First Date at the Last Blockbuster

The dull and corroded satellite lurched toward the Earth pod, its rusted solar panel screeching and scratching across the side. Petra didn't even notice. Besides, the Federation built these Earth pods to be indestructible. Space junk was too common an occurrence to give it even a second's notice. Nothing interesting ever happened.

Petra was bored. She wanted excitement. She wanted passion. She wanted adventure. Anything that could take her away from the doldrums of space dust and monotonous galaxies. Petra was bored. And so she scrolled through her holographic screen—swiping left, swiping right. Yes, Petra turned to virtual dating whenever boredom struck.

Onyx was restless. It had been three months since he returned from Mars—rock climbing and wrangling wayward rovers. He wanted exhilaration. He wanted ecstasy. He wanted adventure. He wanted to surf the Milky Way. Anything to take him away from the stuffiness and staleness of this life. He was confined to his stationary Earth pod, and he did what any twenty-three-year-old Earthling would do—he swiped through virtual dating.

The screen lit up, emanating a high-pitched ding. Petra and Onyx matched and now were staring at each other through a video chat.

Petra was stunning—her iridescent hair flowed down her shoulders, framing her face. Dark gray eyes shone from underneath wispy bangs. Onyx was striking—jet black tousled hair messily framed his square jaw and fiery amber eyes.

"Hey!" Onyx gushed. Too eager. Too excited. "Is your daddy a thief? Cuz he stole all the stars from the galaxy and put 'em in your eyes." He thought he was smooth—a real charmer.

Petra rolled her eyes. If this Onyx guy weren't cute, she would have ended the call right then. Yes, she was shallow. She'd take surface over substance any day. She was only twenty-two, after all.

"You couldn't come up with a new line?" she quipped. "That was as dusty as your grandma's moon boots."

Onyx snorted. This girl could be his adventure buddy. He just knew it.

"Do you want to go on the adventure of a lifetime?" He tried to hide his excitement but ended up looking like an overeager puppy waiting for a treat instead.

"What, like, to the moon? Been there, done that four times already, man. And each time was boooooooooooring." Petra scoffed, rolling her eyes again.

"No, this is a legit adventure. Ever hear of a place called Blockbuster?"

Petra scrunched up her face, unimpressed, but shook her head.

"Supposedly," Onyx continued, "my great-great-great-grandparents would go on dates to this place. I guess they were all over the Fractured States back then. They'd pick up dinner and then go to this Blockbuster place. It had something to do with movies."

"Dude," Petra started, "we can stream any entertainment we want. Your 'big adventure' idea is to intergalactic Netflix and chill? I thought your pick-up line was bad." Petra shifted to sign off the video chat.

"No!" Onyx yelled. "Wait! I can take you to this Blockbuster place. There's one that still exists. It's on Earth."

Petra hesitated. No one her age had ever been on Earth. Hell, even her parents were in the Earth pods way before she was born. Her grandparents fled the Fractured States after the invasions decimated their hometown and started a new life in the pod habitat. How could they go to Earth? This Blockbuster place was probably made-up bullshit. Anything to get into her pants.

But she was bored.

"Earth's a wasteland. There's no way we could get there or that we'd survive if we did make it. I don't know what kind of adventure that would be," Petra warned.

Onyx wasn't giving up. He was itching for something different, something exciting, and he would love to have stunning Petra at his side. Wasn't she as restless as he was in the pod habitat?

"Can I convince you over dinner? My treat. Tomorrow night?" His amber eyes pleaded with her.

"Fine." It's not like she had anything else going on. "But you have to take me to Io. The fancy place."

"It's a date!" Onyx beamed. He knew they'd have a fun time together.

**

Onyx forgot how ritzy Io was. The restaurant inspired by Jupiter's moon actually featured holographic volcanoes, sporadically erupting around the glitterati patrons. He was wearing his mirror-black spacesuit—typically only worn for extraordinary occasions—but he knew he needed to impress Petra. Anything to get her to go to Earth with him.

He fidgeted at the table, bouncing his knee, tugging the white tablecloth, knocking over the silver canister of Merlot. He wasn't used to canisters of wine. Everywhere else served it in vacuum pouches.

Petra arrived, sparkling in a rhinestone spacesuit—the newest trend. The jumpsuit fit her well and made her feel like a chic astronaut. The glittering rhinestones illuminated her eyes.

Onyx jumped up eagerly, pulling out her chair. "You look amazing!" he gushed. "Do you want some wine?" The miniature robot server whizzed over to their table and poured each a glass.

"Here's to adventure," Onyx toasted, mischievously smiling at Petra. They each sipped their wine.

Petra wasn't going to admit to Onyx that the trip to Earth intrigued her. The night before, after they signed off, she did some research into the Blockbuster phenomenon. Supposedly, her great-great-great-grandparents had also frequented the place. It was a common thing 210 years ago. Was this Blockbuster place some kind of aphrodisiac for first dates?

