Ages had passed since any human had seen Earth, but this one place stood out when peering down from the heavens. The shuttle landed in a vast fields of flowers in a clearing beside the majestic mountains.

The pilot and her crewman stepped out and extended their arms. Scanners glowed from their wrists.

“Riggs, we picked up the signal from this clearing. It must be here,” the pilot stressed each syllable.

Jon looked over at her. She had no idea how the sun looked against her normally brown hair. Streaks of auburn glistened. He caught himself before getting too lost. “Yes, ma’am. We will find it. Do you want me to scan over there Captain Wynn?”

“We’re off ship. Call me Mikaela. And yes. I’ll head over here,” Mikaela nodded her head, motioning to the opposite direction. She knew dropping decorum could be revealing, but she felt it was time.

They continued to scan the field. Jon made his way to the edge, but his scanner didn’t pick up anything. He turned when he heard a jubilant yell from behind.

“I think I found it. It’s over here!” Mikaela hollered across the field. She stood among some tulips, a rare find among this rare field of flowers.

Jon made his way though the waist deep field full of mountain jasmine. A heady fragrance filled the air. As he approached, the floral varieties changed. “It’s as if this were once a botanical garden,” he observed as he approached Mikaela. Then he stopped in his tracks. He made out a familiar shape from the tulips surrounding Mikaela. “Don’t move! No danger, but I have to capture this!”

Jon deployed a small drone to the air. It captured images and video of the ground below. He watched from a small monitor on his wrist.

If they weren’t on a scientific mission, he would get lost in the beauty of it all. Mikaela stood at the bottom point of a red heart shaped grove of red variegated tulips. It was amazing to see.

Jon recalled the drone and walked along the edge of the tulips. As he approached Mikaela, he inquired, “What did you find?”

Mikaela bent down and softly rubbed away the dirt and grass covering a marble monument with a metal plate. On it, it said:

Never to be lost. Never to be forgotten. Long after life has passed away, true love will always remain. Love will always bloom.

Mikaela looked up at Jon, a lone tear rolling down her cheek and a trembling smile. Jon looked at her with a different smile. Now, he knew.