interplanetary . quest

a hand-pasted scrapbook of every world i've visited

// log entry 47, year 2087, the inside cover of my trapper-keeper

~ astra-92 zone 01 / liftoff

the inner worlds

three little marbles, each on their own translucent square of sky

Mercury

copper marble, hot to the cheek

// dist: 0.39 AU
favorite!

Venus

peach fuzz, wrapped in cloud-ribbon

// dist: 0.72 AU

Earth

home. blue-green-yellow, smells like rain

// dist: 1.00 AU
visited 2086

Mercury smells like burnt copper, but only on Wednesdays. Venus is louder than the documentaries said. Earth, from a porthole, is a single small thumbprint of green-blue light, and i pressed my whole face against the glass.

~ kepler zone 02 / inner worlds

somewhere between mars and jupiter, the sky breaks into crumbs

quest
Ceres Vesta Hygiea Pallas Eros Juno Iris Flora Metis Hebe Astraea Psyche Lutetia Gaspra

the asteroid belt is not a wall. it is a thin sprinkle of crumbs, like the crumbs that fall when you eat toast over the kitchen counter. you can see the sun through the gaps. astra-92 says they are not even close enough to touch each other. they are mostly just sky, with a little rock in it.

~ astra-92 zone 03 / asteroid belt

the outer worlds

five strange neighbours, scattered across the back of the album

Mars

rust dust. left a little rover here.

Jupiter

stripey marble, pink storm spot

whoa, biggest one!

Saturn

four flat gold loops, drawn on graphite

Uranus

cyan-mint, sideways and shy

Neptune

cobalt deep, one cloud streak the whole season

last stop on the line

Out here it gets so quiet you can hear the rocket. Saturn's rings are actually four flat ovals stacked, not one. I taped Saturn down twice because the corner kept lifting. Neptune is mostly bedtime-blue, and you only get one cloud streak per season.

~ astra-92 zone 04 / outer worlds
interplanetary
quest

// transmission received. you are home.

the porch light is on. the kitchen smells like toast. the trapper-keeper goes back on the shelf, between summer-of-asteroids and old-pluto-sketches, and the rocket leans against the wall, a little dented.

~ astra-92, log 47, summer's end

zone 05 / goldback / home