05 Jun A Short Story: Cloud Nine

*This story is entirely a work of fiction.*

I look over at her and say, “Alright, we’re here.” She had a puzzled look on her face, but nonetheless, she said, “What is this place?”

I responded with a studious connotation, “This place is called the Jungle of Space and the plants, vegetation, tree roots are heavily invested in cosmic activity; they are much more efficient at the conversion of elements into habitable resources.”

She looked at me with a farfetched suspicion before responding, “And the Jungle just floats around like that? In open space?”

My response was catered with a ‘know-it-all’ type of attitude, which I know she dislikes, but appreciates, “Well… they don’t really float around, and they’re more-or-less, orbiting around…”

She whispered, “this motherfucker…” under her breath then continued to say, “And what exactly are they ‘orbiting’ around?”

I pointed off into the distance and then said, “Cloud Nine… that’s it right there. That’s where I’m going to take you, are you ready?”

She looked over to where I was pointing and saw a large, stable, platform that appeared to be made entirely of graphite and then she said, “That’s Cloud Nine? Are you sure? Doesn’t look much like a cloud, or much of anything amusing at all… Avi, are you going cheapo style with me again? Because it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.”

I smiled and then said, “I’m not that cheapo style with you, and initial looks can be deceiving my darling. You know how on Earth plants serve an additional purpose of converting CO2 into Oxygen, to help make the planet’s atmosphere more livable and breathable? Well, the plants in this jungle, that are orbiting around, serve a similar, but different purpose in the sense that they keep this area pristine; free from radiation and elemental decay. If Cloud Nine, what you see over there, was ever to lose that purity; the sequential affects would be detrimental to every civilization in every universe and galaxy.” 

She responded with a pompous tone of voice, “Certainly doesn’t look like much… I mean the plants are nice, or what have you, but really not that impressed…”

I laughed with a sense of fatigue and then said, “Shorty, how you still going to be boujee with me up in space like that? Just be patient, let me show you.”

She rolled her eyes while applying lipstick to her lips and said, “Because you picked me up in this raggedy-ass spaceship that looked like it barely works… you know in the movies they always have these amazing starships and this just wasn’t what I had envisioned. It took you twenty-five minutes just to get this ship started because it kept stalling out.”

I was inherently offended with my response, “Shorty, please don’t talk poorly about my ole’ faithful spaceship called the Hallucinating Tapestry like that…”

She smiled and then said, “It certainly looks like you won’t be tapping anything tonight, that’s for sure…”

I laughed and then with a super suave tone of voice said, “Shorty, why would you even behave that way towards my ear with such monstrosity in your choice of words… I had to book reservations for this place months in advance.”

She looked outside of the spaceship’s window, un-amused and then said, “Oh. I see. Well, you know you could have just made reservations for somewhere nice on Earth, right?”

I responded with a heavily disgruntled tone of voice, “Shorty, should I just turn this spaceship around or do you want me to continue?”

She sighed and then said, “We’re already here so you might as well show me. At least we got to travel faster than the speed of light… that was kind of spectacular.”

I looked at her and said; “Now you have the right attitude.”

I then began to pilot the spaceship towards Cloud Nine. It took a few moments because one of the engines wasn’t working properly. I could feel the disappointment emitting from her.

Eventually we got within landing distance of Cloud Nine and I said to her with an obviously joking tone of voice, “So… where should I park?”

She laughed so hard that it was almost painful to listen to and then she said, “Just park anywhere Avi! There is nothing here!”

It took me a while and several attempts to try and land the spaceship properly because one of the wheels had a flat tire that I forgot to fix before we left.

Eventually we landed safely, it wasn’t easy, but we landed, so I looked over at her and said, “Alright, we’re here. We made it.”

She responded with a shaky voice, “I realized that…”

It took me a long time to open the spaceship door because the conventional door lock was broken so I had to spend some additional time to pick the lock and then kick the door open as sometimes it gets stuck, primarily due to the door hinges being a bit rusty.

At this point she had a completely disgusted look on her face and said to me, “Avi, are we even going to be able to leave this place afterwards? Because I’ve still got a lot of stuff that I need to accomplish on Earth… you told me this was going to be like a romantic horse and carriage ride, when really it looks like you built this spaceship on your own; using cheapo style methods and materials…”

I smiled, looked at her very confidently and said, “Yes. We will be able to leave. I built this ship myself and there’s a reason it’s my ole’ faithful.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “That doesn’t give me much confidence, I’m sorry… I’m just being honest.”

I quickly responded, “Watch your step as your walking down as it appears the stairs are malfunctioning…”

She sighed in frustration, but took my hand and we walked down together. Upon stepping on the platform, the platform changed into a collage of millions of different photographs.  

I changed my tone of voice to have a scientific demeanor (which I know she for sure likes) and said, “Now as you can see, this is who we were before, this is who we are currently and this is who we will become. Our souls have already been eternalized, at this very place, a long, long time ago.”

She looked completely awed and mesmerized, then said, “So you mean to tell me that I’ve known you for thousands of years? So you mean to tell me that I’ve been putting up with your shit for eternities?”

I laughed and said, “Yes and many more to come.”

Within that same moment the entire platform turned into a euphoric-type of world, then I said, “And this is where we first met.”

She fainted from being overwhelmed.

(To Be Continued)