"You know, I was at the command station when the first drones flew by. When their fancy cameras captured nothing, I knew my dividends were going to pot."

Lester was sitting beside me by the aisle. He had accepted my invitation rather enthusiastically but began to have all orders of regret the moment we stepped on the spaceplane. He was kicking himself for not having invested in OE Express, believing that civilian spaceflight would never meet the safety standards of conventional flights. I had wanted to give him the window seat, but he refused, saying he wanted some distance from the greatest reminder of his idiocy. Maybe I should have at least tried inviting Claire.

"It looks solid up-close, can you believe that? I mean, who the heck could have expected 'magic photons'?"

He was referring to the tongue-in-cheek term that scientists had coined for the light that Other Earth emits, and the fact that they could somehow never be processed digitally. I turned away from the developing milieu outside the window and gave him my best annoyed look. He did not see it. His eyes were looking at something far beyond the dinner tray in front of him, beyond the cup of gin he had yet to finish. I decided to change my tactics.

"Hey, I heard from Dash that this plane is made of some metamaterial that'll allow light to pass through. Shall we just try to enjoy the view and not fret about the past?"

Lester continued to look beyond the dinner tray, so I stretched my neck around to see what Outram was doing. He was sitting two rows back on the other side of the plane. Alicia was beside him, sitting by the window. He had introduced her at the spaceport; probably his fourth wife by now. They just seem to keep getting younger and younger.

"The show's about to start soon, hope you don't have vertigo!" he shouted over as he saw me looking.

Sure enough, about ten seconds later, another announcement came from the cockpit.

"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen. The OE Express is about to go transparent. You'll be able to see out the walls and behold the magnificence of our future!"

Just as the announcement was finished, the sides of the plane began to shimmer like oil films on a bright road. The shimmers then began to grow fainter and pale blue light began seeping in to greet us. Soon, we found ourselves on a thin floating platform, overlooking a waterfall that's easily twice the size of Niagara. There we were, the richest people in the world, on a magic carpet ride in a strange new land. There were 'Wows', 'Ahhs', gasps, and some squeals of terror and excitement. If so many of us didn't already behave like children, I would have found those sounds to be a complementary part of the experience.

"That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what we call Proxima Falls. Five years ago, the first manned flyby of Other Earth came to this location. This was the first feature that was looked so closely upon by human eyes."

The partition between the main cabin and the cockpit was not one of those that turned invisible. It felt a little strange, seeing that rather dull arc impeding our sights on the direct front while hearing the rendered voice of the pilot from the other side. It must have been more annoying for those by the aisle. I pried my sights away from the behemothian curtain of gushing water to check on Lester.

It seemed like I had nothing to worry about. Lester was staring out the invisible walls, his face a more intense version of Jill's when she first got that telescope. All traces of regret vanished as his eyes darted from one wonder to the other. I don't think I've seen them twinkle that much, even on the day we made our first million. I had to pull myself away as he leaned closer, the saliva from his doltish smile threatening to trickle down to the imported leather of my coat. At that moment, I realized the plan to cheer Lester up had worked after all, maybe even better than I had hoped for. He was the excitable type.

"You wanna switch places with me?" I asked him, unsure if he would process my words.

"No, it's fine," he said, without taking his eyes off the waterfall. "This is good. This is very good."

I felt good too. Lester was the only person on board whose happiness I cared about. Seeing him like this meant that I could start caring about myself. I pushed my back farther into the soft velvet seat, ready to enjoy the ride Outram had invited us on.

"Proxima Falls is located between the former continents of Antarctica and Asia," came the pilot's voice. "Far far into the future, the continents will merge into the super-continent, Pangaea Proxima, closing up many of our existing bodies of water such as the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The water from Proxima Falls comes from a giant inland sea, the Indian Sea. After falling some one hundred meters, the water will pass into the Proxima Straits and head several hundred kilometers south to meet the Neo-Pacific Ocean."

A sight-seeing trip and a geography lesson! All this for only five-hundred grand? What a steal!

"Hey, could we maybe cut the engines for a bit? I want to look at the waterfall a little longer," came a raspy voice from the back.

