A Hero's Last Wish

Ralph’s life was over. Or essentially as over as it could be while still being alive. How long did it take to starve? Ralph was about to find out. His stomach whined, but Ralph had grown accustomed to the noise. Ralph’s limbs swam in his space suit. He remembered when the buckles were tight right before take off. You lose muscle mass in space, the big brains would say. Well, they were wrong. Seven years of pre-planned, dwindling food stores took their toll on the body. He didn’t lose his size until he landed on Planet Twenty-Three. The planet scientists hoped could be cultivated to save the human race. It was the twenty-third planet they thought might be habitable.

It wasn’t.

Ralph let the lab coats at home know Planet Twenty-Three was uninhabitable. Mission completed. All that was left to do was die, but he had two years left of food, and why not try to see if his findings were wrong?

Every day, Ralph regretted his decision. The last time he communicated with another human was days after his mission report. The scientists back home didn’t care about him anymore. He was useless.

A gust of blistering wind cut through his shelter, whistling. Ralph harmonized with the music of the planet, his breath wispy. His only companions on this lonely rock were noises. Gentle reminders of home. He’d been alone on Planet Twenty-Three for seven years.

Planet Twenty-Three’s air was breathable by humans, but too hot to be comfortable for long stretches of time. Ever been in a sauna for seven years straight? Sweat dribbled into Ralph’s eyes, stinging. He silently prayed this would be the last time he would have to wipe his eyes. The shelter’s air conditioner broke two years ago, and Ralph should have called it quits then, but he trudged on because that’s what heroes are supposed to do.

It was heroic for Ralph to risk his life on a one-way mission to an unknown planet that took an entire year to travel to.

Ralph had chosen Planet Twenty-Three because he liked the purple color in the telescopic photos, but now he daydreamed of Planet Seventeen. He should have chosen the ugly brown one. Brown means dirt. Maybe.

Ralph groaned as he sat up in his cot. He sucked on the yellowed straw attached to his water pouch. He leaned his head on the hot, metal wall, catching his breath. It was close to the end, as sitting up took nearly all of Ralph’s energy. He took another gulp to swallow the dry heat. He should have recorded his last message a while ago, when it became obvious how his life would end, but he held onto hope that if he continued his work, he’d find a way to keep living. When was the last time I talked aloud? Ralph asked himself. He coughed, prepping his throat.

Ralph mustered the strength to stand, his knees cracking under his weight. He hadn’t used the tablet since his last message, well over a year ago in Earth’s time. Before he sent the verdict on this barren rock’s livability, he looked forward to the semi-regular updates from home base. Ralph would tell them about his day, about sweltering heat storms that he regularly encountered, and Gary, his handler, would tell Ralph about the office gossip. This all happened asynchronously, but for those brief moments, life was normal. He wasn’t alone in the universe. But now, there were only unanswered messages. Ralph was trapped in a planet-sized isolation chamber. How long does it take for people to lose their minds in isolation?

Ralph knocked over beakers, rummaged through drawers, searching for the tablet to record his last message. He knew no one listened to his ramblings. He’d lost count of how many unanswered video messages he left. Maybe two thousand three hundred and five? His last one was particularly nasty. He didn’t blame home base for not responding after that message. He screamed, name-called, and wished death upon those who sent him to his grave. Ralph wanted revenge on those back home, those who abandoned their heroes. Those who would sacrifice their life to save an entire population of people. Aren’t people shamed for abandoning their parents in a nursing home? They all should be ashamed of themselves, Ralph thought.

The tablet powered on, and Ralph took his spot on the cot, his back against the wall. His frail arms could hardly bear the weight of the tablet. He dropped it in his lap. The angle was most unflattering, but what angle was flattering on a dying man?

The screen showed his reflection, the first time he had seen it in weeks. His beard grew in patches. His hair fell out due to malnutrition. His skin broke out in heat rashes. Even his eyes yellowed around the edges. He was a monster. Dying alone transformed you.

