Charon Sunrise (3/5)

Living in the Shadow of Pluto

—Four Days Later—

Ashleigh ran, ran, ran, her whirring motors setting a rhythmic pace as the pistons in her legs fired, tat-ah-tat-ah-tat-ah-tat.

Ships towered above her, pointing straight up in their resting positions. Most of them were enormous blocky monstrosities, like skyscrapers, but some were rounded and sleek. The smallest was the size of a ten-story building, and most of them were dozens of stories tall.

As she ran, she anxiously craned her neck to read the flashing destinations advertised at each dock: Titan, Makemake, Varuna, Triton, Eris, Callisto…Luna!

She made a hard left, which was a long and strange affair in low-gravity, skidding and sliding. Once she was going slow enough, she flung a cord out from her left hand that snapped to the ground, anchoring her to arrest her movement. Simultaneously, she started running in a new direction. Once she was getting some momentum, she snapped the anchor back into her arm and took off running with all her might. She had to get there before he left—had to.

As she drew closer to the huge letters LUNA, she was able to make out in smaller print beneath it the day and time, and the fact that it was an arrival, not a departure. Blast it, that wasn’t the one, then.

She looked left and right, found a new heading, and took off running again. She ran and ran and ran and the space ships and destinations blurred into one thing and the lights faded into the blackness and all she could think was, how? How did it come to this? Where had she gone wrong? He was probably already gone, and it was all her fault.

***

—Two Days Earlier—

“You’ve asked all about me, but what’s it like being you?” she said.

Ashleigh and Graven were waiting in line at the Great Argo Zip Line. It was their third date, the second having been at a café.

“What’s it like being me…” he said, as if rolling the words around in his mouth.

“I think it’s like…every day is a lease on life.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…well, many years ago, I realized something. If I signed up for Earth Guard, then after just six months of training, I could earn passive income on top of Basic and that would be enough to travel the Solar System indefinitely. I’m not much on the military, but I figured…heck, just six months? And then I can travel the rest of my life? It seemed like a really good idea.

“But what I didn’t realize was what it would be like to have a sword hanging over your head for the rest of your life. Because even though the Guard hasn’t been activated for decades, still, it could happen at any time without warning.

“And so as I traveled to Luna, to Venus, to all these places…I was having all of these experiences, but they were robbed of something. There was always this backdrop, this feeling in the back of my mind. Every day, every experience, felt temporary. Every experience I have, it’s as if I’m watching a movie of myself doing the thing rather than doing it.

“But you know what…when I’m with you, I don’t think about the fact that I’m in the Earth Guard. I feel as if everything I’m experiencing is real, is here, in the present, now.”

He grasped her hands.

“I don’t ever want this to end.”

Their turn in line was up, and the worker, a robot, fastened them into the tandem zip line holster. Since she was much taller, Ashleigh took the rear portion of the tandem harness, and it felt like the dirt bike ride all over again. The worker guided them through the instructions with monotonous, sonorous tones. But Ashleigh heard only snatches of words drifting to her from the worker as if from a great distance away, for all her attention was on Graven.

“Each of you is equipped with a hand break. Please do not…”

Graven’s face was illuminated by the Charon sunrise. It was a study in gorges, shadows and light. Photons had come from an exploding fusion reaction and then hurtled at 600 million miles an hour for five hours just to softly bounce off that face and illuminate one beautiful brown eye. One eye with one perfect pupil, as black and rich as an olive, surrounded by a world of glass filaments. A world that was right now dedicating to beholding her.

“Based on your combined weight and zip line conditions, the estimated length of your transit is one hour, two minutes. Please confirm acknowledgment of all disclosures and indemnities by saying ‘I agree.’”

They repeated the phrase, and the worker stepped aside.

“Bon voyage,” he said, and with a kick to their behinds, as was the custom there, he sent them flying over the edge.

They went rushing down, down, down, and it was a giddy feeling of weightlessness, of the stomach rising and the rush of acceleration as they rushed past canyon walls on their right. The zip line gradually led them further and further away from the edge and out into the middle of the canyon, for it crossed the canyon at a diagonal. And so the right-hand side appeared to be moving past them at a slower pace, slower and slower, until it was a mesmerizing study in undulations of ice striations, sometimes closer, sometimes further, winding back and forth between folds of darkness and light, just like Graven’s face had looked when it had been half-illumined, half in shadow. And Ashleigh began to wonder what was so intriguing about things that were half in darkness and half in light. Those things alone had more intrigue than any others.

There was no wind, for there was no air to resist them. And as minute after minute passed and they eased into the middle of the canyon, the passage of the canyon walls slowed to an almost imperceptible pace, and it was as if they weren’t moving at all, but suspended in a moment outside of time, simply existing together. She wrapped her arms around him and again felt that steady heart pulse in his chest, circulating out and warming his whole body, and drawing her to it.

Again she felt the pang of guilt. Should she be so close to him? She didn’t know him that well.

“What’s wrong?” he said to her over their two-way radio.

“Nothing,” she said, and squeezed him reassuringly. And she wondered how he could tell.

It was so perfectly quiet that it was no trouble to talk as they soared.

She said, “I am curious—tell me really. Just how much traveling do you do?”

He looked embarrassed.

“I typically book my flights two weeks apart.”

“What—and you just go on to the next place and the next, never returning home?”

“Pretty much.”

She whistled.

And then she did the math in her head. He had already been in Charon for almost two weeks…did he have a flight scheduled to leave tomorrow? Or the next day? She was afraid to ask.

