Overlap

Chapter 50: Lumina

<06/01/2011 - 22:00 | 44 Greivar Trail, Marietta, GA, USA>

"You just get so lost in the sky, looking at that view."

I really did lose myself in the beautiful ocean above our heads, the ocean of twinkling stars amidst the chill of the night air. The view, thousands of mysterious distant worlds at a glance captivated my eyes, while the serene music in my headphones played my heart like guitar strings. "Hollowed Heart" by Christoffer Franzen mystified the air around us, synchronizing with the beauty of the stars as it cast magic into this very moment.

"Can you blame me Lumina? Just look at them all... There are so many stars out right now, I feel like I could see the whole universe. If only I could reach out and travel to them." I didn't deny the enchantment; it all felt too wonderful to look away. In this silent night, out here on the front yard, I have this private field all to myself, shared with the woman I kept hidden from everyone else.

"Yeah, but you're still one interstellar spaceship short of that goal."

"Who cares?" My soft whisper reflected the calm in my body. I knew it was unrealistic to think I could travel the stars, but just thinking about it was so relaxing, I cared not if my ideas were practical. How could I care about anything else in this beautiful moment? Nothing I've ever seen can compare to this. Laying out under the stars with Lumina again, it's true bliss!

Catching onto my inner tone, Lumina abandoned all seriousness too, letting her emotions simmer and melt into the euphoric peace between us. "Yeah. It really does look amazing."

I knew she was seriously enjoying the same view through my eyes, but it brought up an interesting question for me. "Don't you get views like these where you live?"

"Well, on Karnak, it's a little different. We can still see the stars at night, but..."

"Hold on a sec. If you have a blue star, how does that look in the skies of your planet?"

"Well, do you know what it looks like during the winter, when it's just about to snow in your world? It's kind of like that for us all the time. But at night time, or up here on my ship, there's a lot more light pollution. Even though we don't plant all those lamps and electronics everywhere, our system skybox has this constant faint blue hazy view to it, instead of the pitch black you see from your solar system. The light from our star reflects off the Phobium Cloud nebula, and it kind of makes distant stars here a little harder to see."

"How is that even possible?" I've still not attained a full grasp of Lumina's solar system.

"You should see it someday. On Karnak, once it's night, the sky is never entirely pitch black. It's really amazing. But I'm used to it, so it's hard for me to say it with such feeling. Plus, I haven't been back to Karnak in a very long time. On the other hand, the view in front of you is something I never could have imagined!"

"Look at us, comparing notes between our two worlds."

"There isn't much to compare..."

I kept myself silent, waiting for Lumina to realize the error in her own words, which didn't take long. We're not trying to see which world is better in the end.

"Okay maybe I'm wrong."

"You think?" I got Lumina to chuckle a bit before opening up on the amazing love we share for the world around us. "Most people would shy from the thought of a frozen, barren world, but based on the memories you showed me, Karnak looks like a really beautiful place to be. I bet that sheer cold feels amazing, as an Altiri anyway."

With the topic of world and nature fresh on our minds, Lumina started talking about it on her own. "I'll admit... The Earth has a lot of beautiful land, and many more places that I would love to see in person... It's just that, the humans there have kind of ruined it all."