⌚ Approximately 8 minutes to read

⚠ Content Warning: grief, loss of parents, loneliness, and isolation

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“Would you like to try something new?” Sam’s voice brimmed with excitement.

Morgan put the last dish from dinner in the drying rack. “Like what?”

“Put on your AR goggles, and I will show you.”

Morgan sighed. He had used the goggles when he was learning to mine. They helped outline potential veins and highlight gemstones, but he hadn’t needed to use them in a couple of years. Morgan opened his mouth to protest but Sam cut him off.

“It’s a surprise I have been working on since… since the accident.”

Morgan felt a pang of loss, even though Sam had done all she could to avoid saying, “since your parents died.” He walked down the short hall to his room and over to the shelf where his goggles sat. Picking them up, he blew off the fine layer of dust they had collected since the last time her had used them.

He pressed the battery button and noted that the goggles still had two out of three bars of charge before sliding them over his head and eyes.

“Go ahead,” Sam said, excitedly. “Turn it on!”

As the goggles turned on, Morgan noticed that instead of the usual boot log, loading the training software, a new line of text appeared: “Loading Samulation.”

“Clever name,” he said, chuckling. Then the dingy walls of his room transformed into elegant wallpaper. The half burnt out overhead light was gone, replaced by a candlelit chandelier. His cot became a four-post bed with enough pillows and blankets to get lost in.

Morgan walked to the window to find his view of the drab gray crater outside replaced with a cascading waterfall. There were trees and birds and so many other things he’d never seen. A landscape the likes of which he’d only experienced in old videos his parents would sometimes watch.

“This—” his voice cracked and he started again, “This is incredible, Sam!”

The AI giggled over the speakers, now hidden by silken drapery. “You haven’t even seen the best part!”

“Oh?”

“Turn around,” Sam said, clearly enjoying his reaction.

Morgan turned and saw a young woman. There was another person, just standing there in his room, smiling. She was about the same age as Morgan was, her long, blonde hair dangling down to her tan shoulders, a look Morgan’s mother had once explained was, “Too much work for the asteroid farming life.” Her large blue eyes followed him as he took a few steps toward her.

“It’s me,” the girl said, “Sam!”

Morgan stood for a moment in stunned silence. How could Sam be here in the room, talking to him? “You look… You are amazing!” He reached his hands up to hug her but was equally shocked to find his fingers clipped right through her body.

“I’m not really here. At least, not any more here than I always am. It’s just an augmented reality avatar that I chose for myself.”

Morgan pulled the goggles away from his eyes for a moment, returning once more to the drab shack at the bottom of a crater on a small asteroid. There was no sign of Sam in front of him. He returned the goggles to position.

“I see. It’s like an illusion. A hologram.”

Sam smiled and nodded. “Exactly. Just like the architecture, and the view… It may not be the best-case scenario, but perhaps it is better than being completely alone?”

She reached her hands forward, and Morgan lifted his own reflexively. Sam wrapped her hands around his. Even though he wasn’t able to feel her hands, Morgan felt his eyes welling with tears. He wanted to wipe them away, but he knew that would require him to take off the goggles and lose this moment.

Instead, he looked into Sam’s eyes. They were such a deep blue, he felt like he knew what it must have been like to look into the oceans back on Earth. She was so realistic. So… beautiful.

After a few minutes of holding hands and looking at each other, Morgan yawned.

“Oh no!” Sam exclaimed. “I could stand here with you for an eternity, but I forgot you require sleep.”

Morgan felt his cheeks flush. She could stand there with him for eternity? Did she mean…?

No. Of course not. Sam was just an AI who wanted him to feel less lonely.

“Why don’t you try out your new bed?” Sam suggested.

Morgan couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to lay in bed with Sam.

“Could you…” Morgan looked toward the bed and then decided it was better not to continue. Mentally chastising himself, he walked over and slid into the left side of the bed, nearest the window.

“Would you like me to lay with you while you sleep?”

Somehow, hearing Sam say it, it seemed more reasonable.

“You could do that?”

“Of course. The cot isn’t large enough, but both the other side of the bed and I are nothing but an illusion. I can lay on it as if it were real, even if you can’t.”

Morgan reached over, moving a pillow to make room for Sam to lay next to him. Even though the pillow moved as his hand directed it, there was no sense of touch in his fingertips and no weight to the object. It was an odd sensation, but Morgan decided he could get used to it.

Sam sprawled out onto the bed beside him, laying on her back.

“Would you like for it to be darker, Morgan?”

“It might make it easier to sleep.”

Sam nodded and, with only a thought, the candles in the chandelier dimmed and then went dark. Out the window, the waterfall scene sped toward sundown, dusk, and then night descended.

Morgan laid on his back, crossing his hands under his head.

“Thank you for this, Sam.” He looked out the window, taking in the beauty of the stars. They seemed different than usual, more vibrant, sure, but also in different formations than they were without the goggles on. He began imagining lines between some of them, creating his own constellations in his mind.

“Do you ever think about leaving this asteroid, Morgan?” Sam’s voice broke the silence of the room.

Looking out the window, watching the stars twinkle in the darkness, he couldn’t help but wonder what else was out there in the vast expanse of space. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never really given it much thought. But sometimes, I wonder what else is out there.”

“What keeps you from leaving the asteroid?”

Morgan paused for a moment, really considering the question. “I guess, I’m scared,” he finally said. “I did sort of think about leaving when my parents died. But this is the only home I’ve ever known. And what would I do out there? Go to Epiphany, I guess. But then what?”

“You could get hired on as a miner for one of the corporations. Their equipment is probably newer than what you’re used to, but I’m sure you would figure it out.”

“I suppose…”

Sam took Morgan’s pause as an opportunity to interject, “You’ve always been good with machinery.”

“Maybe if we score a big enough ore vein, I could afford to shuttle to Epiphany and see what it’s like. Maybe even try to find a job there.”

“That’s a good idea, Morgan. You deserve to see more of the universe than just Asteroid #23749.”

Morgan smiled. “Deal. But I’m taking you with me, Sam, one way or another.”

Sam put her hand on top of his, smiling back and yawning. “We should get some rest.”

Morgan yawned back, nodding and closing his eyes, a warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time spread through him as he drifted off to sleep.

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