Leaving the Nest — Part Seven
By Robin Pond
On a different monitor, the one showing what we are leaving behind, I can still see our mother planet, now a tiny dot of light in a darkening edge of sky, almost obscured by the sun’s bright light to the upper right of it. I remember during my sculpting asking my mentor, Mr. Wilde, “But why can’t we stay here? This is our home.”
He smiles benignly, as always, explaining, “We’re full. With advances in medicine, the population quickly reached a saturation point. Of course, no one gives birth naturally anymore. That was barbaric. But we’re also not allowed, in most circumstances, to create additional humans unless there is a specific colonization purpose, a specific extra-terrestrial destination.”
The glimmering reflected light of our mother planet, once so important, so nurturing, is becoming indistinguishable from all the others. The journey is forward, always forward, toward the infinitesimal other lights. There is no chance of ever returning to the nurturing warmth of my mother. Her sweet Eden perfume is now just a cherished memory. But I’m content to look forward, to new sights, new experiences, making life-long friends, falling in love, becoming someone else’s cherished, perhaps becoming a mother myself, even if it needs to be accomplished in the old way, barbarically.
Only occasionally, late at night when I’m very tired, settling into my pod, do I sense a flicker of something, barely discernible on the edge of my awareness, a hint of doubt, potential alternativity, None of this is real.
But I’ve been taught by Mr. Wilde to push such sensations aside. If I didn’t I would miss out on so much on my journey.
Robin Pond is a Canadian writer of plays and prose fiction. His mystery novel, Last Voyage, was published in 2018 and in the last several years he has published numerous speculative short stories in various magazines and anthologies, including Ginger which was voted Best Steampunk Short Story in the 2024 Critters Annual Readers Poll. Robin’s sci fi novella, Assimilation, and full-length novel, Canaan Within, are both available through Amazon.
Copyright © 2025 Robin Pond