Homebound – flash fiction

Homebound

The twin spacecrafts had completed their mission. They’d spent centuries in the Milky Way charting and monitoring the planets there. Their presence unknown until 2011.

Down on Earth, the scientists kept their eyes on the twin stars spinning out of rotation from the Milky Way. They still couldn’t explain the cause. It couldn’t be from the black hole in the center of the galaxy. They weren’t close enough at any time during their rotations. Perhaps they’d been knocked out by asteroids or a meteor.

“Do you think they are suspicious?”

“No, they haven’t the technology yet to discover our true origins.”

“I guess we’ve dodged another bullet, as the Earthlings are fond of saying.”

“Just man your craft, Iktor. We’ll be out of their gravitational pull in a few rotations. See you back on Arcturus.”

“Roger that, Hel!”

“Stop using Earth lingo!”

“Sorry, it’s quite an addictive language.”

“You’d better get it out of your system by the time we get home. The Council won’t be as forgiving as I am.”

“Roger, errrr.. sure thing, Hel.”

Hel sighed. Iktor had an annoying personality. He tended to pick up the cultures of planets too readily. Sure, it was his job to record such things, but even so, he didn’t need to immerse himself so deeply into their cultures. It made life difficult for him when he returned home. Iktor became melancholy between missions and he made everyone around him miserable.

Hel checked his monitors. He longed for home. Unlike Iktor, he didn’t care for all of the various cultures in the Universe. He preferred his own. Maybe this will be my last mission, he mused as he leaned back in his seat. Suddenly, he heard laughter over the intercom system.

“What’s so funny, Iktor?”

“Just received another report from Earth. Now they think we’re a result of a Supernova. If they only knew!”

“Don’t laugh, Iktor. They’re advancing rapidly. One day we won’t be so obscure to them. They’ll come to explore us.”

“Bring it on!”

“Iktor!”

“Sorry.”

©2016 Lori Carlson. All rights reserved.

(337 Words)

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Each day in May, I will be participating in the StoryADay in May. Here is today’s prompt:

Via Julie – Write a story ripped from the headlines

For curious eyes, here is the article that sparked this piece