Hailie breathed in the stardust of the solar breeze. Fall was coming. The leaves would die russet and amber and people would eagerly await Halloween. This year, however, was different for Hailie — her cousin had gone missing. It was not uncommon for the ocean sky to swallow galaxy surfers into its waves. After all, 70% of earth was covered in space, black, flowing universe while the heavens remained a sea, raging hurricanes or reflecting glassy calm.

No one knew why the ocean and galaxy switched places. It happened a long time ago, but people adapted to glean condensation off Neptune and colonize Mars as the new Hawaii. Hailie had explored the solar system and visited nearly every constellation; space was familiar, the real mystery was the ocean. So far away, only the horizons offered the chance to jump a wave that drew close enough to the stars. Astrid was navigating Orion's belt when a tsunami reached down and took her away, into an alien world.

Hailie trekked across Saturn's halocline rings and chartered a SpaceX pontoon to Ursus Major, one of the highest constellations on earth, and waited. The full moon rose like a mountain to pull the tide downwards, thinning the separation between them. Waves could be predicted occasionally, and a massive one was rolling in. She listened keenly, scuba gear already on. Stars like phosphenes swirled around her feet as she treaded galaxy, viscus obsidian specked with light that illuminated the cerulean above.

Harbinger whitecaps rolled closer, stronger than clouds, exclaiming absolute power. Brontides of rumbling echoes descended as blue clarity swept close. In the distance, a massive pearl-tipped upsurge plunged down like a water droplet weeping off the stone icicle of a cave stalactite. Sky ocean and galaxy sea collided as Hailie was enveloped in Azure.

To be continued...