21 grams
Laura was wrong. The old man laughs out his dying breaths. There's no sea, no ship, no shore.
Just the nerve-pounding rush through a launch tube, his viper gathering speed. He banks, evasive maneuvers which feel like seizures, throttle shaking under his hand in tempo with his body on the bed. His sight darkens, resolves into a starscape.
He flips his viper end over end, exhilarated by weightlessness. Her familiar voice calls him home and he obeys, touching down lightly in the docking bay. They're all there, waiting for him.
His wife. His sons. Their people. It's better than Elysium.
Just the nerve-pounding rush through a launch tube, his viper gathering speed. He banks, evasive maneuvers which feel like seizures, throttle shaking under his hand in tempo with his body on the bed. His sight darkens, resolves into a starscape.
He flips his viper end over end, exhilarated by weightlessness. Her familiar voice calls him home and he obeys, touching down lightly in the docking bay. They're all there, waiting for him.
His wife. His sons. Their people. It's better than Elysium.