Attempting the Impossible.

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.”

‘Don’t say that!’

‘Pfft- Sorry, ahaha, couldn’t help myself.’ Captain Nathan Atherton scoffs at his scientific counterpart’s expense.

‘You realise that YOU’RE out here as well!’ Doctor Raymond Casey chides.

‘Ahaha! Ahhhhh- sorry. Ahem. I use humour as a coping mechanism.’ The Captain states, his mandated therapist being very clear on this point. ‘Hey so- Doctor, ahem- ahh, when you say “gravitational anomaly”, what- ahh- what exactly would you mean by that?’

‘Ahh- okay, so the thing about that is,’

‘Oh and- ahh- while you’re at it- WHERE’S THE EARTH!’

The two men sit in their harnesses for several long minutes, watching brilliant spots of light through the windshield revolve around them. Every once in a while Captain Atherton, proficiently using the controls to release shorts burst of manoeuvring thrusters, causing the vessel to turn in a new direction.

‘It’s gone.’

Though their massive, bulky space suits dampen almost all sound other than the what is transmitted through their head sets, the words still seem to linger, echoing throughout the cockpit, or at least the two men’s minds.

‘The Earth-’ Nathan says under his breath, ‘it’s go-’

‘These aren’t our stars.’ Doctor Raymond states in a flat tone,

‘These a- WHAT! What- what does that mean!?’ Captain Atherton nearly bursts out of his harness.

‘It’s- ahh- okay- ahhh, SO,’ The doctor attempts to rally his thoughts,

‘Wh- did you say- stars?’

‘Uhm- okay, before I- can you, turn us around about ahh- to- that way?’

‘Hang on- no- tell me what you mean by the- Ahem,’ the Captain takes a moment. ‘TELL me, what you meant, about the stars.’ He forces command into his voice. It has been a long time since he has had to use what he now regards as his “In Charge” voice. The last time was when they one of the HR people had been misfiling documents, defeating the point of many of their duties, and had had to give them just about the worst dressing down he’s given any non-military personnel.

‘I- I need to confirm this first! please, rotate the ship- this way.’

‘Doctor, I know-’

‘Please.’ The doctor says clearly.

‘I-’ The Captain hesitates, detecting the slight waver to the doctors tone. ‘Alright, ahh, here?’ He releases a small burst of thrust from the forward and side reaction thrusters.

‘Okay. Give it a second.’ The doctor, leaning forward as far as he can, scans the field of light with keen intent. ‘Stop, now.’

The two look out at a field of colour, sparkles, twinkling in the black. The Captain, in the same way he had on his previous missions into orbit, found his mind reeling. It was so much brighter out here than on earth. Captain Nathan Leigh Atherton had never been terribly enamoured with space, not in the way literally everyone else he had met at NASA had been. They were all utterly smitten with space in different ways, but he didn't get it. Space wasn't his thing. Anything that went fast that was his thing. As a kid, a bicycle, or tricycle, if he went far enough back, then a small petrol powered bike, then fast cars, then planes. Into the Air Force he went. He wasn’t the brightest young man, though he made sure to keep his grades up, he saw himself as driven, more than intelligent. Others learned faster than he did, but he knew that he worked harder. He still really doesn’t understand how orbital mechanics work, but he forced himself to learn the equations and how to use the controls well enough that he can basically fly this shuttle blindfolded.

And then he saw these stars for the first time, without kilometres of atmosphere dulling their shine. It wasn’t that he was somehow changed by the sight, he just thought it was beautiful. He didn’t want to be an astronaut for the wonder of things. He wanted to be an astronaut because he has a wife and daughter back home and the pay, as well as lower risk and being able to remain stateside was so much more attractive than having to fly jets through hostile territory. But in that moment, he understood what all the nerds down at ground control saw. magnifice-

‘These aren’t our stars.’

‘WHAT!?’

‘This isn’t the Milky Way.’

