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The captain and the rest of her crew had entered their Torpor Pods three months into the journey to Proxima b, after which the ship accelerated rapidly to near light-speed, the pods’ inertia dampers protecting their occupants from the excessive G forces that resulted from such high-velocity travel. They’d spent most of the last five years or so in peaceful cryogenic sleep, safe in the knowledge that the sophont contingent aboard could and would deal with any problems that may arise on the 4.24 light-year journey.
Once the spacecraft had decelerated to a manageable speed, Holly and her crew woke up refreshed to find everything normal and as was to be expected. She had gone into hibernation with Proxima b a daunting four light-years distant, but now the spacecraft was almost at its dest
