Page 3 of Craving Stardust

I’d barely made it a few hundred feet before a thick mist shrouded the road, enveloping me like a fog and smelling vaguely like ozone. I paused.

“Hello?”

My voice echoed back at me, hello, hello, hello… Creepy.

My heart flipped over.

“Stop it,” I said, as if my heart would listen.

“Who knows what tonight will bring?” I whispered, my hands outstretched as I made my way through the mist. “I hope it’s adventure.” If anyone needed one, it was me. My divorce was final. My life belonged to me.

It was time to take a step in an unusual direction.

For whatever reason, I felt like tonight it was going to happen. My life was about to change for the better.

As quickly as it had appeared, the mist dissipated. A flash across the clear sky caught my eye.

“Ah, a falling star,” I breathed. Make a wish, my grannie always said. I pinched my eyes closed and...

I wished for love.

A silly thing after what I went through with my ex, but it was my wish, and I’d spend it as I pleased.

The shooting star grew bigger, as if it was hurtling right at me, its fiery tail illuminating the night sky. I’d never seen one that didn’t burn out long before it reached the planet.

It rumbled closer. I could actually hear it, a roaring whoosh that vibrated through my bones and made my heart flip over.

Maybe it wasn’t a star? A meteor then. How amazing.

When it slammed overhead only twenty or so feet above me, I yelped and crouched. It hit, the bang echoing in Grannie’s overgrown field on my left, sending tremors through the ground.

“Oh, wow.” My heart pounded wildly, my mind racing with questions and possibilities. “I’m going to check it out.” I had plenty of time left to reach the party.

With my pulse thumping heavily in my throat and my breath hitching, I hurried off the road, taking a narrow deer path through the spindly woods. Trees loomed overhead, but I felt no fear—only excitement and an unquenchable thirst for discovery.

My one regret was that I hadn’t worn something easier to walk in. Damn heels. This was why I’d thrown all the others out.

For some reason, I sensed my fate waited for me in the field, and I was determined to grasp it with both hands.

When I stepped out of the woods, I gasped.

TWO

Lordek

As I stood alone on the bridge of my small spaceship, a pang of loneliness hit me. There was nothing unusual about that. An adventurer, I’d traveled alone for many years, my only company those I met during my travels. I was never in any port long enough to build a relationship, to find someone who might touch my heart in a way no one else ever had.

I gazed out the ship’s viewscreen at the vast expanse of darkness, yearning for someone to share my life with. It was a silly wish. If I truly wanted someone in my life, I should move home. My family would be happy to introduce me to potential mates.

Maybe after this final adventure, I’d sell my ship and settle on the land I owned on my hope planet. I could become a farmer, a notion I would’ve scoffed at years ago. But the lure of seeing what might lie beyond the next planet had grown stale.

“Computer, set a course for the nearest uncharted planet suitable for landing and restocking supplies,” I said, sitting in the sole chair on the small bridge.

“Course set,” the tinny voice said, and the hum of the engines changed as I began what would be my final journey.

As I became absorbed in the intricate calculations needed to return to my home planet after restocking, I failed to notice the looming danger. It was too late when the alarms blared, signaling an imminent collision with an asteroid. How had my advance alarm systems missed it?

“Engage evasive maneuvers,” I shouted, gripping the armrests. I quickly fastened the restraints, binding my shoulders and chest to my chair. “Now!”

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