Mr. Taylor rose to the surface. He bobbed, looking down.

The waves sprayed up and the rain fell down.

The policeman dived again.

Now my body began to shake. It was the cold or the shock or the sobs that rocked through me.

Then the waves broke. Mr. Taylor’s dark hair. His eyes were searching, not below the waves but up now, at me, at the ledge. There was another head and the policeman was holding a frail body.

“Ned!” I screamed.

Mr. Taylor grunted as he pushed Ned up onto the rock. He pulled himself out, grabbed my brother and held Ned’s body up to his ear.

“No, no, no,” Mr. Taylor hissed. He threaded his fingers together and laid them across Ned’s wet chest. The fingers flexed and pushed down as hard as Mum’s percussion.

I was glued to the stone. A statue.

Mr. Taylor grabbed Ned’s nose and brought his lips down to my brother’s. Ned’s chest rose and fell as the policeman blew.

Then he writhed and Mr. Taylor knelt up. Water shot out of Ned’s mouth like a volcano—water and vomit. Mr. Taylor rolled Ned onto his side.

He stared upward and whispered a string of swear words and thanks.

I sprang forward and grabbed Ned. Over his shoulder, with the clouds now parted, I saw Fomalhaut, winking down at me.

“Ned!” I cried.

My brother coughed and whispered, “He’s gone.”

I ignored him and squeezed harder.

—

In “The Tholian Web,” the crew of the Enterprise believe they’ve lost Captain Kirk. They even hold a funeral for him. Spock and Dr. McCoy play a recording that Kirk made in case he ever left them—his final message, asking them to work together, not argue. They go forward without him.

I thought about the day that Ned would leave. The day we knew was coming. Would I be able to go forward without him? Would all boldness leave? What would I be without Ned, without Captain Kirk?

At the end of the episode, they get Kirk back, rescue him from the subspace rift. The captain is disappointed when McCoy claims they hadn’t yet heard his final message but surprised to hear how well he and Spock had worked together.

What would Ned’s final message be? Would he leave one?