“You’re really an amazing man,” she said.

“Not really,” he said, laughing. “Plenty of other people could do what I do. You could do it too, you know.”

“Oh, right!” she said sarcastically.

“I’m being serious. You could emigrate to become a citizen of one of Earth’s governments within the year.”

She shook her head.

“And once you’re a citizen,” he continued, “You immediately have all citizen rights. You can start getting Basic, and get all your rent, utilities, health care…”

She shook her head. “I’ve heard all this before, but I just can’t wrap my head around it. If everything is so cheap for Earth people, why is it so expensive on Charon?”

He shrugged. “That, I don’t know.”

“And if it’s so easy to immigrate to one of the Earth nations, then why doesn’t everyone just do that and get all this free money?”

He shrugged. “Why haven’t you?”

“Well,” she said, “I would have to leave behind all my friends, and my family.”

“And what about your parents? Why wouldn’t they leave?”

“They’d have to leave behind all their friends and family. And our shrine. Our way of life here. I don’t know, it’s…it’s all they’ve ever known. My dad’s dad came here with a dream of transforming a foreign planet. And the rest of us—it’s different in a small town, you feel drawn to stay. I don’t know. I guess we’re just here because it’s home.”

He paused and the words hung in the air. Ashleigh was too lost in her thoughts to realize the implications of how Graven would take her words.

“The thing about Earth…” Graven began again, but Ashleigh interrupted him.

“Earth,” she spat out. “I don’t know anything about Earth. Besides, what would I do when I got there?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Whatever you wanted. You could be an entrepreneur. You could help people. Isn’t there something you’ve always dreamed of doing?”

Ashleigh tried to think, but her mind was a blank slate. “Oh, forget it. I guess I have no imagination.”

Graven had no idea why, but he sensed he had somehow misstepped. He tried to find a way to turn the conversation to a new topic.

“Oh, I bet you have an imagination,” he said. “For instance…you were going to tell me what you dream about.”

They drifted along the zip line, as smooth as if gliding on ice, watching the light from the sunrise play over the marbled ice canyons. Huge swaths of it were a glaring brilliant light, and colors of blue and purple and pink were overlaid on the smooth frosty white of the canyon walls, like the colors on a bubble. It was so bright that Graven dimmed his visor and Ashleigh adjusted her retinas.

“I often dream that I’m a star,” she said.

“A star? That’s lovely,” he said.

“No,” she said. “Space is a lonely place. In the dream there is this huge, huge ocean of black, so vast. It’s a tangible ocean, thick and palpable, and I’m swallowed up and lost in the vastness. And my light is so small and all the other stars so far away that no one can see me. And I’m just lost, waiting, hoping that some traveler happens to wander my way against all odds and find me. I’m always waiting for him, imagining him, this wanderer. In one dream, he showed up, and I got so excited I woke from the dream immediately. But in all the other dreams I’m just waiting, waiting, waiting, and no one ever comes.

“I’ve had this dream many times. It used to terrorize me. Now it feels me with a sense of, almost, relief? I know that sounds odd but it almost…comforts me. Like a familiar friend.”

They flew on in silence, gliding slowly to the other side. When they were halfway there, Graven said, “Maybe it’s a promise.”

“A promise?”

“Yes. That some day you won’t be alone.”

She hugged him.

They talked for some time about everyday things, the sims they watched, their family members, their favorite foods and drinks and songs and music. When they debarked, Ashleigh asked Graven, “Have you ever danced?”

“No,” he said. “Have you?”

“All the time,” she said. “Would you like to try?”

He took a deep breath. “I’ll probably be terrible!” he said. “But I’d love to be taught by you.”

Feedback

As always, feedback is welcome. Was the zip line scene too familiar to the bike ride that Ashleigh and Graven had before? Is the romance cheesy; if so which parts specifically?

Author Notes

I have to laugh at myself. Last time I sent out a newsletter I told you guys that I had increased this story from being two parts long to three. Now I’m telling you that it’s going to be five. But seriously, no more than five! This time it’s different, guys!

No seriously, I feel bad for teasing you guys out and making you wait so long on top of it. (I’ve been terribly sick for the last month; thanks for the patience. I’m finally starting to feel better…)

But at any rate, I am going to reward you all for your patience. The third, fourth, and fifth parts of Charon Sunrise are going to be published only three days apart from each other. I can say this with confidence because I’ve already written them, edited them, and scheduled them to go out over the next six days.

So, happy reading this week! When it rains, it pours…

Science Insight

Charon (Pluto’s oversized moon) has the largest canyon in the Solar System, of any planet or moon.

That might surprise you, but you see actually, the lower that the gravity is on a celestial body, the taller the mountains and canyons get. Mars has a dormant volcano that’s three times as tall as Mt. Everest and has a footprint the size of Texas.

And Charon has the Argo Chasma. It’s 50% longer than the Grand Canyon and five times as deep. Its walls are made of ice—primarily water and ammonia in solid form.

Shout outs

Thanks so much to the commenters recently, in particular Wade and Micah for the detailed feedback. You guys rock!

Book of the Week

This week I reviewed Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, a history of the early 20 years of AA’s history. It was fascinating for me; I see God’s hand all in the impossible story of how this organization that should not have been able to work miraculously came to sweep the globe. Read more here.

Know Someone Who Would Enjoy This?

Consider recommending to a friend. Every recommendation really helps the newsletter tremendously!

Until next week!