The Wanderer
Earth 2102 CE
World leaders and Astrophysicists knew it was coming weeks in advance but are just now mentioning its arrival to the public. By tomorrow night it’ll enter our Solar System, destroy and devour all the matter in it, and then continue on its tour of the Cosmos.
They’ve classified it as a “Wanderer”, meaning it strolls around the universe consuming everything in its path. I’d heard there were something like 100 million in our galaxy and it was just a matter of time before one showed up. Fortunately for Earth and the Martian colonies death should be fairly quick. Everyone was told that the planets would begin to rip apart hours before the Wanderer was even visible in our sky, giving their souls a head start at least. I envied them.
In all of 714 years I have never feared death. I have felt what should have been death many times only to wake up the next day perfectly fine. Perfectly healthy. Over the years the act of dying became as comfortable as falling asleep and though I could still feel pain, being alive for so long had offered me plenty of exposure therapy. No matter what happened to me, (explosion/drowning/radiation), I knew I would still be here tomorrow. It’s terrifying to admit that may no longer be the case. The Earth would be gone by tomorrow morning and where will I be? Waiting in space to be swallowed. Perhaps my body can survive the…
