text: Rook landed his ship on the platform of the fuel station. 'Fill her up to the brink,’ he said to the clerk while climbing down the ladder of his ship. ‘She’s got eleven additional tanks installed you don’t wanna miss!’ The clerk leaned under the hull of the ship and opened the cover plate of the twelve tank openings. ‘This is gonna take a while, Sir,’ the clerk said, ‘what do you need this much fuel for? You’re not a reseller are you?’ ‘No, Sir. Just make sure to fill her up.’ The clerk sighed and went on to connecting the fuel hose to the first tank. ‘With this much fuel you could probably travel over -,’ the clerk paused, ‘you could probably travel almost forever.’ He laughed. Rook nodded at the clerk with a smile. Then he walked down the platform into the rundown shop of the station. Nobody was inside. He went up to the counter and ordered a coffee at the coffee machine. It buzzed and blinked and spat the beverage into a paper cup. He grabbed the cup and sat down at a table in the corner, stretched out his legs and drank the coffee. ‘What brings you this far out?’ the clerk asked as he entered the shop after a while. ‘We rarely get a customer travelling all by himself, you know.’ ‘Well, it’s a one man mission,’ Rook explained. ‘Yeah? What kind of a mission?’ the clerk wanted to know, sitting down at Rook’s table. ‘I wanna look for the edge,’ he said. The clerks face changed. ‘So you think there is one?’ ‘I’m here to find out.’ ‘Well, good luck. We’ve already had people stop by here for a last refill. The farthest anyone ever made it and still returned, was fifty light years - not very far, I know. The problem was he wouldn’t stay asleep and had to go back. Returned on his 125th birthday, barely alive. You know, I’ve heard the toughest part, once you get out there is steering straight!’ he laughed. Then he smiled. ‘Better catch some real sleep until she’s full. I’ll wake you up.' The clerk got up from the table and left the shop. Rook was woken up a couple of hours later by the clerk hissing at him from a distance. He paid for the fuel, then walked to his ship, the clerk following him. 'Thank you Sir,’ Rook said shaking the clerk’s hand, then he climbed up the ladder and closed the hatch behind him. ‘*Welcome aboard Roxy 3.7, Captain Rook*,’ the operating system greeted him. ‘Hi Louis. Get her ready for a take off!’ He fastened his seatbelts and gave the clerk on the platform a thumbs up through the cockpit, signaling him to open the gate. The clerk rushed inside, a warning signal started blinking, the gate slid open and Rook launched into the black. '*Roxy 3.7 has now lost connection with interstellar fuel station G199*,’ Louis informed after a while. 'Alright, switch her to autopilot!’ The ships engines shut off and it stopped accelerating. Rook flipped open his seatbelt and floated out of his seat and the cockpit, pulling himself along the handles of the storage compartments in the walls toward the back of the ship. There was the sleep chamber. He pressed a green button at the foot of the chamber and the glass lid lifted up. Rook took off his overall and stuffed it in the compartment next to the chamber, then he drew himself on the mattress with the straps and tubes which disappeared underneath it. ‘Louis!’ He whispered. ‘*Yes Captain*?’ ‘You’re gonna make sure she flies straight?’ ‘*Certainly Rook*.’ ‘Good. I guess I’m ready for the fridge then. You thaw me out when we get there, or in case of an emergency,’ Rook slowly began to strap his legs into position on the mattress. ‘*What if we never get there*?’ Louis asked. ‘Well, if you are certain it’s infinite, you can wake me up as well.’ ‘*Alright Captain*.’ Rook finished fastening himself to the mattress. With his free left arm he reached for one of the tubes. At its end protruded a thick needle. ‘How long ‘til I’ll be gone?’ ‘*A couple of minutes.*’ Rook nodded. ‘Okay Louis, it’s just you from now on,’ he breathed out and pushed the needle into his right arm, squinting his eyes. ‘You can close the lid now!’ ‘*Do you want me to sing you a lullaby Captain*?’ Louis asked. ‘Sure.’ The electric voice began with, there was a young woman of Ryde, as the lid slowly dropped. Rook closed his eyes and it felt just like looking out the window. ‘*Good morning Captain Rook*!’ Louis said. Rook felt cold. He didn’t dare move. His eyes still closed he whispered, ‘how long has it been?’ ‘*20 trillion light years*.’ Rook threw up against the glass. ‘Are we there?’ He wiped the puke down to the bottom of the pane. ‘*No Captain*.’ Louis opened the lid. ‘Then what’s going on?’ ‘*Something is travelling our way Captain. However, it doesn’t appear on the radar and we fail to pick up any kind of signal. We only have a visual*.’ ‘But what’s the problem? Change course and let it pass!’ Rook leaped out of the chamber and put on his overall. ‘*I’ve tried, but it seems to adjust its course to ours whenever we do. Captain, I think it is trying to hit us*!’ Louis didn’t have to sound worried. Rook quickly pulled himself into the cockpit and slipped under the seatbelts. He flipped a switch which put the ship in manual mode, then looked ahead. In the middle of the pitch black he could see a dazzling bright spot. ‘How far away are we?’ He grabbed the wheel. ‘*Hard to tell. At the current speed, I estimate we are going to collide in a couple of minutes*.’ Gritting his teeth, Rook jerked the ship right, then swept left. The light followed. So he pushed down the steering wheel making a nose dive, trying to outmaneuver it and for a second it was gone. He pulled the ship back up in a swift motion and pointed her into the initial direction, when suddenly the light appeared again, striking him through the cockpit. He couldn’t see but white. ‘*Preparing for hit*!’ Turning away Rook pulled back the steering wheel and hit the brakes as hard as he could. A warning signal hollered through the ship. Nothing happened. ‘Did it pass?’ Rook leaned back into the seat. His burning eyes tried to adjust, but the light was still there, cutting through the window. ‘*No Captain. It stopped*.’ Louis said. ‘*Turning off headlights now*!’ ‘What?’ blinded Rook asked. Then the ships headlights switched off. The blinding light disappeared and Rick stared ahead. In front of them floated another ship. Roxy 3.7 was written on its left wing. Its headlights were off and there was only light in the cockpit. Inside he could make out the silhouette of a man. Rook reached up his arm and waved. The silhouette mirrored his movement. ‘Holy shit. Louis do you see this?’ ‘*Certainly Captain*.’ ‘Start her up again!’ The ship slowly moved forward, its nose approaching the mirror. It touched the pane for a second, then it went right through and began to disappear. For a moment Rook was sitting face to face, before diving through as well. The other side was just as dark. He turned the ship around and waved at the reflection one last time, then he flew on into the dark. ‘*Do you think that was it*?’ ‘I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to find out...’ ‘*Do you wanna go back to sleep*?’ ‘I’m gonna stay up a little more.’ ‘*Do you want me to sing you something*?’ ‘Sure.