1 Epilogue

"Locate ships within a 40 AU radius," you tell the computer—your voice brittle and shaky in the frigid cockpit. The emergency power was starting to run out and you haven't had heat for days.

The hours pass silently as you lay shivering upon the floor of your spacecraft. Or were they seconds? The difference hardly seemed to matter anymore.

An electronic voice tears you mercifully from your waking slumber, "Results inconclusive. No objects located within 40.00 astronomical units. Please check onboard sensors for obstructions or damage that may affect accuracy."

But you know that it was lying.

There was never any damage to your ship.

Not since you made the 100 AU radius scan, or the 1,000, or the 5,000.

God, how long ago was that? Last week? Last month? Did you actually check? Have you even left the ship?

Suddenly the computer chirps to life.

"Warning, emergency power at 5%. Shutdown imminent."

You stand up quickly in spite of the freezing air, desperate to make sense of something. Anything.

You know that you came here to wait for your friends, but as you gaze outside your window, you find yourself peering through a black void.

You begin pacing the ship rapidly in short, hasty strides.

What the hell? Where were all the stars? How did it get so dark?

Your breathing quickens until it matches pace with your heartbeat.

Your friends wouldn't just leave you like this, right? ... Right?

Oh God, where were they?

They remember you right?

"Of course they will!" you say with a chuckle, after all, you were...

You were…

Were...

Who exactly?

Your memories bolt through your mind faster than you can process them. Who were you? How the hell did you forget? As you hopelessly try again and again to just slow down for once and cling onto any single thought, you find yourself hyperventilating, sprawled across the icy ship floor.

Your name was Tyler. No, wait, Timothy. No. Was it Tom? Damn it, it started with a T, didn't it?

You slowly crawl towards your ship's console, quivering with choked sobs.

"Hey, computer," you whisper shakily, "Who am I?"

The computer responds with nothing but unintelligible static, its power supply long since cut to a trickle.

"That's ok, I'm … I'm not sure either," you reply

You sit down with your back against the wall for the last time.

"That's ok..." you murmur

You hug your legs to your chest, frostbitten fingers barely holding onto each other.

"That's ok..."

Through the icy static, the computer manages a final message: "Power depleted. Shutting down, good night…

...Theo."

At long last, you close your eyes, a light smile on your face, and fall asleep.

Finally content.

After all, you spent your final moments with your best friend.

The only thing left in the universe that still remembers your name...