Hope shone in the pearlescent beads of her cousin's bracelet. Hailie had given it to her on Astrid's twelfth birthday; it was made of tektite meteorites and spheres of silver. She had to be here somewhere amongst the eternal blue. Shrimp, translucent pink invertebrates, scattered away as she floated on the reeds to rest. A white dot became larger as it hurtled towards her from above. It sprouted wings and screamed just feet over her head. A seagull.
They were supposed to be extinct, even in the ocean sky. The bird sounded like an unoiled bicycle wheel - squeaky and shrill. It scooped up a small fish hidden beneath the vegetation and flew west, the direction of the flotsam. Hailie followed for miles, each kick of her artificial flippers taking her closer to an island never before discovered by explorers.
She shed her gear like a molting horseshoe crab and walked ashore. Gravity was stronger here than on Earth; her body felt weighed down as if her bones became cement. Her cousin was strong from surfing space, but was it enough? There were tracks, human footprints. Sand squished between her toes as she called for Astrid. Palm trees bore coconuts, a fruit only the wealthy could afford back home. Hibiscus flowers smelled sweet, accented by red anthers and yellow pollen. All of this beauty flipped. Had her cousin paid attention in history class?
How their ancestors ate fish and coconuts? Is Astrid even alive? Then she appeared, skin red and peeling like a gum tree, hair matted and dehydrated, but she was there, intact. They hugged tears adding salt to their cheeks. Astrid had survived two days on this island in a foreign realm, a remarkable feat. Together they swam to the thinning and dove into the Milky Way, comfortable among the stars.
