To Be Taught, If Fortunate

Imagine a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves.At the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. They can produce antifreeze in sub-zero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to explore neighbouring exoplanets long suspected to harbour life.Adriane is one such explorer. On a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds fifteen light years from Earth, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds, and wake up each time with different features. But as they shift through both form and time, life back on earth is also transformed. Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the story of the wonders and dangers of her mission, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening.