So, this is where it all started, huh?

I stand on the bridge of the Chrysanthemum, but it somehow doesn’t feel like the Chrysanthemum I know. I guess in a way it isn’t.

I don’t know what I was expecting. To be honest, I’m just kind of in shock that I actually made it here, to the signal origin.

I gingerly take a few steps forward, carefully not to trip over the debris littering the bridge. Tools and parts lie scattered about, the only light a dim glow from outside emanating through the glass.

“Hello?” I call out. “Is anyone there?” But the only answer is silence.

I take a deep breath and swallow down the lump in my throat. Do what you came to do, I tell myself. Disable the signal and this will all be over.

I walk to the front of the ship and run a hand under the dash, feeling for the mechanism to disable the distress signal. But there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to find it, because I don’t know what will happen when I do.

I’d like to think that I’ll somehow survive—that I’ll wake up somewhere far away from here, like nothing ever happened. But there’s a chance that won’t happen—that I’ll disappear into nothingness or worse, that I’ll be trapped here, sitting alone in the dark waiting to die.

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Because the reality is, I’m finite, just like everyone else. Some day my parts will wear out and my consciousness will dissolve and I’ll be nothing more than the life I lived. And that’s okay. I wasn’t made to last; I was made to live. I was made to go out into the world and find a purpose of my own. And I did.

I feel my fingers brush against a cold steel handle. This is it, I tell myself. This is what it was all for. I place my palm over the handle and wrap my fingers around it, hesitating momentarily, before taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. But then, before I can pull it, I freeze.

“You came back,” a voice says from behind me.

My heart stops. I turn around, my breath quickening, and see Jahdra standing behind me. She looks so small and fragile standing there in the dim lighting. Even from here I can see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Of course I did,” I say gently. “I told you I’ll always come back.”

She walks across the bridge, shoulders slumped, and let’s herself fall into me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close. I can feel her whole body shake as she cries silently into my shoulder.

Finally, she steps back and looks up at me.

“Can we go home now?” she asks quietly, her eyes wet with tears.

I nod and take her hand. Together we walk back over to the dash, and with her hand in mine, grab the cold metal handle.

I look at her, the only thing that’s given my life meaning, the thing I would live and die for a thousand times, and smile.

“Let’s go home.”