Her curiosity prompted her to say yes after Onyx asked her again over their dessert sorbet.

"Really? You will? Fuck yeah!" Silverware clattered as the other patrons jumped. Both Petra and Onyx stifled laughter.

"Well, then, shall we continue this date? Wanna go to Earth now?" Onyx eagerly pushed away from the table.

"Am I even dressed appropriately? How the hell are we even getting there?" Petra probed.

"I have a Tesla teleporter." Onyx palmed a small metal disc that emitted an orange glow. "It'll take us there and back. No special dress code is required. Even though we do look hella good in our space suits." He grabbed Petra's hand, stepped out onto the restaurant's deck, and pressed the device.

**

Onyx and Petra landed hard on their asses in a cloud of orange-brown dust. The acrid dirt filled their nostrils and lungs as they coughed and sputtered.

Their adventure had begun.

Stumbling to their feet, the dust cloud dissipated slightly, though violent gusts of wind roared hot against their spacesuits. The mirror-black and glimmering rhinestones were now dulled, matted in yellow dust.

Onyx and Petra looked around. Petra was right—Earth, or what was formerly known as Earth, was a desolate wasteland. The air was sticky yet dry and hot. Blazing red-orange tinged the hazy sky and cast an ominous glow on the scorched land. Murky puddles gurgled among the dusty dunes, pungent sulfur streams shooting from the bubbles. Shades of browns blurred into dirty yellows and muddied grays.

Onyx and Petra were the only signs of life.

Shocked, they both remembered the biodomes they had visited back on school field trips—each orb teemed with lush greenery, sparkling water, and vibrant life. In their shared naiveté, they thought Earth would still resemble that delicately constructed ecosystem. This reality was harsher and frightening.

They desperately grasped each other's hands, a sliver of comfort in a fearful landscape.

"Let's just go back to the pods!" Petra yelled over the deafening and scorching winds. "You can just press the teleporter again, right?!?" She anxiously searched Onyx's eyes for confirmation.

The teleporter wasn't in his hand. When they landed, the sudden blow caused him to lose his grip and drop it. The swirling dirt of the sandstorm erased any traces of the device. They were lost. Fear filled his eyes. The color drained from Petra's face.

"M-m-maybe we can find the Blockbuster? Maybe it won't be so bad? Maybe—" Onyx wished aloud.

The couple decided to forge ahead and see if the unwelcoming terrain would change.

**

Petra was terrified. She had never experienced a racing heart, tightening chest, and chilled sweat simultaneously. But there she sat—her breathing shallow, chest shuddering. Her palms and neck were clammy. Frozen. Afraid.

Onyx's lifeless body slumped in the corner, his ashen gray corpse a humorless contrast against the shockingly bright yellow wall.

They had found the last Blockbuster.

The alien cephalopods had also found them.

Petra thought back to dinner, how she and Onyx had happily hypothesized what an ancient video store had to do with first dates. They joked, wondering if these things called DVDs hypnotized lovers. Or maybe the red vine licorice was laced with pheromones. Hours earlier, everything seemed so light, so carefree, before they embarked on this doomed adventure.

Now everything was devoid of hope. Onyx was dead, and she was going to die, too.

**

They had stumbled upon the dilapidated brick façade of the last Blockbuster. Its lit-up sign cracked beyond recognition; the interior still bore a garishly bright blue and yellow motif.

Nests of wires dangled from the exploded ceiling. Broken remnants of shelves littered the damp and moldy carpet. Rusty brown water dripped from exposed pipes, soaking plastic video cases. The blue and yellow Blockbuster logos curled up—mummified remnants of bygone times. As they stood among the ruins, nothing elicited the joy they imagined their ancestors experiencing.

The last Blockbuster provided a buffer from the raging dust storms outside, but the reprieve was brief.

Five alien cephalopods crawled from the building's crevices. Their lime-green bodies oozed across the detritus as they encroached on the couple, sulfurous bile leaking from their beaks.

Petra didn't even have time to scream as the cephalopods wrapped their electric tentacles around Onyx, squeezing and electrifying him until his body collapsed, crashing into a pile of ancient plastic video cassettes. Brittle curls of gray tape encircled his battered head.

Petra had no way of fighting off the creatures. She just froze. Immobilized by panic and fear, she crumpled to the floor, shivering, her gray eyes wide as the alien creatures descended on her.

Before the razor-hot tentacles seared her chest and the life drained from her, Petra caught a glimpse of a sticker on a cassette under Onyx's body. A circle. Blue. Yellow. Faded words uttering: Be kind. Rewind.

The reference was lost on Petra. The message silently mocked her as extra-terrestrial tentacles squeezed her to death.