For decades, He built his machine, hand-milling each rod and cog… It would be his crowning achievement. The end was at hand.
Over the years, bats had taken residence inside the deeper parts of the machine.
Finally, he started the machine, which promptly blew up.
It’s raining bats and cogs!
Computers pre-programmed to slingshot around the Sun to reach relativistic speeds, his journey seems to take only months, while decades elapse on Earth. His destination: the closest Earth-like extra-solar planet. After five subjective months, his ship wakes him.
Destination reached! It looks like…
Earth?
Buggy software leads to pointless round-trip.