She nodded, bobbing. “It’s like a human play, or novel. Öedipus Rex or King Lear—the children can misunderstand their parents in ways that nobody else can.”

“Good examples,” Dustin said. “Happy endings.”

Chapter 15 - CHANGES

15

CHANGES

Paul and I twice tried to make love during turnaround, but we were too nervous and distracted. Doom-ridden, perhaps.

A couple of hours before we filed into the shuttle, we all together made a long transmission to Earth, explaining everything as well as we could and hoping for the best for all of us. If Spy’s description of the process was accurate, they would get the message less than a year before we arrived.

It might come just after the Others had blown humanity into elementary particles. There was no need to say anything about that.

We weren’t sure exactly where we would arrive. When we went from turnaround to Wolf 25, we were deposited in orbit around the wrong planet, technically, since we’d planned to go to the moon of the gas giant where the Others lived.

So now, we presumably would go wherever in the solar system the Others wanted us to stop. If it was back where the iceberg started, past Mars orbit, we’d have a longish trip back to Earth.

Or maybe Mars, if Earth wasn’t there anymore.

Paul followed the rest of us into the shuttle and helped Snowbird with her harness. Then he floated up the aisle and strapped himself in. He swiveled around partway and looked down at us.

“Does anybody pray?”

After a long silence, Namir whispered, “Shalom.”

“Yeah.” Paul’s finger hovered over a red switch. “Good luck to all of us.”

We were all ready for the transition’s emotional blow, but most of us cried out, anyhow. And then a gasp of relief.

The blue ball of Earth was below us, the Pacific hemisphere. To my left, the Space Elevator, with the Hilton and Little Mars, Little Earth, and several new structures, including three smaller elevators.

I could faintly hear a burst of radio chatter from Paul’s direction.

“One at a time!” he shouted. “This is Paul Collins, pilot of ad Astra. We are safe.” He looked back at us with a grin. “I should have thought up something historic to say.”

“One long trip for a man,” Elza intoned; “one ambiguous stumble for mankind.”

We were quickly surrounded by identical small spaceships that were obviously warcraft. No streamlining, just a jumble of weaponry on top of a drive system, with a little house in between. Probably called a “life-support module,” or something equally homey.

Earth was in a panic because we had inexorably approached, decelerating full blast, without answering any queries or attempting to communicate.

“The explanation is both simple and complicated,” Paul said, echoing what Snowbird had said a couple of days, or six years, ago. “I think it’s reasonable that I start with the highest possible authority.”