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Paul Munro has been disconnected from the World Ear in readiness for a mission that will last a lifetime. Sent to man a tiny station built at enormous effort and expense on a desolate moon in the outer reaches of our solar system, he will never be able to return. Gravity is one-tenth that of Earth and his flesh has wasted, his bones enbrittled without the strength of calcium. ''If he stood on the Earth now... his skeleton would splinter under his weight''. It took eight years to get there and the rest of his life stretches before him fearfully.
Because, without the World Ear, the WE, Paul is afraid and lonely. He has never spoken, but now he must. He has never needed to rely on his own interpretations and internal truths, but now he must. Too far from Earth and too in need of protection to connect to the networkthe station is cut off, and Paul has only his three fellow crew members with whom to interact. It's confusing. It's separate. It's not right.
But Lewis and Van and May don't see things in quite the same light. They think the WE spells the end of individuality and that collective is destroying the very essence of what it is to be human. They see Earth as rogue. For Paul, it's the crew that's rogue, and he sets about proving it...