I stare at the blinking cursor, trying to decide what to say. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I might be able to talk to the crew of the other ship. I type Thank you.
I quickly delete that, and then feel like an idiot. This shouldn’t be hard, but for some reason I feel shy. What if I say the wrong thing, and make a terrible first impression? Should I be formal and polite, or funny and relaxed? This would be so much easier if they’d sent me a message first. Then I could just copy their tone, instead of having to try and work out what to say myself.
From: The Infinity Sent: 26/02/2067
To: The Eternity Predicted date of receipt: 08/06/2067
Dear the crew of The Eternity,
I received your transmission today. Loch & Ness is my favourite show – thank you so much.
Congratulations on your successful voyage so far. I trust that everything is progressing safely with your journey to date.
This message is going to take almost four months to reach you, but I’m glad that we can communicate at all, regardless of the time delay.
It’s nice to know that I’m not alone out here.
Commander Romy Silvers
I reread the message three times, finally deciding that while I definitely sound awkward, I don’t sound as stupid as I could, so it’ll have to do.
I send it off, then firmly tell myself not to think about them again. They’re still closer to Earth than to me, so it’ll take months for a reply to arrive. I should try to relax about it, at least for now.
I used to be able to have reasonable conversations with people back on Earth. The ship has been travelling away from the solar system at just under a tenth of the speed of light for my entire life, so even though light is the fastest thing in the universe, messages currently take over a year to travel through deep space between me and Earth – and the delay increases every day.
At this point, it’s almost impossible to have a proper conversation with anyone on Earth. When Molly finally receives my messages, even if she replies immediately, it still takes another year (plus the extra distance I’ve travelled since I sent my message) for her reply to arrive. Though at least I get messages from her every day, even if they are out of date.
When I was little, messages would only take a few months to reach Earth from The Infinity. I was too impatient even then. At least as a kid I had Dad to talk to.
He used to send me letters, when I got really annoyed with waiting for replies from Earth. Letters on actual paper (or rather, an old flattened food packet, which was as close as we could get), which he would hand to me over breakfast. It would always be something silly, like a formal invitation to play a game of hide-and-seek after lunch, complete with scrollwork, calligraphy and a hand-drawn stamp.
Whenever I replied, it would never look as beautiful, however hard I tried.
I miss Dad.
I try not to think about my mother.
An hour after I’ve sent off my message, an email arrives from The Eternity. For a second, I think it’s a reply, before realizing that’s impossible. But they must have sent the message straight after the episode, for it to be arriving now.
From: The Eternity Sent: 26/06/2065
To: The Infinity Received: 26/02/2067
Dear Commander Silvers,
I’m delighted to be opening up an official line of communication between The Infinity and The Eternity, since in relative terms we’re now neighbors. As there’s not an established protocol for how to enter into communications between the only two manned spaceships outside the solar system, I thought that an episode of Loch & Ness would be a welcome opening gambit.
I look forward to receiving a response from you in two years, which is how long it will take to receive a reply according to The Eternity’s computer.
I wish you a safe journey.
Yours sincerely,
Commander J Shoreditch (the guy on the other ship!)
It’s a lovely email. It’s a bit awkward and formal, but then so was my email to him. It’s a thrill talking to someone new.
I’m rereading the message, trying to decide what to say in reply, when I remember that I already sent a reply to the episode of Loch & Ness, addressed to “the crew of The Eternity”. I don’t want Commander Shoreditch to think that I’m ignoring his email, or am too rude to talk to him directly.
I quickly access the transponder, trying to cancel the transmission before it sends – but it’s too late. The message is already gone, shooting through deep space.
I need to send another email explaining, as soon as possible.
From: The Infinity Sent: 26/02/2067
To: The Eternity Predicted date of receipt: 08/06/2067
Dear Commander Shoreditch,
I apologize for my last message – I hadn’t yet received your email when I sent it. It’s very nice to e-meet you.
It’s strange to think that by the time this message reaches your ship, you will only be a few months’ travel away from mine. I hope that the two ships can unite and work together to make our journey as easy as possible.
I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
Commander Romy Silvers
DAYS UNTIL THE ETERNITY ARRIVES:
363
Today Molly has sent me an email instead of her usual voice message, which catches me by surprise.
From: NASA Earth Sent: 23/06/2065
To: The Infinity Received: 27/02/2067
Hi Romy,
We have some bad news for you. Recently NASA have been finding it difficult to gain enough access to the Deep Space Network telecommunications antennas to send you any large transmissions. Unfortunately, The Infinity has just been ruled a low-priority mission by the international board. This means that using the DSN to transmit high-memory data such as audio files is no longer considered a valuable use of space agency resources.
From now on, only email communication will be possible except in unavoidable circumstances – meaning that I’m not going to be able to send you any more voice messages. Unfortunately, we also can’t send any music or podcasts.
The Advisory Council thinks that this will only be a short-term issue, and it is likely that we may be able to resume our original broadcasting schedule in the future, once the political climate changes.
I’m sorry.
Molly
No more audio. The quiet happiness I’ve been carrying around since I found out about The Eternity drops away.
I had no idea this was possible. It’s a scenario I’ve never even worried about – and I’ve worried about most things, realistic or not. The further away The Infinity travels from Earth, the longer it takes for messages to arrive. I know that. I’ve accepted it. But to get no audio messages at all? It’s all I have.