"The struggles we endure today will be the 'good old days' we laugh about tomorrow."

- Aaron Lauritsen, "100 Days Drive: the Great North American Road Trip".

9.30 am, 10th of March, 2541. NovLondon.

She was engulfed in the warmth of a hug.

It wasn't that she wasn't used to receiving such forms of affection; it was after that spacewalk, hugs hit differently.

"C-Cassitude, I know it's been long, but you're hugging me too tight right now-" she could only breathe.

No answer.

"Cassitude?"

"Ye-yes, I was just thinking about something, I'm gonna let you go, sorry for being so long," Cassitude said with a laugh and let go of her, her eyes inattentively scrutinizing her co-worker while remaining standing. There was no sunlight at the 66th floor, just the Artisun, much to her pleasure. There was a lot of Artisun at the upper floors.

"All good," Talissa only gave a tight-lipped smile and entered the office.

"So, how's life?"

"Nothing much, you know that. A spacelaunch and an hour of sleep," Talissa said yawning when they were seated in their cubicles. Each cubicle had a large two-sided monitor connected to their Mindphones, enlarging at will, and several tubes from each of the monitors led to the half-created body of a female robot, which was covered in blankets. This "project" was named 24-CC, and everyone in the office had been working on it for a bit more than a week. They had a month to go.

"Well, a spacelaunch must be quite exciting, right? Isn't it?" Cassitude put forward; however, her words excited no response from the young woman. Talissa lay down on her elbows, eyes fixated on a non-existent point in space. A few black sleep tablets were taken out and dumped on the table.

An hour passed in work, with Talissa trying to make at least some progress with her project, and the other girls – her co-workers – working away using the ultra-extra-mega equipment they had been dealing with: computers. Yes, computers indeed. LowMinds just didn't have money to buy thousands of people a self-programming "mood" robot which basically read the client's bodily and emotional language and made decisions based on that. But, computers, with all their qualities of being easily rolled into a taco, and abilities to carry sound and different tactile sensations out of the screen just didn't help a lot. It was merely a computer, and a robot would have been much easier to work with. However, they weren't ones to be pitied. Their project was coming along well. Perhaps, it would be the best one they had ever worked on. Talissa smiled. It had an Irish accent!

But she remembered him. Her excitement vanished. She had almost fainted, almost had to be sent off to the Mendson hospital, probably. How had he stopped her from falling? Who was he? However, the most unsettling fact was the handwritten letter tucked away in her pocket. Her fingers trembled a bit as she drummed them on the pads of the ultra 4D touch sensor computer. He had saved her from her fall. Perhaps it was chance, but something about his demeanor provoked her to believe otherwise. Perhaps something more sinister was going on. Why was she called? Of all astronauts? Why was she offered the mysterious letter, and why had she suddenly mysteriously fallen and helped by this person on a random Friday? She was sure she was overthinking. The heat had gotten to her.

But her heart raced.

"Talissa? Are you troubled by something?" Someone called out of the blue.

"No, I'm not. All's fine."

"Has something happened this morning? I wish I could help," Cassitude kindly asked.

"No, you can do nothing! It's not your problem!" Talissa tried to shut off her thoughts and worries. But then she realized the tone in which she had replied.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off on you like that," she quickly apologized, hoping she hadn't taken it too far. She had to keep herself together, for the Minds' sake.

Half a minute was spent in a bemused silence.

"You say the mission only lasted six days, as you're back here with us?" Cassitude asked another question which sounded more like a statement of full certainty.

The inquiry was simple, yet something in it convinced Talissa of an underlying interest in her response.

"Yes, it did."

"When did they call you off, if that isn't clandestine?"

"About yesterday, 3 o'clock, I guess-"

"And where were you, exactly? Were you by the Moon, or further?-"

"We were by the Moon, but we didn't go anywhere important, though," Talissa replied. "A pity, honestly."

It was.

"Oh," Cassitude mumbled, sliding further in her chair and wistfully gazing at the desolate black streets below. "I see." It seemed she was in avid consideration. After a pause, she continued:

"But you know the latest news on Intchain, do you? Haven't you heard about what they said a few days ago?"

"No, I haven't. Something wrong?"

Talissa didn't check the news much. Although she had that day, she didn't find anything amazing nevertheless.

"Burkes said the MHA's planning a long-range research mission, they plan to explore some white body found in outer space," Cassitude informed. "It seems to be coming toward us. And that the space mission has to start urgently."

"Wow, I've never heard of anything like that in a long time," Talissa remarked, with mild surprise but also misfaith in her voice. "But I'm not sure if Chain's reliable anymore."

IntChain was an equivalent of the 21st century's NY Times. But international.

"Mendson's Polsakov also said that the news may not be talk altogether. Perhaps it's just rumours, but that PI rep had stopped some big things happening back in the day," Cassitude added.

"Stoll hasn't commented on the issue, but that just gives way more evidence to suppose that something's happening. Who knows, maybe this year'll be the new age, or something," one of her co-workers, Esra, butted in.

Mendson, Mendson organization, Stoll. The questions were rolling out by themselves.

"So you were six days by the Moon, not even out of orbit, while the masses were all informed of a lengthy long-range mission with a possible objective of reaching a grand chivalrous goal humanity had always longed for?" Cassitude asked. A silence elapsed, while Talissa stared mindlessly at the former speaker, the latter calmly waiting for an answer. Patience was the very core of Cassitude, although with simple matters even a second of uncertainty could provoke her worry.

"Well, guess so," she started slowly, not taking her eyes off of Cassitude as if trying to understand the reason behind her curiosity. "I mean, we were on the Moon, too, but we basically were in open space most of the time, and I thought that we were going to be there during a week or two. Strangely enough, neither did the journey last that much, nor did I see any news... -"

"So nothing happened at the walk?" Cassitude questioned. "We shouldn't be worried, right?"

Right?