Event Horizon

Chapter 2

I'm a professional hypocrite.

My personal motto of "never do what's easy, always do what's right" didn't stop me from binging anime and playing video games past three (which put a few pounds on me, that I subsequently lost on the streets). I have never wished myself an easy life; I gave myself so much shit for indulging in meaningless pleasure while I still had the opportunities to pursue my ambitions. I told myself that mooching off of others would get me nowhere, but it got me into a top-secret plan to monitor extraterrestrial terrain that may determine the future of humanity.

So what happened?

It was last Saturday or Sunday, I think. Liesel (I finally bothered to ask for her name) finished setting some presentations up for her class, while I stayed home and sated my curiosity by opening mystery boxes I found in her garage. I found some ancient cube puzzle (you can clearly tell it hasn't been oiled in a while) and put it in my pocket.

"You like the cube?" She asked when I showed off my discovery.

"I think it's neat," I said.

"Alright, it's yours. Tell you what," she said, dropping a stack of books on the bocote-wood table. "Have this too. You seen my library? It's all yours if you give me a hand on something. We don't have much better to do anyways, right?"

I'd say that locking myself in a box and getting booted to space is a little different than "giving a hand", but the compensation library is honestly pretty sick. Nobody collects textbooks like she does.

"It'll be an interesting experience for you and some valuable data for me. A win-win. Plus your job's far from hard. You just need to tell me if you find signs of civilization and stay alive, and I trust you know how to text me. We're not doing any advanced biology nonsense; in your mission an idiot would know if he saw what he was looking for." She tossed some more stuff on the table: an MP3 player, a couple of empty journals, a camcorder, and a crate of art supplies.

"Entertain yourself along the way." I'd be pretty entertained as long as I don't run out of attractive women to think about while I'm up there. I'd have a hell of a time criticizing myself for being such a pathetic bitch afterwards.

I agreed out of my reckoning that this would've been a better way to spend what time I had left after I chain-smoked maybe half of my lifespan. Simple task, yeah, but being a moron alone in outer space comes with high stakes. But "to a better future", they say; helping people out is definitely a deal-sealer to me.

I used to be able to solve a cube. The fuck happened? I can't even get a side cleared yet.