Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 195 by Neil Clarke

Author:Neil Clarke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magazine, science fiction, Science Fiction - Short Stories, Science Fiction & Fantasy, science fiction magazine, short fiction, short stories
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2022-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

“Does that mean there are people on that planet?” K asked.

“Not human, but biological beings.” A Xu looked at K as he came closer. “Among the celestial bodies discovered by mankind so far, this is among those most likely to have given birth to life.”

“It looks . . . ” K inspected the orb of Gliese 581g again and shook his head. “It’s ordinary, not particularly beautiful. I prefer the one we were just at . . . That blue one of the Pleiades . . . What was it, Rigel? If up to me, I’d live there in style.”

“Rigel, yeah?” A Xu was amused by how dazzled K had been by the star’s brilliant blue light in the Orion Exhibition. She laughed a few times again. “I hope your air conditioner is cold enough. Rigel is a star and many times hotter than even our sun.”

“Oh, it’s like that?” K laughed. “Sure, but if you’re as ignorant as me, you need only look at the surface. You don’t need to know whether it’s dangerous or not.”

A Xu turned back toward K. Her lips twitched as she bit at the straw. She was shivering.

“Are you okay?” K looked at A Xu. “Uncomfortable?”

“No.” A Xu shook her head as though waking from a daydream. “You know how to respond to danger. You have no idea how much danger we were in at the restaurant. But you knew just what to do, toss that beer in the PDO woman’s face and jump out the window.”

“Just a trick I learned. When I was young, I often saw people do things like that when they had lost a bet and needed to escape the casino without paying up.”

“I thought it was cool.” A Xu raised her head. “Cooler than anything I’ve ever seen.”

Surrounded by Gliese 581g’s dim light, she and K ceased talking. In the darkness, both felt as though they really were twenty light-years away, floating in their own silent universe. K stretched out his hand and stroked A Xu’s hair. He wondered about the beings on Gliese 581g. Then his gentle touch became a playful slap.

“Miss, you know, I spent thirteen-hundred bucks to get these tickets. And then you tell me that Space Park isn’t even as cool as me throwing a beer on someone?”

“Well, Kepler-16b is way cooler than you.”

“What’s that?”

“The one with two suns in the sky, just like Tatooine. Right up ahead.”

“How far ahead?”

A Xu took off then looked back to K. “Why isn’t our big hero running already?”

In Space Park’s final hours, A Xu and K’s interstellar journey traversed these and many more stars. In Andromeda, they joined a galactic dance floor. Amidst the Perseid Meteor Shower, K got into a scuffle they ended up having to run away from. They witnessed the most spectacular solar flares in solar history with thousands of revelers. They reached out and touched the sun, feeling its hot, dazzling virtual light.

At 3 A.M., they finally lay down beside an artificial lake in the park.

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