Such A Timeless Flight

A group of people talk around a table on a rocket ship one way flight to the Sun. For more of my writing, go to andrewhenleywriting.wordpress.com

In their white hot metal sardine tin of regret, four people sit around a clean plastic table. A grey cage rests on the table, with a black cat inside. The cat pushes its pink nose and yellow eyes close to the bars. It lets out a strained, drowsy meow, then curls up inside itself and goes to sleep. It struggles to escape then gives up and collapses.

 

A robotic stewardess, built to be curvaceously pleasing to the men but not jealousy inducing in the women, walks down the aisle and everyone removes a personalised tray with their pre-selected meals. The cat owner is a woman of 60 with messy grey hair that looked like she slept on it funny five years ago and hasn’t gotten around to washing it. She removes her cup of tea, jam sandwich, and a chunk of tuna for the cat. She places the cage underneath the table and drops the tuna through the mesh at the top. The cat wakes up and tiredly licks and chews at the fish. Next to her, a grizzled old man, north of 70, with a bald head and earthy callused skin from a lifetime of manual labour messily eats a steak and kidney pie with thick cut chips. Opposite him, a young dark haired woman no more than 30 selects a chicken caesar salad and begins to eat, slowly and delicately. Her face is pretty with a hard quality, like a graffiti masterpiece. Completing the table, a sandy haired man with an athletically aged body has a Lumberjack breakfast of eggs and a T-bone. His physique would put most men his age to shame, but something about his body language suggests it’s nowhere near as good as it was 30 years ago, when he was 18. Perhaps that’s the reason he’s here. It would be a strange reason, but not the strangest on board.

 

“So,” the young woman kindly breaks the silence, “Why are you all here?”
The athletic man stares out the window into the black void, as orange and red tongue curl and spit at the edge of his vision. The grizzled man struggles to speak through a mouthful of gravy soaked meat.
The old woman puts down her crust and answers, “My husband died a few years back. Ever since then it’s just been me and Sooty here. When we heard about this, we thought it would be good to go out with a bang. Didn’t we, Soots?” she says as she taps the cat cage with her foot.
“That sounds nice.”
“And you?” the old lady asked the younger one with a sweet smile.
“I’m… I was a firefighter. Tried to be a hero and my best friend came in with me. She was crushed by a ceiling support beam. It was my fault. This is my repentance. Eye for an eye.”
Silence descended again as the old man with grey hair finishes his pie. The athletic man remains looking out the window, as if his eyes were swallowing up their surroundings. He was obsessed with the infinite, insurmountable challenges of life.

The old man removes a cigarette and lighter with a silhouette of a pin up girl.
“Whoa, you can’t do that here!”
The young woman grabs the cigarette from his mouth.
“What? In case we all die?” he snorts.
“Why did you join this trip?” the older woman asks, still looking down at the cat cage between her feet.
“Cancer. The lungs.”
“And you still smoke?” the young lady asks in a shocked tone.
“Actually, I never smoked in my life until I got the… whatchacallit? Diagnosis. Then I figured, well, nothing stopping me. Now, I just want to bow out on my own terms.”
“Fine. But you’re not having this back.” the young woman tells him as she pockets the cigarette.”
“Okay, officer.”
“What about you dear?” the older woman asks, as she taps on the hard shoulder of the athletic man. “What made you sign up?”
Still looking out of the window, as the enticing heat of the fiery tongues grew closer, the athletic man answers, “Adventure.”
“You know it’s a one way trip, son,” the old man tells him with a disbelieving and disapproving tone.
“A one way trip to The Next Frontier. I’ve climbed mountains on every continent; I’ve been to the moon. We will be the first humans ever to go to the Sun. You might be going there to die. I’m going there to live.”

 

A death defined in history. That’s what he wanted. He had conquered natures greatest obstacles on Earth, now he needed a bigger challenge. For most people, this was just a fun way to kick the bucket. Exciting euthanasia. But he didn’t think of it as death. That wasn’t his goal. That was just a consequence. He was absorbing himself into the most powerful presence in the known galaxy.

 

In the black vacuum of space, their rocket with its robotic cabin crew and pilot crash lands on the Sun, Earth’s closest star. The biggest suicide pact in the history of mankind. The Next Frontier was reached.