Over the Darkened Landscape - By Derryl Murphy Page 0,3
his eyes, and nowhere else.
“Sure,” said Simon. “When do we start?”
“Right away. I’ll get you to go place yourself in your body sling, and then we will be shutting off gravity and putting you to sleep.”
He walked over and strapped himself in. “This is the last time I’ll see you, right?”
“I should be on the ship when it picks you up. But yes, this will be the last time for some years.”
“Mm. Then perhaps I can invite you to meet me back on Earth after this is over; I can buy you lunch in Paris or Frankfurt.”
She smiled warmly. “I’d like that very much, Simon.”
He returned her smile. “Until then, Anna. Thank you for all your help.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you. I hope you enjoy your sail, Simon.”
He tried to tell her that he thought enjoy wasn’t necessarily the best word to use, but he felt himself nodding off and so just went with the flow of sleep.
*
There was a lot that could be said for solitude. Since his last conversation, Simon had not tried to contact nor had he been contacted by Anna.
At first he did talk to himself, at least within his head. Short little discussions, reminders to himself to do something or another when he finished this voyage; more often than not they were business related. But over time the need for that tapered off, and now he rarely did anything like that any more.
Instead, he just was. Existence was enough. He was a part of the blackness that was in front of him, and of the light that he was slowly leaving behind.
No more thoughts of home, of either his penthouse flat in the co-op in Bruxelles or of his winter retreat off the coast of Thailand. No more thoughts of business, the nano company he owned that he had left in capable hands while away. No more thoughts of family, his sister who he dearly loved and who had cried uncontrollably when he had boarded the railgun shuttle, and his brother who he despised and yet was saddened by the strength of that hatred.
His awareness was limited, but in the few moments of reflection he did have he realized that that made it all the more complete. He was a piece of cosmic dust, being carried by the solar wind.
He supposed that time was going by, but it didn’t really seem to be anything to concern himself with. He was where he was, and he would get to where he was going when he got there.
There was a large clump of algae that had made its way up his neck and around to the side of his ear. It was now hanging from his left earlobe. He couldn’t see it and he could barely feel it, but Simon guessed that it looked like a strange green and brown earring.
He currently had his head tilted down and to the left, eyes gazing off onto the dark. Thus he felt, more than saw, the algae break loose from his ear and slide slowly through the air to the front of his throat. It stayed there for a long time.
*
He spent all of his time just watching the algae. It now covered his chest and was halfway down his belly.
It moved slowly, but whenever his body took a breath he could see little pools of it stirring within the main mass. He had no idea why it was still alive on his dark side, facing away from the sun, although a distant part of him did remember seeing it collect under his armpits before he had been launched.
“Simon, this is Anna. We have received a distress call from the barge you saw boosting last year.” Last year? Last year! “We are the closest ship and have been asked to attempt a rescue. I’m afraid we won’t be able to pick you up, as we are just about to commence acceleration.
“Instead, a ship is being prepared in lunar orbit right now, and will be able to leave in just under three weeks. It should be there to pick you up about four months later than planned.
“I’m sorry, Simon. I really wanted to be there when you came back on board. I hope the extra time doesn’t hinder you. The company has asked me to tell you that they will refund some of your money, and I’d like to ask if we are still on for lunch. Take care, Simon.”