‘I’m SORRY!?’ He finds himself yelling, which doesn’t seems to be bothering the Doctor. ‘What is that supposed to mean!’

‘Andromeda isn’t there.’ The man states, his eyes wide.

“Just stop, and figure out, “What should I be doing, right now”, if you can do that, you’ll be just fine.”

Advice from one of Nathan’s mentors. Not the best bit of advice he’s ever gotten, but close. The very best bit of advice he’d ever gotten was from his sister who, when asked about for any ideas for wooing his now wife had offered “Bake the bitch a cake. Bitches like cake”. It had worked. And he had found that he quite enjoyed baking.

‘Okay.’ He resolves to stop yelling, leaning back into his seat. ‘What do you see.’

‘Ffffffffffffffpt.’ The Doctor takes several long moments, his hand still raised toward the windshield and the stars beyond.

‘What do you need me to do.’ The Captain asks, his entire body gone tense.

‘I- I ah- I-’ The Doctor slowly repeats. ‘Would- ahh- you mind- could you- use the RCS, to ahh- revolve us- ahh- around- ahh- could you make us revolve, in this plane- so- on the plane, of- ahh- the galaxy there you can see.’

‘I can do that.’ He nods, his entire being immediately grateful for something to do. 'Just- tell me what's going on- when you have an idea- alright? We need to communicate right now.

‘I’m gonna try the radio again.’ Nathan decides, finding the slow turn of the vessel unbearable without something to do.

‘Yeah- yeah yeah, do that.’ Raymond agrees, his raised hand moving around the sparkling visage.

‘Ahem. Ground control, come in ground control.’ He switches the radio on. ‘Hello? Control?’ He waits for a moment. ‘Matt?’ He asks after the mission controller. ‘Matt? Control?’ He sighs, noticing that his jaw has become incredibly tense. ‘God damn it- Sammy?’ He asks optimistically, knowing his wife had come to watch the launch-

‘Oh fuck- Sammy.’ He freezes. She would have been right there. Whatever it was that happened, she would have seen it.

A shiver spreads up his spine, the kind he gets when he realises his wife is going to be mad at him. The last time he got it was when he had assured her he would handle getting the house new insurance, and had completely forgot for several weeks. She had told him off ten times worse than he told off that HR. She’ll have been watching, when whatever happened happened. The cameras would have watched them leave the atmosphere, and then control would have lost them on radar. His stomache twitches. ‘Sammy? Sammy baby?’ He pleads into the microphone, ‘Sammy? Sam?’

‘Okay, so, that’s- nope.’ Doctor Raymond mumbles to himself.

‘What can I- what can-’ The Captain wracks his brain to think of something, anything he can do in this situation. ‘Okay! We- have- a- we can set, so-’ He begins looking for the radio frequency adjuster. ‘We can- broadcast, on, every frequency- no- but I can just go through every channel though!’

‘So.’ Doctor Raymond speaks up after a long, very long, stressful silence. Nathan had spent many minutes going through every single frequency on the dial, calling for ground control, and his wife, and occasionally his daughter, despite knowing that she should be in school right now.

‘That was not one of my more- ahem- dignified moments.’ The captain sighs.

‘HA!’ Raymon bursts. ‘Ahaha! Ahhhh! Man- ahaha, ahhhh.’ The man laughs, frank statement, contrasting the seriousness and bizarreness of the situation breaking him. ‘Ahaha- ahh- okay- damn man- ahh. Sorry- sorry man- that- that- ahh- that got me. Ahh, aha- ahem. Mmm. Yeah. Yeah- dignified.’ He sighs, the sudden burst of laughing seeming to have strangely reset his mind, letting him think clearly for the first time in a while. ‘Look man- I think we’re a bit past that man.’ He scoffs.

‘Yeah. Yeah I think we are.’ The Captain nods. ‘Ahem. So. Did- did ahh- did’ya find what you were ahh- looking for?’

