A quote: “Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” ~~ C. S. Lewis

I’ll start with a story …

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Everything had been packed and was two days ahead. I looked around the space I had as my office these past 40 years, the crowded surfaces now empty. Habit drove me to wipe them down, to check every cabinet, and even to water the plants I know will be dead within a few weeks.

At the beginning, when I awoke to pain and a Noah hovering over me, I knew something was terribly wrong. Ship had traveled too long, too far. Ships, by design, were to scatter into space like dandelion seeds, to new worlds on which all the cryo-lives she carried could thrive.

But something happened, something Ship and her last Noah refuse to divulge.

All I know is that we are alone here. Cut off from all other Ships. Now it was my mission. Bring forth the rest of the lives, to teach, to care for, to make them ready.

This was the last group of many, eager to set out for their new settlement. I wave them on, watching as the wagons pull out, laughter and song reaching back to me.

I embrace Noah, now ancient and bent, at the portal into Ship. He slips back into shadow as I mount my horse.

I hear her voice in my head, “Thank you, Doctor. We will sleep sound.”

The connection is cut and I head out after the wagons. I do not look back.

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Now, it’s your turn.
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.featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license.