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Prologue
As the spaceship took off, carrying Chuck back to the command module and one step closer to home, he felt a strange emptiness inside. This is what all the events of the past few days had been leading to – the desperately desired goal – and yet it didn't feel like a victory. He gazed out the ships window at the planet below, as it got smaller and smaller. He couldn't even make out Lem's hometown anymore.
Lem. The kid had risked everything to help him, literally. Things could've so easily ended badly for all of them, but that didn't stop Lem or the others. When had anyone on Earth ever given him that sort of friendship. If he were perfectly honest his life on Earth wasn't as glamourous as he'd made it out to be. Yeah he was an astronaut and that came with a certain level of adoration from the public, but he didn't have anyone in his life. Fleeting encounters with people who were more interested in him for his job than who he was as a person.
He felt like he was about to do something very stupid. Or maybe he was already doing it. Crazy as it sounded, he didn't feel like he was going home. It was almost like he was… leaving it.
"Oh hell!" He exclaimed to himself, "Why not?"
It was a rhetorical question, as he had already made his decision. Trying not to think about it too deeply, he disengaged the autopilot and swung the ship back towards the planet.
There was no going back now.
It was finally all over. Lem should've been relieved really. The past few days had been a living nightmare, and now it was like he'd finally woken up to his normal life. Better than that, he had the girl of his dreams on his arm and an adventure under his belt that made his peers positively greener with envy. And yet… It was so sudden. Even though Chuck had only been with them for a few days, Lem honestly couldn't imagine life without him now.
It was weird how someone could literally fall into his life, turn it upside down, and then just disappear almost as quickly as they appeared. It didn't feel right, there should've been something more. It was over too quickly. Even their hug goodbye had felt rushed, and incomplete. Almost like there was something left unsaid, but Lem couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He hadn't been lying when he said Chuck was his best friend. Oh he had Skiff and he loved the guy, and Eckle was cool for a little kid, but with Chuck it was like an instant connection.
The spaceship was barely visible any more; just a speck at the end of a cloud trail. He didn't know why, but looking at that speck made his heart feel like it was in a vice. Maybe it was because he would miss Chuck, and it was very unlikely they'd ever see each other again. Tears welled up in his eyes at the thought.
"Are you okay Lem?" Neera's gentle voice interupted his private musings, as she lay a hand on his shoulder, her expression concerned.
Normally he'd be ecstatic to have her caring about him like this, but right now he just felt empty.
"I'm fine Neera, I think I just need to be alone." He offered a weak smile.
He could feel her concerned eyes following him as he quickly retreated to the house. He knew that his behaviour was strange and people would notice, but he just had to get out of there. Before the tears fell, before whatever it was he was feeling ended up displayed to all his friends and family. Was it even normal to react this way?
His hand was on the door handle when a cry from the assembled crowd made him turn around.
"Hey! I think the saucer is coming back!"
One of his neighbours, a teenager named Zeb, was pointing up at the speck. It was noticeably closer than it had been only moments before.
It couldn't be. They'd said goodbye, Chuck was on his way home. Just like he'd wanted, just like they'd all wanted. Why would he be coming back. But sure enough, even as Lem watched the speck grew larger and larger, until he could clearly make out the features of the vessel.
It landed back on the planets surface, in almost the exact same spot it had just taken off from, the heavy door hissing mechanically as it slowly opened.