‘Ahh- look,’ Raymond sighs, a simple fact running through his mind, words, a simple, terrible observation, ‘it’s ahh- look man,’

‘I couldn’t get through- they ahh- ahem. They aren’t there, are they?’

‘The- ahem. Man-’

‘You were saying- ahh- something about the stars?’ He asks. The previous command, even his natural practised projecting voice now dulled.

‘So- ahh- about, that,’

‘Just tell me man.’ The Captain sighs. ‘I know I- I kinda lost it there for a second but-’

‘Ah- nah man look- man- that’s not- it’s- the thing-’

‘Just tell me man, I can handle it.’

‘No- that’s- ugh.’ Raymond goes to wipe his brow, only to have his hand bump into his visor. ‘Ahem. Right.’ He tries to contain himself, only partially accomplishing this. ‘I don’t- KNOW, is the thing, I can’t- because I can’t BE right- that can’t-’

‘I think- ahh- ahem. I think- we’re a bit past that.’ Nathan scoffs, his body relaxing a little.

‘I- yeah. Ahem. The ahh- I was looking for Andromeda.’ Raymond sighs.

‘Andromeda- the- Andromeda’s a galaxy right?’

‘I- Seriously?’ Raymond looks over, then leans forward and turns his body so he can better see Nathan through his visor.

‘Look man- I really am just a pilot. Andromeda- it’s not a cons- is it a constellation?’

‘It’s both- okay- alright.’ Raymond takes a moment, having to tell himself “don’t judge” despite being a little bit annoyed at the idea that someone that has had several missions into orbit wouldn’t know that. ‘Andromeda is a constellation, yes. It is also a galaxy, our binary twin.’

‘RIGHT! I was talking to Gareth about that- he wasn’t happy with me either. So, the Milky Way is part of a binay, like binary stars can revolve around one another. Right? That’s what I got from it.’

‘Yeah- I- yeah basically.’ Raymond leans back in his seat. ‘Andromeda is the Milky Way’s twin. It’s- bigger, twin- but, twin.’

‘Twins happen like that.’

‘Ah yeah they do I guess.’ Raymond scoffs, shrugging. ‘Andromeda is visible from Earth and, the space around earth- and- should- be visible from anywhere in the milky way.

‘Oh, wait hang on are you about to say,’

‘I’m about to say that, yeah,’

‘You’re about- are you about to say we’re not-

‘Okay look- so- man- look,’ Raymond begins to kind of rock restlessly in his harness, ‘I really don’t WANT- so, it can’t be right? It can’t be that- because- that’s- that’s not a thing! But- then- I AM sure! Because it’s not there! And- even if it were- so- first, the galactic centre is too close,’ he points out of the windshield.

What Nathan had recognised, or thought he had recognised as the familiar paler field across the sky that he had seen a million times. During his usually short stays on the ISS he would often be caught starting out of the cupola, to which the other astronauts usually just nodded with understanding at. In his defence he had been more worried about other things, but now that he looks, the field of stars did indeed look different.

‘Isn’t that Orion’s belt?’

‘That’s just three bright stars.’

‘Yeah alright!’

‘Sorry tha- I’m not tryna- look- I’m not tryna gaslight you here man- look- if that was orion, and it does look like it- give ya that. So- if that’s Orion, then gemini would be right there, and taurus, and cancer over there-

‘Were not even near Earth- We’re-

‘Are- can you- and I’m sorry if you like- don’t wanna think about it but- man- you’re the scientist here right? you know more about this stuff than I do,’

‘Oh god,’ Raymond tenses, aware of what he’s about to have to say,

‘We- ahem- we’re not in the Milky Way anymore, are we?’

‘No.’

‘How sure are you.’

