5
The journey to Proxima b was as uneventful as any space flight could be. The crew had gone into stasis and then awoke approximately five years later, as the ship approached the exoplanet. Once in orbit, three drones were dispatched to comb the surface of the planet, searching for any sign of Coppélia 1.
After twenty-four hours of crisscrossing the planet from an average height of 1,000 metres, one of the drones relayed a message to the mothership.
“Target identified. Coppélia 1 located at coordinates 14318.56 by 95215.96. Sending image.”
Holly had hoped beyond hope to find Coppélia but had certainly not expected it to happen so soon. She’d expected the search to take days, maybe weeks – and, even then, perhaps to have to return to Earth emptyhanded.
On the bridge of the Sir Isaac, H
