The Distance of a Few Light Years

"And so it was, at long last, the great generational starship Hesperus arrived at its destination, the system of 61 Cygni. After more than 250 earth years wandering in the darkness of space, our ancestors set foot on this beautiful new world and built a new civilization. The end.

"And now time for bed."

"But Grandpa! It's still early! And, and, isn't there more to the story? What happened to everyone on earth?"

"Ahh, well, that part isn't … Well I suppose you are old enough … Are you sure you want me to tell you?"

"Yes! I want to hear more about earth!"

"Hmm, alright, let's see … Despite the great distance, we've never forgotten our fabled homeworld. Again and again we sent messages to earth, but there was never any reply. Long, long after the colony was founded, when interstellar travel had become much faster, a group of explorers decided to re-establish contact, even if it meant going all the way back to earth. And they did. There, they found a planet whose land was covered in permafrost and snow. Beneath the ice were ruins which spoke of a terrible war that happened not long after the launch of the Hesperus. They found not a single person alive. Humanity had perished on earth, destroyed by its own malice and greed.

"The explorers were stricken with profound sorrow and kept searching for something, anything to offer a bit of hope. That's when they found him. Beneath the deep snow cover they excavated the remains of a man, remarkably well preserved. It seemed that he had been caught in a storm early during the ice age and was frozen in a matter of minutes."

"Does that mean he wasn't really dead?"

"That's right. He was transported back in his frozen state, and doctors began the slow process of nanorobotic cellular regeneration. The entire world held its breath. One day, he awoke. "Where is it?" He asked, and kept asking. You see, when he was frozen he was clutching a metal case which contained an ancient memory card. It had the data stores of an android girl of that era, and it was not difficult to recreate her body based on historical data and to restore her memories. So you see there were two survivors from earth. Remember when we went to the central library? Remember that holo-image by the entrance? That's them, at the moment of their reunion."

"I remember it! So then what happened?"

"They were welcomed as heroes, and they traveled to every corner of this world, and to every off-world outpost and terraforming station, telling people about the ancient constellations and myths of old earth. And they lived happily ever after. Now it's truly time for bed."

•

The old man closed his eyes and waited, but sleep wouldn't come. He arose out of bed. After checking once more on his granddaughter, he made a cup of tea and stepped out onto the balcony. Both Cygni A and B had set, and the sky glimmered with stars. The old man took a sip of tea and looked up to find Sol, a bright star around which cold and lifeless earth still continued its orbit. And he thought about the man and robot from earth. "If only it was like a fairy tale…" He said to himself. He remembered his fascination when, as a boy, he first saw that holo-image at the entrance of the library. A bouquet in one hand, Yumemi's small frame was lifted off the ground, so tightly did the Junker hold her to him. He remembered when, as a young man, he finally had the chance to watch Yumemi's projection in person. He fell in love with the robot girl then. And he remembered his grief when, shortly after, he heard the news of their transport accident. In the night sky, not far from Sol, the old man caught the light of Mu Velorum. There, the binary stars were given the names Hoshino Yumemi and The Junker, and there, at last, they joined the stars they both loved so much, and would stay by each other forever. As though recalling the words of a prayer, he softly recited the words Yumemi spoke to him so long ago:

Why don't you come to the planetarium?

The beautiful twinkling of eternity that will never fade, no matter what.

All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.