Across the universe and then

Most nights it isn’t this dark. Sometimes there are stars, but tonight the dark is like a blanket and it’s covering everything. He doesn’t mind, it’s comforting, and its stillness is thorough.

These things would happen in any universe, why not this one? He shifts positions in the chair and tries to close his eyes again. He had been trying to remember his name.

This isn’t the first time he has lost himself. In fact, it isn’t the hundredth. It’s a side effect of the journey, and it never lasts. Even when it would be better if it did.

Across the Universe

He checks the time again and discovers it’s only been five minutes. The chair is no longer comfortable, and he gets up and moves to the window. No point in trying to sleep, it wasn’t coming.

The night is deep, and the dark absolute. He wonders if anyone else is out there. Not likely. Each year there were fewer and fewer. This season had been very slim.

This job is one way. Once accepted, there’s no going back. In fact, it’s a constant forward journey. Getting a paycheck is easy. And the job is simple, just survive until the next universe is found.

It isn’t long before the next trip begins, so he decides to explore. It was his job, after all. He leaves the room and moves toward the rendezvous point.

Again he marvels at the depth of the darkness, it’s almost tangible. Not every place has stars. Sometimes they were too far away.

When he had taken his first trip, he had been excited and curious. He and the others had been pioneers of a new age. Time was funny that way. Time was funny in a lot of ways no one had anticipated.

He walks to the field he had crossed two days earlier, on the other side, is his ship. He hid it here shortly after arrival. The ship has a built in cloaking system for stealth missions. His final report will show this world has been cleared. Likewise, is there anyone left to read the reports? He wonders.

Then

Twenty minutes later, he is aboard his ship and readying for the departure and the hyper jump. There is no way to remember how many of these flights he has done. He lost count long ago. The systems are set, and the small craft lifts up from the ground, and hovers.

It had been over a hundred and fifty years, since he and the others had left earth. He wonders what earth is like now, as the hyper jump begins. Maybe one day he would make it back home.

^{Home Depot}