18) A Box from Hercules [conceptual story piece #6]

On a warm (for Ithaca!) afternoon in mid-December 2032, two teenagers—Homer Norman and Nausicaa (‘Now Seeker’) Pantara are examining the contents of a mysterious box Homer just received as a 16th birthday gift from his namesake, his mom’s uncle, Homer Willcott. Uncle Homer vanished in the spring of 2017, months before Homer was born; until now, they’ve never been in contact. The box contains two used books, a sheaf of papers, and a letter from Uncle Homer. Astonishingly, the return address indicates Uncle Homer sent the package from a planet somewhere in the vicinity of M13, the ‘Great Globular Cluster’ in the Hercules constellation, 25,000 light-years from Earth!

Homer and Now are trying to decipher some faint, hastily scrawled, tiny notes on the back of the letter, hoping they’ll offer clues to Uncle Homer’s whereabouts, why he sent the package, and what it may portend for the future.