NASA astronaut Jake returned home after two years in space, and friends and family gathered to celebrate his homecoming. Champagne in hand, he accepted a sheet of paper shyly offered by his eight-year-old son, Ryan. “I made this for you, Dad.” A simple, precious gift. Jake smiled and lowered his eyes to the drawing—then his expression froze. His heartbeat pounded like an alarm, a cold rush of blood tearing through his nerves. Because the picture in his hands was not a child’s doodle. It was proof—terrifying and undeniable—that the world he had come back to might not be real.
