The End

Joppa looked around at her home. The place was so desolate! Now and again, she'd hear the wind rustling personal items, but otherwise, nothing much. It wasn't that there weren't people. There were people, all right, but many of them had fled the city. Many had gone to the mountains, and had probably died there. Joppa figured they were dead; it was the only logical explanation. After all, the air was getting so thin. It felt like you were breathing in the mountains, even while walking on city streets. So the actual mountains had to be thoroughly bereft of air. That had to be why no one had contacted the city for months.

And then there had been those who'd escaped. The big silvery ships had risen to take them to some other world, for Joppa's world was dying. Every day, for months, the airwaves had been filled with advertisements for space on the big ships. "Escape the doom! Free yourself! Come with us to another world!" they had said. And then the truth had come out, that many of the ships had crashed, or had run low on fuel or food. There were rumors of cannibalism on board. So Joppa, and others like her, were smug in their satisfaction. They felt justified in staying, even as the solar system spiraled closer and closer to the center of the galaxy.

For that was the doom that was coming: the solar system had somehow shaken loose its moorings, and was coming closer and closer to the kernel of the galaxy. Every spin and every spiral and every pass took away a little more air and brought more of an extremeness to the world. The colds were colder, the hots were hotter. The nights were darker and shorter and the days were brighter and longer. Radiation was everywhere. It was becoming blinding just to look at the ground. Everyone who remained wore eye protection until the sun set and the brief freezing night fell.

Joppa stirred from her reverie. Enough of that! The planet might be dying, but I am still alive, she thought. She carefully adjusted her eye protection and ventured out. The streets were deserted. She made her way to the grocery and helped herself to the remaining food and alcohol. There was so little left. She turned when she heard her name being called.

"I said, Joppa, is that you?"

"Yes. Hello, Esado. Have you found enough food?"

"There's none left. But I have enough for myself. Maybe we can share." He smiled at her behind his bag of groceries.

"Very well. But don't expect me to do all of the cooking."

They walked to Esado's home as Joppa appraised him. He was so much younger than her, perhaps half her age. He'd been a delivery boy before the spiraling had begun. In another time, she'd've ignored him. In another time, she'd've had a son his age. But there was no other time.

They began preparing the meal as Esado began to babble. "I've heard that the time is coming soon." Joppa didn't have to ask what time. It was the time.

"Oh? And I have heard that for months. Every day for a while there, the media told us that the day when we would reach the galactic center would be in a week or a month. Yet it has been over a year. What news are you hearing? Aren't the media outlets all closed anyway?"

"I, just, I know. There has been no one to tell me." he said, lowering his eyes. "It just seems that the night is getting as short as it can. Last night was less than an hour. It must be soon."

"Yes, I suppose you are correct. Tell me, Esado, why are you still here? I am here by choice, but you are young. Why didn't you fly away?"

"I wanted to, but I didn't have the money and was saving. And then we heard all of those terrible things about the flights. It seemed smarter to stay and face the end here, at home. My parents, they went to the mountains, but I said my good-byes to them. I wanted, no, I want, to be here when it happens."

"Do you want to watch it happen?" asked Joppa, tasting dinner to make sure it was cooked. She poured herself a drink and downed it in one gulp, and then made one for Esado.

"I guess I never thought about that. They say it will blind you. You won't see it, anyway."

"I suppose that's true. But it must be spectacular to see, even for a moment." Joppa insisted. "It would certainly be something that no one had ever done before."

Esado looked at her strangely. "There are many things I've never done before. You know what I am talking about." He approached her.

Joppa instinctively started to back away, and then stopped. What was the harm? There would be no one to judge the act. She met him halfway and they grabbed at each other. Their coupling was brief and hot.

Joppa broke away first. Wearing nothing but eye protection, she taunted, "Come up to the roof with me, Esado! We can watch as the world ends!"

Esado followed. He grabbed her again. "We can make love while the world ends." he insisted, breathing hard in her ear. The climb was laborious, as if they were scaling the highest and steepest mountain. The night fell quickly, and it was freezing cold, water instantly turning to frost, their bare feet dancing on the ice to keep from freezing in place to the rooftop. They were out of breath just dancing in place.

Joppa turned to him, gasping. "I barely have the energy to stand. Do you think this is it?"

He had no chance to answer as the world answered for him. The night ended as fast as it had begun. Together, they flopped down onto the rooftop, all energy spent as they lapped at the remaining air. They lay face-up, side by side, and held hands.

"This must be it." Joppa panted. "The air is flying away. The brights are so bright. I want to see them before I die. Will you see them with me, Esado?"

"Yes." he croaked, his voice the barest whisper. "Together, on three. One, two, three."

With their free hands, they removed their eye protection in one quick motion. Their hands clasped together. Together, they looked up at the sky.

The sky burst with light. There were a billion stars, a trillion stars, all falling at them rapidly. The sight turned red and then black and then, nothing, as the last of the air whooshed away.

The archaeologist carefully brushed at the bones. She stood up, but not too quickly. This pockmarked planet had so little gravity. One false move and she'd be flying kilometers away. She checked her pressure suit. Ah, all was working perfectly. "Lysom, you should see this." she called on her radio.

"Coming." Lysom answered. Soon, he was at her side, the light gravity turning a little step into a giant leap. "What have you got, Shanlin?"

"You know how we calculated this planet's trajectory?"

"You know I do. I did the brainwork myself. This entire solar system corkscrewed right into the center of the galaxy. It passed right through it, in fact. Now it's corkscrewing out. By my calculations, it hit the center about a half a million years ago."

"Precisely. And all of the skeletons we've found were in the mountains or in the ruins of the houses. Right?"

"And? Get to the point, Shanlin."

"The point is, these two are the only skeletons I've found which seem like they were outside during the pass-through. Anyone else seems to have already been dead or hiding during the pass-through. But these two were there. They watched it."

"Excellent!" said Lysom. "They'll be great for the display. You have everything else you need for the museum? I'd like to get off this rock soon. The radiation is gone but it's terribly cold here."

"Yes, I have everything I need. We can pick up these skeletons tomorrow. I have a display title in mind and everything."

"Oh? And what are you going to call this display, Shanlin?"

"The Lovers."

"You're overly sentimental." said Lysom. "I'd call them The Doomed."

"No, see how one is male, and one is female? You can tell from the size of some of the bones. Hers are more delicate, see?" explained Shanlin.

"Yes, yes." said Lysom, "but that's how it works with us. You so sure it worked that way with them?"

"Well, you don't have much choice with such old fossils. You always have to engage in a little conjecture. Consider it creative thinking." said Shanlin, smiling in her pressure suit. "But I like the title, The Lovers. See what I mean?"

She pointed to where the two sets of skeletal appendages were entwined, a hand-holding of some sort. Then, her own hand slipped slightly, and her glove briefly touched the entwined fossilized bones, which shattered upon impact. The two sets of remains disintegrated, the harsh cosmic winds blew them away, and all evidence of their existence was lost.