To Be Taught, If Fortunate

by Becky Chambers

I’m an observer, not a conqueror. I have no interest in changing other worlds to suit me. I choose the lighter touch: changing myself to suit them.

When the world you know is out of reach, nothing is more welcome than a measurable reminder that it still exists.

Every discovery made, every hour spent in someone else’s sheets, every conversation and collaboration and new vista taken in made me want more, more, more. We were alive on that world. We were kings without enemies, children removed from time. We should’ve known better, as students of the universe. There’s no escaping entropy.

The ache to return to a time long gone was almost worse than fear.