The Loneliest Girl in the Universe(61)
I’ve done some horrifying things; things I never thought I was capable of. But it was right. I don’t doubt that. It could have been a lot worse. For once, I did what I needed to do. I didn’t panic. I didn’t cry. I just did it.
When I run out of romcoms and my legs start to spasm from lying in one position for too long, I begin to explore the ship. At first, I check around every corner. Some part of my brain is still convinced that J is lying in wait, ready to pounce. But as I cover more ground, I start to relax.
I’m alone. He’s gone, for ever. I defended myself, and I never need to be scared of him again.
When I open the door of a room near the sick bay, it takes me a long time to process what’s inside. Pods. Hundreds of them. Stasis chambers stretch as far as I can see.
As soon as I realize what it means – that the new ship is full of sleeping people, and they are grown-ups, not just embryos – I burst into tears.
I hadn’t imagined there would be any stasis pods on this ship, not after the astronauts died last time. But NASA must have fixed the technology. All this time, J was just the caretaker who stayed awake for the journey. He wasn’t the main passenger.
When I read the name ISAAC EVANS on the front of one of the pods, my tears increase with relief. J didn’t kill him, like I suspected. There’s someone inside, so he must have forced him into stasis so he could get me alone.
I walk the aisles, running my hands across the pods. NASA have sent me a whole colony. There are hundreds of people, right here. I’m never going to be alone again.
I wipe away my tears, and press the REVIVE button on the nearest pod.
HAPPILY EVER AFTER
by TheLoneliestGirl
Fandom: Loch & Ness (2042) Relationship: Gen Tags: Space AU
Summary: Lyra is finally at peace.
Author’s note:
Hi Earth, (Hi Molly!)
It’s been a long time. A lot has happened recently, but I’m not quite sure how to put it into words.
The ships have met and joined together now. The Eternity did have to slow down for a while and wait for The Infinity to catch up, but we recovered the speed. Our estimated arrival date on Earth II is now November 2071. I’ll be twenty.
For once, I’m not scared. I can’t wait. I’m not sure what it will be like on Earth II, or what problems we might have to deal with during the rest of our journey. But whatever happens, I think I can handle it.
Molly, I can’t say that I’ve become the confident, brave woman you hoped I would, but I think I’m getting there. I think I’m going to be OK, Molly. I really do.
Love, Romy
Lyra wiped sweat off her forehead, peering up into the pink sky. She stretched out her back, which ached after a morning spent planting seedlings.
The three moons gleamed brightly overhead, crossing the sky in a not-quite-straight line. Only a few more minutes until they aligned, she decided.
She pulled out her water bottle and drank deeply, eyes following The Infinite Eternity as it landed in a cloud of luminescent dust, bringing in a cargo of minerals to the colony from the next planet over.
“Happy anniversary!” a little girl said as she ran down the lane.
Lyra smiled after her, watching an excitable puppy jump around at the girl’s ankles. When she looked back up at the sky, the moons had made a perfect stripe across the horizon.
“Five years today,” Lyra murmured, hardly able to believe it. “Doesn’t time fly?”
fin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to my agent, Claire Wilson, and my editors, Emily McDonnell, Emilia Rhodes and Annalie Grainger. You’ve been the dream team. Thanks to everyone at Walker Books, Rogers, Coleridge & White and HarperCollins US, especially Rosie Price, Rosi Crawley, Katarina Jovanovic, Gill Evans, Sorrel Packham, Claudia Medin, Maria Soler Cantón and Iree Pugh.
This novel was supported by an Arts Council England grant.
Thank you to the Ogden Trust for inviting me on a physics symposium during Lower Sixth, where I learnt about special relativity and struggled over a time dilation calculation which inspired this novel. You can read a similar question in the book.
As usual, thank you to my family and friends. Especially Chris for being a sounding board while I calculated transmission dates on my ridiculous Excel spreadsheet, Sarah for #SaveRomySilvers, Alice for the late-night guidance counselling and Mum for the tireless proofreading.
This is a work of fiction. As such, some of the more complex aspects of space travel have been simplified for the sake of the narrative.
LAUREN JAMES was born in 1992 and graduated in 2014 from the University of Nottingham, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. She started writing her first novel during secondary school English classes, because she couldn’t stop thinking about a couple who kept falling in love throughout history. She sold the rights to the novel when she was 21, while she was still at university.
The Next Together has been translated into five languages worldwide and was longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, a prize given to recognize an outstanding novel by a first-time writer.
Lauren is also the author of The Last Beginning, the epic conclusion to The Next Together. Two short stories set in the world of The Next Together series, Another Together and Another Beginning, are also available.