. We’d invented the most complicated computations the galaxy had ever seen.
But supernovas were still beyond all of us. Everything was reduced to nothing. Everything was going to be reduced to nothing. At least for the next couple of systems.
Ours was fine. That wasn’t the point of this majestic visit. This was the last known spot where somebody had found–
The scope rung with a dinging chime. I scrambled to read the meter.
I’d done it! I couldn’t believe it.
I spun in place, cheered as if I’d one the greatest prize in the universe. Because I had.
A figure of dense, jade hard light popped in front of my face.
The image focused until a planet of green and blue took center frame. It clicked, zoomed, and settled on an alien similarly peering through a device meant for long distance gazing. She waved. I waved back and blushed.
Stay cool, I told myself. It’s only a date. I could do this.
I backed up, swiftly wiped my sweaty hands on my pants. An violet light scanned me from head to toe then spit out an image as tall and as real as me.
“Hey,” she said coyly.
“Hey.” I cleared my throat.
And took a deep breath before her presence took it away.
She’d never looked more perfect.
Just Buckle Down 