‘I mean not!?’ The man almost yells, suddenly bursting with frustration. ‘I mean- that’s- I can’t be right? but- then- I mean we just AREN’T! like- okay look- see that over there?’ He points to a pale patch away from the milky field of light that apparently is not the Milky Way. ‘So that’s a could galaxy that I THOUGHT might be the Magellanic clouds- but then there’d be the other one right next to it- and it’s just NOT, and so on the other side- you can see there, there’s a little spiral, that looks a bit like Triangulum- but it’s almost on perpen- it’s- it’s just NOT where-’

‘So, you’re sure then.’

‘I- I mean- I really don’t WANT to be- and- look- a good scientist should NEVER say that they’re sure about anything- not a hundred percent,’

‘But if we were,’

‘Then I’d be able to see andromeda from here, and if it was behind the core somehow, and we were just closer to the core, then I should be able to see the Magellanic clouds,’

‘They’re aren’t there either.’

‘So it’s not earth that’s gone- WE’RE- isn’t this the plot of Farscape?’ Nathan asks.

‘Pfft. Yeah. Yeah it is.’ Raymond scoffs. ‘Too much to ask for a cool- living ship and a bunch of Jim Henson characters.’

‘Oh, it was Henson? I only saw a bit of it. Friend said the main character was basically me.’

‘Yeah! Crichton! Well, he was more of a scientist than a pilot or s- yeah I could see that man yeah.’

‘But it’s not Earth that’s gone, we’re the one’s that are gone.’

‘We’re the one- yeah, we’re- gone.’ He takes a very deep breath, letting it out slowly. ‘Very gone.’

‘Okay. So. Okay. So. My- mind- is just- constantly repeating- what do I do now. What can I do- RIGHT now, that would help- now- you’re the scientist,’

‘I’m a BOTONIST! I came up here to try and get common plantation tree to sprout on the ISS I don’t-’

‘I thought you were an astrophysicist!’

‘I am- also- I have degrees in theoretical physics and biology- I’m- I am what you might call a multi disciplinarian,’

‘Fancy.’

‘Okay no but the thing is, there aren’t many people that study multiple scientific areas,’

‘You know I HAVE noticed that. But look- you know more than I do at least,’

‘Look man- I don’t know- what- this is- this is my- this was supposed to be my first trip to the ISS!’

‘That’s some shit luck man, I’m sorry- I saw how glad- ahh- how pleased you looked when the micro gravity kicked in,’

‘I- I’ve been wanting this since I was a kid the- the parabolic plane thing was- I mean that was amazing but THIS!’ The man’s tone lightens. Though the captain can’t see the man’s face he can all but hear the smile.

‘It’s amazing right? Okay look- so, can you, mister multi disciplinarian, think of anything- ahh- readings we could take the- the radar’s working- anything, that we can do, right now?’

Again, the two men sit in silence. Raymond almost starting to speak several times, but stopping before anything comes out.

‘Okay.’ Nathan sighs, sure that Raymond hasn’t any ideas either. ‘Okay how about- AH!’

‘What!?’

‘STOCKTAKE!’

‘Seriously?’ Raymond sighs, after quite a bit of undignified flailing in zero gravity.

‘Okay. So. We were doing a resupply for the ISS, that’s lucky. We have a LOT of food.’ Nathan tries to crack his knuckles, having removed his helmet and gloves, but can’t quite get the last finger.

‘Is that lucky?’ Raymond asks. “Is that worse?” He thinks to himself.

‘Don’t think about that.’ Nathan says, his voice dropping in tone a bit. ‘Okay, so we need to- all the packages have inventory lists, we want to get all of the perishables, ahh, we should have some fresh fruit and stuff people asked for specifically, and get all that in one place,’

‘There isn’t enough- we don’t have a water recycler, we won’t have enough,’

‘Yes, we DO! Look!’ Nathan pushes off, soaring through the air gracefully, to a package on the far side of the shuttle’s cargo hold. ‘See! An entire replacement system for the ISS water recycling- it’s all parts and shit but, I have an engineering degree, and you, are a multi disciplinarian- we can work it out, I’m sure- AND! My job was to install extra solar panels which are RIGHT here- and I do know how they work so I can get them set up just fine- though- I will have to get them outside. But that’s doable. Not- not going to be- FUN, these suits can only work for a few minutes in a vacuum, but,’

‘Captain- I- Nathan, man, this,’

‘Is what you’re about to say helping?’ The captain points a dangerously confident finger at the scientist. ‘Or is it defeatist bullshit that isn’t going to help anyone?’

