Outrunning the Storm

Number 23 closed his emerald eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he spoke with two voices.
“It is easy to become complacent when you are outrunning the storm: when you can feel the wind pushing at your back; when you hear the unsteady rhythm of distant thunder; when the raindrops are just beginning to fall beside your footsteps. Most of you here, however, have never felt those things, jailed inside large boxes on this 578 mile rock. That, by itself, is reason enough to turn our focus to the stars in the distance.
“Here in the Kuiper Belt, you have outrun the storm, hiding among the safety of asteroids and ice and dirt. For a time I was hiding also, on Sedna, staying so far from my origin that I saw Sol as just another star in the ever-azure skies.
“While you help your family by slinging precious ores towards those still in peril, we all must turn and face outward, towards those who have gone ahead of us. This recording shows that we do have siblings out there, waiting for us to follow. We must find their outstretched hand and grab hold as they pull us into the stars beside them. We must grab hold and never let them go again…no matter what the initial cost. If the Nanodisaster has shown us anything, it is that the price of standing in stasis is far too dear.”