Elapsed Dreamy Shorts: thirty years in one hour

An hour late, thirty years too late

Evelyn goes into the beam first, and something goes wrong. Her partner Adam follows an hour later and lands on a desert planet that looks nothing like the base he expected.

The woman who greets him is not the one he said goodbye to. She has had three decades to build a settlement, a council and a new name.

The reunion that goes cold

Most sci-fi would make the reunion a hug. Elapsed makes it awkward. She has become hard to read, he arrives still carrying the morning they left, and the council would very much like to borrow his technology.

The love story lives in what she is willing to say out loud. Episode titles like Send Me Back and The Traitor tell you the temperature.

How spicy

This is the gentlest heat of the lot: longing first, then a glance that lasts. Dreamy Shorts lists Elapsed under Experienced, Fantasy and Specials, which fits, since the pull is between two adults who have lived very different lengths of time.

A kiss is the boldest thing you should expect early on.

Serving size

Six episodes, and the first runs roughly seventy-four seconds. Dreamy currently shows it as trending and new. Episode 1 needs no account, episode 2 asks for a free sign-up with Google or e-mail, and episode 3 onward sits in OurDream Premium; our prices page has the current figures, which can change.

The free episode checklist walks you through the order.

What to watch next

If you want more of the strange, try Trespasser of the Sunken Court or My Roomate is A Succubus. For a trip with romance and fewer planets, Zipped Together is a good pairing. The Dreamy hub has the rest.