‘So, what do you think happened?’

‘Gravitational anomaly.’ Raymond sighs, munching on an apple he had taken from the “eat soon” pile.

‘Okay so what does that mean?’

‘Aha- ahh. It’s- look- it’s just- I mean magnetism doesn’t do something like this!’

‘Oh, hey here’s that screw!’ Nathan plucks a small metallic object as it floats past the two, now having returned to the cockpit to star out into an unfamiliar galaxy. Only now with snacks. ‘How’d it get up here? Sorry, go on.’

‘It’s the only thing it could- I mean I’m TRYING to think about what it could possibly have been. But- there isn’t anything it could have possibly been. A black hole passing through Sol? But we would have seen- that’s- none of- of ALL of the things that are- technically possible- I don’t think we even put THIS on the list!

‘Well shit.’

‘Well shit.’ Raymond concurs.

‘Okay. Well. The chemical generators are going to work for a while. I’m going to keep my self busy putting together the solar arrays. Maybe you can- can you do any of your experiments? Keep busy?’

‘Can- can I- are you really- just keep ourselves busy until-’

‘Yep. That’s the plan. Do you have a plan that isn’t- giving up?’

‘Is that?’ Raymond pulls himself right up to the windshield. That last exchange about giving up had shut him right up. ‘Hey- Captain?’

‘Nath, just Nath, come on.’ Nathan insists he drop the formality.

‘Nath, ahh- could you- stop the rotation? Actually, there’s-’

‘Tell me what you need man.’ Nathan, leaving his work trying to make an adapter to later attach the solar cells to the shuttle’s power system.

‘I- pfft. You’re whole- what do I do right now- what do you need me to do-’

‘It’s all I’ve got. Man, I went from, being a good pilot, to being- not- fantastic at being a squad leader, and then back to being a pilot- just- of a- space plane- I mean we can get into it, but- I- much prefer just being told what needs to happen- figuring out how to do it- and do it.’

‘Huh.’ Raymond nods, finding that surprisingly relatable. ‘Okay, so- there’s a- a star, I think, just there,’

‘You think?’

‘Ahh- look- just- can you point- so see there that like, those three stars forming an equilateral triangle right there,’

Near what- also looks like Orion’s belt?’

‘Yeah, so a bit to the left of that there’s a bit of a- a bluish star, can you point us right at that?’

‘I sure can! Hang on, have to- okay, here- I sure can!’ He repeats, proficiently redirecting the shuttle’s rotation. ‘Anything ahh- any ideas?’

‘I- I don’t k- that star look- look- man- look- I- I think I’m grasping at straws here but- don’t worry about it. I just wanna look at that star.’

‘Alright dude. You do you. I’ll be tinkering.’

‘It’s helium.’

‘Sorry?’ Nathan jerks up, having left his work for a while and let himself just float absently for a while.

‘That- the star- that- I don’t think that’s a star.’ Raymond had been staring out at a strange, bluish, almost violet dot in the distance for, based on the clock, almost half an hour.

‘Looks like a s- ahem- what makes you say that?’

‘It’s the wrong colour.’

‘Is- ahh- is it like that- red shit blue shit thing? I never got all of that stuff.’

‘Nah- I- I don’t think that’s a star. I think that’s- that’s the colour of helium ions.’

‘OKaaay- and you can just, tell helium io- ahem- multi disciplinarian, sorry,’

‘Look, my friend Jon and I were talking about pla- look- I think, so, helium ions- helium plasma, has that kind of- violet, purplish look- ahh- like- think- Mace Windu’s lightsaber, but a bit paler.’

