23
Raef’s death hit Karen hard. Reports said that he had suddenly veered off course and his shuttle nosedived at high velocity into the surface of the Moon. The wreckage hadn’t been found yet, but it would only be a matter of time. NY2 City had sent out a search and rescue team but everybody involved knew that it was really a ‘locate and retrieve the body’ team. Karen hated that their last moments together had been fraught with tension and mistrust. Death was no respecter of feelings and had stolen him from her whilst neither particularly liked the other. But they did love each other.
Rumours abounded that he was in financial trouble and had committed suicide, adding to Karen’s sense of guilt, for it was she who had forced him to approach his peers with a begging bowl, asking for funding
