Death's End

Cheng Xin and AA exited the ship. They hadn’t adjusted to the gravity yet, and stumbled a bit as they walked. Outside, they breathed easily, not feeling the thinness of the air. A chill breeze blew at them and brought the fragrance of grass, refreshing them. The wide-open view showed the blue-and-white mountains and earth, the light yellow sky and red sun. The whole thing resembled a false-color photograph of the Earth. Other than the strange colors, everything looked familiar. Even the blades of grass looked just like the grass on the Earth, except for their blue hue. The man came to the foot of the stairs.

“Wait a minute. The stairs are too steep. I’ll help you down.” He climbed up the stairs easily and helped Cheng Xin down. “You should have rested longer before coming out. There’s no urgency.” Cheng Xin could hear an obvious Deterrence Era accent.

His hand felt warm and strong to Cheng Xin, and his broad body shielded her from the chill wind. She had the impulse to jump into this man’s arms, the first man she had met after traveling more than two hundred light-years from the Solar System.

“Did you come from the Solar System?” the man asked.

“Yes.” She leaned against the man and descended the stairs. She felt her trust for him grow, and put more of her weight on him.

“There’s no more Solar System,” AA said as she sat down at the top of the stairs.

“I know. Did anyone else escape?”

Cheng Xin was now on the ground. She sank her feet into the soft grass and sat down on the bottom step. “Probably not.”

“Oh…” The man nodded and climbed up again to help AA. “My name is Guan Yifan. I’ve been waiting for you here.”

“How did you know we would come?” AA asked, allowing Yifan to hold her hand.

“We received your gravitational wave transmission.”

“You’re from Blue Space?”

“Ha! If you’d asked those who had just left that question, they’d think you very strange. Blue Space and Gravity are ancient history from more than four centuries ago. But I really am an ancient. I was a civilian astronomer aboard Gravity. I’ve been hibernating for four centuries, and only awakened five years ago.”

“Where are Blue Space and Gravity now?” Cheng Xin struggled to stand, pulling herself up by the railing of the stairs. Yifan continued down with AA.

“In museums.”

“Where are the museums?” AA asked. She put her arm around Yifan’s shoulder so that Yifan was practically carrying her down.

“On World I and World IV.”

“How many worlds are there?”

“Four. And two more are being opened up for settlement.”

“Where are all these worlds?”

Guan Yifan gently deposited AA on the ground and laughed. “A word of advice: In the future, no matter who you meet—human or otherwise—don’t ask for the location of their worlds. That’s a basic bit of manners in the cosmos—like how it’s impolite to ask a lady’s age…. Nonetheless, let me ask you, how old are you now?”

“We’re as old as we look,” AA said, and sat down on the grass. “She’s seven hundred and I’m five hundred.”

“Dr. Cheng looks about the same as she did four centuries ago.”

“You know her?” AA looked up at Guan Yifan.

“I had seen pictures in transmissions from Earth. Four centuries ago.”

“How many people are on this planet?” Cheng Xin asked.

“Just the three of us.”

“That must mean that your worlds are all better than this one,” AA said.

“You mean the natural environment? Not at all. In some places, the air is barely breathable, even after a century of terraforming. This is one of the best planets we’ve seen for settlement. Although we welcome you here, Dr. Cheng Xin, we do not recognize your claim of title.”

“I’d given that up a long time ago,” Cheng Xin said. “So why haven’t people settled here?”

“It’s too dangerous. Outsiders come here often.”

“Outsiders? Extraterrestrials?” AA asked.

“Yes. This is close to the center of the Orion Arm. Two busy shipping lanes flow through here.”

“Then what are you doing here? Just waiting for us?”

“No. I came with an exploratory expedition. They’ve already left, but I stayed to wait for you.”

—————

About a dozen hours later, the three welcomed night on Planet Blue. There was no moon, but compared to the Earth, the stars here were far brighter. The Milky Way was like a sea of silver fire that cast their shadows on the ground. This place wasn’t much closer to the center of the galaxy than the Solar System. However, the space between here and the Sun was filled with interstellar dust, making the Milky Way appear much dimmer from the Solar System.