"Don't be daft ya Old Doofus!" scolded a woman. "If we stop moving, we'll fall! How do you not know how planes work? You own so many of them!"

As if in response to the burgeoning quarrel, the sound of the engines began to die down to a low, choking whirl. The lady who had shouted at old doofus began screaming and hurling pleas at everyone within earshot. All that did was prompt laughter from the other passengers and some revenge scolding.

"We're still in space you buffoon! Other Earth is a ghost, just a vision! It has no effect on anything around it. Take a look at the temperature on the screen. It's negative one hundred and seventy degrees Celsius! Does this look like negative one hundred and seventy Celsius to you?"

There was no follow-up from the woman this time. I turned to check the mini-screen in front of me. The movie had switched off and all that was on now were flight statistics. The man was right, at this temperature, the waterfall should have been frozen solid. It wasn't just the temperature; there was no wind speed, no air pressure, nothing. Even with the engine off, the plane wasn't falling noticeably, and there was no sound at all from any direction. There was just the silence of cold, empty space.

"The scientists told me that there was nothing here, nothing to study, " said Lester. He was beginning to look sullen again, the initial grandeur now wearing off on him. "But they told me they didn't want to give up. They said they could do it, and I trusted them." I made a mental note to tell the steward not to bring him more alcohol.

"Alright folks," said the pilot again. "As you've just seen, we are in fact still in space. We will be proceeding with our planned fly-by shortly, but there is something we plan on showing you first, something that no civilian has ever seen before. We will be diving into the waters below us and there's nothing to worry about. However, we will be shutting off transparency mode for the benefit of those who may be more sensitive to environmental stimulus."

The shimmering films formed their arcs around us and soon, we were once again confined to peering out tiny windows. Soon, the roar of the engines returned and we began descending rapidly toward the ground. We would have flown off our seats had our seatbelts not been strapped on. Proxima Falls began to look even more imposing as we began descending past its overhang, and soon it felt like we were prostrating before a mighty god of water. I heard a familiar yelp from behind as the plane began to graze the surface of the lake below us. Then, with no resistance at all, we went below the surface.

Except we were not below the surface but in the vast expanse of space. Outside the window, all I could see were countless shining lights. Just barely visible at the bottom, there was something oddly familiar, a sight that I remembered from old books and my days as a young entrepreneur. The flighty guardian that mocks me several nights a month, its barren surface an arrogant dissimilitude to the lushness we had come from.

"Holy crap! That's the moon!" I couldn't help but cry out, an impulse I instantly regretted. I turned to where Outram was sitting, and sure enough, he had a slight smirk on his face. So that's why he let Alicia sit by the window. It's not that he was being a nice husband, he'd just wanted to see my reaction better!

"Yes, Edwin. That's the moon. Last month, some NASA astronauts had a happy little accident and saw what we're seeing right now. It's as if nothing has ever happened beneath the surface of our favorite phantom. No one else has seen it, but I've managed to convince a few of my friends at OE Express to give us the special package."

I slumped back into my seat, defeated,  wanting to slap myself and wake up from this nightmare. I had gotten excited by something Outram arranged, in front of so many powerful witnesses. The favor had to be returned. It could be the Code, or it could be my involvement in that deal with Victory. I couldn't believe how stupid I was!

"This is very impressive, Outram," said Old Doofus, but Outram paid him no attention. His sights were trained on me, and his eyes had turned sly, his pointy cheeks even pointier. There was less of a need for pretense now. He got me, he got me good.

Man, I really hate the moon.

***

It happened on a sultry July evening. I had returned from a hike in the nearby woods, thinking I had been alert enough to beat the oncoming storm. Other Earth was blocked by towering, stygian clouds, and the thunderclaps were creeping ever so nearer. The rain began to pour the moment I stepped through the door of my home, but another storm was already brewing, waiting for me.

Normally, Jill would be out in the living room, playing with her toys, or working on her homework. Instead, she had been sent to her room. Claire was alone on the couch, still in her nurse's uniform, an oddly familiar piece of paper beside her. She looked up at me when I entered; she had clearly been crying.

