Solitude

The station’s crew left for earth with the findings of our planetary study, and I stayed to keep the station operating. It’d be eighty years before they got home. By the time the next crew arrived I’d be long since dead.

I’d volunteered. It wasn’t the perfect mission, but somebody had to do it.

I watched the ship lift off, abandoning me to what remained of the colony. We had food, enough for one, and oxygen was provided by the hydroponic garden in the east wing. I’d be fine. I hoped.

Ok, then. It’s time to explore my new world…