Fly Among The Stars

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars.” -Les Brown

JD read the quote continually.

“Hmph. What a load of crap.”

He was stranded in deep space for 2 months and lost communication with everyone else in the Universe. The radio and almost all electronics on board had stopped working. Reading the few books, he had brought again and again along with the voice of Serena (the ship's AI) was the only thing keeping him sane.

The light was flickering, and his oxygen supply was running low. He had almost run out of food and water, not that it mattered. If anything was going to run out first, it was the oxygen.

To confirm his thoughts, Serena spoke. “Oxygen at 5%.”

“So this is how it ends, huh,” he sighed. He was out of reach from home or any place that humans had inhabited at one point.

JD had left his fiancée back on Prime, and everything else he had loved so that he could find a new planet. Mars had been overrun by humans and left desolate like the Earth before it. His home planet, Prime, was on the same path, leaving humanity on a universal quest for a new ‘home’. So far, no planet had been found.

To make matters worse, the planets, Prime, Earth, and Mars, could not afford to make two-way trips. The astronauts had been told that they would either find land and live or die trying.

I guess I’ll be one of the lucky few who died trying, with my luck.

“Oxygen at 1%. Now commencing destination search,” Serena stated.

“Good luck with that,” JD sighed.

He was losing every ounce of hope he had left as fast as he was running out of oxygen. He fought to keep calm, but it wasn’t easy.

I’m going to die here.

It was all he could think and there was nothing he could do. Tears were rolling down his face. He had left everything behind, all due to his stupidity. He could have declined the offer, and stayed at home. He could have been with all that he loved back home.

“Dammit… I don’t wanna die….”

“Destination found. Now diverting route.”

The machine completely surprised JD.

“Land?”

He jumped off his seat and ran to the nearest window. He could see a speck looming in the distance. The only reason he even noticed it was due to the complete lack of other stars. He smiled.

But as soon as the smile appeared, it vanished just as fast.

“What if the planet is uninhabitable?” He told Serena. “What if a hostile race lives on it? Or what if it’s a gas giant?”

“Shut up, JD. You always ruin these moments,” Serena screamed back at him.

He couldn’t let those thoughts get to him. Even if he did find an uninhabitable planet, he had still found something. He would now be able to communicate with Prime, Earth, and Mars since Serena could build a small, but powerful, antenna outside.

He wouldn’t be able to return, but he could at the very least say his good-byes.

“Now entering planet atmosphere. Please sit, and strap yourself down,” Serena said.

JD had been so lost in fear that he hadn’t even noticed how close the planet had become. It was a deep blue color from outside the atmosphere. It looked as if it were made completely of water. This is what the Earth looked like Eons ago.

“Whatever you say,” JD told Serena.

He walked back to his seat and strapped himself down.

The alarm rang: “Warning! Malfunction! Extreme heat! Internal damage being caused! Prepare for an emergency cooling system!”

JD felt the cold airbrush onto his face. He had forgotten what a gentle breeze felt like.

The pod crashed into the planet. Contrary to what JD had thought, the planet, in fact, was not made of land but almost encapsulated by water so dense that it felt like land.

“Serena, plant the emergency antenna outside, and attempt to reach Prime”.

In the meantime, scan the planet for any oxygen, portable water, or such resources humans need to live,” JD asked Serena.

It had been almost 4 sols since he had been sent on his mission. He could finally report what the outcome was. He was happy.

“Scan complete oxygen and trace amounts of water found inside of these dense crystals. The planet is hospitable.”

JD did not expect to hear any of that. He had found a hospitable planet. He had worried for nothing.

“Serena, request a call to Prime. Tell them that our mission was a success.”

Several minutes passed without any sound at all. JD waited for the call to be picked up.

Finally, there was an unfamiliar voice that talked through the pod speakers.

“We are sorry. You were supposed to have finished your mission 144 hours ago. We can now no longer afford to keep communicating with you. We apologize.” The voice said.

The call was then dropped.

JD had fallen to the ground at the end of the message. He had found this planet for nothing? Now, he was doomed to die on an isolated planet.

He walked outside of the pod, and, for the first time in years. He remembered the happiness that came along with it.

After all, he had landed among the stars only to realize that the oxygen had finally run out.

He had spent his final moments with a simulation played by Serena so that he rest in peace, surrounded by stars while roaming through the depths of space. Now, after all the struggle, he has an infinite amount of time to himself. The stars are a lonely place to land upon.