Away from it all

The champagne was all frozen so here we are, sucking Malibu ice cubes, celebrating being the first people to reach Jupiter.  

So many moons.  

Freezing cold.

“Away from it all”.  

After that epic Tory disaster back in 2023, I can’t believe that they are still in power, now in 2045.  I thought we might not have the internet up here but you can’t get away from it - more government mess ups at every turn (we call them anticyclonic storms up here).  I should have left my phone at home.  

But the Malibu numbs everything.  Suddenly I am a leopard, top of the food chain, no one can stand against me and my 80 moons.  I made it here!  I gaze at the beautiful whales making their way through the icy clouds.

My colleagues deny the existence of the whales, they say Malibu goes to your head more quickly on Jupiter.  Waking with a leopard of a hangover and frozen feet, we start our return to Earth.

When people ask me what Jupiter is like, I will think of that feeling of power, those beautiful creatures and then I will answer “pretty cold”.  They don’t need to know that there is life beyond our planet.  And they don’t need to know how much Malibu was consumed the night we partied under the moonlit sky of Jupiter.