Terra-formed Moon base, the year 3001
I am sitting in my usual seat in a small café. Candlelight flickers on the window and reflects toward the entrance door.
For ten years I’ve sat in almost the same place—close enough to see outside and watch whoever comes in.
I love this spot so much that I never want it to change.
A stranger walks in and sits at the table next to mine.
I glance at him. He notices.
“Hello,” I say. “Nice to meet you. You look like you’re from one of the far colonies.”
He smiles.
“Yes. We’ve been searching for this star, and it seems we finally found it. The constellations look different, but the time shift explains that.”
“I’m surprised we don’t have any record of your colony. Is it from Andromeda? How is that possible?”
“We use advanced propulsion. We can’t travel faster than light, but we can bend space.”
“I wonder what year your group left,” I say.
He smiles. “You call it 1,500,125 BC.”
Was that coffee spiked with something? Or did he really just say that? I rub my eyes. Maybe I need sleep.
“Did they leave from Mars?” I manage to ask.
“Yes. One unmanned spacecraft was launched to explore another star system.”
Now I’m sure I need fresh air…
“I’ll go outside,” I say. “Where’s your ship? I’m into spacecraft tech.”
“Perfect. I can show you. But keep your suit on.
Our craft doesn’t have a life-support system yet.”
We step outside and are surrounded by trees. I like trees. Worked as a volunteer for a few months and planted them here. Linden trees and birch, just like in my home town….
A Few Weeks Later
“Jim, Jim, do you hear me? Jim? Can you check what’s going on with the solar panels? I can’t manage the power, it’s overloading.”
Jim walks through the corridor. I hear the clicking sound of his metal-reinforced shoes on the metal floor.
“Jim, tell me what’s going on. What’s happening?”
“Duuuuun, turn everything off, now. Cut the power, now. Oh my god.”
Flash. Strange noises. Darkness.
I see the countryside, a lake, people fishing next to it. It’s a sunny and hot day. I see a flashlight, it’s Jim.
“Jim, what the heck is going on? What did you do? I have a really bad headache. I thought you were going to fix it. What the heck, my wristwatch exploded. I’ve never seen anything like that. A line of smoke is coming from the piece of electronics that used to be my wristwatch.”
“Jack, are you okay? I thought you were hurt.”
“I am okay because I was in the suit. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I think I’m fine. What the heck, Jim.”
“The Sun, a corona ejection. The big one.”
“You’re serious? I thought it was something you did or an asteroid.”
“Well, it hit us pretty badly. The whole base was shaking.”
“Did you manage to turn anything off?”
“Of course I did. The solar panel power line, the explosive bolts. I think it worked.”
“Let me check that. Jim, did it work?”
“Yes, there’s a 1-meter wide gap between cable ends. All three cables. We’re lucky, I would say.”
“That’s good. What else? Anything fried inside?”
“A couple of radios don’t work and a laptop, that’s what I’ve checked already. Everything else seems fine.”
“What’s fried outside, Jim?”
“Everything, I mean all electronics. All of it.”
“I suspected that. What about the capsule?”
“No idea, need to run diagnostics.”
“Listen, I’ll do some work tomorrow. Now I need to get to my family. They’re probably stranded somewhere on Earth.”
“Jim, I’m wondering why that synthetic human left so quickly. There’s no spaceship on launch pad 7 anymore. He didn’t tell anyone he was leaving.”
“I have no idea. He didn’t take anything. He just left. Maybe he knew what was going to happen or maybe he did it.”
“No, I don’t believe that. He has no reason to do that. Does he want something? He has everything he can imagine. Did you see their molecular printer? It’s quite an astonishing invention. I just hope none of them got hurt from the Sun. Do you think he’ll be back?”
“No idea. Maybe. A solar corona ejection already happened, so that means about 50 years will be quiet. We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will see.”
I found Jim in the garage.
I told him that we have 90 days of food for two people. Water isn’t a problem. I’ll go to the North Pole and dig up some ice, so we’ll have a supply for about four months. The real problem is the food.”
“I have 60 MREs in my rover. So that makes 120 days for two people. I think it’s plenty of time. We’ll figure something out.”
“Just in case we get in trouble, I’ll see what we can synthesize. That molecular printer would be really handy here. I wonder if it can print meat-free burgers.”
“I would like pizza.”
“Yeah, right. Are those MREs pizzas?”
“Yeah, mate. Can’t live without pizza.”
“Okay, food problems temporarily solved. What about the capsule?”
“We need to replace the electronics.”
“Do we have a spare kit?”
“Yes, we do.”
“I wanted to ask you, Jim, are you from the army by any chance?”
“Yes, US Space Force. Why do you ask?”
“I just wondered how you managed to get 30 days of MREs and the rover.”
“From there, Jack, from that place.”
His answer made me happy temporarily, but I had more questions. Not for today though. I wondered what the Space Force was doing here and why most of their equipment didn’t fry. His rover still works despite being outside during the storm. It has some electronics, I think, but why it didn’t fry is interesting.”