#couldn't resist that dig at Io right at the end. I watched the first episode of that new Brian Cox thing last night

[ocean--grey]

Day 16: Future

Word count: ~750

“D’you think you’ll ever do it?”

“… Do what?”

Lister gestured at the expanse in front of him with a sweeping motion. “Y’know. Go out in space. Get off Earth, have a few weeks out on Mimas, or Titan, or whatever. Just explore.”

Lise pursed her lips then grinned from where she laid next to him, and gazed up at the night sky herself.

It wasn’t like either of them could see any stars. There were few places where that was possible, nowadays. Maybe some of the most secluded spots of Earth’s surface, far from the sprawling cities. Any part of the sky within a hundred miles (at least) of Liverpool was no doubt a hazy orange-grey, even on the clearest of nights. It’d been like that for decades at that point.

Lister only had one very, very faint memory of seeing the night sky, unimpeded by the glare of Liverpool’s light. It must have been when he was four, maybe five, when his Gran’d taken him to visit some old friend of hers. He remembered watching as the haze of the city gave away to dark grey, then black, then to pinpricks of light splattered like drops of paint across some great aerial canvas.

The night sky above him now? Well, it was frankly boring in comparison.

Dragging his eyes away from the muddy orange of the sky, he turned to Lise, who’d picked up their conversation again.

“Hm. I’ve always kind of wanted to go Callisto myself.” She shrugged at his raised eyebrows and continued, “Heard they’ve got a great music scene up there. Maybe Ganymede. I can’t really see myself going further than Jupiter, to be honest.” She shivered slightly, drawing her coat further around her. “Where d’you want to go?”

Lister stretched him back as he unfolded one of his arms from behind his head. Reaching out, he draped it on the ground behind Lise’s shoulders so she could lay back on it. She muttered a quick “thanks, love” and nestled her hair into his neck.

“Dunno where I’d go really. Probably only go as far as the Moon before getting homesick. I know they say Earth looks better looking in on it from space, but honestly nothing beats actually living here for me.”

Lise’s hair bumped against his cheek once, twice, then three times, as she mulled it over.

“Okay. Yeah, I get that. So… where would you go, then? If you don’t leave Earth, that is.”

He felt Lise turn to him slightly, body still facing the sky but with her nose resting on his cheek. He could feel her breath across the side of his neck, could see her eyes tracing his features. All of a sudden he felt exposed, open, laid bare for her to analyse every atom of his soul.

“Honestly?”

“Of course. I won’t judge you – too harshly, at least. I promise”, Lise grinned. She reached up and squeezed his hand with her own.

“Fiji.”

“…Huh.”

“Or – or, I’d stay here. ’n Liverpool. Just makes sense, to be honest. I’ve lived here all my life, right? I know it as well – actually maybe even more – than the back of my hand. It jus’ makes sense to me, I guess, to stay here.”

“Why Fiji, then?” Lise squeezed his hand again, possibly reassuringly, her grin falling into an equally amused smile. “Seems a long way from here, even if it isn’t as far as Jupiter or anything.”

“Land’s cheap there. I could, I dunno, build a house there. Make a farm, something like that.”

“Isn’t Fiji partially underwater? I guess you could have a fish farm or something, though.”

Lister sighed. “Dumb pipe dream, I know. I guess there I’ll be able to see some stars, at least.”

“But you’ll still be on Earth.”

“Yep, that’s the plan.”

Lise reached over and traced Lister’s jaw with her index finger, kissed his cheek. “Guess you wouldn’t make a good astro, if you think you’d get Earth-sick that bad.”

“God no,” Lister shuddered, “sounds like an awful job. Stranded in the void for months on end in a small tin can? Barely touching ground except for a few days each time? I don’t know why anyone’d willingly do that.”

“Guess it’s cheaper than travelling the commercial routes. I’ve also heard it pays well.”

“Not in a million years! Except if I was previously stranded on Io or something. Apparently there’s nothing it really offers except for a bunch of active volcanoes.”

“Well,” Lise kissed her cheek again, “at least you’re not anywhere but on Earth right now”.