In training, they went over the probability of us finding intelligent life in Sol's neighboring systems. It was as close to zero as a number can get without being utterly zilch, but it was still a high enough number that a few Earth governments joined forces to make this mission happen. That tiny number used to fill me with this vibrating eagerness, an aching hope, the need to see and understand and know what lay so far beyond us. Now, that number is the reason I’m going to die out here. Alone.