‘Okay- yeah it looks a bit purplish, sure.’

‘It could be xenon, but- I’m pretty sure it’s helium.’

‘Okay. And that’s-’

‘And I don’t just know that because I’m black! Okay!’

‘Ha! Alright man I didn’t even think of that- I mean- is it being purplish important?’

‘Well-’ Raymond pauses, not wanting to say it out loud. It was impossible.

‘Please- please man, just- just think out loud.’ Nathan pleads in a troublingly flat tone. ‘I- I need you to.’

‘I- Hmm. It’s impossible- but- one impossible thing has already happened today- so- okay- FINE! I think that’s helium ions- or xenon- doesn’t matter really because BOTH are good fuel for ion engines, but we don’t really have that technology yet, SO!’ He thrusts a finger accusingly toward the purplish dot. ‘I think that’s a spacecraft- with ion engines- and I think it’s coming at us- and I DON’T think it originates from earth!’ He turns, which is not a graceful thing, not being as used to microgravity as his counterpart, and stares his counterpart right in the eye.

‘Ahem. Okay. Here’s what we do. I’m gonna grab some of that chocolate brownie in a bag that I was talking about before and we’re going to si- float- we’re going to float right here, and stare at that dot, and eat mushy brownie that’s actually pretty good, and just watch that dot.’ Nathan states with a comforting surety. ‘Okay?’

‘Ah-’ Raymond wasn’t expecting Nathan to take him seriously at all. ‘Yeah.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah!’

‘Okay. So.’ Nathan scowls at the tiny blue dot, just as he has been for- two bags of brownie eaten with a tiny spoon, at least.

‘Yep.’

‘This is probably wishful thinking,’ he sighs,

‘Yeah, right?’

‘But- I swear that’s getting bigger.’

‘Yeah right!’

‘Okay- okay so- hypothetically,’

‘We have ion engines for satellites- but- nothing that’s going to mo- assuming that is moving, nothing like that.’

‘Hypothetically- if that’s aliens,’

‘Okay no but the thing is I can’t think of anything that that could be other than aliens is the thing!’

‘Okay. So. Being sensible. Being- practical, if that IS aliens, then, what do we do?’

‘MAN I DON’T FREAKING KNOW!’

‘I’m getting the guns.’ Nathan decides.

‘WE HAVE GUNS!?

‘WHY DO WE HAVE GUNS!?’

‘They’re for if something goes wrong in re-entry and we end up in- I mean somewhere with bears, basically.’

‘Oh. Right.’ Raymond immediately nods. ‘Saw a bear when I was camping, scared the shit out of me. Last time I did that.’

‘Okay,’ Nathan lets go of one of the rifles, letting it float midair, ‘I’ve loaded them. To fire, push that down- that’s the safety,’

‘Whoa! Are- no- I do NOT do guns,’

‘Those are ALIENS out there! In the situation that they are indeed aliens out there- then those are ALIENS out there!’

‘And we’re just going to shoot them!’

‘It’s a det- look- sure, they MIGHT come in peace, they also MIGHT NOT! I mean come on man, you’re black!’

‘WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!?’

‘What happened the last time a black person- ahh- encountered a strange ship, filled with strange people that were more technologically advanced than they were!’

‘Ahh-’ the man freezes, his expression shifting a thousand times in a single moment. Death. Slavery. Oppression. That’s what happened. One or more of his own ancestors may very well have been in a very similar position to this many years ago. ‘Okay- yeah man gimme that.’

‘You flick that down- not now- that’s your safety. You flick that down, you pull the trigger, you do NOT have your finger- we practice trigger discipline in this house. You keep your finger like this, along the gun, not near the trigger.’

‘Got it.’

‘Flick down, point, pull trigger. It’s semi auto, pull the trigger, release trigger, pull again.’

