Cassandra is caring for her orchids and thinking about how nice it is to have a break from thinking about the wedding. She admires her greenhouse (her favorite thing about her fiance) and thinks about the security and prestige she looks forward to getting with marriage, but when she gets to the last orchid in her collection, her thoughts turn to the past and she remembers the days when she was totally absorbed in the world of orchids, and the private world she had created with Jen. Her fiance returns home from work. The robotic staff serves them dinner, and Jen tells him about the call she got from a former classmate, inviting her to do a fellowship at a remote planetary botanical sanctuary. Josh reminds her about how much of a relief it had been to her to retire after her tenure was rejected. “I was just so burned out. And ever since quitting, I’ve missed the research. Don’t you think this is such an amazing opportunity for us?” “How long would it be for?” “Transit is 10 years. And the fellowship itself could be anywhere from two to four years, depending on the amount of research I want to do.” “Baby, you know I can’t take 24 years off from work to go look at plants with you. There are sanctuaries on this planet.” “But you don’t understand. There are thousands of species in this sanctuary that have never been studied. I can turn the research from this fellowship into a whole series of books.” “I appreciate that you’ve had a change of heart and want to devote decades to your botanical studies, but I don’t understand how you can act like this doesn’t affect us. What kind of life can we have together now that you want to defer our relationship by 24 years?” “But this is important to me. This is my dream. And you always complain about your job. Besides, you have enough money, and your dad would just rehire you when you came back. It can be our honeymoon.” “If you go, there is no honeymoon. There is no wedding.”


Cassandra brings the orchid Jen gave her to her mother’s house. She got rid of the rest. She cries as she tells her mother about the broken engagement and asks if she’s making a mistake. Her mom gives her words of encouragement and reminds her how focusing on her research helped her get over her last serious boyfriend when he cheated on her during her phd program. Cassandra becomes embarrassed, says goodbye to her mother and leaves. Cassandra thinks admiringly of Jen’s brilliance, her successful career, and her beauty. She imagines her fiance getting with a woman like Jen. Of course, any man would want to be with Jen. She feels anger rise up inside her.


After a long stay in hypersleep you don’t wake up any older, but something shifts inside you. Hypersleep dreams are indefinite and impossible to remember clearly, but they do exist. They are cavernous, ruminative, oozing dreams, incomprehensible in their vastness and slow, processional quality.


Jen confronts Cassandra about the night she got blackout drunk and told Jen she loved her. Cassandra’s voice becomes icy as she says, “I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jen’s face turns red, her composure breaks down and she says, voice hot with anger, “So why do you think I had to steal your boyfriend?” “You had no right,” said Cassandra. “Fuck your rights, just admit for once that it happened and you meant it.” said Jen. She was crying. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Stop bullshitting me for once and admit that you did love me.” “We were friends.” “You know it was more than that.” “We were best friends. We were very close, but nothing happened. “You broke off your marriage to be with me here.” “I did it for my career.”