"The housekeeper found this in the trash and showed it to me," she said, her voice colder than usual. I froze the instant I recognized the numbers and signatures on the form. Not being one to trust the digital world for life-breaking documents, I had wanted to keep a hard copy of the agreement. This must have been the first print when the ink ran dry, leaving a faint yet still readable page. The pale words seemed to look back at me menacingly, like the ghost of the world I knew I was about to lose. I should have burned it when I had the chance. I'd never expected Gloria to be this nosey, or this righteous.

"Daniel Victory? Dash Outram? You're seriously doing this with them?" she continued, her volume rising.

"Babe, I didn't have a choice. It was either this or the Code," I protested, though I was beginning to feel rather incoherent.

"Wha... ? So you'd rather engage in what essentially is eugenics than help another guy become rich?" She got up from the couch and began walking brusquely toward me, eyes flushed with rage.

"It's more complicated than that! There's no way the world can sustain a large population of immortals. I'm choosing the lesser of two evils here!"

"Really?! Do you get the right to choose? After all the lies you've just told me and yourself? What kind of monster have you become?!"

"Hey, look! It's not like you don't have the opportunity! You and I can both be immortals, spend the rest of eternity together with Jill when she comes of age... "

"That's not the ISSUE HERE!" she screamed the last two words. She quickly fell back on the couch, curled up and sobbing. I was left in the middle of the living room, listening to the torrential downpour drowning out her cries. I eventually decided to head to Jill's room, but that only caused Claire to explode from her shell of anguish.

"You... stay away from my daughter! Don't you DARE go near her!" Her face was dark, illuminated only by the flashes of lightning. She was like a demon, fending me off from my kin.

"Your daughter?" I returned a mocking laugh. "She hardly knows you! You spend all day at the hospital and what, you volunteer at some soup place as well? I, on the other hand, am always home when she gets back from school. I play with her and buy her new toys. There is absolutely no need for you to do anything that you do. The Code would feed all three of us for countless lifetimes! Why won't you take the BLOODY TREATMENT!?"

My rant ended with a well-timed thunderclap. A sudden calm seemed to wash over Claire, an odd overture of purpose. She looked at me, her eyes now red and dead. A final trickle of tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Because I'm human, and will always be."

Those were the last words I would hear from her in this house; the house we had bought together, the house that held so many memories despite the many upscale renovations. I watched her go to the garage where Lester and I had sweated our brows silly, where we had built the auto-triage board for the hospital, the hospital where she and I had first met. I watched her start the car and drive off into the rain, tail lights fading fast into the behemothian curtain of gushing water. Everything turned silent.

***

The victories that followed in the coming days felt like pyrrhic ones. I used to enjoy snuffing the wind out of men who tried to bring me down, but a large part of it was because they had more money than me. Doing so when I was the one with money didn't feel quite the same. Sure, most people in the world have not had the treatment but stopping them from getting it felt like killing them. Claire might have been pulling punches when she said 'eugenics'.

Then there's Claire. She had left that day to stay with her parents and promptly began filing for divorce. She had tried to take custody of Jill, claiming that I was a 'dangerous influence'. That never went through, because I was the one with money. A few well-placed bribes and strategic favors were more than necessary. It helped that Jill wanted to stay with me as well. I remember Claire's face in court that day; angry, pained. We agreed that she would get to see Jill on weekends, but she had insisted that I stay far from them during her visits.

So no, no I don't feel good about it. There were no winners in that battle, except the cronies whom I've bribed.

"I'm sorry about everything that's happened," said Lester. We were back together, this time for coffee. Lester had decided on Arabica, and I had decided to follow suit. I was too tired to make any real decisions.

"Thanks, but I figured this was going to happen the moment she refused to take the treatment," I replied, mindlessly stirring my spoon in the ashen waters. I was in no mood for cream.

"Really? Not the moment you decided to take the treatment without talking to her?"

Lester's sudden admonition jolted me back from listlessness. I looked at him, feeling confused and a little betrayed.

"I'm sorry," he said, quickly shifting his attention back to his own cup. "That was uncalled for."

