Author: Emma Bedder

The SS-Parrellian drifted through peaceful, empty space. There wasn’t anything around for light years. Stars dotted its surroundings, planting spots of distant white into the endless black. Orlene stood on the bridge; her face almost pressed against the protective window that separated her from oblivion.

“Commander, there’s nothing here.” Illit said, from the pilot’s seat. “I know this is important to you, but we’re just wasting fuel.”

Orlene looked down at a rusted scanner, clutched in her hand. In the centre of the faded screen was an arrow. Above the arrow lay a flashing red dot.

“Another parsec.” Orlene tapped her foot against the floor. “Please.” Illit sighed to himself and started to push the ship a little farther. After a few seconds’ movement, the lights shut off, and the soft hum of the engines came to an abrupt stop.

“What was that?” Illit said, before he turned back to the ship’s tech officer. He could hardly tell where he was through the darkness invading the bridge. “Run a diagnostic. All systems.” The officer pressed a few buttons on the station in front of him and shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“Then what the hell is going on? Commander?” Illit looked beside him, to find no one there. He squinted, wondering whether she hid among the shadows. It was then that Orlene came into view, on the other side of the window.

Orlene moved herself to the front of the ship, as her grav-boots kept her steady. She leaped from the ship’s hull; her suit and the safety line it was attached to the only things between her and a cold nothingness. The weightlessness took a hold of her and pulled her further into the void.

She couldn’t hear Illit banging on the screen, screaming at her to get back into the ship. She only cared about the cosmos in front of her. Stars reflected in her eyes, and she reached out to touch the abyss. It reached back. They touched, for a second, and Orlene felt the weight of the universe hold her hand.

In that moment, she felt the barriers between her and the universe holding her fall apart. Then, the barriers between that universe and everything in it fell in turn. Before her, everything that is, was, and will be twirled around in a dizzying waltz. Up and down, left and right, past and future all felt like redundant distinctions as she danced with eternity.

She thought of the first time she went into space. When she saw her home planet for the first time from above, all conflict and strife seemed meaningless. Now, she saw the same, on a scale that was greater still. She saw it all; every part of it, all at once.

However, it was only for a moment. She pulled away on instinct, her mind overwhelmed. The cosmos retreated from her, but she knew it was still there. Orlene pulled herself back along the safety line. Her body floated towards the ship in one fluid motion, and she began to swing herself around to the airlock in effortless movements.

Even faster than she had disappeared, she appeared back on the bridge. Everyone’s eyes were fixed to her as she sat down in the commander’s chair.

“Thank you, Illit.” She said, as the lights flickered back on. “Now, if you’re ready, I believe there’s some trouble in the Yullon system.”

“What? How could you possibly-” Illit began, before a distress signal appeared on his navigator. He tried starting the ship, and the engines hummed back to life. “Alright. To Yullon it is.”