Through Space

The endless escape that is space. Here I dwell among the stars, the clouds of dark matter swirling, billowing. I have been alone for a while. Two years, seven....perhaps ten years? I've lost track. Here, without the world, drifting in darkness and shimmering stars all I have is my mind. I feel ageless, and in the mirror I look no older than when I first began my expedition. The only difference was the changing of my dirty blonde hair to a dark ocean blue, and my eyes after a while began to glow. I've lost the drive to continue, but there is nowhere to land that I can safely breathe and walk amongst and so all I can do is continue to look for a place to take refuge. Now I swim through the corridors of the expansive ship. It was built to house up to a hundred crew. But over the years, the men and women who left that distant planet those years ago died one by one. Thirty men and twenty eight women besides myself, left Earth in hopes of finding a place to survive, and carry on. Yet the little luck we had making it out off the ground did not follow us as we delved into unknown space. Just two years in, a strange illness spread. We didn't know where it came from, or how it got into the airway system but within a year, I and two others were the only ones left. The bodies of the dead had turned into statues of a hard silver substance that we had never seen before. We feared it would contaminate the living, and jettisoned them into the cold expanse of space. For a year or so more the two others lived with me, though we had stopped talking to one another. One of the side effects of the strange disease, was an alteration to the brain that allowed us to speak through simple thought. Though, as the disease progressed, the incoming thoughts from my crew members became broken and eventually ceased altogether. The odd gift didn't last for long. Soon, they turned into frozen statues as well and I watched as their forms were let loose into the dark void.

My name...what was it again? Strands of blue hair, glowing through the starlight haloed my pale face. I'm cold. Tired. I no longer hunger for food, as my body grew used to the empty feeling. Any energy I held now seemed to come from the glittering masses of strange matter outside the ship's windows. Looking at the monitors and keeping up the computers has grown tiresome, but today...or tonight, there was something different. There was a blip on the screen. My eyes widened and took in the sights with conscious reasoning. It was like awakening from a long sleep, even though I had been awake nearly the whole time.

I pressed my fingertips against the screen and within several moments lights exploded outwards into a transparent 3D scene. It was a planet. It was completely blue, save for green snakey fragments of what looked like land and silver cloud substance. It had the right amount of an oxygen act alike, and would be a safe landing. There were also what looked like cities sprawled across the snakey parts of land. Life. With a reason in my being, I parted my lips and let out a gasp. My throat was parched and before I could utter a sound, I coughed with such force that my body flew backwards in the zero gravity.

"C...Computer. Make preparations for landing."

The computer sputtered and coughed just as I had, before the 3D scene of the planet magnified closer at the expanse of land, looking for a safe place to touchdown. It was amazing the amount of mountains that it grazed over, the peaks of gold and colors that shimmered before my eyes. Yet, as it was quick, I could see in my mind's eye everything that flashed before me in slow motion. In the back of my mind, I was reminded of my own home. A place dying and yet still awe inspiring. Glimmering tears floated in the air as I wrapped my arms around myself remembering those I had left behind, those that had been too sick to make the voyage. Sadness overwhelmed me, and for the first time in a long time, I wept for those that the strange sickness had killed. Those that had passed back on Earth, and the likelihood that I was far from any other human being. I gritted my teeth as the ship responded to my command, and slowly the gravity from the planet began to weigh me down, yet the transition was oddly slow. I stood on shaking legs, and eventually collapsed to my knees. I grasped at the chrome handrails and grabbed for one of the many threads of memory rope that hung from the rails. I wrapped it around my waist and it glowed a moment before locking me in place.