Story #3

Inspiration strikes, I post.

friend: milky way > boys

me: You don’t expect me to seriously believe that, do you?

It’s not a question of belief, it’s a question of whether you’re capable of debriefing her. She’s covered around a million parsecs crisscrossing the galaxy over 90 of your years, so she’ll be out of touch with current events, and you’re the only one she knows and trusts that’s still alive.

But, shit, she took off to see the galaxy? I mean, we thought she was dead!

Sorry, we weren’t going to be in the sector for long, and once she told us you wouldn’t be coming, which was probably for the best, we had to leave somewhat abruptly. Deadlines, you know.

She told me?! Wait, shit, I guess she did. That was pretty confusing. One moment I’m playing some fps, the next she has a huge smile plastered on her face, babbling about something like wormholes or variable cee, and asking if I want to go see some Pleiades up close. Hell, I thought she was talking bout sitting close to the screen for some movie I hadn’t heard about. Told her no, didn’t think nothing of it.

But this has nothing to do with whether you can reintroduce her to your current society.

Why’s it have to be me? We left on bad terms 90 years ago, although I guess someone leaving for 90 years would put a strain on any relationship-

Ah, she could have been gone for much longer. She only biologically aged about a year since we left, so she could have continued with us. It is her good luck that we received an assignment in this sector with enough leeway to let us drop her off.

-anyways. Go talk to some government official or something, right? I’m not really qualified to talk to someone that’s just been traveling around with a bunch of aliens, you know?

She specifically requested that, ahem, you show her around the ‘new Earth’.

Hell, I guess I will. Nothing much to see, though. We’re still fighting for the same godforsaken hunk of rock we’ve always been on, being shitty to each other. Heck, if she’s coming back, I guess I could take back some of those, erm, not so nice words. And retroaging might be a surprise to her.

Ah, we’re sending her down now.

Say, how did she get into contact with you in the first place?

We contacted her. She was in the best position to deliver a certain artifact to us, a shipment of (digs in pocket) these.

Milky ways?

Ah, yes, that is their name?

Huh, no wonder she seemed to be hoarding them. And why the suits called about some boat after she disappeared. Huh.

Ah, she’s here.

Oh, um… hey, honey! It’s been such a longOHMYGODISTHATALASERCANN-

EAT SHIT AND DIE YOU SAD SACK OF FERMIO-

Laser cannons make everything better!