Norma's Homemade Banana Bar

May 2022 Prompt #31

Today's mystery prompt was stolen cross promoted from Youtube. Andre did it.

Geez Louise, Andre. As if this isn't like writing a book or something. Good thing this prompt came out at midnight and I'm having a restless night. I thought we were over the whole sheltering-in-place order. Oh well, here I go:

As luck would have it, I just finished reading 'Operation Hail Mary' by Andy Weir. The page I turned to is page 211. There are only a few locations available in this novel.
1. Earth
2. our Sun
3. the space ship of the main character - Astronaut Grace
4. the alien planet in the 40 Eridani system and its sun
5. the alien space ship named Blip A by Astronaut Grace

Most of the action takes place on location #3, so I'll focus on that location.

What if I was in that spaceship. And what if I survived the trip with Grace to the outer limits of the universe, some light-years away, to save Earth from the menace he was sent to quell. Could I help him save Earth?

I am not a science-type person, my mind doesn't work in that linear way. But perhaps I could help him in creative ways to survive.

On the spaceship, we meet Astronaut Ryland Grace. What if I came out of nowhere and crash-landed on his ship? How would that change his whole outlook? Currently on page 211 he has just made contact with an alien life form. I won't give away too much of the plot, in case anyone hasn't read this great book yet. But say I come into the picture. Grace is feeling a bit distressed being all alone, with just the alien for company. Perhaps having another human along would buoy his spirits a bit.

I would perhaps dress up the spaceship a bit, make it homier. I would help with the food situation, which at this point in the journey is not pleasant. I would make friends with the alien. Learn the language, as is Grace. I would also find a way to make peace with the robots on the ship, which Grace seems to be doing as well. Maybe we could reprogram them a bit.

Grace seems to be working too hard. Perhaps the alien and I could be comic relief. We could write about what is happening. Make little skits, write stories. Write a travelogue. Send it back to Earth. Of course, by the time it reaches Earth, a few decades will have passed. The whole E=MC squared is touched on here. How time is relevant, how time is fluid.

Like I said, I don't think along those lines. How you can not age when you travel in space? Sounds like fun to me. Sign me up.