The man climbed into the pearl-shaped carriage crafted from the core of a fallen star.

 

“Pleasant journey,” Selena said, pressing the button in her booth.

 

The craft shot towards the darkness, a blaze of light that seemed to fizzle into nothingness within the infinite distance.

 

Selena caught her reflection in the glass, her heavy smile falling. In the end, she thought, only she would notice its weight.

 

Throughout the night, more citizens slowly arrived.

 

“This is amazing. That ship is proper crazy!” a young woman gasped, grabbing hold of the side of the vehicle.

 

“I know, Sweetie,” said a man that approached her, “Crazy times we live in.” They kissed and Selena averted her gaze.

 

The girl climbed into the star and giggled, “When will you join me?”

 

“Soon,” he said.

 

Selena pressed the launch button.

 

“Whoever thought we would live to see these days. The government gets all this in order as the world passes away in its sleep. Oh, isn’t life amazing?” grinned the man at Selena.

 

“Totally.”

 

Time crept on, leaving Selena alone in her booth.

 

Selena contemplated the darkness. She stared through the glass at the stars. At least they would keep her company. She often watched them, waiting for them to shoot across the sky, maybe answer a wish. But that, like returning to a time of hope, was as impossible as saving the planet.

 

Fizzle! Crack! BOOM!

 

Those were not good noises. The craft had stopped moving; there was smoke.

 

“Please step away from the craft,” ordered Selena. “I will call a mechanic who will be here shortly. Please return to your home.”

 

The evacuees grumbled and began their walk back to the city.

 

Sometime later, the mechanic arrived. He was a balding, rotund man with an amiable smile and a reddish complexion.

 

“Ah, I see the problem here,” he said as he got working on the craft with his toolbox of laser-fused gizmos. “How’re you doing, lass?”

 

“Hmm?” Selena said, shaking herself out of her stupor.

 

“How’re things going in that little box of yours?”

 

“Oh, can’t complain, really.”

 

“That’s good of you,” the mechanic chuckled. He worked more on the craft, then said, “Now, I will just need to run some checks on it as I go on. Will that be alright?”

 

“Will I still be able to continue as normal?”

 

“Oh, of course, but I think the procedure now is to monitor it. That’s ok, right?”

 

“Perfectly,” Selena said with a smile, noticing the warmth in his. Then he left her in her booth, leaving her to feel as empty as the wasteland.

 

The booth was at the edge of the orange desert, far from the city. Night always reigned here. Complications with the planet's atmosphere meant that the only natural light shone down from the stars, which did not help Selena’s mood. Or help her in the eternal wait for wishing on shooting stars.

 

“This is Amar AM, the radio station to listen to for all those rock quitters out there. Get ready to rock and roll all night long!”

Music blasted in the booth. Selena nodded her head to the beat.

 

She sat in a chair, with a desk of buttons in front of her. One button popped out a nutrition pill. She was allowed a few hours to transform the chair into an itchy sleep pod. Another button erected an excretion pod. It had only taken one mistake for her to realise she never wanted to mix that up again.

 

She couldn’t leave. Not yet.

 

“How have you all been rollin’ on this rock?” enthused the radio host, “the latest news from Amar Central is that there are only 9,952 citizens left to evacuate Amar until its imminent implosion. Keep going, guys, there’s no rush, we can do this!”

 

The song that played took Selena back thirty years to when she was more hopeful and free. She switched it off. She stared at the empty craft, soaking up the silence. She couldn’t imagine herself there, leaving someone behind waiting.

 

Sighing, Selena looked forward to the time she could sink into the infinite vistas of her sleep.

 

* * *

 

“I’m guessing you’ve been doing this for a while,” the mechanic asked after returning for a third time, arms resting on Selena’s booth.

 

“Since the start of the crisis.”

 

“Aye, same here. They haven’t been able to build many crafts on the planet, I think one per city, but I’ve heard from my colleagues that they break down quite a lot. You’re one of the lucky ones.”

 

“I bet.”

 

“I’m Adam, by the way. Erm… Do you like music?”

 

Selena raised her eyebrow.

 

As the planet emptied and moved ever closer to its destruction, the two friends talked stars and nonsense until the night burned bright, and it was time to depart. Selena spoke of counting shooting stars in childhood, and Adam of the characters he met on his journey as a mechanic, but none of them were as wise or as interesting as her.

 

* * *

 

“It’s almost over,” announced the radio host, “There are only a few people left now; all the V.I.P’s have gone. Soon, the rest of us will blast off to pastures new. To celebrate, here’s an age-old classic…” but Selena didn’t care. She was waiting for Adam.

 

* * *

 

“Looks like everyone has just about shot off,” said Adam when he got to the booth.

 

“Yeah, looks like,” Selena smiled.

 

“Maybe it’s time that we should go.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

They looked at each other through the glass.

 

“Selena—”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Since I guess you’re maybe allowed to now, would you like to have a walk with me through the city? It’ll be empty, but it will be light soon, and—”

 

But Selena had already exited the booth and grabbed his arm.

 

“I’d love to.”

 

“Smashing.” Adam smiled.

 

Selena smiled with ease. “Let’s enjoy the walk, as the last two on the planet. I’m sure we could wait a little longer for the stars to shoot.”