Light Delay · Episode 5
The Broken Arm
The Tamsin passes Neptune, and Michael records the happiest message he ever sent, fifteen minutes after his son breaks his arm. He won't find out for five hours. In 2088, Mikey moves back in for the summer, and Perihelion pays Grace a visit.
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A summer storm at night, rain hard on the windows, thunder far off.
Theo I broke my arm on the twenty-first of March, twenty forty-one. At recess. I was showing Danny Ruiz how my father was going to land on another planet, and I jumped off the top of the climbing frame to show him.
Theo My father would have pointed out that I'd forgotten to fire the braking engine.
Theo Message seventeen. Thursday, half past twelve. Fifteen minutes after I hit the ground. He didn't know. He wouldn't know for five hours.
A soft playback chime.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael Theo! Theo, Theo, Theo. Best day. Best day so far. Okay, listen.
Michael Last night, at eleven forty-four, we crossed the orbit of Neptune. We are past all of them now. Every planet. Every single one. There's nothing between us and Halcyon but dark. Tomas set an alarm, and we all floated... well, we didn't float, we stood around the window in our socks, and when it went off, Anika made a speech, and Lena played a song she made up on a comb and a piece of paper, and it was terrible, and it was the best song I've ever heard.
Michael And I slept nine hours. First real sleep since launch. I woke up and I didn't know where I was, and then I did, and I laughed out loud. Tomas thought I'd gone crazy.
Michael Oh, and the Sun. You'll like this. The Sun's a dot now. It's a star, Theo. The brightest one, but still just a dot, and you still can't look at it. So that's the Sun, from out here.
Michael I hope your day is as good as mine. I bet it is. It's Thursday, you've got gym. Tell Danny Ruiz I said hi. Over.
The message ends with a soft click.
The series theme, with the title card over it.
Announcer Light Delay, presented by the VoiceFrequency Network. Episode five: The Broken Arm.
A summer night in the kitchen, crickets outside.
Theo Mikey drove back to Ann Arbor at six on Thursday morning. He came back at nine that night, with everything he owned in the back of the car.
A car door outside, then the front door opens and closes.
Mikey I can do the lab work from here. They've got a computer in Columbus. I checked.
Theo You don't have to do this.
Mikey I know I don't have to. I want to hear them. All of them. I'm not getting them in a summary.
Theo It'll take the whole summer.
Mikey Then I'm here for the summer.
Theo Okay.
Mikey Also, Grandma called me. On the way down.
Theo She called you.
Mikey She said to tell you she's sorry she hung up. She said she's not sorry about the rest.
Theo That sounds right.
Mikey And she said a woman from Perihelion came to see her this afternoon. At her place. With flowers.
Theo Dana.
Mikey She didn't say the name. She said, "Tell your father the flowers were very nice, and I put them in the trash."
Theo Did she let her in?
Mikey She said she gave her a cup of tea and told her nothing. She sounded very pleased with herself.
Theo Section nine point four.
Mikey What?
Theo The part you didn't finish reading. What happens to a message when the person it's for isn't around. If my mother is the only one who can open them, then my mother is the only one Perihelion really needs to talk to.
Mikey Dad.
Theo Get your things in. It's going to rain.
A summer storm at night, rain hard on the windows, thunder far off.
Mikey Does it still hurt? The arm?
Theo When it rains. It's hurting now.
Mikey Which one was it?
Theo Left. Two bones, here. They set it at Children's Hospital, and I had a blue cast up to the elbow for six weeks.
Theo My mother sent him a message from the waiting room at quarter to one. Five lines. I know because I watched her type it, with one hand, while she held my good hand with the other.
Theo And then at five o'clock, the player chimed. In the cast room. And I made her play it.
Mikey Message seventeen.
Theo Message seventeen. "Best day. Best day so far."
Theo I was lying on a table with a doctor wrapping wet plaster round my arm, and my father was telling me about Neptune, and the comb, and how he'd slept nine hours, and how he hoped my day was as good as his. And he bet it was. And it was Thursday, and I had gym.
Mikey Did you cry?
Theo No. That was the strange part. I laughed. The doctor thought I was in shock. I wasn't. It was just so wrong it was funny. He was having his best day, right then, and he was going to find out in twenty minutes.
Theo I lay there doing the math. Hours times hours. I could see him finding out.
A soft playback chime.
Theo Message eighteen. Thursday, five thirty-five p.m.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael Hey. Hey, buddy. Your mom's message got here fifteen minutes ago.
Michael I sent you a party. You were in the hospital, and I sent you a party. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about the party message. If you haven't played it yet, don't. Skip it. Play this one.
Michael Okay. Okay. Here's the thing. When you break your arm, a dad has a job. The job is, you drive the car too fast, and you sit in the waiting room, and you say stupid things until the doctor comes out. That's the whole job. I've been training for it for nine years. And I can't drive the car.
Michael So I'm going to do the waiting room part anyway, now, and it'll get to you about ten tonight, when it's all over. So pretend it's the waiting room.
Michael What do you call a guy with a broken arm? Doesn't matter, he can't wave back. That's a terrible one. What happened to the skeleton who jumped off the climbing frame? Nothing, he had no body to... that's not even right. I'm bad at these. I'm bad at these from this far away.
Michael Listen. I want you to remember something, okay? This is important. Whatever I sound like in the message you're hearing, I've heard more since. By the time you hear me happy, I might know something that makes me not happy. By the time you hear me sad, I might be fine. Every message is old by the time it gets to you. So don't take the one you're holding as the last word. I've always caught up by now.
Michael Ask the doctor what color casts they've got. Get blue. Over.
The message ends with a soft click.
Back in the kitchen, the storm outside.
Mikey Did you get blue?
Theo I'd already got blue. It was the only color they had.
Mikey "Every message is old by the time it gets to you."
Theo I didn't understand that at nine. I thought he meant don't worry. He meant something bigger. He meant, never think you're hearing me now.
A soft playback chime.
Theo Message nineteen. Friday morning.
The ship under thrust, a deep steady engine rumble.
Michael Good afternoon. You're home from school, you're on the couch, and you're being a hero about it. Your mother says you were very brave and you laughed at the doctor, which she says was strange. I told her it runs in the family.
Michael Now, the crew would like to sign your cast. We've worked out a system. Each person says their name, and that counts. It's legally binding. Anika?
Anika Anika Rao. Get well soon, Theo. Jump off smaller things.
Michael Tomas?
Tomas Tomas Varga. Next time, fire the braking engine.
Michael Lena's on shift, but she drew a comb on a piece of tape, and she's stuck it on the screen, so that's her signature. And me. Michael Hale. Your dad. Over the elbow, where it's biggest.
Michael That's four. That's the whole crew of the first ship to another star, on your arm. Nobody else in the world has that. Over.
The message ends with a soft click.
Back in the kitchen, the storm outside.
Mikey "Next time, fire the braking engine."
Theo Tomas said that. I'd forgotten. Forty-seven years. I told Danny Ruiz that joke for a month and said I'd made it up.
Mikey Did you get the real cast signed?
Theo Everybody signed the real cast. And at the top, over the elbow, where it's biggest, I wrote four names myself, in pen: Anika, Tomas, Lena and Dad. I said they'd signed it from space. Nobody at school believed me.
Mikey You should have played them the message.
Theo I did. They still didn't believe me.
Mikey Same time tomorrow?
Theo Same time.
Footsteps going up a wooden staircase.
A summer storm at night, rain easing, thunder very far off.
Theo "Every message is old by the time it gets to you."
Theo Four-twelve is twenty-two years old. Whatever he sounds like in it, he's had twenty-two years to catch up with it.
Theo I don't know if that makes it better or worse.
Theo The arm stopped aching at about midnight, when the rain did.
Theo Message twenty, tomorrow.
The closing theme, the piano under the announcer.
Announcer You've been listening to episode five of Light Delay, on the VoiceFrequency Network.
Announcer In our next episode: the delay passes a day. And in passing, Michael makes his son a promise that Theo, at fifty-six, can finally check.