Oh, this was a lovely 'pre-series' peek at Julia's life. Thanks for writing and sharing this one; I truly enjoyed it, pretending for a few minutes that the real Earth 2 writers might have been as creative with backstories.

Poignant is indeed the word for this fic. Interesting to see how Julia's feelings don't all falling in line with her programming, and how she fights that and wants to yield to it at the same time. Well done on the ending, too; a nice sense of completion to this fic.

Great character piece – and a poignant tribute to Volkov, and all the early astronauts/cosmonauts. I thought the bickering children were particularly well done, especially in the context of such a short story, and I could certainly see why Julia dreaded field trips. All the more surprising, then, when she gets a question that challenges her.

Oh and I had to laugh at the little snippet about "that pilot and his girlfriend". :-)