The 1002014

[first lines]

Clarke:
[narrating] I felt the sun on my face. I see trees all around me, scented wildflowers on a breeze. It's so beautiful. In this moment I'm not stranded in space. It's been 97 years since a nuclear apocalypse killed everyone on earth, leaving the planet simmering in radiation. Fortunately there were survivors. Twelve nations had operational space stations at the time of the bombs. There is now only the ark, one station forged from the many. We're told the earth needs another hundred years to become survivable again. Four more space-locked generations and man can go back to the ground. The ground, that's the dream. This is reality. [her prison door crashes open] Reality sucks.