If you put a decimal point and string an infinity of nines behind it you’ll end up with one.
But can you ever cross?
“Computer.”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Velocity.”
“Zero point nine nine nine of the speed of light.”
“Computer.”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Accelerate to one point oh one.”
Red flashing lights spread across the engine monitor and the stars ahead gather into a clenched fist of ultraviolet flame.
They say when you step over that threshold, time itself runs backward.
Tell your mother to leave the porch light on.
I’ll be home before you know it.
———-
I return after a couple weeks’ break! The connection between the story and the photo is tenuous at best – something about the photo made me think of the past. This, plus the fact that my wife was blasting Nicki Minaj’s song “Starships” on the treadmill and I woke up late at night furiously thinking about mathematics has resulted in the above story. Anyway…Every Friday, writers from all around the world write 100 word (or thereabouts) flash fiction based on a photo posted that Wednesday on Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ blog.
I welcome constructive criticism; without it I cannot grow as a writer. The weekly photo that inspired this story is below:
glossarch 
Dear Danny,
Loved your build up to the final acceleration, but the last line leaves me wondering who he is returning to and why. Especially enjoyed the ‘clenched fist of ultra-violet flame’.
Will watch the comments for light from the event horizon.
Aloha,
Doug
Hey Doug,
Thanks for reading! Yes, I think I could have used a few more words to bind the story together; it really switches gears quickly. I would like to flesh this one out more someday. My thought was that he lost his family, and he’s trying to go faster than light so as to return to them.
Dear Danny,
Good use of dialogue. But, I’m a bit confused by the sudden change at the end. Did he travel back in time to childhood? Or is he a child imagining time travel?
Shalom,
Rochelle
Hi Rochelle,
Like I said to Doug I think I should have used a few more words near the end to explain what’s going on. My thought was that he was returning to a family he’d lost.
Peace,
Danny
New to Friday Fictioneers I didn’t understand to make my story relate to the photo at all! I had to read this a couple times to take it in. I feel the speed is somehow made null by going backwards. Just how so many times in real life when we go to fast we fall behind. The last line to me shows how by going that very fast you go nowhere at all and/or end up at the beginning.
Thank you, that was not an interpretation that occurred to me. Given that the story was a jumble of images, it makes sense that different people would see different things. Welcome to Friday Fictioneers!
Timetravel — very innovative Danny.
Thanks!