Jenni Lear was always a child of the stars.  As a young girl she would often sneak from her 2nd story bedroom window and gaze up and the pin-points of light while her parents believed her sleeping.   Jenni's friendly, outgoing personality would have fit well with the popular crowd but cheer, drill-team and even sports never held much interest for her over studies and academic pursuits.

Her strong, scientific mind turned a childhood infatuation into a lifelong love; garnering her a full scholarship to Princeton followed by a Masters degree at Harvard.  Beginning her doctorate program in Astrophysics, Jenni secured a research assistant position at the Observational Cosmology Laboratory in the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.  To the Virginia girl it seemed like there was nothing to stop her from achieving her dreams.

But by the time she finally went to the doctor the disease had already progressed to stage 4 melenoma.  It had even spread to her lungs.  She'd never paid the spots much attention, never imagined they were anything serious; she'd felt fine.  Like so many others she'd assumed things like this happen to other people, not her.

In the little time she had left, Jenni moved back into her parents' home, wanting to be with them until the end.  But her parents refused to loose their daughter so easily.  Her father's position in the government brought him word of an unconventional project.  Her mother was seated in the waiting room when the receptionist sat down the very next day...

Starfish. The microscopic organisms that cured her cancer, turned her skin green, and gave her the ability to visit the planets of our solar system.  Proxima is the designation for Jenni's colony's speaker, named after Proxima Centauri in the Alpha Centauri system.  She has embraced her second chance, accepted the changes that it has brought, and is committed to using this time to make a difference.