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“I guess a lot of the things we’ve talked about.

I realize the accomplishments needed are unlikely to happen in my lifetime, but I’m tired of wars and stupid-ass governments deciding what you can do with your body and who you can love, the color of your skin opening and closing doors, and where the boundary line is between countries.

There are far bigger things, but as it always is, it’s about power and wealth more than it is about sustainability and happiness among the masses.

I’d love to contribute somehow to worlds beyond this one where the human race can expand. ”

“Is that what an aerospace engineer does? Work out life sustainability on other planets?”

He snickers. “No. But we not only need to find planets that will support human life, we also need spacecraft with the ability to reach that planet within someone’s lifetime. That technology hasn’t happened yet. I feel like the two are already in a race to see which can be accomplished first.”

“Would you leave the planet if given the opportunity?” I ask.

Arush hums thoughtfully. “I guess that depends on a lot of things. It’s easy to say one way or another right now because I know for certain that it’s not possible.

My family is here. My friends. All the people who are important to me.

There’s a lot of talk about heroes and bravery, and quite frankly, to each their own as far as opinions on that are concerned.

What I think might be the bravest thing someone can do would be to leave absolutely everyone they know and love behind and set out into space for an unknown future, knowing they’ll never return. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m that brave.”

I try to imagine it. I don’t talk to my family a lot, but I still consider myself close to them.

Could I leave the world knowing I’d never see them again if the opportunity presented itself?

It’s one thing to not talk to them for weeks or even months at a time because I know where they live.

I know their phone numbers. I can see them whenever I want.

What if you take that option away? Would I leave the planet for a life that I may not survive on a different planet?

“You just want the possibility to be there,” I say.

“I think we’ve already expanded as far as we can on this planet.

You have idiots in charge who don’t believe in science even when they’re told all the evidence supports the fact that we’re killing our planet.

What do they care? It’s not going to happen in their lifetime, so what does it matter, right?

That’s someone else’s problem. But the more harm we do now, the quicker that end comes.

Then what? We’re literally going to snuff out our own species because this is the only place we’re able to exist. No, it’s not going to happen in our lifetime.

You know, probably not. We’ll see. I feel like some morons are truly trying to make it happen, but whatever.

For generations that come after us, though…

I’d like there to be hope. And I do think that, at least for a while, the different religions and governments and whatever might be happy to control an entire planet however they choose and maybe for a short blip in time, there will be peace. ”

“Would there?” I muse.

“What do you mean?”

“It seems racism runs rampant all over the world, in every culture. Every way of life. I wonder how long before the uniting factor, such as religion, will break down from racism again. It doesn’t matter that we hold the same beliefs if our skin isn’t the same color.”

“I didn’t think about that. I guess I thought if we’re already breaking up into factions, racism will be stamped out at the core, right? I mean, if you go to this Hindu planet and see that it’s a colony of mixed races and that’s not for you, why not just choose a different one?”

“What about the people born into the mixed one who grow up and for whatever reason, become dicks about race? What then?”

“I know this sounds flippant, but I say banish them from the planet and let them find their own way. At what point do we lay down the line and say that’s enough?

I know it’s easy to say that if you don’t like the way this place is, then leave, when the reality is that not everyone has the means or resources to leave a bad situation, never mind just a situation they don’t like.

But being hateful for the sake of thinking you’re entitled enough to treat another person like shit for something as simple as the color of their skin when obviously, that’s something out of their control and how they’re born needs to be snuffed out of the human race. ”

“That’s a really big vision.”

“It is. I guess that’s truly the direction I want to go with my career. A means to find peace for everyone.”

“Have you started looking for jobs?”

Arush shakes his head. “I need to finish my education first. I took the semester off because I got to thinking about environmental engineering and how I can apply that to space colonies.” He laughs.

“I was a little ahead of myself, though. Even if we knew there was a planet somewhere outside of our solar system that could support human life, we can’t get there in a single lifetime.

I think we need to address that hurdle first, right? ”

“I suppose in the big picture, yeah, that would need to come first,” I agree.

“We can set up a hockey team on our new planet,” Arush says and I feel him grinning against my neck. “You can handpick your players and we’ll find a planet that’s all ice and it’ll be a huge game for everyone to watch.”

I laugh. “Space hockey. I like that.”

“Definitely. Start making up the rules. In a couple hundred years, our ancestors will find them and make it happen.”

“You think so, huh?”

“Why not? There are people all over trying to reconstruct ships and weapons from manuscripts of the ancients. They still don’t know how some sporting events or board games were played, but they’re trying to figure it out. Why not space hockey, too?”

I stare up at Jupiter with a big smile. I can see all that.

I can see alien planets and us working in a field outside our house for food.

Exploring never-before-seen forests and caves.

Finding wall paintings and our leading scientists saying they’re a hoax because clearly no other living people have been here before.

More importantly, I see a future one, five, even ten years from now when we’re still spending evenings like this and talking about the stars and distant planets.