"No... No... You're right," I continued stirring my spoon. "I was an idiot. Still am really. I'd thought that after seeing so much death in the hospital, she would take the treatment without question. No! She would go on and on about how being in the hospital reminded her of the sanctity of life and how the treatment just cheapens it. I thought that was something only poor people would say."

"Actually... " Lester cupped his own beverage and began rocking slightly back and forth. "Actually, there is something I want to tell you."

"What's that?" I asked between lip-wetting sips.

"I've decided to end my immortality."

I nearly dropped the cup. I still remember the feeling I had when he said those words. It was the same feeling when Claire had first said 'no'. Just barely in my upper peripherals, Other Earth was rising. Perhaps it was the sudden shock of Lester's declaration, but it seemed especially empty that day, barely visible through the azure of a clear sky.

"You're kidding me, right? What could possibly make you say something like that? Is it money? I can give you forty percent of my profits, you won't even need the Code!"

"Calm down, Edwin!"

I hadn't realized it, but I was breathing heavily, sweating even. I had just lost Claire, nearly lost Jill. I didn't want to lose Lester as well.

"Would you please listen to me?" he asked, trying to sound tender like he was soothing a panicking child. It probably felt exactly like that to him.

"Look, it was that trip, ok. That trip to Otty. Did you notice something wasn't quite right?"

I had many ideas but chose to keep mum. I knew whatever I said was going to be wrong.

"Where were the people? Hmm? Where were the people on Otty? We saw all manners of exotic wildlife, heck, I didn't know Griffiths could actually exist! But where were the people?"

There was a strange long pause as he waited for my answer.

"I suppose... they either left for the stars or they may have evolved into something else, something we didn't recognize... "

"That's the popular theory. Or, they could have gone extinct. You'd ever think about that?" he interrupted.

"That can't be right... there should be a good chunk of the population that's immortal... The treatment should have been made much more effective by... Oh... " The moment I said it, I realized I had done something that could reverberate for eons to come. Another meaning for Other Earth was becoming apparent; a meaning I didn't quite enjoy.

"Look, I'm not saying that that's what's gonna happen. Three hundred million years is a long time, and you could be right! Maybe we could be off to the stars. But doesn't it seem strange to you there's not a sign of human civilization anywhere? Nothing left behind? I mean, the place seems pristine! I would want to live there if that's an option!"

I turned my full attention to the specter in the sky, hoping for a sign that everything was going to be fine. Lester turned to see what I was looking at, letting out a short chortle as he did so. Other Earth remained silent, as it always has been.

"What has this got to do with you giving up your immortality?" I asked.

"You've changed, Edwin," he replied, turning back to face me. "You were frightened that day, the day Otty first appeared, and I mean very frightened. I know, because we all were. You ran from the park and hid with me in our basement. We were scared little kids again. We only stopped being scared when they told us that Otty was doing nothing to mess us up. Yet you only seem to remember the days after that, when your Code helped you recover all your losses and make you unimaginably rich once more."

"It's not something I'd like to keep in my memory, what's your point?"

"My point is, you have become so hungry to control everything around you. You'd lose sleep if you cannot predict how the next day's gonna be. And let's not forget the ultimate uncertainty: what happens after death. You don't deal with that anymore! It's changed you, turned you into something... different."

I began bringing a spoonful of coffee towards my lips, hoping the awkwardness of this action would help railroad this circumlocution to something else. It didn't.

"And I've changed too. I just don't care anymore. Life is just completely meaningless now. I rejected your help because I wanted to stand up for myself, but I just can't find the will to do it. And you know what? I'm sick of feeling like that. I miss the feeling of waking up to challenges. I want to walk among those who never know what the day would bring or when their time will come. If there's one thing I learned from that trip to Otty, it's that we can never get rid of uncertainty. We might as well learn to enjoy it."

"Lester," I said, putting down the spoon and interlacing my fingers. "You say this now, but things will feel different when you're about to die. I think you'll regret making this decision."

"Will I?" he said, smiling from ear to ear. "I guess I'll have to wait to find out."