I’ve set myself up for heartbreak – but I didn’t even know it was happening. I thought I was just happy to have a friend, someone to talk to after everyone on Earth abandoned me. I didn’t realize that I could feel this lust for someone I’ve never even seen.
I wonder what to do now that I know. Because already I can see that there’s no going back.
DAYS UNTIL THE ETERNITY ARRIVES:
162
From: UPR Sent: 22/12/2065
To: The Infinity Received: 16/09/2067
Subject: For Attention of The Infinity
Commander Silvers,
Analysis of efficiency of the vessel The Infinity continues. Once new software is running smoothly, please limit water use by ten per cent. Reducing of shower duration by one minute each day will increase resource utilization and minimize energy loss. It will ensure that equipment is operating at its highest power mode for the full duration of The Infinity’s voyage.
Thank you for all your patience while new orders are being determined. More instructions to arrive in the coming weeks.
All hail the UPR! May the King live long and vigorously!
The ingenious methods that the UPR come up with to save more energy always take me by surprise. They’re so obvious that it makes me feel guilty for not thinking of them myself.
The computer failures around the ship have been getting more and more frequent. The lights seem to go off every other day now, even though I’ve checked everything for faults and found nothing. I’ve started carrying a torch wherever I go.
I don’t know whether a power shortage or a fault in the circuits and software is causing the computer failures, but I can’t risk doing something that might shut down the freezers or lights again – or, worse, the life-support systems. If that happened, I would probably be dead before I even noticed.
It makes sense to conserve power like the UPR are suggesting, even if efficiency isn’t the root of the problem. I have to do it. There’s not a doubt in my mind about that. The UPR have been right about everything else so far.
From: The Eternity Sent: 22/03/2067
To: The Infinity Received: 16/09/2067
Romy,
I’ve been thinking about “Earth food” a lot today. It’s not that I don’t love exploring the universe, but there’s a lot of struggles that come with it. One of them is definitely the messed-up cuisine.
I know you’ve never had real food, just this terrible dehydrated stuff, but I have. I miss it more than I ever thought I could.
I would give almost anything for: pizza, so hot it burns your tongue; a Big Mac with melty plastic cheese and mayonnaise; a bucket of KFC, chicken skin crisped to perfection; a burrito, spilling guacamole and tomato salsa.
But I’m never going to have any of those again, so I guess I’ll just have to make do with today’s meal, which is apparently … solid oxtail soup. It’s a real challenge.
From (a very hungry and very frustrated),
J x
From: The Infinity Sent: 16/09/2067
To: The Eternity Predicted date of receipt: 16/10/2067
J,
I’m sorry that spaceship cuisine isn’t to your taste. When you arrive, I’ll bake chocolate gateau à la Romy. It will make your taste buds explode in delight. (Don’t get too excited. It’s a recipe I concocted when I was nine, and it’s comprised mainly of chocolate pudding. There aren’t any baking ingredients here either.)
R x
The things I tell J are bigger than I ever intend them to be. My words betray me. With every email I’m making myself vulnerable, showing him how much he means to me.
Ever since I realized how I really feel about him, I’ve become obsessed. I literally can’t stop thinking about us. The idea that we are going to raise the next generation of humans sends electricity tingling down my spine. We’re going to be the Adam and Eve of the new planet. It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. When I think of J, I think: soulmate and for ever and mine.
DAYS UNTIL THE ETERNITY ARRIVES:
156
I’m chewing on a particularly tough piece of beef in black bean sauce when I feel a sharp twinge in my jaw. I spit the meat into my palm and rub my thumb over the tooth. Pain shoots through my gum, so painful it makes me tear up.
I’ve been noticing for a while that the tooth aches whenever I drink cold water, but I’ve been ignoring it, in the hope that it will go away on its own. I don’t think it’s going to, though.
There’s an orthodontic machine on board that performs dental surgery and check-ups – you just stick your mouth inside and it does everything itself – but I haven’t used it in years. It’s in the sick bay. I’d rather put up with any kind of pain than go in there.
I abandon the beef in black bean sauce and eat some porridge instead, carefully pushing it over to the left side of my mouth so that it doesn’t touch my aching tooth. I can live with this. It’ll be fine.
It really hurts.
DAYS UNTIL THE ETERNITY ARRIVES:
146
From: The Eternity Sent: 11/05/2067
To: The Infinity Received: 02/10/2067
I decided when I woke up that this is not gonna be one of those days where I sit around watching TV. I am going to do something productive. So I’ve been practicing the flight protocols all day.
The simulation for landing on the new planet is basically a video game, isn’t it? In my version, there are little graphics of you and me who jump up and down when the ships touch the ground. Every time I see it, I find it increasingly hard to believe that one day it will really be us. It already feels like I’ve been traveling for ever.
J xx
On my run today, I came up with an idea for using the UPR’s new software to make my route more interesting. I can project other runners on the walls of the corridor and race them around the ship.
I look through the archives on the hard drive, and track down some old Wii Fit video games with running scenes. I add two new avatars to the game so that it looks like I’m racing Jayden and Lyra.
To my delight, it actually works.
I let Jayden win, just so I can stand, sweaty and panting for breath, and watch the avatar lift up his arms. He celebrates his victory with a silly dance, fireworks filling the screen behind him.
I’m overwhelmed with sudden gratitude to the UPR for giving me something so lovely. With their new software, it’s like they’ve actually sent me Jayden Ness. A life-size model of him!
I press my hand against the wall, standing so close that his grinning face is just a blur of pixels, and wish with every atom of my body that this wasn’t just a simulation, that Jayden was really here with me.
I keep thinking about what it will be like when the ships finally meet. J and I will hug, wrapping ourselves up in each other for endless seconds. In my head, he smells of lime and wood. He’ll brush the hair away from my face, and his thumb will move in slow sweeps across the back of my hand.
I want that to come true. Soon.
I can’t believe that I get to talk to J every day. I can’t believe he’s as excited to meet me as I am to meet him; that he pictures us together on Earth II.
Today he put two kisses at the end of his email. We’ve come such a long way from when we called each other Commander Silvers and Commander Shoreditch.
DAYS UNTIL THE ETERNITY ARRIVES:
144