Happy the Dragon and the Shape of Time: Into the Future
In the first part of his journey, Happy discovered the power of gravity to slow time, saw how the universe ages, and watched stars dance around a black hole. But seeing the future was not the same as returning to one’s own past. That lingering question of how to go back set Happy’s heart racing once again.
A proud Happy excitedly shared his findings with Dr Ash.
“Near Earth, the effect is tiny. Near a black hole, it is immense.”
Dr Ash listened carefully, then smiled in a way Happy had never seen before.
“You have made remarkable progress,” he said. “Far beyond what most young dragons your age ever reach.”
Impressed by how deeply Happy now understood time and gravity, Dr Ash decided it was time to introduce him to someone special. A friend of his. A pioneer who built rockets and dreamed of the stars.
A wise dragon with a silver beard. His name was Dragon Musk.
The pioneer in rocket technology was so impressed that he wanted to meet Happy immediately. After days of waiting, Musk landed at Happy’s house, very excited. Happy had dressed in his finest clothes to make a good impression on Musk. He told his inspiration that he had always wanted to travel in time and that he had discovered what he believed was a perfect way to do that.
But Musk thought that his plan was flawed because the nearest black hole, Gaia BH1, was 1,560 light years away, so he gave Happy two options: one, to be encased in a cryogenic chamber, or to go through a wormhole, an anomaly in space that can travel through spacetime.
Happy picked the latter, and Musk was delighted. He told Happy that this was confidential information known only within Dragon X, but he would be happy to share it with such a passionate child.
He told Happy that he and his team had discovered a wormhole about three light years away. As soon as Happy heard this, he became ecstatic. He knew that his idol had a team of scientists and rocket builders at his disposal who could build a rocket capable of travelling at 99% the speed of light, and because of time dilation, it would only take five months and five days compared to the 3.3 years experienced by a Drakonian onlooker from Drakonis.
Happy asked Musk if he could build a rocket like that, and Musk said yes. Soon enough, Fire Ball (The Rocket), was ready.
Happy packed his gaming console, enough food to last a few years, books, favourite shows in a drive, a fridge to keep the food fresh, a telescope to see the stars more closely, and a bed.
Happy climbed into the cockpit of the rocket and fastened himself in. He looked around at the controls, the glowing panels, and the vast darkness waiting beyond the window. This was the moment he had dreamed of since he was a younger child staring at the stars.
The engines hummed. The countdown began.
After five months and five days of travel, the white anomaly filled the view ahead. Happy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let the ship fly into the unknown.
It was five seconds, and when Happy came through, he realised he had been holding his breath. He exhaled and looked out of the window, the black hole in front and the wormhole behind.
Happy took manual control of the ship and steered it towards the black hole. He did not cross the edge. He was careful. He circled the darkness, close enough to feel time thicken, far enough to live. His heart beat slower. His thoughts slowed. The universe rushed ahead without him.
Happy slowly pulled away from the black hole, his heart still racing. He took one last look at the darkness that had bent time itself, then turned the ship toward the glowing portal.
In a flash of stretched light and twisted stars, he burst through the wormhole and emerged on the other side.
The long journey home had begun.
When Happy finally returned, the stars had shifted. Centuries had passed, but everyone remembered him. Musk had told his story before he left and had asked that it be passed down through generations. He had shared it with his family so that when Happy returned, everyone would know who he was, even though his old friends had died.
But dragons were different now. Some lived among the moons. Some wore wings of metal. Some existed only in stories told to children who still looked up at the sky with questions in their eyes.
Happy had travelled into the future.
But the past remained sealed.
That injustice burned.
Speed and gravity could only push time forward. They could never reverse it, unless something moved through spacetime in a completely different way. So a resigned Happy focused on finding a way back to his own time.
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