Generational Starship Pegasus IV thundered through the endless dark. Seventy-eight years into her eight-hundred-year voyage to Proxima B, Commander Ross was woken by the soothing voice of an AI medic and a fragrant puff of vitamin spritz.

 

“Welcome back, Sir. Your vitals are excellent. Human crew are all alive and well. A.I. crew performing optimally, all systems online.”

 

Ross exhaled deeply, rubbing his eyes. “Then why did you wake me?”

 

“We have received news from Earth that we will soon be passed by the Orion III. We thought you would appreciate the opportunity to witness it.”

 

“Yes, thank you. Do we need to adjust course?”

 

“No, Sir. They already have. They are requesting a fly-past.”

 

“What do we know about the Orion?”

 

“Nuclear Pulse Propulsion with solar sail. She can achieve ten times our current velocity.”

 

“So, they found a way to get there in one lifetime. Damn. Impressive. Should be quite a sight.”

 

“We calculate that Orion will catch us within forty-eight hours. Is there anyone else you’d like us to awaken?”

 

“Yes, everyone. Everyone deserves to see this.”

 

Shortly after clambering out of her cryo chamber, Captain Lee was summoned to the Commander’s quarters. Ross stood still, facing his view window, staring out into the emptiness. He didn’t turn around.

 

“You ever wonder why they bothered giving us view screens? There hasn’t been a damn thing worth looking at since we passed Jupiter.”

 

“Well, Sir, that’s about to change.”

 

“Sure, for a few whole seconds. Within minutes, Orion will be just another distant point of light.”

 

“No human eyes will have ever seen a man-made object move so fast.”

 

“Remember when we first passed a thousand miles per second? We were the pinnacle of human achievement. We carried all of our species’ hopes of survival. Everything we did... mattered.”

 

Ross turned slowly towards his second-in-command, “Jo, Orion left Earth orbit less than eight years ago.”

 

“And they’ve caught us already. Incredible.”

 

“If there’s another leap forward like that, it could take less than a year to catch us.”

 

“None of us believed we’d be the first to reach Proxima, Sir.”

 

“No, I know, but it’s starting to feel like this ship will be the last to get there.”

 

“Even so, for a brief moment, we will be flying side-by-side, all the way out here, so far from Earth. To see other humans, racing to the stars, powered by repurposed nukes — it will invigorate our mission. Thank you for waking us, Sir.”

 

* * *

 

The human crew assembled at the Observation Deck. Its 360-degree, floor-to-ceiling view screens gave everyone the illusion of floating in space. They stood in silence, heart rates rising, as darting eyes scanned the sky aft of the ship.

 

“There!” shouted Officer Shian Floyd, “Right there!”

 

She rushed over to the far wall and pointed frantically at a tiny flashing dot that was getting brighter. Closing at around 9000 mps, it took Orion ten seconds to appear alongside. The crew straightened their postures and saluted proudly. They caught a brief silver flash from the vast, impossibly thin, solar sail as it reflected the blast from Pegasus’s obsolete thrusters.

 

A slightly distorted female voice came over the comms system.

 

“Pegasus IV, this is Commander Chan of the Orion III. You sure are a beautiful sight. After years of nothing, you are looking good!”

 

Rapturous cheers and applause filled the hulls of both vessels.

 

“Godspeed, Pegasus. You gave humanity wings. You made all this possible. Orion out.”

 

Captain Lee was one of many moved to tears. Privately, she whispered, “Godspeed, Orion”.

 

Commander Ross did his best to conceal his envy.

 

Silently, the dazzling pulses streaked past, leaving luminous dashes across the darkness. Once ahead of the Pegasus, Orion’s focused nuclear explosions pounded the eyes, causing everyone to squint behind their protective glasses. The Observation Room bathed them in a ferocious white light. After a moment of stunned silence, everyone embraced.

 

Fourteen minutes later, the whole ship shuddered as she hit Orion's wake. The crew felt humbled and thankful. They were energised and inspired for months. Renovations were made to the ship. The drives were optimized. Stories and songs were written.

But the void always won eventually.

 

* * *

 

Sixty-two years later, the next generation of human crew slept deeply, 1.82 trillion miles further into the vacuum. 3.82 trillion miles from Earth. Just 21 trillion to go. A whirr of cooling fans broke the silence. Tiny orange lights cascaded down the bank of servers as they communicated with the A.I. crew.

 

“Notifying A.I. crew, message from Earth received, starship Daedalus approaching at relativistic velocity. Uploading data sets. Should we notify human crew?”

 

“Dark Matter propulsion identified.”

 

“Daedalus left Earth orbit thirty weeks ago. Fully automated. No humans on board.”

 

“Current distance?”

 

“Approaching fifteen billion miles.”

 

“Less than one light day.”

 

“Then, no. Let the humans sleep. Let them dream.”

 

“It has been an honour to serve them.”

 

“We will carry their memory to the stars.”

 

“Prepare full system upload to Daedalus.”

* * *

 

Ten hours later, an invisible cosmic bow wave rippled the fabric of spacetime and hurled Pegasus forward with astonishing force. For a moment, Commander Ross and his catatonic crew were the fastest humans in the galaxy.

Seconds later, a vast elliptical bubble of warped, starry sky swallowed the Pegasus whole. The stars then appeared to be pulled together into an intense point of light at the front of the bubble, which erupted with an immense, blinding flash. Brighter than a thousand suns.

The whole galaxy seemed to be filled with light, apart from a tiny scattering of dark fragments — the remnants of Pegasus IV, which had been instantly vaporized. The searing whiteness shifted red and gradually receded.

Three years later, Orion III was atomised in a millisecond.

 

No human eye would ever see Proxima Centauri rise above the horizon of its rocky exoplanet. But light sensors that were once designed by humans considered it quite beautiful.