Ancient Astronauts

The Longest Goodbye

"Maybe..." the words stuck in Hans' throat.

"Maybe what, Hans?" Alyonna's voice was a little muffled since her face was buried in a shoulder that could rival a bull.

Hans ran a huge hand through Alyonna's flame red hair. "Maybe we should just say goodbye now," the words came slow and ponderous like drawing teeth.

Alyonna clutched him more fiercely and shifted her head sideways a little so she could breathe. 

"No," was all she said.

"Alyonna, think about this. You're going into cryo and I, I can't."

"So?" She mumbled, not releasing him.

"So, it's a fifty year trip. We're already twenty-eight." 

He looked off to the side and his massive frame seemed to shrink a little. He wondered if he was doing this for himself or for her. 

"By the time we reach Proxima-B, you'll still be in the prime of your life, and I'll be an old man. Do you really want to spend the best years of your life in a strange world...caring for an old goat?"

This time Alyonna pulled away and looked defiantly up at him, her emerald eyes narrowed, "An old goat?" She repeated. 

Hans looked away. 

"An old GOAT!" Her voice went up an octave. "We've been together since freshman year of middle school!"

A slender hand pulled Hans' face back toward hers, "Oh, Hans," she whispered, "You'll always be that little boy who made an admirable example of a brick wall when I walked right into you."

Hans chuckled, his light, chocolate colored eyes twinkling, "You were on your phone."

"Oh constantly," she said, "until I met someone who reminded me that life is interesting and beautiful and full. And–" her voice trailed off.

"And what?" Hans asked.

"And that there's someone, right here, in front of me now, who I can always count on." 

Hans started to reply, but was met with Alyonna's lips instead.

He kissed her deeply for a long time. Neither wanted to pull away. In the end, it was Hans. He cradled her face in hands that embraced her head fully on three sides. "But–" escaped his lips.

A meaningful look from Alyonna stopped him, but only for a moment. 

"But I know you want to have children, and I don't know what the radiation in space and the passage of time will do to me. I'll be seventy-eight for Chrissake!" He paused there, his eyes getting a far off look, "I may not be alive by the end."

He was doing everything in his power to push her away, even though he knew he couldn't. He loved her. The girl with the hello kitty phone case who somehow managed to break her nose on his shoulder by walking into it in 5th grade. He ran a finger gingerly down the faint scar where the break was set.

Reaching up with both hands, she pulled away slightly and cupped his face in her hands. 

"Hans," she said softly, "Do you remember what you told me all those years ago, not long after we first met?"

Hans said nothing.

"You said, in typical little dreamer boy fashion, 'I'm a soldier, Aly. The fifth war must end, and I'm going to end it.' You were telling me, in your way, that I needed to be prepared for you to die. That even at the blooming age of twelve, you were preparing yourself. That you wouldn't be anything less than what you are, someone who puts other people ahead of himself. I've been prepared for your death ever since."

Alyonna pushed herself up on tiptoes and wrapped her hands around his neck, snuggling her head under his square jaw. Hans bent his enormous, six foot five frame down a little so she could reach. 

"Hans, baby, I don't care how old you are or what state your health is in. I love every single ounce of who you are," giggling a little, "all four thousand eight hundred of them."

Hans, who was trying not to cry like a baby, laughed instead, "You're such a nerd, Aly. You could've just said three hundred pounds."

Aly pulled his hands down to her waist. His hands didn't leave her body once. She didn't care. There were thousands of people gathered around the enormous boarding platforms, but to them it was only they.

She wrapped her hands around his neck again, tilted her head slightly to the side and smiled, "Oh my dear, sweet, steadfast, honorable, ferocious soldier," she whispered, "don't worry about a thing. And we will have children."