"Earth’s oceans are dead. Vast toxic swathes of open water, broken-up only by “reserves” of mutated fish and fetid phytoplankton farms, they serve as a reminder of what we lost. When I say we, I mean those of us too poor or marginal to have found a place on one of hundreds of starward colonies, where exoplanets are scoured of resources to fuel the desires of the richest people ever to have lived. But there is life - I have seen it. Life beyond our fragile frame. I will show you. - Minae Nomura | Notebook xvii"