It took a long moment for Lili to process what Miranda had just told her, before she finally mustered some kind of response through the muddle of thoughts and emotions that were racing through her brain right then, “Me?” she finally stated breathily, “Someone chose me?” she asked with a bit more than her fair share of shock at the prospect.

“Obviously,” Miranda sniffled through her response.

“How is that obvious, at all, mom? Why would anyone ever pick me for something as important as this?” she then shook her head and quickly added, “Who would pick me?”

Miranda took a breath before deciding to answer the easier of her daughter’s two questions, “The other half of the team picked you,” she swallowed hard, trying not to sound bitter as she offered her answer, though it was difficult.

“And, who is that, exactly?” she asked, despite already knowing the names of a couple of the people who had always been intended to go. She still needed to hear for sure.

“Well,” another slight sniffle, “the two who proposed the choices are Kyle and Ian. Charles and I are just the ones who have to approve of them,” Miranda finished.

“Kyle…and Ian?” Lili returned with a raised brow. She then just shook her head, “Ok, so why would someone as intelligent as Kyle, ever think that I could be the right person to be part of this?”

“You’re not surprised that Ian chose you too, then?” Miranda asked, finally turning slightly back toward her daughter.

Lili just shook her head before speaking again, “Ian’s a completely different story. Kyle’s the genius. And why would a genius think that I was important enough for this? I mean, who else did he include? I really would like to know, now.”

“The three who are already approved to go are Kyle and Ian of course, and your new friend apparently,” Miranda informed as she glanced back toward the door once more.

“My who?” Lili asked, caught once again by that statement.

“You know, the boy who you just had in your cabin after midnight: Jared.”

Lili looked even further shocked by that answer as she looked back at the older woman, “They picked Jared? And all three of them have been approved for sure, already?” she swallowed slightly, that bevy of emotions still swirling around her brain at all of this new information.

“Yeah, well, Kyle argued that Jared is just as intelligent as he is, so, yeah all three of them have been approved.”

“Kyle actually said that he thinks someone else is just as intelligent as him? Is that even possible, in his world?” Lili had to ask, trying to push back her own relatively new knowledge about exactly how much brain power Jared did indeed seem to have.

“Yeah, hence why we had to take his word for it. It had to be the truth, cause why else would Kyle ever say it, otherwise?” Miranda answered, attempting to sound innocent of any reason she, herself, might actually have to believe in the possibility of Jared sharing the same kind of mental facilities that Kyle was also known to have.

Lili spent another few moments in silent contemplation before continuing, “So, I’m the only one who hasn’t been approved by everyone else yet, then?”

“Well, honey there was no way I was just gonna say, sure send her away, she’s only my baby,” Miranda answered, her voice breaking again at the end of the sentence.

Lili looked down quietly before returning, “Well, Charles said that about sending Ian didn’t he?”

Miranda just shook her head, “Lili, Ian’s not even Charles’ real son, and they’re men,” she added, then also threw in, “Besides, Ian’s a soldier, baby. He’s trained for this for his entire life. How could Charles not send him?”

Lili swallowed again before speaking softly, “So, did Charles approve of me going, too?”

“Yeah,” Miranda admitted with another downwards glance, “He seems to think it would make sense, too,” she allowed, her voice breaking once more.

“So, you’re really the only one who didn’t think I should go?”

Miranda shook her head sadly once more, “You don’t get it honey. The real reason they all think you should go is…it’s because of me.”

Lili furrowed her brow as she looked back up at Miranda, “You?” was her only response.

“It’s the same reason you were allowed to come aboard the ship with me, at all. They know that when it’s my own daughter’s life that’s at stake, I would do everything in my power to protect her, and keep her safe,” she then took a deep breath, “Only in this case…” her voice then trailed off as she shook her head once more.

“They’re right though, aren’t they? They’ll all be safer out there, if I’m with them.”

“Like I said, maybe I don’t wanna make the right call, not this time.”

“But, don’t you owe it to them, to make that call. I mean they are risking their lives to save you and all the people up here with you. Doesn’t that earn them the right choice?” Lili whispered, her own voice breaking softly.

Miranda shook her head, astounded at her own daughter’s logic when facing this kind of choice, herself, “But I never thought it would mean sacrificing my little girl.”

Lili offered a tiny smile as she squeezed her mother’s shoulders, “Then don’t let it,” she stated simply, “I mean, that’s what they’re counting on you for, to get us back here safely, aren’t they? It’s what we’re all counting on, our entire race.”

It didn’t take much more than about twenty-four hours for the four of them to begin preparing for the history-making trip that they would all be part of once they reached this new planet’s orbit in less than one week’s time, none of them sure exactly what would truly be waiting for them there at all.

Kyle sighed as he checked his LU, which was short for the small link up computer each crew member carried aboard the ship. Of course, Kyle’s had access to quite a few more functions than most anyone else’s, though right now, he simply needed to do a search for the current passenger locations, as all were recorded each time any had to move through one of the many secured doorways aboard the ship. Upon finding his target, he nodded briefly to his current assistant and finally made his way from the main computer hub of the ship to begin making his own preparations, grudgingly so, as this particular one was.

Several moments later, he entered one of the many common areas of the ship, where he rarely ever was found, himself. This particular area was most often looked upon as a hybrid of the old world’s libraries and internet cafes. After a moment he spied the person he had been looking for and let out a tiresome sigh before forcing his feet to carry him in the direction of the young brunette woman who didn’t look a day over twenty, if that. She was currently studying her own computer screen atop one of the plush couches in a more secluded corner of the large room.

