Welcome, listeners. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Kai. For those of you who are returning,

Hello. Turn up your volume, open your mind, and hear Gap Year, written by Justina Robson,

voiced by Mora Quirk, a maiden partnership with X-Prize.

At 458 AM on June 28, 2020, the passengers on board A&A flight 008, en route from Tokyo to San Francisco,

are cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet, approximately 1500 nautical miles off the west coast

of the United States. A small bump, otherwise noted as a barely perceptible bout of turbulence,

passes flight 008 through a temporary wrinkle in the local region of space time.

What these passengers will soon find out, as they descend into SFO, is that the wrinkle has

transported them 20 years into the future, and the year is now 2040. This is the story of the

passenger in seat 28K. I woke up feeling weird. The alert chime thing was beeping. I tightened my lap belt,

looked out the window at the clouds, so white against the morning blue like piled sugar.

We were skimming them, the wings flickering through the cotton candy as we turned.

I was starving. Three glasses of wine had made sure I didn't wake up for breakfast.

It had felt so luxurious to fly and fly, drinking wine, eating dinner, watching movies,

and at the other end, everything waiting for me was making me nervous, so I was putting it off as

hard as possible. The flight attendant was preparing for landing, checking belts, lights. I wanted

to ask her for water, but I'd have to wait. She looked strange as she passed. Her smile nervous,

something ashen about her, like she was shocked.

We are beginning our final descent. Please return to your seats and make sure your

bags are safely stowed. The message ran away with itself stumbling.

And sure all phones, tablets and laptops have switched off. When we have landed,

please remain seated with belts on until the captain turns off the sign.

...