Can you Imagine it Jack?"

“Can you imagine it Jack? Space Travel?”

“I hear it makes ya sick”

“I hear it’s just like Star Trek, but no aliens and bigger windows. They stop time Jack”

I looked her in her dreamy eyes, as she smoked. She’s been doing research. She’d seen the ads basically paying people to brave space in their contraptions. They’d stop time with their space engines and thin air, riding the razors edges of both gravity and atmosphere. Building on a culture of space dominance in a market full of gazillionaires who’ve conquered everything but time.

After only 42 martyrs to the cause, due to tech failure, and miscalculations, and one ship of 12 bouncing off the planet completely and almost immediately losing contact with a week later, the bastards did it. They had a quantum AI checking their math and 3,000 colleges full of actual pencil pushers checking it’s corrections. They had the laws, they predicted the gravity field “near-perfectly”.

The Orian Empress was the creme-de-la-creme and the only one sustainable for a record 12 years aloft. She had become a bed and breakfast for those rich and vain enough to preserve themselves. The automated concierge was powered by desire, sation, and allowed you to customize your experience from time to time. Hot beach action for a week and back to the mountains? Holo meetings with the family back home . . . down home? Most put business in others hands but there is business aloft. Shuttles full of cash, diamonds, and various items were already in storage at BancoEspacio. I floating metal box of shit people wanted in orbit. 

“You think the optics are that good? Like, do you think I could tell I was in space and not Paris?” 

“Why not just go to Paris?” 

“Why go to Paris at all? Why not go climb Everest? Why not go to Space? Loose these chains of gravity and depression, find freedom in the stars.” she quoted and puffed her cig-pen. 

“You wouldn’t miss me?’ 

“Hell no, she lied”

“So you leave for 6 months, and you’re 5 months older. Do you get another birthday?” 

“Why not just move the damn thing a month. A November birthday would’ve been great.” 

“How would you do that? Do you get a time travel certificate to take down to the DMV and get your Birthday changed on your license?” 

Shut up Jack. You idiot, you gotta go, I got work in an hour.