The Blink of a Salamander's Eye

Sometimes when I can't sleep I imagine myself in a spacecraft. At first I take tentative steps: a short hop to the moon to test the controls, a brush with the Red Planet; skimming its atmosphere and marvelling at its untouched surface. Later, once I am confident in the craft, I go further. It has the capacity to bend space, allowing me to travel great distances in the blink of a salamander's eye. Space in its vastness is inexplorable and it is this overwhelming feeling of smallness that is no doubt responsible for me falling asleep, crushed under the duvet, by the greatness of it all.

There is something else though. As I sit in the seat of the spacecraft a black unknown exists behind me in the bowels of the ship. An unknowable presence of something long forgotten, unlearnt or never known. Something that troubles me; something I must ignore because going forward is too important, too vital, and all we can ever do.