Planet Nebula

"So, where are you headed?" asked the waiter. Although the waiter was a robot, Chris was glad it had been given a female voice. He hadn't had human contact for such a long time. The only reason he took a detour to this space station was so that he could have a brief conversation with another being. 

"Uh, I'm actually headed to planet Nebula."

"Nebula? You know that's in a different galaxy, right? Sir, are you aware of the dangers of intergalactic travels? Our president has recently announced that she won't be taking responsibility for anyone injured during an intergalactic travel. I'm going to have to advise you to stay here."

"Yes, I am fully aware of all the dangers. But, the thing is my soul mate lives in Nebula. I'm going there to find her."

"Well, that's just utterly foolish! There's no life on Nebula," blurted out the bartender.

"What do you know? You're just a robot!" Chris was starting to regret taking this detour. His space ship had enough fuel already. More importantly, he had been given this "there's no life on Nebula" speech by almost everyone he knew and quite honestly he was tired of hearing it.

"Listen, I have no faith in those scientists. They live inside those labs and find their answers from lifeless chemicals in test tubes. My fortune teller told me that the love of my life lives in Nebula and that's why all of my earthly girlfriends end up leaving me. We're just not meant to be." He looked up to see the beautifully engineered, almost real flabbergasted expression on the waiter's face. It probably thought he was an imbecile. But, Chris didn't care about it. He trusted his fortune teller. She was right when she guessed that he had a difficult childhood and that he had never been truly happy in his life; so, she was definitely not a crook.

The place was more or less deserted and since the conversation was taking a bitter turn he decided it was time for him to leave. When he looked back at the small space station from his ship, it seemed like a ghost town. There were no lights, no sound. This was by far the most boring space station he had ever been to. But, that's what you get near the galaxy's edge.

As the space ship lifted off, a neon sign board on top of the space station flickered for just a moment and what seemed like the word "Nebula" materialised for a second. And then it was gone.

Tasnim Odrika is having an existential crisis at the moment and doesn't really know who she is anymore. Send her compliments at odrika_02@yahoo.com