He said, “Man, it’s like, you just go to sleep here in the Alpha Centauri System and wake up at Earth eight years later - but not a day older. Work a couple weeks there, unloading and shit, and then you go back to sleep another eight years to go home. And it’s like you only been gone two weeks, but really you been gone sixteen years”
         Jim raised his eyebrows, Lenny grinned.
         “That’s right,” he said, “I’m older than Bill. You see those guys over there?” He pointed at a table full of middle-aged men. “Those guys are my high school buddies. But I forgot to tell you the best part. You know how much they paid me for the job?”
         “I don’t know.” said Jim, “But I bet you’re about to tell me.”
         Lenny leaned forward and said it quietly, like it was a secret.
         “A million bucks,” he said. And he lifted his hands up, displaying the gold rings on his fingers. “You see these rings?” He lifted up his golden necklaces. “You see these chains? I got a brand new ‘85 Corsair Cruella parked outside. I got a nine hundred thousand square foot house up in Vista Creek. I heard you got some money problems, Jim. You wanna make some dough? Go to Otranto. Apply to one of the spacing companies there. Sign up for an interstellar trade mission. You can go to Earth, Epaphus, Deianara... wherever. Just get yourself on one of ‘em interstellar freighters. You’ll make a shit-load. And trust me - it’s easy.”
         Jim took a sip of his beer and said, “So I can get paid a million bucks for - what is essentially to me - two weeks of work?”
         “Yeah, dude,” said Lenny, “It’s the cat’s pajamas.”
         Jim glanced over at the table of Lenny’s, now, middle-aged high school buddies.
         “But when I get back,” he said, “All my friends will be old men.”
         Lenny threw his hands up, “Who cares, Jim? Think about it - a million bucks! You can make new friends. And besides, I’m still hanging out with these old farts.”
         Jim shook his head.
         “I don’t know,” he said, “I like my friends the way they are now. And what’s more, I got a good girl on the go. I wouldn’t leave her behind, not even for a million bucks. But, hey, you were friends with my dad, weren’t you?” he added, grinning, “I’m sure with your million bucks you could spare fifty grand to help out your buddy’s little boy.”
         Lenny got up and slapped him on the shoulder.
         “You wish, pal. I got too many bling and bitches to spend my money on. But you just think about what I said. A million bucks - it could be yours.”
         He walked back to his table and high-fived with his middle-aged buddies before sitting back down with them, laughing. Jim turned back to the bar and stirred his cigarette around as he snuffed it out in the ashtray.
         “A million bucks...” he thought.

~
         High above Phaethon, Helias 1 was passing behind the night side of the planet. Down below, the lights of the cities and towns shone like a million amber stars complimenting the actual stars that surrounded the black disc of the planet. Inside the station was a rather classy bar on the first level called the Starlite Room whose own dimly lit, blue and amber lights were perfectly chosen to match the celestial vista displayed outside its wall sized panel windows. At a table right beside one of these massive windows sat Jack Fisher drinking a short glass of brandy. He was waiting for a business contact of his, listening to the smooth jazz band on stage. He didn’t have to wait very long though, as he was still on his first drink when the man in question spotted him and walked up to the table.
         “Jacky! My boy! You haven’t aged a day!” bellowed the rotund man as he walked up to the table, “How you been, you old fart?”
         Jack stood up to shake his friend’s hand but the man went in for a hug.
         “How you doin’, Bob,” Jack said to his old friend as he pushed him away, “I see you haven’t aged a day, either.”
         “Bah ha ha ha!” Bob roared in laughter as he took a seat, “It’s the anti-aging cream. Hah ha! It works wonders on the skin!”
         Jack laughed as he sat back down at the table. The last time he had seen his friend, Bob Fagle, it was thirty standard years ago when they both worked together at Astrocor.