"Xiao..."
I say the name back to myself a few times.
Xiao...Xiao...
"Xiao...It's pretty. But what does it mean?"
Major Chang gives me that same sad smile again. "It's Chinese. Means a lot of things, but to me...it's what my wife and I would've named our kid if we ever had one."
"Why didn't you?"
"Well, as much as we wanted to have kids, Julia—my wife—she...she couldn't."
"Oh...That must have been so hard to accept."
He chuckles to himself. "An android with an empathy program...Robotics have come a long way since I've been gone, I see. Julia would've been amazed. Or maybe not...She's still down on Earth after all."
On a nearby shelf, there's a framed photo of a young couple and a dog, just within my reach. I pick it up and realize the man must be a younger Major Chang. And the woman...
"Is this her?" I point to the woman in the photo.
"Yeah, that's her. That picture was taken not too long after we were married...a few days before I went on this mission. After all these years, the only thing that keeps me going is this reminder that I have Julia and Bowie to come back to someday."
"Bowie?"
"Our husky. He's the closest thing we had to a child." He nods toward the photo and shrugs, resuming his work on my suit. "Though now that I think about it, it's been about 15 earth-years since I first left. Dogs don't live that long, do they?"
I check my internal database...the average lifespan of a husky is 12-15 years. He's right, that dog is gone by now.
Why do I feel such sadness?
"Hey, it's okay. I still have Julia...At least, I hope I do. I...I lost contact with Earth halfway through my journey to Titan. It's a miracle I even made it here."
"You can't go back?"
He sighs and shakes his head.
"To be honest I thought you would be my way home, but it looks like you're just as stuck here as I am. Your capsule's in no shape to return, and you...You don't even know why you're here, do you?"
"No."
"Still, you did come from NASA; that much I know. I'd recognize one of their Dragons anywhere."
"How?"
[[TO BE CONTINUED]]
YOU ARE READING
I Am XIAO: An Inktober Story
Bilim KurguFirst published on Instagram under the username @leilacreatesthings as a response to Jake Parker's "Inktober" art challenge during October 2019-January 2020. PREMISE: In the year 2520, on the space capsule "Blue Dragon", the sole passenger, a NASA...
