It was one of those evenings where one could see the sun descend and the moon wake at the same time. The pale blue sky was awash with streaks of violet, and it made the slivery disc look more like a ghostly apparition than an astronomical body orbiting planet Earth.
He had still not returned.
With a sigh, the Spaceman’s Wife abandons gazing at the darkening hemisphere and instead casts her eyes over the rolling green fields in search for something to busy herself with.
She had already serviced the speeder, and today’s harvest was also complete; she would have the crops shipped from the Cryopool in the morning. Baz was in the farmhouse finishing his schoolwork – later, she would ask him to help her bring in the cattle before nightfall. She could clip the laundry behind the house, but…
She checks her Nova. The tracker had gone dead a day and a half ago. It was normal for him to be late – often he would return delayed by days, sometimes weeks – but the tracker being OFFLINE gave her a bad feeling. She resets the application and commands a NEW SCAN. SEARCHING… She holds her breath – but still, as with the day before, the blinking green dot doesn’t appear on the visor.
“I guess I will clip the laundry then,” she mutters under her breath.
She makes her way to the back of the house where the laundry has already been clipped and neatly folded by the X9. Defeated, she sits on the porch and buries her face in her palms. She welcomes the darkness. Her tension breaks and exhaustion takes over.
“Mom?”
She doesn’t know how long she’s been sitting there.
When she opens her eyes, the farmhouse’s Reflex Lighting System is already shut down. The stars sparkle in the sky. The 360° view from the hill is magnificent at night.
“Do you think he’ll be back soon?” Her son puts an arm on her shoulder and sits down next to her.
“I hope so... – ”
Suddenly the Nova beeps loudly. The signal flashes red.
BEEP BEPP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Wildly, the Spaceman’s Wife stares into the visor. It’s approaching – and fast. She stands and paces toward the middle of the yard for a better view, searching the skies for a sign – and she stops mid-step. Her heart sinks.
A blazing streak of white, hot light smashes through the atmosphere like a comet. Debris breaks off leaving behind a trail of orange flares and fireworks. For a moment, the whole farm lights up as the blistering ship passes over their heads and descends into the distance, behind the horizon. Then, they hear the crash and feel the earth tremble.
“Oh no.” she says.
She hits the ALARM and runs.
TO BE CONTINUED
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