Searching for a Pulse

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. My mother had once read me a bedside story about a beautiful young girl who had fallen in love with a handsome alien. Their names were Julie and Roman. She was a rambunctious one. Always wanting to impress her alien boyfriend, she was a sucker for a good romance story, especially forbidden ones. She would always visit him with flowers or special little treats from her world. In turn, he would be waiting patiently for her to return to him. In contrast, Roman was a shy boy. He valued his alone time and had a hard time bringing himself to explore the vast galaxy. She pushed him out of his comfort zone. He admired this most about her.

One day, she traveled the long distance to him, but he wasn't home. Worried something happened, she asked around his family. The family, despite seeing their son so happy and even liking the girl, didn't approve of the relationship. They feared the human race and saw them as greedy and destructive. To help their son avoid trouble, they thought that it was best to steer her away. They told the young lady that he had died in battle. She remembered that once the males hit a certain age they were forced to serve temporarily and weren't even really allowed to date otherworld beings during this time since it could make them seem suspicious of spying and feeding information to other worlds. Of course, he hadn’t listened and promised to write to her every day until he was released a year later.

Julie was heartbroken. Since he was gone, there was no reason for her to go back. She mourned for him to return but, of course, he never came back. His parents had thrown away all of his letters, and when he returned home, he was welcomed only by his parents. When he asked where Julie was, they responded that she had died at some point during his service abroad because her spaceship had crashed. He was crushed but refused to believe them. He snuck out that night and took his parent’s spaceship to go see her, but he’d never tried to visit her before. He lost his way. The girl eventually decided to visit his house so that she could give him his final gift… a map to her home planet. She wanted to leave it with the parents so they could take it to wherever they kept his remains or memories. He never found his way back.

They say that Roman is still searching for his lover deep within the complex inner workings of space. Some even claim that they’ve seen a ghost-like spaceship wandering some of the most remote areas of space. They also say that Julie’s spirit is still waiting for Roman to find his way home to her.

There are a few things I’ve learned from this story. First of all, I’m also a sucker for romance. Secondly, Roman’s parents, in trying to look out for and do what’s best for him without consulting him first, lost their only son. Third, no matter how close they are to you, people will stab you in the back. They may even believe that they were doing the right thing in the moment. Lastly, Julie should never have given up on her lover in the first place. Had she kept visiting or asking around, she would’ve found him eventually.

Little did I know, the story was never actually completed. I was told later that the boy never gave up, but he certainly cried and screamed in frustration. However, his efforts were eventually rewarded. He ended up meeting someone on a random planet he thought might have been Earth. After being given the bad news, he was about to leave when an old man called out to him. The old man took a long look at him and said “You remind me of my old self. You’re in love, aren’t you?”

“I am, but I can’t find her, I think she may be gone forever.” Roman replied defeatedly.

“Is that true? Why don’t you ask your heart? You journeyed all this way to find her when you’re already convinced she’s gone? Listen closely, and you may feel her heartbeat resonating throughout the universe. Let that be your guide, boy. Close your eyes.” the man said, sounding slightly amused.

Obeying reluctantly, he closed his eyes and just listened to his heartbeat. Right before he was going to give up, he heard a beat that didn’t belong to his own heart. Suddenly, he knew this trip hadn’t been a waste. He shot his eyes wide open, thanked the old man, and sprinted to the ship in search of his love, reinvigorated with spirit and faith. After what seemed like an eternity, he found her planet, picked a couple flowers, and presented them to her. “I found my way home, love.”

I was skeptical about the legitimacy of the story. I didn't think a love story like that was even possible. So, imagine my surprise when I found myself flying towards my alien lover in shining armor with my spacecraft, toting flowers at the dash and chocolate in the passenger seat. Real or not, I do love that story. Julie and I are practically the same person. I love to travel. Space has a lot of beauty to offer us despite its vast emptiness. There’s something thrilling about the prospect of an adventure with the one you love more than anyone in the Milky Way, which happens to be the chocolate I was referring to. I think he’s going to like this one!

I arrived at his humble abode. It was cylindrical but widened out at the top like a funnel. Gravity was a bit lighter here, so there was less stress on the structures. Here, there was clearly much more creative freedom in exterior design and architecture projects. Because of the lower gravity, the aliens here were slightly taller on average than the everyday earthling. I kind of have a weakness for taller men.

