Synopsis

The expedition leader addressed the assembled crew, his gaze sweeping over their faces – a mixture of weariness and apprehension. He spoke of Earth, not with longing, but with a quiet conviction that bordered on despair. He argued that the world they had left behind was no longer a haven, that the struggles and failings of humanity had irrevocably poisoned its promise. Returning, he suggested, would be not a homecoming, but a descent into a familiar ruin. His words hung in the recycled air, heav