Return By January 27th 2136

“Systems coming online. Disengaging hypersleep now. We are approaching our destination,” echoed the computer voice.

           Nate massaged his temples and sat up in his hypersleep pod. Despite his vision being blurred, he could see the other pods opening their lids. Waking from hypersleep felt like nasty hangover. Nate got the feeling that his crewmates wouldn’t be in the mood for conversation.

           The crew members slowly made their way to the mess hall, desperate for something to nurse their hangovers. No one said a word to each other as they heated their insta-meals. It reminded Nate of his days in college.

           “Just like the dining halls on a Sunday morning,” he thought.

           After putting away their dishes, the crew shuffled around the ship’s interior. Everyone seemed to head towards their work station. Nate, being the ship’s pilot, decided to head to the cockpit. As he arrived there, his eyes were greeted by flashing LEDs on the control panel. Things were just as he left them. Nate smiled to himself before looking out of the cockpit window. From there, he could see his destination in the distance: Yunides.

           Nate never enjoyed mining planets like Yunides. It was covered by thick, green gasses and (from what he could tell) had constant acid rainstorms. He hated mining on these uninhabitable planets, it was such a stressful work environment. It was part of the job, as the Vail Corporation had gotten into some hot water over their work practices by the US government. Vail has an abysmal history with environmental regulation, both on Earth and on foreign planets. On Earth, they had torn apart the Amazon rainforest and many North American forests as well. Off of Earth was even worse. They had driven entire planets to extinction with their mining practices on several occasions. Now the government restricted them to mining uninhabitable planets or planets with no current signs of life. Planets like Yunides were far more common.

           Nate looked around the cockpit to find his storage crate. He blew some of the dust off of the top before opening it up. He dug through and found his belonging as he had left them. There were a few changes of clothes, some toiletries, a large backpack and a book. He looked at the book in mild confusion.

           “When did I get this?,” he thought.

           He opened it up and gasped. Inside the cover was a stamp that read, Chicago Public Library, please return by January 27^th 2136. He glanced up at the clock. It was February 17^th 2336.

           “How could I have been so stupid?” he thought. Renting out a library book before going on a mining expedition this far away from Earth? All thoughts of the mission were abandoned as he wondered how he could get his two-hundred year overdue library book back. There was only one conclusion he could come to.

           Nate grabbed his belongings and crammed them into his backpack. He peeked his head out of the cockpit. He couldn’t see any of his crew members nearby. He hoped that they wouldn’t notice was he was about to do.

           Nate rushed through the ship’s hallways to the escape pod dock. He found a suitable pod and began the launch sequence. The engines of the pod whirred and the interior lights flashed to indicate that it was ready. He hoped into the driver’s seat. “Vail doesn’t pay me squat anyway,” he said to himself before slamming his foot on the accelerator.

           The pod erupted from the launchpad. Nate set his destination for Earth. He determined that nothing would stop him from returning his book. He didn’t care how much money it was going to cost. He figured they must’ve capped the price at some point.

           Nate made it about 50 lightyears before something rammed the belly of his pod. It spun around wildly before something hit it from the left, then the right, then the left again. Nate gripped the steering wheel with all of his might. The pod’s alert siren blared in his ears. After fighting against the ship’s controls, he was able to see what had hit him. He’d driven his pod straight into an asteroid field. He glanced around, looking for a way out. There were asteroids flying around him too fast to keep up. Suddenly, a deafening crash rung out and the pod spun forward like a bowling ball. It must’ve been hit in the rear by a particularly forceful asteroid. Nauseated and exhausted, Nate stabilized the pod before looking out. He appeared to have spun out of the asteroid field. He thanked his lucky stars before moving forward.

           Something lightening-fast flew in front of his pod. IIt appeared to be a dark ship with angular features and spines decorating its wings. The ship made a sharp u-turn and opened fire directly over the pod. The rearview windows had been damaged by the asteroids, but Nate knew there must’ve been an enemy ship behind him. He spun the pod around to see a beige ship with cylindrical wing shapes. It returned fire over his head. Laser beams of pink and green flashed around Nate’s head. It was clear to him that the two ships weren’t interested in him, but their fire could easily blow a hole in the pod. Nate didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself. He inches the pod away from the battle zone as slowly as he could. He had gotten far enough away, but suddenly felt a bump. The computer screen flashed ENERGY SHIELD TAKING FIRE. ENGAGING COMBAT MODE.

           “No, no, no!” Nate shrieked. The wheel wasn’t working anymore. The pod whirred back towards the two other ships. Nate started hammering the controls, attempting to make it disengage. The pod, completely unprompted, opened fire on the dark ship. Nate was shocked, he didn’t realize the pods had guns. The computer had somehow perfectly hit the thrusters. The thruster exploded and propelled the dark ship forward. It smashed into the beige ship with tremendous force, obliterating both into flying pieces of scrap metal.

           ENEMIES ANNIHILATED. COMBAT DISENGAGED.

           Nate could feel the control return to the wheel. He turned the pod around and took off as fast as he could. After some time driving the pod at the speed of light, the light of the solar system peaked through the pod’s windshield. There was Earth! Considering how far away he had traveled, he’d made it in impressive time. It only felt like a few hours, though he knew it was closer to two months.

           He got the feeling the pod wouldn’t last much longer. He navigated towards North America and entered the atmosphere. Downward and downward the pod fell as flames engulfed his vision. It was not long before he could see the Chicago skyline. He ejected from the pod before it crashed into Lake Michigan.

           Nate was able maneuverer his parachute and landed in Grant Park. From there he sprinted to the location where the library was. But the building was missing. Something wasn’t right.

“Excuse me,” he asked a man walking by, “What happened to the library?”

“Library?” the man inquired, sounding confused.

“Yeah, it’s a place to rent out books.” Nate explained.

“Oh like Kindle rentals?” the man said.

“I suppose,” Nate replied, “But it’s a place for physical books.”

“I didn’t realize anyone was still making physical books” said the man, “I remember them from when I was a young boy, but I haven’t seen one in years.”

           Nate stepped back. Books had gone completely digital? Then he remembered: Vail had ravaged forests on Earth. They must’ve had to switch all books to digital due to a paper shortage. Vail had likely destroyed so many forests that they couldn’t make paper anymore.

           Nate was stunned. How could bookstores and libraries be gone? How could only reading ebooks be nearly as satisfying as the real thing?

           He opened his backpack and looked down at his book. He hadn’t considered that this book, which he had risked so much to return, could now be a priceless artifact.

           Nate was stricken by a terrifying thought, “What would happen if Vail were to get their hands of this book?” He knew that they must be looking for him, since he abandoned his mission.

           “They’ll never take it from me!” Nate declared to no one in particular. He dashed off towards the bus station. He knew it was time for a new life, one without Vail. He was ready to search for a quiet, secluded place, one where he could enjoy the last book on Earth.