All comments are invited. I've little beyond this written yet (deciding if I want to write this or start a book first).
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The first sign that Earth was gone was when the mail cast stopped mid-stream. I was sitting in my cabin, watching the cast from Robbie, my step-son, and then nothing. My cabin phone chimed five seconds later. I pressed the answer button.

“Drake here.”

“Mister Drake, this is Fellows in Comms. All feeds from Earth have gone flat, sir.”

“Flat? On all spectra? Laser and radio frequency? All at once?”

“Yes sir”, Fellows was panicking, and I didn't blame him. ”All channels, all feeds, all spectra are down.”

The enormity of this washed over me. We were in the twentieth year of our colonial voyage from Earth. Losing the feeds now meant that Earth stopped... existing over fifteen months ago.