‘Flick, aim, pull trigger, pull trigger again.’

‘Got it- if I see your finger near that trigger before anything happens I WILL take that off you.’

‘Right- okay- yeah that’s fair.’

‘So. Now. I guess we’re going to stare at a tiny dot again- but- while holding guns.’ Nathan sighs.

‘It’s- look- it’s been a day man.’ Raymond sighs, his mind trying to deal with the fact that he holds a firearm.

‘Hmmm. Ahaha. Nobody can hear a scream, in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But interestingly, you CAN fire a bullet.’

‘Oh really?’

‘Yeah! I was surprised too.’

‘Oh yeah, I guess so! Huh. I feel like temperature would be an issue at a point- but- that’s not going to be a problem.’

‘Whelp. You keep your eye on that- I think I saw some chocolates back here. Want anything?’

‘Seriously!?’

‘I get snacky when I’m nervous!’

‘They’re a lot bigger than we are.’

‘They’re a LOT bigger than we are, yes.’

‘I would prefer- just- less, less big than that please.’ The two men grip their firearms, white knuckled.

At first neither was sure what they were seeing was real, there being more than enough reason to doubt what they saw with their own eyes. In time the truth became undeniable. The blaze of near violet light, plasma, according to Raymond, had grown and grown, and seemed to split into several distinct sources, seven, separate engines, Raymond suggested.

‘Hey Nathan?’

‘Ahem. Yeah man?’

‘Something occurs to me.’

‘I’m not going to like this- go on.’

‘We’ve only been here for like- two- three hours?’

‘Closer to four now. We’ve been floating here for a while.’

‘They- ahh- got here, pretty quickly.’ Raymond notes.

‘Oh.’ Nathan frowns, his eyes widening simultaneously.

‘See- space is BIG, is the thing- and,’

‘Then- the chances that they were just- in the area,’

‘Just happened by? Very unlikely.’

‘Ahhh. Hey Ray?’

‘Yeah man?’

‘So- we- reach orbit- about to commence burn to meet the ISS, and there’s- what- two seconds?’

‘Around two seconds, yeah.’

‘Of what felt like- mild tur- not even BAD turbulence.’

‘It was- kinda anticlimactic, right?’

‘And all of a sudden the earth’s gone, and- and we’re somewhere else,’

‘Yep.’

‘Dude- did we just get abducted?’

‘Hey Nath?’

‘Yeah man?’

‘Y-you’re married, right?’ Raymond asks as the colossal, metallic construct outside their windshield slowly turns, they expect, to face them directly.

‘I- yeah. Sammy. She was- she was watching the launch.’ The Captain’s fingers clench.

‘Damn.’ Raymond takes a deep breath. ‘I got engaged. Two weeks ago.’

‘Oh! Oh man, I’m- damn.’

‘Yeah. I ahh- she was so excited- said she was going to throw us a party as soon as I got back from- ahem- from my adventure.’

‘God damn it.’

‘I- I w- I just wanna be back home.’

‘With her.’

‘With them.’

‘Hey Ray?’ Nathan asks, as a translucent panel slides into view, several things, creatures, moving behind it.

‘Yeah man?’

‘I- whatever happens next- hopefully a peaceful first contact.’

‘Hopefully yeah.’

‘Whatever happens next, I got you back man.’

‘Thanks man. For what it’s worth- I got your back too.’

‘Let’s- let’s get back home.’

‘What if it’s impossible?’

‘Try anyway. A bunch of impossible things have happened today.’

‘Right. Just do the impossible.’

That Fiancée of yours? She worth attempting the impossible?’

‘Hmph. Yeah- yeah she is.’ A wry smile on the man’s face. ‘Yours?’

‘Oh yeah. My god yes.’

‘The impossible then. Give it a go.’ He scoffs.

‘We’ll be fine. The ace fighter and shuttle pilot- and the botanist. I like it.’