there is no 13th floor in space

the line had to be taut. the whole time. if one end cut loose, the other would flap in the distant space, awaiting a reconnection that would never come. these connections are so like humans. so fragile. the need to be taught. to love.

the craft had made a narrow escape from the atmosphere, the rusty aft thrusters trustworthy on this day. and she was free. free from the friction that ran through the fiction of earth. no longer. she would pursue a life among the stars.

the day would come when she would, like all things, pass into the night sky, a glittery reminder of what once was. like the stars in the sky, how many years already dead unknown, the distances between friends measured astronomically.