Clay's Ark

Now, she had no idea the trouble she was courting. She probably imagined a romantic interlude. She did not imagine being thrown on the rocky ground and hurt—inevitably hurt.

He ignored the obvious implication, but could not ignore the way she kept reading him. He became irrationally afraid that she was reading his mind, that he would never be able to keep an escape plan from her. He tried to shake off the feeling as he proceeded with the examination. She said nothing more. He got the impression she was sparing him, humoring him.

They were born with the disease, you know.

She or someone else had found and sabotaged his panic button with one of the new permanent glues.

Others, including Clay Dana himself, saw it as a way to the stars. Clay Dana and his supporters demanded the stars

Parapsychological mumbo jumbo, it had been called when Clay Dana presented it. Even when he was able to prove everything he said, even when others were able to duplicate his work and his results, there were outspoken skeptics

Disease-induced mutation. Every child born to them after they get the disease is mutated that way. Jacob is the oldest of eleven

The disease is from the second planet of Proxima Centauri

She nodded. “Remember that ship a few years ago—the Clay’s Ark?”
“The Ark? You mean the starship?”

But before I get into that, I want to be sure you understand that there’s no way to leave here without starting an epidemic.