In the near future, humankind finds itself increasingly beleaguered by a whole range of threats including accelerating climate change, burgeoning over-population and brutal power struggles including but not limited to terrorism. The apparent impossibility of sharing Earth's diminishing resources fairly between too many people is ever more daunting. Some seek desperate measures to break out. In 2050, a test flight of a joint European/Russian sponsored prototype faster-than-light starship takes place. The mission is doomed, but the survivors' return to Earth with a view of a wider perspective...