Space Travel (leave your friends behind)

From the green world

Floating beyond collapsed stars

I glide for many, many years

For so long, time stopped for me.

And when I arrived

In another galaxy

A gate waited for me

In welcome:

"Salutations. Rest here

and you may see old friends."

After the shaky landing I walked

Their corridors,

Searching for the ones I've lost,

The echos of those I left behind.

These people were near my age.

I've crossed doors and platforms and storage and

No one else.

Except

One voice

Stopped me mid-step

So I turned and saw

Someone

(her)

Long dead, to me.

An android, to me.

This one did not know who I was,

Just where I've been

With a system update.

And so, I spoke our password

And her camera-eyes blinked in learned recognition.