The next morning Levi had sent some sorties out to contact the Moon colony. He had already spoken with Armando Ramirez who had been running the show down there. He had Mr. Ramirez transported to the Atlantis, so arrangements can be made. Ramirez had been checked out by the medical staff and now made his way to the captain's apartment. Levi was a little nervous. There were so many questions, and at the same time, had to remain cautious. He had made an exhaustive search on Ramirez's records. He rose through the ranks, a respected leader, and a notable rebellious record. An interesting man. Well, he thought, we will see if he uses his powers for good or evil. He could see in his mind's eye they were approaching the apartment. "Here we go," he said under his breath.

"Please come in," as security approached the door. Levi opened the door and Ramirez, plus the two people from security entered. "Thanks," he nodded to the security escort. In their cochlear implants, he told them, "wait outside please." They nodded in return and left. After the door closed, they took up station by the door. Levi quickly scanned this man. Not quite as tall as he was. Clean shaven and wore a tunic usually seen on mining colonies; a two-tone green and white. Levi smiled and closed the distance between them and shook his hand. A good firm handshake. All good signs. "Good to meet you at last, Mr. Ramirez." He motioned to the table where a variety of breakfast foods awaited. "Please have a seat. I don't know if you are hungry or not, I just had someone bring me a few things. Help yourself. When you get settled, we can talk."

"Well, I don't know if it is uncivilized here or not, but I can talk and eat at nearly the same time." He went about picking out some food from the table. "Thank you for inviting me to your ship. And thank you for this lavish meal. I'm not sure how long it has been since I have seen fruit!"

"No trouble at all Mr. Ramirez."

"You can call me Armando if you please. I do not stand on formality much anymore."

"I understand. I asked you over to the Atlantis to discuss any assistance you may need and whether you are ready to leave the Moon for greener pastures."

"Is that all you're going to have?" Ramirez looked at his glass of orange juice.

"Yes, it is all I need. I am rather fond of orange juice."

"I heard you were enhanced."

"Yes, I am. It is how I knew you were coming. I can tap into any feed on this ship and elsewhere. The door thing is a little trick I play now and then on my guests. My body gets energy from other sources besides food. I can eat food, but I do not need it in the bulk I did before enhancement."

"How convenient. Now you were mentioning greener pastures?"

"Yes," the captain continued, "we are here on a search and rescue mission. We were lucky to find a suitable place on the first time out. So, we have returned to gather as many people who want to go with us back to Searth."

"Searth? Where is Searth?"

"It is forty-two light years from here. Even at maximum speed, it takes us about five years to get there. It is why it has taken more than eleven years to get back here."

"I see," Armando said. "We didn't think anybody would be coming. There were six mining companies on the dark side of the Moon. Now there are only two."

"Actually, there is only one. Major Rand, from a mining colony on the terminus, intercepted one of our ships the other day. He tried to self-destruct a nuclear weapon to take out one of my ships. I'm not too happy about that."

"I hope everyone is alright."

Levi sized up the man. "Yes, thankfully quicker minds saved the day."

"Good to hear it. I know Major Rand. Things were not going well over at his place. Resources were drying up around his colony and had to look farther, which is more dangerous. We ferried supplies to them for a while, but he became more paranoid and confrontational. Eventually, we had to isolate ourselves from him. There were a couple of skirmishes. He could not afford to lose any more personnel. Our station lost contact altogether about two years ago. I thought he was gone for good until we detected a ship leaving recently. We assumed it was his group."

"The ship just had him and a bunch of dead bodies in it. Which reminds me, how many live bodies do you have at the complex?"

"You might want to scan the major's facility anyway to check if he left anybody behind. We have four hundred and twenty out of an original complement of thirty-two hundred."

"How did you manage so long? Did your hydroponics and recycling hold out?"

"Well, that's the sticky part. We had enough water, but plants were stretched thin since we were no longer getting supplies from Earth. We have been nursing them along and rationing them after the neutron star came through. The first few years were bad. Starvation and people going nuts and starting civil unrest was the norm. As people started dying off on a regular basis, we decided to use them for protein supplementation."

"You mean your group resorted to cannibalization."

"It is an ugly word filled with all kinds of negative things. We stored them outside where they would freeze and stay fresh."

"I can understand how things could get that way. I cannot judge how things might be different."

"Our A.I. kept crunching the numbers, but it always ended up that we would have been goners long ago if we didn't resort to recycling the dead."

"Well, I'm sure terrible decisions had to be made. It is very difficult when you're the leader of a crew, and you have to decide who lives and who dies."

"Yes, it is Captain." He physically shook himself as if to shake the dark thoughts from him.

"Well, it won't be a problem anymore. I wanted to speak to you privately so we can go over what must be done to get you and your people out of harm's way. It is not going to be easy transporting you to a new planet. Unfortunately, at some point on the trip back, we must put you in sleepers. We have the resources to house and feed a million or so people back to Searth. However, once we get to Searth, we may find we are not welcome there anymore. And if it is the case, we will need to leave you there on Searth in the sleepers and come back for you when we really have a new home."

Armando looked confused. "Why would we all not stay on Searth?"

"Well, that is another tale. There is an intelligent society already there on Searth. When we left to come back here, they were deciding whether we could stay or leave. We were on good terms with them when I left, so this may be a moot problem."

Armando pondered, "This might be a hard sell to the crew. They may feel it's an out of the frying pan, into the fire kind of proposition. Also, once in the sleeper, people have no say. You can do what you will with them. Shove them out the airlock if you wanted to. They could not put up a fight. Convenient. Very clean."

"I don't know where that is coming from Mr. Ramirez," Levi tried to remain calm, "but I assure you we would not waste all those resources to put you in sleepers just to chuck you out an airlock. However, you are right. There isn't anything you can do once you are in the sleepers. I have fifteen million people from Earth who have been asleep since we left. They will continue to sleep until we have arrived at our destination. We want to get there as quickly as we can because we don't know how long people can last in one of those things. We had not the time to make long-term tests on them before we had to leave. We are sure of the science. Sonny has helped greatly in this area, and I trust him."

"I have made a promise, Mr. Ramirez, to come back to Earth and save what I can. I have made good on that promise. I have made a promise to those fifteen million people they will see a new world after their long sleep. I extend this promise to you and anyone else who wants to ride along. I make good on my promises Mr. Ramirez."

"Please, Captain, I meant no disrespect or to be ungracious. I am only saying what the regular workers would think of this proposal. I am just saying it may not be so cut and dry on this issue."

"I see," Levi let out a sigh. "I hope you and your crew understands we cannot take any chances. We will not tolerate any civil unrest or mob actions. There will be no violence of any kind. Trust is a two-way street. Until there is earned trust, your movements will be restricted, and there will be a heavy presence of security during your stay. Basically, if you behave yourselves, you will find Atlantis most accommodating."

"Well, Captain, it sounds like a really nice jail. But a jail none the less."

"Armando, I have a responsibility to the species, not just a crew or myself. I take that very seriously. I cannot afford the luxury of making mistakes which can jeopardize this mission. This is my deal with you and your crew. Otherwise, I could be a good soul and drop you off on Earth and let you try to fit in there."

"Thank you, Captain, for being so forthright with me. I see you are a man that means what he says. I will bring your message to the crew and let you know what they want to do. Thank you again for the marvelous meal in my honor. If your security could escort me to the docks, I will be on my way."

"Thank you for meeting with me today. It has been enlightening." Levi shook hands with the man as he left. After the doors closed, he had been unsure before, but now he was really sure, that he was not going to like coming back.

Aboard the Wanderer, things were going about the same. People were glad they were here but wasn't sure they wanted to be popsicles for an undetermined amount of time. Moses had talked to the two Alice minions which were still functional at the undisturbed domes. They were quite helpful with stats and catching up with history. They were not as useful in helping the rescuers understand the people they came to save. Captain Collier set up numerous meetings with heads of state to negotiate a migration to the Wanderer and the Atlantis. Those meetings often degenerated into trying to get assurances Bill could not give. There had been a small percentage of people who approached the landing zones and were taken aboard. These events confounded and confused the captains.

Armando Ramirez and his men ended up taking Captain Levi's offer to shuttle them to Earth. Out of four hundred and twenty, seventy-two decided to stay aboard. The people of Earth which were still alive were a distrustful and paranoid lot. It seemed like a million years ago, but these events reminded him of those frustrating days of Earth gone by, and how they were still bickering. It's like they never stopped! It was sad that even in the face of a post-apocalyptic world, these humans did not budge one bit over their petty behavior.

After two months of this Levi sent a message to all which could hear it on Earth. The Atlantis and the Wanderer were going to be here long enough to help some places which needed infrastructure and machinery and then there would be a last call. These human ships were heading to their destinies and would not be seeing Earth again.

Nine months later, the last call had been given. Atlantis and her crew repaired two compromised domes and replaced many critical structures and machines. With a little luck and no more meteors, they might have a chance for survival. During this time, people would trickle over to the Atlantis as they saw the compassion which had been handed out freely.

Atlantis fired up her engines again and got underway, slowly threading her way out of the solar system. Wanderer brought up the rear. The new passengers were not in their sleepers yet. Let them enjoy the amenities for a couple of years since we have the room, Levi thought. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. Levi was in his virtual construct on the outside of the ship looking back at the Earth. Already a tiny dot, Levi still had feelings for his old home. "Magnify fifty," he said, and the Earth hung large before him. He still felt so sad and disappointed about the outcome of this rescue mission. A knock on his inner door. "Who is it?" He said.

"Who is it, really! How many entities do you think has the capacity to call on you?"

"You know the drill."

"Fine and dandy." The voice sent a fractal encrypted set of equations. Levi knew them all too well.

"Come in Sonny. What's up."

"I just wanted to check in. See if you were alright. You have been distant since we left Earth twenty-four hours ago."

"Sonny, what had been the total population on Earth before we came?"

"Alice put the estimate at eleven point five million."

"Eleven point five million out of ten billion when we left. How many of those left with us?"

"Five hundred and seventy thousand, three hundred and fifty-seven."

"Roughly one in twenty or five percent went with us. That stinks!"

"We could not have taken them all, could we? What would we have done if everybody wanted to go? That would really stink!"

"I suppose you are right."

"I am pretty sure, Levi, five hundred and seventy thousand people are glad you came back. They are grateful."

"I know. It's just that, it came out all wrong."

"Not to those people who are riding along. You are too hard on yourself. You were a victim of too many expectations. And now you are disappointed. You came here and did your best. Now we are back to Searth to see what is required of us there. Perhaps you should talk to Commander Sullivan."

"Alex?"

"Yes, maybe she could give a perspective I cannot."

"Perspective?" Levi became amused.

"Yes, you know, perspective."

"I caught the meaning the first time." A wry smile appeared as things were dawning on Levi. "I was just having a hard time believing you were shoving me onto a girl's shoulder to cry on."

"I understand the human condition quite well. Besides, you do not have to cry on the commander's shoulder. I thought a more empathetic bond would be useful to you right now."

"Thanks for trying to help me, Sonny. It has been so busy; we have only gotten together just a few times in this last year."

"Well, I happen to know she is currently in the park, not far from here. There is time now."

"Now I think of it, a walk in the park may be just the thing to clear the clouds in my head."

"There's a good lad," Sonny clapped him on the back. "Just the tonic you are looking for."

"See ya later Sonny." They both left the construct and Levi headed out the door and to the park. When he arrived at the park, he saw her sitting on the park bench. As he approached, Levi smiled, "Fancy seeing you here."

"Indeed. I got a message from Sonny he had cleared my schedule for the day and I should be on this bench in a few minutes to receive a surprise. I guess you are it." Alex giggled.

Levi cocked his head and smiled. "Why are you laughing?"

"Well, I didn't think I needed a computer dating service, but I must say I am pleased so far!" She rose from the bench and gave him a warm hug.

Levi couldn't believe it! Sonny set this up! "That little rascal, Sonny! I don't like to be handled. However, I don't mind, this time."

Alex defended the machine. "Sonny just knew this is what you needed right now. I guess you had a bad day. Well, let's take a stroll down the path, and you can tell momma all about it." She kissed his forehead, smiled that warm smile he liked most about her and took his hand. As they strolled, he realized Sonny was right. The scent of love could certainly brush out even the most stubborn cobwebs and black clouds. It was certainly clear Alex had given him a new perspective. He became fully relaxed now and without a care in any world.