Starship NX5-231 was conveying her human

Starship NX5-231 was conveying her human research crew through the Tergulian Sector when she detected the faint strains of Joteo Prang's cover of "Starfaring Stranger" on channel

1.Too much static though.She tried channel 2.Beeblebox&Guests.Not her cup of tea-she was rather unpolitical for a starship her age.Channel 3 to 9 were Pop (yuck) but channel 10

. showed a coocking show with a lefthanded cook. Disgusting! 11. was some political chatter and up she went to 68. Channel 69 was something totally different now... She heard

a faint hum, but otherwise the TV was silent. There was no static, just white. What had channel 69 been earlier that week? A dating show? Now a shadow appeared in the corner of the

room, and I wondered briefly if he had come home. If after all this time, I would finally get to see his face again. Touch him. Smell him. But it was unlikely. Ever since we were

marooned on that asteroid together. Those were some close quarters. We were there 3 years. We had needs. I guess we still have needs. But his needs defied Time & Space. I had come

from a perpendicular universe clutching my temporal oscillator which vibrated in time but not in spatial dimensions. He remained wildly unsatisfied after applying it to his person.

That was when I knew that he and I were from different galaxies, not just physically, but spiritually. I cried as I watched his spaceship take off, but I knew it was for the best.

But he returned in 20 years, landing his spaceship on my front lawn. He looked like he hadn’t aged one day (such is space travel). He approached. “Did I leave my cell phone here?"

"I sold it on eBay 15 years ago", I replied, He left then, but I couldn't help thinking he'd really left his mark - on my front lawn where his spaceship had landed.