“Hey,” he managed a remotely civil greeting as he reached her.

She scowled up at him out of the corner of her dark eyes despite Kyle’s own attractiveness, which somehow didn’t seem to faze this girl, “What?” was her gruff response to his greeting.

“Wow Serena, such a warm greeting,” he returned, faking his own smile down at the nineteen year old.

“What do you want?” was her own response, in much the same tone as her first question.

“Yeah, why bother with small talk? It seems to be the one thing neither of us is good at, obviously.”

“Then get to the point,” she stated plainly and without any hesitation.

Kyle simply shook his head as he continued, unruffled by her coolness, “You always thought you should have my job, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, either me or some trained monkey. Either would be an improvement.”

“Mmm, can’t imagine why they chose me over you, in the end,” he just had to get that jab in.

Serena’s eyes narrowed at his statement, but only the slightest moment passed before she retaliated, “Cause you were more willing to give head for a job than I was?” she shrugged with feigned innocence behind the bite to her words.

Kyle forced an obvious fake chuckle before returning, “That’s a good one, Serena. You’re such a witty little ray of sunshine, aren’t ya?”

“What the hell do you want, Kyle?” she repeated.

Kyle let out a slight sigh as he moved to lean upon the back of the couch she still sat upon, “Well, you finally get your chance to try and prove you can do my job, after all. No head required,” he just had to add.

Serena was quick to expertly hide what was almost a grin before allowing herself to continue this particular conversation, “What, they finally fire your ass, after all?”

Kyle allowed a smirk before answering, “Actually, they need me to do something more important.”

“More important than running the ship’s entire computer system? What, Miranda finally retiring?”

“No, I’m getting shore leave, now that there finally is a shore out there.”

Serena narrowed her eyes once more before allowing, “You actually managed to find some planet out there, finally?”

“Actually two. But one’s all we need. And I get to be among the lucky few that actually get to go there,” only a slight pause, “But look at it this way, you get a fancy new temp job at my old desk, and you can now start seething over yet another opportunity that I got handed, instead of you,” he allowed another smug smile, “Study up, and meet me when you’re done so I can show you the ropes. Have a nice day,” he finished with another smirk as he headed out of the room once more.

It was late afternoon, now less than six days until their projected arrival at that new planet, when Miranda sat in her office, adjacent to the flight deck and the computer hub, trying to force her way through the endless forms she was expected to plow through previous to the mission.

Her door buzzed to interrupt her work as she sighed and pressed the button to allow entry into her office, assuming it would be Charles pointing her in the direction of yet another batch of electronic paperwork. Instead, she was a bit startled when she looked up to see two other faces.

Her visitors were a couple in their upper thirties who had married shortly into the journey, and then, after having to jump through several hoops, had managed to conceive a son, there on board the ship, three years later.

“Samantha, Colin,” Miranda greeted them with a strained breath as she stiffly gestured for them to take seats across from her.

“There’s no way we can change your mind, is there?” Samantha offered as her greeting, her voice shaking with emotional distress.

“I suppose you mean about Kyle?” Miranda offered in her own quiet voice as she glanced downward.

“You may have picked him because he’s some kind of genius, but he’s still a boy: A sixteen year old boy, Miranda!” Samantha continued to plead with the older woman while her husband remained silent, though held her hand tightly as he sat next to her.

“It wasn’t just my decision, Samantha,” Miranda attempted, her own heart still sick about her impending parting with her own child.

“Please,” Samantha scoffed, “Nothing happens here without you allowing it to happen.”

Miranda just shook her head again, “We’ve all known that Kyle would most likely have to be included when the time came. It hasn’t been a secret,” Miranda returned, though softly.

Finally, Colin spoke up, “Yeah, when the time came. But we didn’t know if the time would ever come. And we sure as hell didn’t think it would come when he’s still this young.”

“No one could have known when it would happen. We all just had to wait until it did. And now it has,” Miranda attempted, finding it quite difficult to try and convince another set of parents to accept having their only child placed in this situation, as well.

“He’s sixteen!” Colin repeated more loudly, “He’s been so wrapped up in being your little pet genius; he hasn’t even started to live yet! And now…” the man simply shook his head rather than finishing the sentence.

“We’re all scared Colin, but try to remember, if things go the way that we hope they do, your son will be a huge part of that. A part of saving every one of us,” Miranda argued, almost seeming to be trying to convince herself even more than the two distraught parents before her.

Samantha just scoffed, “I didn’t fight you tooth and nail so I could finally be allowed to give birth to a martyr. I wanted a son. And then, you ran all your little tests, and took him away from us, and we barely even know him anymore…And now, you just wanna take him away from us again? Why are you doing this to us, Miranda? Haven’t we all suffered enough?” she added with a heavy, tearful breath.

Miranda had to take a moment to keep her own composure right then, before attempting any kind of response, “I’m doing this, to hopefully stop the suffering, for all of us. Please try to understand that I want it to stop, so badly, that I have no choice but to send our best possible hopes of finding a way out of this. And, Kyle is easily, the right choice, as difficult as it was to make, it’s still the right one, which I’m sure you both know too, as hard as it may be to admit that, right now.”

Samantha just shook her head in disbelief as a tear trailed down her cheek. She then rushed to stand, her husband easily following as she headed toward the door before turning back once more, “I just wonder if you’d still think it was the right choice if it was your child getting sent out there,” she added bitingly, turning on her heel and both of them heading back out the door too quickly to see the tears that rose to Miranda’s eyes right then, as well.