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“Seriously, Pap, where are we going?”
Sans was in the passenger seat of his brother’s convertible. Earlier, Papyrus had suggested that he and his brother go out for a “little drive around town.” That had been almost an hour ago.
Sans had first gotten suspicious when Papyrus drove out of the city limits, but he figured maybe his brother had decided to drive around the country, too. But as they got farther and farther away from Auckland, he finally had to ask what they were doing, and Papyrus had been quite cryptic in his answer.
“Relax, Sans, we’re almost there,” Papyrus said. He flipped on his right turn signal and turned onto a small road with a large sign next to it.
It was nighttime, and it was pretty dark outside, but the sign was lit up brightly. “The national park?” Sans said, surprised. “The heck are we doin’ out here this late?”
“You’ll see.”
The car reached a small, empty parking lot. Papyrus chose a space, turned off the car, and got out. “Come on, now. I think you’ll like this.”
“Like what?”
“You really haven’t noticed?” Papyrus walked back to the trunk of the car and paused, his expression amused.
“Uh… no.”
“Well, brother, I suggest you take a good look at the sky.”
Sans turned his gaze upward, and his eye sockets widened.
Stars, utterly fathomless in number, were scattered across the sky in an endless array of colors—blue, white, red, even a few purple ones. It was as though the heavens had exploded into a trillion little diamonds, so bright that the dark of night barely seemed to exist.
How had Sans missed this driving up? As if he had sensed his brother’s question, Papyrus began to speak.
“Auckland has an awful lot of light pollution. The change from that to this was pretty gradual over the drive, so a lot of people don’t notice. But I heard from someone at work that the sky from the national park at night is just exquisite! And I judge from your expression that you find it so.”
Sans shook his head, his normal permanent grin stretched into a real smile. “No words, bro.”
“Well, here! Why don’t you take a closer look?” Papyrus opened the trunk and carefully lifted out the telescope that Sans owned. “I know you’ve always wanted to.”
Sans let Papyrus set up the telescope. Then, with slightly trembling hands, he took hold of the eyepiece to position it and looked through.
If the sky was beautiful just looking with the naked eye, it was nothing compared to what it looked like up close.
Magnified a hundred times, there was a little more space in between the stars than before, but now Sans could see just which way every one of them twinkled. Pulling back the magnification a bit, he started to pick out constellations—Orion and Crux, specifically—and—no. That couldn’t be the star Betelgeuse, could it? It was! And there was the Coal Sack nebula, a star nursery where stars formed from clouds of glowing gas and dust, and the Jewel Box, a distinct colorful cluster of stars, about fifty of them… And the Centaurus constellation, with its two bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri!
Sans could have cried. In the Underground, he’d always dreamed of seeing these stars, but no one had ever known aside from Papyrus, mostly because Sans had thought he’d never live to fulfill that dream. But here he was, standing on the surface under the heavens, and it was as if the stars only shined for him and his brother at that moment.
He actually had to take a moment to compose himself. “Thanks, Papyrus,” he finally managed.
As if he didn’t want to disturb the peace, Papyrus only nodded.
They spent a long while taking turns gazing at the stars, and when they finally went home, Papyrus made sure to keep the top of the convertible down the whole time so his brother could keep watching them.
It was saddening to see the stars slowly disappear as they got back to the city, but for once, Sans didn’t let it get him down.
After all, they were always there whether he could see them or not, and he was determined he’d live to see them again many, many times.