The commander stood on the bridge gazing out at the inky blackness ahead, his destination nothing more than a speck. Perhaps it’s just a mote of dust in the camera he thought whimsically. Not likely, this mission had been carefully planned and was the most highly funded in the history of the planet. That mote of dust was another star, and about it circled a new world, a world with life, alien life.

The engines, now working hard to slow the ship from just short of light speed relied on physics unheard of just 100 years ago. As the ship slowed it had become easier to pick up the radio signals that were the hallmark of intelligent life. Those signals had stopped abruptly and now with the destination in sight the reasons why would be unveiled.

The planet was surrounded with a cloud of debris, all the signs of an ablation cascade – a satellite network left to die uncared for. The similarities with home were striking. Third rock from the sun, a world with oceans and continents but strangely only one moon.