Novak's Last Theory, Part 3: Asleep in a Sea of Stars

I'm floating alone in space. Or nearly alone. My ship, the Amaranth, is several hundred meters off to my right. I'm drifting steadily away from it, having maximized my speed by pushing off from the lock and then exhausting the pulse jets in my suit.

Lateral distance is the best I can do. I'm still hurtling toward Metari at nearly 50,000 kilometers per hour, just like the ship. But I can usually put a few thousand meters between us before we hit atmosphere.

Carter continues hailing me. I switch off the com. I'm not out here because I want to chat.

I'm so tired of searching and getting no closer to any answers. We've been through the disaster hundreds of times since I started keeping track, and at least a handful more before that. But maybe hundreds more. Who knows? My memory of the beginning is fuzzy.

I wonder how much time has passed back on Oloreth. Months? Years? This was supposed to be an 86 day round-trip for the crew. I told Jess to expect me back in time for Aria's birthday. But now...

Yesterday I didn't bother getting up. I laid there staring as the alarms sounded and the crew raced to their posts. Mori couldn't eject the core alone, and the ship was annihilated in the atomic blast. Of course, today started up right after.

So here I am. I wonder if this is rock bottom. Probably not. I haven't gone insane yet.

I'm spinning very slowly as I drift. A few minutes ago I was facing away from Metari. Now I'm facing toward it. The local star is peeking around the left edge of the planet, like a yellow spotlight in the darkness. It's designation in the Union of Free Systems Star Catalogue is UFS 487.672, but the colonists voted to call it Srivad, after the hero from Bejolian myth. Hence 'Metari' for the planet, after his mistress. Naming your destination makes it feel like less of an unknown. No one wants to leave everything behind to travel to a catalogue number.

But it doesn't matter now. We can't save ourselves, and there's no help out here.

***

A breeze is sighing through the branches above, gently stirring the leaves of the trees. Patches of sunlight shift back and forth over my body. I hear children laughing nearby. Is that the girls? It must be.

A woman calls my name from a distance: "Arik?"

I'm here Jess. I try to get up, but I can't move.

"Arrrik!"

I draw in a breath to shout back—

And stare out into open space. My oxygen must be running low. I'm hallucinating. I check the display in my helmet: only minutes left. I depleted the tanks before leaving Amaranth so that I would asphyxiate before burning up over Metari. Not long now.

It's so quiet. I float with my back to the planet, falling asleep in a sea of stars.

[Jump to part 4: From the Forest Primeval.]