BETWEEN FOUR JUNCTIONS KAI DRYSDALE Kepler–452b

When I was younger, my daddy told me stories about the worlds, the moons, the stars beyond the naked eye. And his favourite was the one about the place just like Earth. He swore to me: ‘I’m gonna make it! I’m gonna get there one day!’ And I believed him.

I felt empty when he actually left; I was alone and my home left me. And so I wandered, wondering where to go, stuck between a boiling rock and an orbiting hard place. What would he say? He would tell me: ‘Ursula! It’s not just major, nor minor, but both, and neither. Just look up to the stars, tell me what you see. I’m listening.’

And so I let gravity pull me to the ground, so that I can look at the flickers of light in the night sky. And through the worlds, the moons and the stars, beyond the naked eye, he’s there.

On the planet just like Earth. He made it.