Prologue

In perfect orbit they have circled

As the light of many worlds falls softly on their skin

And days here pass like minutes

One moment of brilliant daylight will shift into the next

A flash of dark behind some distant lost moon

And then it is over like the pause before waking

Sleep is replaced by light and life and hope

It is the light of one faraway sun that has beckoned them to leave

And the hope of home that has lifted them from slumber

The hope that though the dark may come the sun also rises