The new doomsday timetable hit her hard. “And how many escape ships has the Council commissioned for Charon’s lower rungs?”

“So far, only sixteen—just about enough for a single tribe.”

I watched as the sadness in her eyes changed to anger. “And for the Council?”

“They are keeping the number secret, but I sincerely doubt any of the Appointed Ones will be left behind.”

“Sixteen ships… And the lottery determines which tribe will be saved, correct?”

“Or which seven hundred. To the Council the twelve tribes are simply a minority to be managed. Not that it matters. The transports only carry enough supplies to orbit Charon for one solar year. Most of us scientists in purgatory agree, the effects of the Miketz will render the planet uninhabitable. We need a new planet to call home, but none of the other worlds in this star system are capable of sustaining life. And the transports lack the technology to venture beyond the asteroid belt.”

“What about Berudim? The Council believes the third world possesses water.”

“Berudim’s atmosphere is toxic. And the planet is far too close to the sun to inhabit. The Council is offering the people false hope in an attempt to maintain order. Lehanna?”

She was calculating odds. “Our tribe has a one in twelve chance of being chosen. We can increase those odds with a better harvest and by obeying the Council’s new edicts. Avi, you’ve already been forbidden to practice the mystic wisdom. For the sake of our loved ones, I ask you now to end your midnight activities in the caves.”

“It’s not mysticism, Lehanna. Soul searching is a higher form of meditation which taps into the universal consciousness.”

“It is heresy and a violation of Council law. If you are caught, our tribe could be excluded from the lottery.”

“What good is it to be orbiting a dead world? If I succeed in communicating with my soul’s future incarnates, perhaps they can provide me with the knowledge to prevent the Miketz.”

“It’s utter nonsense.”

“Not true! In the past year, I have communicated with an ancient one whose physicality housed my soul long before me. He described Charon as it was a century before the Council divided our people into tribes. He taught me about the upper worlds, a wonderful existence our souls inhabit between incarnations. Time does not exist in these other realms, which makes it possible for me to communicate with a future me.”

“There is none after you, Avi Socha! This planet is doomed. Ours shall be the last generation to inhabit Charon. Now wake up.”

“Hey, pal, wake up.”