You Can't Planet

It had been an unusually long day digging through the stacks at the university library. I jumped from genre to genre but no title took my fancy. What I was looking for I couldn’t say.

 I had reached the science fiction section. It was probably the section I knew best. I had gone through some of the greats including Philip K. Dick, H.G. Wells, and Isaac Asimov among others. Admittedly it is my comfort genre and as much as I try to expand I find myself coming back to this section time and time again.

I have a habit of only going after the big names in a genre though. I find this ironic as an aspiring writer myself. What I would give for someone to check out my stories even though they had never heard of me. Sometimes the classics feel obligatory and perhaps in thinking this way I had become myopic in my reading. Right then I declared I would try an author I had never heard of.

I scanned the spines up and down, tilting my head slightly so that they appeared upright. You’d be amazed at how fast I can get through a row. I reminded myself to slow down and be open to what was in front of me. But it was rather difficult. My eyes were still clinging to the classics despite my best efforts. The truth is I could spend all day here.

Enough. I decided to take a more blind approach. I closed my eyes and began feeling the spines of each book, really feeling them. It was as if their topography was the result of their ideas within just trying to burst out. I slid my hand gingerly across them, some rough like sandpaper, others soft and worn with wear. I could feel a thin layer of dust begin to accumulate on my finger tips. I kept this up until my hand hit a book that was sticking out farther than the others. I opened my eyes. 

It was an anthology of fifteen short stories. I recognized none of the authors in it. This was it I thought. I browsed through the book and noticed something quite peculiar. The last story only had a title. There was no accompanying story. It was simply, and cleverly I might add, titled “You Can’t Planet.” Plan what I thought. It was then I noticed that there had been something lodged behind the book on the shelf. No wonder it was sticking out for me to find. 

I reached towards what looked like a red bouncy ball, like those ones you used to be able to get for a quarter in those little pod looking things at the supermarket. A bygone era I thought. I reached for the ball to discover it wasn’t a ball at all. It was a button which I pressed while trying to grab it.

A strained click followed with a release of hot air that brushed my face causing me to momentarily close my eyes. A slight silence followed and then the turning of gears as the shelf in front of me shifted into a doorway. I stood at the freshly agape pathway. It was dark and I couldn’t make out much of what was inside. It was small however. There was a large and encompassing chair directly in the center facing the other wall which was adorned with circular and square like knobs. 

As my foot crossed the threshold the knobs, which I realized were lights, began to blip with life. Tiny beeps and boops circled all around my ears as the bulbs filled with red then shifted to green. All systems go I thought. 

I took a closer look at the chair which could only be described as a captain’s chair. It was ornate and fully padded. I took a seat and felt like I was sitting on a cloud. The final red lights made their transition to green and a latch lifted to my right revealing a red lever. I hadn’t even noticed the door behind me had disappeared. 

Without even thinking I pulled the lever. What sounded like an engine puttered weakly before sounding like a hundred thousand lawn mowers coming to life all at once. Then a robotic voice.

“Beginning ignition sequence. Launch in t-minus ten seconds.” 

I didn’t have time to be scared. The flashing lights and sounds overtook me with a great sense of joy. This cockpit and I had become one. It just felt right. Despite the foreign nature of it all I felt right at home. I was a hero in my own science fiction story, traversing new ground. 

Five seconds had passed. The entire room began to turn upward, gravity forcing me all the way back into the chair. The wall in front me lifted like a curtain, revealing an endless sky. The countdown finished and I was blasted into the light blue at astonishing speed. I managed a glimpse of my university below me until it faded into a blur. It all seemed so insignificant as the blue darkened and tiny specks of light became clear all around me. Stars. They began to stretch into sharp white lines as the speed of the craft increased. 

Then a sudden but smooth halt as the ship steadied itself in orbit. I was here. Outer Space. As much as I had read about it I wasn’t prepared for the vast openness of it all. It was both dark yet illuminated somehow. Truly endless. 

The autopilot was in effect. I realized there wasn’t even a steering mechanism. Still I wasn’t worried. The joy of this discovery overshadowed any fear. It was what I always wanted. A small lid lifted to my left revealing a monitor and tiny keypad. It read ‘Destination: University of Mars. Estimated Time of Arrival: Seven Earth Months. To begin cryosleep sequence press enter. I hesitated.

There was plenty of time for sleep. I thought perhaps I would do a little bit of reading. I ran through each of the fourteen short stories. When I reached the fifteenth, to my amazement, it was now there. I began reading: “It had been an unusually long day digging through the stacks at the university library…”