There was nothing in the sky to lead him on, but on he went. Pushing past the boundaries of ‘man has gone before’ and into the vast emptiness between the stars. He sailed out into the depths of nothing, afloat on solar winds that died away behind him. He’d come as far as his home stars could bring him, and the light of the suns further out was too dim to pull from.

A silvery shadow against the deeper blackness, he furled massive translucent wings and began the long slow swim across the darkness. There was little left in the mass of flesh and metal that echoed the landbound creature he had been. Vacuum cared little for the shape of the traveler and he’d expanded, reveling in the lack of pressure. It was nothing like the oceans he’d trained in, those were tight and cold and life was a constant echo everywhere he turned. Here there were no limits on him and the silence was absolute.

He was alone, at last.