Other Stars Elsewhere
A weird short-short story for your weird midnight coffee break.
“What’s that constellation there called?” one of the tourists asked. “The one next to Old Bear.”
“Old Bear?” the guide looked up at him. “I’m not sure I know that one, I’m afraid. Where is it?”
“There,” another tourist said, pointing at the sky.
“I can’t see anything there,” the guide said, following the second tourist’s finger while shaking her head. “I’m sorry.”
“What?” the first tourist asked, amusedly raising his eyebrows. “You’re joking, right? There’s Ilgun, the nose of Old Bear, next to it is the twin pair of Abanaxa and Ub, the eyes of the bear, and below them, Virta, Old Bear’s heart.”
The guide kept straining her eyes, but the portion of the sky the two tourists were looking at remained blank and black.
“I can’t see anything there,” she said, smiling. “And I think I’ve never even heard these names. You’re not joking, are you?”
The two tourists looked at each other, then at her.
“Sorry, no, we aren’t joking,” the first one said.
“I don’t even know our dear traveling companion here,” the second one said. “I mean, besides what little I’ve learned about him during the trip. We’re from the same country, for example, I can understand him, see?”
“I see,” the guide said. “I mean, I still don’t see anything there.”
“That’s weird,” the first tourist said. “But you do see other stars elsewhere in the sky? Your eyes are okay, I mean? You’re not feeling sick or something?”
The guide shook her head, a little apologetically.
“No, I’m fine, thank you. I just can’t see anything there. I can see stars, the usual ones everywhere else. Just not there.”
“Coming to think of it,” the second tourist said, turning to the first one, “I remember Old Bear’s stars by name, but I don’t recall ever having seen that other constellation you were asking her about. That’s at least as weird as her not seeing anything there.”
“It must be magic,” the first tourist said. “I thought it wouldn’t be back for another thirty years.”
“Magic?” the guide asked under her breath, perplexed.
“Oh,” the second tourist said with a little gasp.”That would explain it all. But if that’s the case… you know what I’m thinking about, right?”
“Sure I do,” the first tourist said. “Sure I do, pal.”
He turned to the guide.
“Excuse me, but I must ask you a rather weird question,” he said. “What planet are we on? And what year is it?”
The guide looked at him, disbelief in her eyes.
“You really must be joking,” she said.
“I’m not, I’m afraid,” he said. “I wish I’d be, but I’m not.”
There was a glint of purple in his eyes. A strange glow nobody has seen on Earth — at least not in a few thousand years.
