Toys That Fly

When I was a child my father bought me a helicopter with a rotor driven by a rubber band. He wound it for me, and it climbed into a black sky freckled with stars.

Now, in my window, there are more stars than anyone has ever seen, adrift in a river of light.

At this speed, for us, time is nearly still, but everyone on Earth is long since dead – not just everyone we knew, but everyone who was ever destined to be, all the generations of men forever and ever.

When the crew finally dies, I wonder, what will our ship be then?

This is my post for this week’s Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, the photo prompt for which was provided by Mr. Ted Strutz. Perhaps eerily similar to my last Friday Fictioneers story, Passing Time, I still couldn’t help going this direction with things (maybe my NaNoWriMo story has me thinking science fiction).

Anyway, the idea behind this story is a phenomenon called time dilation — a real thing, the slowing of time, that happens whenever you go really, really fast. It even happens when you take a flight in a regular ol’ airplane, but the effect is greatly exaggerated at speeds approaching the speed of light.

But enough science! Comment with your… comments… below, then click on the little blue guy up there (an alien, maybe?!) and check out all the other great stories the Fictioneers have written this week. Happy weekend!