Ralph cleared his throat and began his last message. “This planet is an uninhabitable, purple rock from which I can never escape. When you see this, I’ll be dead. I died alone, and you will too. I hope my spirit finds peace among the stars because I’ve earned it. I hope, if there is an afterlife, it’s crowded. No one should die by themselves. I dreamed of dying, surrounded by fans of my heroic work. The man who colonized a planet. How wrong was I?” Ralph cackled, then fell into a fit of coughs.

“This last message will probably be seen by no one, but a hero should be given the right to die with all his words expelled from his body. So, here it is. I wish I hadn’t done this. Planet Twenty-Three is my hell. Death’s embrace can’t come soon enough. I’d rather have lived a miserable life surrounded by people on earth, dying a nobody, than tried to have done the right thing and come to this miserable planet. That’s it. Erect a statue of me, so at least my death wasn’t for nothing.”

Ralph stopped the recording. He tossed the tablet aside. He fell back onto his cot, readying himself to die, but then a knock sounded from the shelter’s entrance. His eyes shot open. His malnourished brain must be playing tricks on him. But it came again.

Ralph stumbled out of bed, hobbling to the entrance. He sucked in a breath so as not to get blasted by the heated gusts, then unlocked the door. Standing before him was…a person. Dressed in the same style spacesuit he wore, only theirs was newer and clearly upgraded. The person’s visor was dark, shielding their face from Ralph.

“Hello,” they said in a chipper voice.

Ralph’s throat closed. Tears flooded his vision. The newcomer let themselves in. Ralph closed the door and let out his held breath.

The newcomer took off their helmet, showing Ralph the first face he’d seen in the flesh in seven years. She was young. Probably ten years younger than Ralph. Her eyes were brown, her hair shaved nearly to the scalp. His blood ran cold. He dreamed of this moment, but reality smacked him in this moment. She shouldn’t be here. Planet Twenty-Three was desolate.

Ralph gulped.

“Good to meet you, Ralph.” She stuck out her hand. Ralph didn’t grab it.

“Jeez, you’re probably starving. By our calculations, you ran out of food three days ago. I tried to get here earlier, but I ran into space traffic.” She forced a smile. “We can’t let a hero, who cultivated a planet, die.”

Ralph flinched, remembering his nasty last message. The one where he plotted his revenge. The lie he told. My earlier assessment of Twenty-Three was incorrect. Its soil is producing Earth vegetation! He hated them, but he thought he was screaming into the void.

The woman rooted around in her bag, producing a candy bar. “I thought you’d like a treat from Earth,” she said. “I’m Anne.”

Ralph’s hands kept to his side. “How?” he croaked out.

“How what?”

“How did you hear my message?”

She breached the gap between them. She gently guided Ralph to a seated position. His knees thanked her. “Gosh, it must have been so hard on you,” Anne said. “We lost communication with you. We received all of your messages, but couldn’t send anything back. We think your transmission system was damaged in those storms you’ve been telling us about.” She held out the candy bar. Ralph grabbed it instinctively.

“Anyway, we at the base discussed what we should do for our hero, Ralph. Your last message, though filled with obscenities, confirmed that you were able to grow food in the soil on Planet Twenty-Three. No other planet has been successful, and those poor souls will forever be remembered, but you saved us, Ralph. You were the lucky one who chose the right planet. The one that could save humanity.”

Ralph curled his bony fingers around the candy bar. His blood ran cold for the first time since setting foot on this purple hellscape. He lied in his last message. He was filled with anger, disgust, and hatred. He wanted them to pay for their silence, but it was misguided ramblings. He didn’t think anyone was listening.

“So where are the plants?” Anne asked. “I didn’t see any near the shelter. It looks like a desert out there.” She chuckled a bit nervously.

Ralph stood, handing the candy bar back to Anne. He limped to the tablet he tossed earlier. He dropped it in Anne’s lap.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I…I thought I was abandoned.” Ralph trembled. “Can you go back?”

“Go back?” Anne cocked her head. “Ralph, I don’t have the fuel for a return trip. I came to help you colonize.”

Ralph fell to his knees.

Anne pressed play. Ralph heard his own voice, “This planet is an uninhabitable…” The sound of his own voice disappeared into a ringing.

Anne gasped, dropping the tablet. The blistering wind assaulted the shelter. Its whistle had turned from music to shrieks.