A Trip to Venus: The Morning on Another World

The night before we left Venus, I told my friends I was staying. In the morning, the woman I had married was gone. So was her entire world.

Her name was Alumion. I had crossed space to see another planet. She made me want to know one place on it well enough to call it home.

In a sacred cavern, Alumion held out her hand. She chose the cup, filled it, and drank. Then she waited for me to decide.

I drank from the place her lips had touched. To her people, this was a marriage. To my companions, it was a complication in our itinerary.

I asked them to visit Mercury without me, then return. Gazen shook his head. There was too little oxygen for a detour. Venus would be out of their way.

Then I would stay. Alumion had duties to finish at the shrine. We would meet at her father’s house the next day. I went to sleep expecting that morning.

I woke to a landscape I did not know. No lake. No city. Just dark cliffs beneath a heavy sky.

Perhaps the ship had moved to another part of Venus. I climbed toward the view, searching for a familiar tower.

Gazen found me there. “Where are we?” I asked. “Mercury.” I waited for him to smile. He did not.

He said they had been worried about me. I had changed. I had stopped caring about the expedition. They believed bringing me away was the kindest thing.

“You knew I wanted to stay.” He had no answer that could bring her closer. I could only imagine Alumion waiting at her father’s house.

I had travelled farther than almost anyone on Earth. That morning, all I wanted was the journey back to one woman’s door.