You approach the children's figurines once again.

You approach the children's figurines once again.

Is this the doctor's room?

The posters on the wall, the quilt, the faint smell of neroli body lotion... it doesn't feel like it belongs the man downstairs.

This is an adolescent girl's room.

It's Karolina's.

Where is she?

Elsewhere.

Trail a finger through the dust on the shelf.

It coats the tip of your finger, thick and soft and grey-beige.

A daughter, maybe.

Dr. Hugo hasn't touched a thing in here. It's like a shrine.

He can sit at his desk and pretend there's someone upstairs.

Look at the cosmonaut figurines again.

The faces of the tiny spacemen are obscured by their tiny helmets.

Remind me, what went wrong with space program?

Project AUTONOMÍA was Sweet Nestor's idée fixe, meant to establish Portofiro as a spacefaring nation. The mission was first announced in 75, and its inaugural launch was set for 77.

Nestor, the old dictator...

Portofiro's supreme leader for the better part of the century. He seized power in 28. Project AUTONOMÍA would've granted him a few more years, but...

The rocket never reached orbit. It disintegrated minutes after the launch. The disaster was broadcast in real time all across the Developed World.

We remember hazy footage of a bright flame on a small television screen...

Mission status: boom-boom.

The disaster led to Sweet Nestor being exiled in 80 -- the third and final time. He left, in his wake, decades of stabilisation loans yet to be repaid.

A national tragedy for Portofiro; an excellent quarter for EMTERR.

Mission status: failed.

It didn't go well, did it?

When were these toys made?

There's no date that you can see.

Look at the cosmonauts' expressions: pride, determination, joy. These aren't commemorative; they predate the disaster.

Safe to assume these were manufactured in the months leading up to the disaster.

Karolina would've been a child, then.

At seven or eight, the memory would've impressed itself deep within the frontal cortex -- hers and those of millions of other children watching across the Developed World.

Study the spacemen.

Oranged-suited, plastic men, cherubic faces squeezed into little helmets. Two sit inside the rocket, one is planting the Portofiran flag on a pretend-lunar surface.

What about the one from Karolina's dream?

You stare at the vacant spot, next to the rocket. The figurine is missing from the set.

A tuk-tuk pulls up on the dock. A young woman peers through her window. Two men step out, and walk towards the houseboat. Something is wrong.

You imagine Karolina's fingers wrapping around the small toy -- a comfort she's reached for since she was small.

It was a crew of four. Shouldn't there be another figurine?

Yes. One of the figurines appears to be missing from the set.

Maybe Karolina took it with her when she moved out? A little souvenir, keeping her closer to home.

There's an empty spot, next to the rocket.

It was a crew of four. Where's the last figurine?

You stare at a vacant spot, next to the badly-painted rocket. One of the figurines must be missing from the set.

Shouldn't there be another one?

Enough of that. (Back.)

Even the smallest movement of your body sends dust motes floating through the room's air.

Examine the figurines more closely.

A miniature rocket, and a group of cosmonauts. Words painted on the side of the launch vessel: 'PROYECTO AUTONOMÍA'.

Portofiro's doomed space program, as you well know.

Portofiro's failed space program. These toys are yet another remnant.

Project AUTONOMÍA was the name of Portofiro's space program. A national disaster.

I feel like I'm intruding. (Leave.)

The childhood tableau, undisturbed, waits for a return.

Alternative wording

Karolina's childhood tableau, undisturbed, waits for her return.

A child's set of toy figurines sits on the shelf, stiff forms painted and posed, carefully arranged to watch down on whoever sleeps in the bed.

The paint is chipped and worn. These figurines have been well-loved, played with often.