Oort cloud
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Jack looked at the ever-shifting chunks of ice through the window. He had no idea how big they were, but given the distance between them and the ship, they were probably massive. He was not interested in them though. The view out the window shifted at a steady pace, and soon he could see what he wanted to. The Sun. A tiny, distant pinprick from his perspective, but still visible. He couldn’t see what he really wanted to though.
It was not in view for long and soon vanished as the room rotated away. Jack sighed and moved. Walking still felt wrong to him. Supposedly the rotation felt just like real Earth gravity, but he could tell the difference. He never knew someone could miss gravity.
“Hey, Jack. Still star gazing?”
The speaker was one of his colleagues, Sally. She held a data pad, but was not really looking at it. She went to the small window Jack had just vacated.
“It’s quite the view, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it is.” Jack said.
“Uh-oh, I don’t like the way you said that. Something wrong?”
“Not really. Just thinking. What do you think’s going on back home?”
“Who knows? Not like we can talk to them to find out. We could be the last humans alive, or we could end up meeting our descendants when they catch up to us in a faster ship. Kinda neat to think about, isn’t it?”
“If you say so. Ever wish you could go back?”
“Not even a little. I mean, come on, man, look where we are. The first humans to reach the Oort Cloud. And soon, we’ll be the first to leave to solar system. How cool is that? We’ll make history.”
Jack gave a non-committal grunt.
“Hey, Sally?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it possible we could send something back? Not a message. Something physical?”
“What, like, open the airlock and set something adrift in space?” When he nodded, she closed her eyes in thought. “Technically, yes. But it’d be like shooting one specific water molecule at the bottom of the ocean with a shotgun. It can technically be done, but the odds of succeeding are as close to zero as you can get. I can go into why, if you want.”
“No, no, it’s fine.” He couldn’t help but think about the possibility though. Sally moved in close to him, almost touching.
“Come on Jack, what’s really bothering you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I should go back into hypersleep for a while. Use that to sort things out.”
“Not really the best place to sort out your thoughts, is it?”
At that moment, Sally got an alert on her pad. She took a moment to check it.
“Got a broken sensor array. Not a big one, so it should be easy to fix. But—”
“I’ll take care of it.” Jack said immediately.
“Uh, Jack?”
“It’s fine. Quick fix, right?”
“Well, yeah, but there’s—”
“Then it’ll be fine. Let me suit up.”
An hour later, Jack was floating. No artificial gravity. Just weightlessness. He looked around, taking in the vastness of space. His eyes lingered on where the Sun was. Where Earth was. Sally’s voice came in over the coms. She told him where the break was.
“And hurry up, there’s a micro ice storm coming our way.”
A few practiced maneuvers with his suit’s jet pack brought him where he wanted to go. It really was quick fix, and only took a few minutes. It was then that the ice hit. Calling it a storm was generous. Each piece was small, around the size of a golf ball, and there was a lot of distance between each one. Easily enough to walk through without getting hit once. They would have to go over the hull to make sure it was not damaged, but that was about it.
Jack took one last look at where he knew home was before heading back to the airlock. Then a piece of ice hit his life line. A large hole opened in the line, and then snapped as it became too strained to take his weight. Jack scrambled for a moment, trying to catch something to hold onto. He heard Sally’s voice shouting in his ear.
The ice storm passed, leaving Jack drifting away from the ship slowly.
“Jack? Jack, can you hear me?” Came Sally’s panicked voice. He could hear other members of the crew in the background scrambling around trying to do something.
“Yeah, I can hear you.”
“Great. Don’t worry, you’re still fine. Just jet back and we’ll send a drone to meet you. You’ll be on board in no time.”
“Right, yeah.” Jack said. He looked around. It was quiet out there. Peaceful. Open. “Hey, Sally?”
“Yeah?”
“You said it’s possible for something to drift back to Earth right?”
“Jack?”
His fingers worked his wrist mounted computer. It was tricky thanks to how thick they were, but he managed. It took a few minutes for the data to be calculated and transmitted. All the while, he heard the crew shouting at each other. A small drone was launched out of the ship’s side, but it was not a fast machine.
Jack hit a few commands on his keypad. A few tiny blasts of air spun him around. Spun him away from the ship and towards the distant Earth.
“Jack, what’re you doing? You’re facing the wrong way.” Sally said.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” His pack fired a few quick bursts, bringing him onto his desired course.
“No! Don’t do it!” Sally screamed into his ear.
For the first time in what felt like ages, a smile formed on Jack’s lips.
“I’m going home.”
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Not sure if a story this short is enough to give the emotional weight I was going for, but I did my best with what I have. What do you think?
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