The Loneliest Girl in the Universe(13)

In the past, NASA have filtered the information they transmit to me, leaving gaps in newspaper articles. I think they

censor out any media content with a personal connection to me and The Infinity so I don’t get upset.

It makes sense that they’d do the same for news about the war. I think they were trying to stop me from panicking.

You have more recent knowledge of Earth’s political situation. Please tell me everything that you know, even if your response won’t reach me for months. I can’t work out how the jigsaw pieces fit together in a way that explains this situation.

Romy Silvers


I wonder where Molly is now. I think I’m going to carry on sending her messages every day, along with any fics I write, just in case there’s a chance she’s reading them. She’d be worried about me if I stopped.

I just wish I knew if she’s still there. I hope Molly is waiting in the lab for permission to send me messages once the war has died down.

What has she been doing while her last message travelled through space towards me?

Is she dead?





DAYS UNTIL THE ETERNITY ARRIVES:


338


I think I’ve worked out a way to contact Molly. I need to get in touch with someone on Earth besides NASA. Even if they’ve stopped using their antennas because of the war, there must be someone else picking up signals, on some continent, in some other organization. If I can just get a message to them, they might be able to pass it on to Molly somehow. Then she can let me know if she’s OK.

I find a list of all the government space agencies around the world, and track down the coordinates of their antennas, satellites and space stations orbiting Earth. It’s a long shot – some of the organizations might not exist at all any more, or might have shut down their operations because of the war too – but I can’t just sit here and do nothing. I would never forgive myself if I didn’t even try.

From: The Infinity Sent: 24/03/2067

Predicted date of receipt: 05/12/2068

To: ESA; ISRO; CNSA; JAXA; RFSA; AEM; APSCO; UKSA; ISA; ASI; KCST; KARI; CNES

Subject: FAO Dr Molly Simmons – URGENT

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is Commander Romy Silvers, broadcasting from the NASA spacecraft The Infinity. I am transmitting this message to Earth in the hope of reaching someone who is still scanning for signals from deep space.

I wish to be put in contact with Dr Molly Simmons, an employee at NASA who used to be in charge of my communications with Earth. I have received no information about her whereabouts, and since the war started she might have relocated, but I know that she is a trained psychologist and therapist with a degree from Harvard University. Her sister is a general posted at the military base on Antarctica. She has a cat called Nino.

If there’s any way for you to determine the current location of Dr Simmons and send her this message, I would be very grateful. I would like to know whether she is safe during the conflict on Earth.

I will be for ever in your debt if you could grant me this favour.

Yours faithfully,

Commander R. Silvers


Message to Dr Molly Simmons as follows:

Molly,

I really hope you get this message. I’m completely out of other ideas for how to speak to you.

I’m so worried about you, and I just can’t stand not knowing whether you’re safe any more. Are you OK? Please, please be OK.

I hope your sister is safe too. I hope she’s not fighting in the war, or at least that she’s not on the front line.

More than anything, I just want to hear from you again. I’ve been very lucky, as I have Commander Shoreditch of The Eternity to talk to. His support has been incredible. But I miss you so much it hurts.

Stay safe, for me.

Romy x


I stay up late writing fic, practising the piano on the helm’s touchscreen and basically doing anything possible to avoid going to sleep. I can’t have another dream about the astronauts. I can’t handle that, not on top of everything else.

I’ve had the nightmares since I was four, when we lost the astronauts. The sight of hundreds of corpses has been impossible to erase from my mind. I don’t really remember a time before the astronauts began to haunt my nights.

Dad used to let me sleep in his bunk in those early days when my mother wasn’t sleeping at all. When she just stayed in the sick bay, trying and failing to fix what had gone wrong.

Some nights, Dad would wake up screaming from nightmares too. I think that made it worse. For everything else that upset me, Dad was there to make it better. A problem with the ship? He knew what to do. A headache or injury? He could fix it.

But the astronauts – they scared him too. They scared him more than they did me. That left me petrified. If my incredible, brave, genius father was helpless against them, then what hope did I have?

There was nothing to be done back then but wait it out.

All three of us tried our best. I suppose the lingering nightmares are a small price to pay for what happened to them. I got off lightly, compared with my mother.


I wake up shivering at five in the morning to find myself still at the helm, my head pillowed on my arms and a fic open on the computer. Line after line of Js fill the page. I must have fallen asleep with my head touching the keyboard, typing Jayden’s name.

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