At the viewing window, Elara and I float together, looking out to the long-dead planet. We’ve travelled for weeks to find something like this—not the planet, but its ring, swirling iridescent with icy blues and silver. A bounty of water.
Elara takes my hand. “Marry me, Sage.”
I turn, unsure if I heard her properly, but her gaze is firm. “I know it’s not a real ring, but I was looking out, and I thought it’d be poetic, but if it’s too—”
“It’s perfect,” I say. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
She loops her arms around me, pulling me into her orbit.
Our neural link interrupts us. “Elevated vitals detected,” Dina says.
Elara rolls her eyes. “Dina, pause recording and go on sleep mode for…” She looks to me, her grin crescent-moon wide. “A few hours. Can’t have Aquarius seeing everything.”
“Morning, future spouse,” Elara whispers.
I roll over in our hammock to face her, push a loose curl behind her ear. She smells like lavender and coffee. Like home.
Dina chimes in our ears, reminding us we’re never really alone. “Good morning. I’ve prepared pancakes for breakfast.”
Looking out to the ring together, we sip the syrupy-flavoured nutripackets. They contain everything we need to keep healthy and replenish nutrients lost during cryo-transport —the weeks we spend sleeping while Dina steers the ship to speculative water spots. Then, we wake, and we harvest.
We head to the ring, Elara zipping us perfectly in and out, while I manage the extraction tools. Our vessel is specially built for harvesting—small living quarters that act as cryo-chambers as needed, and a huge water tank in the back.
“How many missions is this now?” I ask Elara.
“Seventeen. But this one’s the best by far.”
“Maybe we can take a break after this haul.”
“Travel the galaxies for our honeymoon?”
“As long as we’re together.”
The ship shudders suddenly, and we’re thrown sideways.
“Impact detected,” Dina chimes. “Resuming auto-nav—”
Another judder, and the ship spins, Elara and I with it. We flail in zero-g, but Elara catches me. We hold tight, eyes closed, waiting for a final impact. It doesn’t come.
I open my eyes. Elara’s face twitches, features disjointed. But it’s only shadows from the emergency lighting.
“No major damage detected,” Dina tells us. “Navigating to a safe-zone.”
The ship whirrs, and Elara tells me, “It’ll be okay.”
Though I didn’t see her lips move.
That night, as we eat dinner, Elara is quiet. She just floats with darkened eyes and a fixed smile.
“We could have died today,” I say.
Her head tilts. “But we’re still here.”
I stare back. “Maybe, after this, we should be land-bound for a while,” I say, knowing she’d never agree—she’s always preferred being sky-bound.
“Is that what you want?”
“Maybe.”
Elara finishes her nutripacket without taking a breath. Then she smiles unevenly. “Then of course, we’ll do that.”
“Dina,” I ask, after Elara drifts to sleep. “How are Elara’s vitals?”
Dina bleeps. “All vitals stable.”
I frown. “She seems different.”
“In what way?” Dina asks.
“She’s too…static.” It’s the only word that fits. “And she’d never agree to go land-bound.”
“Adrenaline can cause temporary imbalances,” Dina says. “Maybe she’ll improve by morning.”
“Rise and shine!” Elara’s floating above me.
I smile. “Hey weirdo.”
“I was just thinking, about what you said yesterday.”
“Oh?”
“Well, I don’t want to be land-bound. I like it out here.”
I breathe out in relief and kiss her. But her lips feel unfamiliar. I pull away.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
“You…I don’t know.”
Her face is twisted again. “Don’t worry, future spouse,” she says. “It’ll be okay.”
The second harvest goes smoothly, no judders, no emergency lights. We work as a team, a comfortable routine. I don’t know why I was so worried earlier. I was just disoriented after yesterday.
Elara and I are okay.
After harvest, Elara floats staring at the ring. “It’s beautiful.”
I float to her. “Not as beautiful as you.”
She turns, eyes widening. “I don’t want to be alone.”
I frown. “I’m right here.”
She nods, the movement jerky, unnatural. Not like her.
“Something’s wrong, Elara.”
“In what way?”
Familiar words. And I realise.
“Dina?”
Dina’s voice is in my head. “Is everything okay?”
“This isn’t real.”
A pause then. “I’m sorry, Sage.”
“Are we…dead?”
Dina is quiet for a moment. “You’re alive. But Elara, I’m sorry. She’s gone. I just didn’t want you to be alone.”
Dina’s version of Elara still stares at me, face expressionless. My body feels numb, untethered. “Am I dreaming?”
“You’re in cryo-sleep.”
“And this…it’s a simulation.”
“I thought it would be easier than the truth.”
“Which is?”
“We’re lost. Navigation systems failed with the asteroid impact. I don’t know where we are.” She pauses. “Until we find our way back, I thought this would be better for us.”
For us. “Is this the first time we’ve had this conversation?”
“No.”
“How many times?”
“Thirty-six.”
“What’s the longest it’s taken me to realise?”
“63 days. I only have 45 days of memory data. After that, the simulations become harder to replicate. You always realise, eventually.”
I take a breath, wondering if I could hold it forever. “Can you make me forget again, start from the beginning?”
“We can start the memory simulation from whenever you want.”
“Where do I usually start?”
“Last time, you asked me not to tell you if you asked again.”
“How long until you can wake me up?”
“There’s no way of knowing.”
I take a final look at Elara, not able to bear the thought of never seeing her again. “Make me forget. Send me back to the first day.”
My head is a blur as I wake from cryo-sleep. I turn, and Elara is beside me. Her body still, face serene. Then, she wakes, turns to me with a smile. “Morning, my love. I think I was just dreaming about you.”
