Meg turned off the engine and let her ship drift with the momentum of her last careful maneuvers. There was still the hum of the backup systems and life support, a small but insistent noise she could never escape - it was the background music of living in space, surrounded by metal, plastic and wiring that kept them all alive. Flipping off the lights on her interfaces, Meg stared out at the stars as her ship slowly turned on its lateral axis.

She could never find Earth i. . .