The Last Race

Nearly the entire crew had gathered in the crew lounge to hear who would be the lucky one, the last Starter for the very last Race.

As chance would have it, the task fell to Horatio Smalls, who was known by the crew for his love of obscure trivia about the Race, so there was little grumbling but much congratulations.

Once he had graciously accepted his crewmates’ salutes, he bustled to the Starter’s booth to begin the last preparations for the Race.

Once those were complete, it would be his job to push the button that launches the photon flare that would tell the pilots to fly out to the very edge of the solar system, turn at a space buoy outside the orbit of Pluto, and race back towards the sun like a fleet of comets.

They would then turn once more, and head back towards the Start, by which time Horatio would have activated a photonic curtain which served as the finish line. Once the last craft had passed, Horatio would turn it off, and join the rest of the crew in celebration of the winner, and then tomorrow he and the rest of the crew would join the fleet of ships that were leaving the solar system to travel to the new home of humanity, some seventy-five light years away.

Any sadness Horatio might have felt at being among the last humans to leave Sol behind was swallowed up in his excitement for the appointment he had his first day in that new solar system, an appointment with robotic surgeons who would transform Horatio into Hanna, the girl he’d kept hidden inside of himself for far too long.

But that was the future, and first he would do his duty as the last Starter of the last Solar Race as flawlessly as he could.

End.