Luna Fortner
Stellar Evolution Specialist Panther hides a smile as she arrives at the observation dome. Indigo is philosophizing again, isn’t ze? she thinks. Ze is staring out the window of the dome, holding a cup of coffee in one hand without drinking it, and only offers a small wave when ze notices her.
“We lasted longer than anyone would’ve thought,” Chief Science Officer Indigo muses, mostly to xirself. “Back before the evacuation, people thought this place would burn as soon as the core stopped fusing hydrogen and the shell ignited. I’m sure our original orbit is inside the convection zone by now. But look at us. Against the odds, our orbit moved out at pace with the star’s expansion, and this place remained habitable for a few million years more.”
“You have a generous definition of habitable.” Panther follows Indigo’s gaze toward the red giant star visible through the heat-proof transparent paneling that forms most of the base’s exterior. The red giant currently fills over half the sky. “Just because we’re not literally inside a star doesn’t mean this place is somewhere you’d want to live a life.”
Indigo chuckles. “I suppose, but we live here, don’t we? We have a surface to stand on, and we haven’t been crushed by gravity. That’s habitable in my book.” Ze takes a sip of xir coffee, awash in the red light of the dying star.
“We won’t be here much longer,” Panther points out. “Our friend here has ejected a solid fifty-five percent of its original mass and is quickly approaching planetary nebula stage. Soon, there won’t be any star left to do science on. Not to mention this planet’s days are numbered. I don’t want to be here when it finally gets fried or catapulted off into space or whatever.”
Indigo sighs. “That’s what I called you here about,” ze says, finally turning to face Specialist Panther. “We’ve been running on a skeleton crew for a while, the past hundred years or so, and the planetary shielding has taken quite a beating in that time. You’re right to say the planet’s days are numbered. In fact, our engineers say the shields won’t last another month, which is why I’ve decided to call it. We’re evacuating the base as soon as possible and deactivating the shields remotely. Time to let nature run its course.”
Panther isn’t surprised. “It’s about time,” she agrees. “I’ve liked this job well enough, but the folks back home have been urging us to leave for ages. It’s getting dangerous over here.”
“I know.” Indigo turns to study the view again, admiring the enormous red sun and colorful molten surface of the planet. “But humans have had a presence on this planet for over seven billion years, and I’ll be sad to end the streak.”
Panther tilts her head as she looks out the window with Indigo. “What did they call it in the olden days again?”
“Earth,” Indigo answers. “This was planet Earth, birthplace of humanity.”