How do you find a woman who’s lost in space?

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The air was thick with trepidation when we left Earth, but I know we’ll find her.

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I stare out the window of our spacecraft and the sun blazes in the black void.

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Two astronauts make up the search party whose sole mission is to track down my mother and bring her home.

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My father gave his blessing for me to come, knowing he may lose the two people he loves most to an infinite abyss of stars.

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Reggie, my co-pilot, sets us on course to follow the flight path my mother took.

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Missing for forty-two days, NASA believes my mother’s research is worth risking the two lives they’ve sent up here to find her.

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After days of radio silence, a voice clatters—a cacophony of hope.

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I push the button on the radio. ‘Ten-one. Say again.’

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‘Don’t—me—back.’ It’s my mother’s voice.

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‘Ten-nine. What’s your location?’ A drop of sweat leaves my brow and floats, suspending mid-air.

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‘This—message. If—’

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I strain to make out her words over the static. ‘Mom!’

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‘This is a recorded message.’ There’s an urgency in my mother’s voice. ‘If you can hear me don’t try to find me. There’s no way back.’

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I glare at Reggie.

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‘We have to complete the mission,’ he states.

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‘I was hoping you’d say that.’

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Reggie tracks our position. ‘We’re getting closer to where she—’

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A high-pitched scream blasts through the cockpit. I cover my ears with my hands and tears pool over my eyeballs, blinding me.

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Alarms ring, warning lights flash, I gasp. My lungs burn in a suffocating void and darkness falls.

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I am conscious in the nothingness. There are no physical sensations of the body, only an awareness of being, and then, a pull of gravity, like falling to the earth.

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A blinding light shoots through the slits of my eyelids and a stabbing pain fills my head.

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I blink away the heaviness and the sharp edges soften. In my clearing vision, my mother stands above me and frowns.

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‘You’re not supposed to be here.’ Her once wrinkled face is smooth and her greying hair glows a rich golden brown. ‘I warned them. There’s no way home.’

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The End

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© Michelle Upton

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