Thomas glanced down at his watch. Reflecting on humanity’s obsession with time for what must’ve been one of billions of times he had reflected on it during his life.

It had read four-thirty.

A smile kept creeping onto his face, some would say it was a creepy one while others would say it was the grin of a lunatic. But a few would understand that it was the smile of a man that was so happy and unbelievably satisfied that he couldn’t contain it.

The reason?

To understand it, one must look back on his life. He had been born to a pair of organic farmers in northern Washington. His childhood had been pleasant but he had no interest in farming, fortunately his parents had been very understanding and encouraged him to find his passion. He had found it in robotics and computers. His family was poor however, so in order to pursue his passion his father had given him one requirement.

“If you want to do this you must do it by yourself, we can’t help you. But if it doesn’t work out, you can always take up farming!” The last part had been said with a laugh but Thomas had understood the implications. He was desperate to avoid farming for no other reason than he detested physical labor.

The end result was a child prodigy. Thomas had earned money by doing freelance design and programming work over the internet to pay for books and components so he could pursue his passion in robotics. By nineteen he had graduated from Caltech with a degree in mechanical engineering and computer science. He proceeded to gain degrees in physics and math. All of which culminated in him attaining a senior position in NASA.

This brings us to the present, Thomas had just walked out into the hazy D.C. summer sunlight after having finished presenting his project and plan to NASA’s administrative board.

The project?

For the past decade since starting his doctorate program for physics and math, Thomas had been working on a singular problem. The Alcubierre drive, a mathematical formula that could be used to design a spaceship capable of faster than light travel, however it required near infinite energy and the ship in question upon reaching its destination would release enough radiation to wipe out an entire solar system. Thus the formula had been left as is while NASA had focused on other projects for travel within the solar system. That was until Thomas’s presentation today. Over the past decade he and a colleague had worked together to work out a way to make the Alcubierre drive a tangible possibility. It had resulted in an amazing breakthrough. Thomas and his fellow colleague had worked out a new formula that would allow a ship the capability of faster than light travel by gathering energy from the radiation that it would pick up during its trip! The end result would be a ship that needed to be supplied energy virtually once since it would gain additional energy while it moved through space!

This presentation had been to gain NASA’s approval for funding for further research and development with a prototype ship as the ultimate goal!

What had been NASA’s reply?

A resounding affirmative they had even gone so far as to freeze other lesser projects to provide additional funding. Thomas had given them something akin to a fountain of youth after all. For Thomas he was simply happy to get one step closer to his goal.

His goal?

Complete relaxation, zero mental or physical labor! No humans to bother him! Just himself!......well maybe if that one person wanted to come along it would be ok, but that was it!

Thomas viewed himself as someone exceedingly lazy, however on earth it was impossible to be lazy since there was always some way for fellow humans to nag him to not be lazy. So then through some broken logic he had decided an uninhabited planet was the only choice for him to truly be able to laze about.

So!

Now that funding had been guaranteed for his future goal he had one last objective for the day. He looked to the other side of the road. Since leaving NASA’s headquarters he had walked to a nearby café where he had agreed to meet with his colleague. And there she was…….along with her niece! Thomas’s eyes narrowed slightly, he hadn’t expected his colleague’s niece to be with her.

His hand slipped nervously into his pocket, seeking the reassuring shape of a small box that he thought he had put in there this morning. Unfortunately it wasn’t there. As his complexion paled visibly he faintly waved at his colleague, her cheerful smile brightening the already sunny day.

Then it happened… “Uncle Thomas!”

The niece, Julie, had wrested her hand free of his colleague’s grasp and came running towards him in excitement. Normally this would’ve been fine….that was if they were somewhere other than standing on two different sides of a busy street!

“Julie! No!”

Thomas sprinted out before any other person could react. Faintly he could hear the roar of a sports car in the background. He reached Julie and picked her up. Just as he did so the roar of the sports car became louder.

“Thom!”

His colleague, Cecily, cried out in alarm. Thomas turned from her horrified face to look to his right. The sports car! Time seemed to slow down for Thomas as he watched the car careen towards him and Julie. He saw the horrified look of the boy that looked had looked up from his phone to see Thomas holding Julie in front of his speeding car.

Thomas had only enough time to toss Julie towards the horrified Cecily before the car smashed into him. First it hit and broke his hip before it send him flying up into the air only to land head first on the pavement.

He lay there in a daze until Cecily’s crying face entered his vision as she knelt beside him, her hands constantly reaching for him before retracting knowing that moving his body might only make the damage worse.

Thomas, on the other hand, knew that there was no worse than the condition he was in. His right lung felt as if it was on the verge of collapse and his head…..well needless to say he was doomed.

He suddenly began to laugh, though only for a short while before it transformed in excruciating gurgles as his right lung collapsed. He looked into Cecily’s horrified eyes.

“Its funny……..NASA approved……..I remembered everything for it………I was even hoping you…..would approve….today.”

He began to feel the tears leaking down his cheeks, whether they were from him or her, he wasn’t certain.

“Exc-*COUGH*…..Except, I forgot the…..most important part……..of the presentation……..for you…..I’m sorry.”

“Thom…Thomas….it’s ok, it’s completely fine. You can at least forget one thing. It’s fine!”

“Ha..ha…haha….look at that………miss ocd…….bending her rules…….but….that’s what I…….love…..about….you.”

Cecily’s Tears began to fall even harder as she began to outright sob. With the last of his strength Thomas cupped her face and thumbed away some of her tears. In a gasping breath he spoke his last words.

“I….Love You….Cecily.”

With that Thomas Ackerman passed away, the doctors would later report that it had been due to brain hemorrhaging. Cecily didn’t care though, the man she had fallen in love with was gone.

Years later she had still not found anyone, and the Alcumbierre Drive had still not been made. When asked why she would respond with a sad smile on her face.

“I’m still waiting for that forgetful and lazy idiot to finish his presentation.”

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