19
Karen wasn’t supposed to be at Mission Control that morning. Raef was busy in meetings concerning the colonisation of Mars and, to be completely honest, nowadays he seemed far more interested in colonial matters than seeing out Project Coppélia. Karen thought it strange, considering the effort that he had put into gaining investors for the project and the giant leaps forward in AI and space technology that were a direct result of his visionary thinking. She wondered why he didn’t appear to want to be present when the message of Coppélia’s successful launch and imminent return from Proxima b came through. She realised that ‘imminent’ was perhaps the wrong word, bearing in mind that the journey home would take over twenty-one years, but she knew what she meant.
She didn’t see why the re
