The Last Hyperion

Alexei sat back in his chair in the command centre as the last Hyperion spaceliner cleared the Outer Van Allen belt. With ten days to spare, the evacuation of the planet was complete. After forty years of frantic preparations, he could finally relax ... before Callisto slammed into the Earth.

As a mission controller at the Baikunor Cosmodrome, Alexei had been involved from the moment Jupiter's moon Callisto had been knocked out of orbit. He well remembered the worldwide shock when the astronomers had calculated Callisto's trajectory ... and the inevitable impact. Then, two years ago, he'd been asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. Someone had to stay behind to handle the launch procedure of the final spaceliner. He understood completely why he'd been chosen. In contrast to his junior colleagues, Alexei was in his seventies and single. When he'd agreed, he'd been given a medal ... and a small white pill.

Now, for a short time, the world was his alone. He could go wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted. Several supersonic VTOL flyers parked at the cosmodrome were there for the taking.

He was considering spending his remaining days in the warmth of the Caribbean when a message flashed up on his screen.

Human detected by search drone #4056.

Alexei swore and selected the drone's camera. He was astonished to see a woman sitting on a beach, grilling a fish on a small fire. The drone's coordinates brought up a satellite image of a tiny unnamed island somewhere in the South China Sea.

#

Four hours later Alexei landed a flyer on the island's pristine seashore. The woman watched him stumble across the sand towards her. He judged her to be about his own age, grey-haired, but, unlike himself, exceptionally fit.

'Do you know you've missed the last Hyperion?' he inquired.

'I guessed I had. My boat sank three weeks ago with all my equipment.'

'What are you doing here?'

'I was filming the reef. To remind future generations how beautiful the Earth was.'

#

The next few days were the happiest of Alexei's long life. The tepid seawater soothed his ageing limbs as he watched Sakura swim like the fish she caught so expertly.

By the end of the week, Alexei knew he was in love. He put his arm around Sakura and she snuggled close as they sat on the beach staring up at Callisto, now huge and growing ever closer in the night sky.

'What will happen to us when it hits?' she asked.

He couldn't bring himself to tell her they would be dead before the impact. That Callisto's gravitational pull would rip the Earth's atmosphere away with hurricane force. That it would cause devastating tsunamis and earthquakes. If they weren't killed by flying debris, crushed or drowned, they would slowly suffocate.

Rather than answering, Alexei retrieved his small white pill and crumbled it into a plastic cup Sakura had salvaged. He filled the cup with spring water and passed it to her. She whispered her thanks before drinking.

Alexei held her tight, hearing the wind begin to howl, as she drifted quietly into oblivion.