The missive had come the same afternoon Molly had left for OED V. In fact, Erin had just gotten back home from the shuttle port when the terminal in her small study chirped.

When she opened the message, Hazen didn’t believe what her eyes were showing her. For a moment she even thought that it had been another one of her sister’s tricks to get her to live closer to her, but after a few reads she determined that was not the case.

Erin recalled overhearing Molly and their uncle Lucas talking about changes in OED’s government, she had even seen it mentioned on the news, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it. She never expected, however, to personally know the new Governor, or even to be personally summoned to take back her old job.

Hazen sighed, looking around at her apartment, and finally out of the window into the peaceful waters of the Seine. She loved the place. She had loved it from the first time she had visited Paris and had set her eyes on the historical buildings downtown. Refusing to take any credits from her family’s company, Erin resigned to the idea of slowly saving up so that maybe one day she could get a flat in downtown Paris, with a view of the river. But then Molly had thwarted her plans by buying her favorite one and giving it to her as a birthday gift.

Leaving for OED V meant leaving the apartment, and all the work she had put on it, behind. Not that she was going to get rid of it, but just that it saddened her slightly to move out of it for an indefinite amount of time. And yet… the proposal was incredibly enticing. Not to mention, Gavin’s plans to return to a full time job with Holloway Heavy made the decision even easier to make.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door closing took Erin away from her reverie. Right on time, Gavin was home. Meeting him as he was walking in, Erin hugged him tightly. It seemed that they would be both returning to OED V.

Erin Hazen-Cooper, Director of Terraforming