A Gentle Clock Means Not but Going Home

With humanity so stretched out time can no longer be universal, but must be reinvented everywhere. A couple on Earth who wish to start a new life on Coulomb must understand that at least three generations will be born en route. Even with hibernation, even with tachynauts, there is simply no way to bridge the vastness of space. We're lucky that we live in a universe where time itself is a bulwark against tyranny and not even a resurrected Xerxes can whip the space-time mane into obedience. To step onto an interstellar ship is to say goodbye forever, to everything you've ever known... And yet we knew that gentle clock meant not but going home.