After landing the ship and arriving at his house, I gave a gentle knock on the door. I heard some shifting beyond the door, followed by frantic scrambling and then an audibly deep breath. The door swung open abruptly. On the other side was my whole world, Luca. He was considerably tall, had a solid and well-defined facial structure, and a muscular physique to boot. He has pale grey skin and bright red hair. He’s quiet, maybe even a little shy at times, but he has an undeniable intensity to him that rattles my core every time I stare into his eyes. He had some trendy alien garb involving what seemed to be a white baseball style t-shirt that exposed only his hands and forearms, really accentuating his veins and showing off his defined muscles. Pants were pretty universally the same no matter where you went, but he took some inspiration from Earthly styles and cut them short just above the kneecaps. He had a bright crimson sash that ran diagonally across his body, a red watch to match the sash, and white shoes with a small red design on the sides. Hmmm… I wonder what his favorite color might be?

“Good morning!” I chimed.

“Good morning, Emma!” he answered back with a little smile, “How was your trip? Is that all for me?”

“Yep! I hope you like it! It was great!”

I entered his home with eagerness, almost punting my shoes through the wall in the process. I was always so excited when I had a chance to see him. Long distance is really hard. Add literal space travel complications to the mix and it’s a challenge to make it all work. You never know when you’ll get another chance to see your partner. Worry is the story, Communication is the pen, and Faith is the resolution. Anything could happen to us, and there would be nothing either of us could do to help from so far away. That, and physical affection is not something I could fathom living without. If you hadn’t worked out the climax of the story, the answer is Time. Specifically, time spent together.

We shared conversations together the rest of the night, everywhere from politics, to our dreams of the future, to how our weeks have been. I could spend eternity with this man. I thought to myself as he shared his dream of becoming a successful extra-terrestrial veterinarian. I can’t wait until we have the world to ourselves. Luca is very passion driven. He has so much enthusiasm about becoming a veterinarian that you just couldn’t help but believe he was going to make it. That's what I love most about him. I swear I will be there next to him when he does it. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I missed it.

Time was starting to run out. Parting ways is always the hardest part. You never know when another chance will come up to see the other person again. Especially with the state of the current day, it’s dangerous to go anywhere right now. There have been reports of shoot-outs happening just above Earth’s atmosphere more and more often lately. I guess humanity will never be able to escape the clutches of war–not even in space. That made me even less eager to leave. It was getting to the point, however, that his parents were starting to shoo me out. With no other choice but to comply, I began to make my way back home leaving behind only my love, gifts, and memories.

Again, imagine my surprise to realize that this very well may be the last time I’d see him. A ship about 30 times the size of my own seemed to magically appear out of nowhere. It had what looked like an interior docking area for other spaceships toward the bottom of their ship. I was headed straight for it! Swearing that wasn’t there before, I maneuvered the ship to one side, but my ship lurched to a sudden halt. I frantically checked my controls and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. I made my way to the hatch directly above me. It opens into a small dark area, but with a pull of a latch, protective outer metal sheets pull back from the outside, revealing the space to be the inside of a glass dome.

I found the problem almost immediately. My ship was linked to the mysterious ship with a rope-like beam. My ship was still trying to force its way forward. I rushed back to the controls and tried to gun it away but to no avail. I didn’t have many options left after that. These guys clearly had the better ship. They seemed to have some expensive taste too.

It didn’t seem like these people were willing to let me get away, and my ship can’t move any faster. Desperate, I turned on my radio. It works similar to a two-way radio you might find in a semi-truck. Unfortunately, this means that there’s limited range to them. Fiddling with it in a feeble attempt to get it on, I cursed and smacked it with my hand. God, why me? I smacked it again. Miraculously, it booted up. As soon as it gave the light signaling it was on, I held the button down and begged for anyone out there to save me. No response. Clearly no one was around to come to my aid. Then again, since these guys had a tracking beam, it was reasonable to believe that they could also jam signals. As I felt my ship begin to lurch backwards, I began to think about Luca and the story I was told as a kid. All I could do was to have faith that he would find me, but from what I know of how this story ends, I’m not so sure that I should hold my breath. Please… save me Luca! I’ll be waiting for you; I’ll survive this somehow! …I hope.