Boring, old cinema... Deflated party balloons...Life without helium has ground technological advancement to a halt.Aboard the Jules Janssen, 200 cosmonauts mine the exoplanets around Epsilon Eridani--10.5 light years from Earth--for this precious gas. For those aboard, this trip will last 20 years. But they will be gone from home much longer. Some have brought with them family and loved ones. Some have left everything behind.Stowed in their quarters are tokens from Earth; stowed inside each cosmonaut are scars they can't escape.Then, during the routine gravity assist meant to take them home, when the ship accelerates dangerously toward the speed of light, these wounds tear open. Each cosmonaut is forced to reconcile their past with the present as they each blame themselves for the error.One made the equation. One let the heat shields down for too long. One let loose a clowder of cats.Follow six cosmonauts and one AI in this novel-in-stories about the importance of connection. For when all seems lost...Families can still be made.
