“The cities are beautiful.”
“Yes, Amy, they are. Earth and humanity may return to its previous glory, for a time.”
We fly to a dried lakebed, dust spinning in the wind. “Where’s this?”
“Yellow Stone.”
“What happened?”
“The portals were overused. Humans and their kindred species altered the climate to meet their needs with unintended consequences. The lake simply receded. You can’t have both. Magic exists either through technology or nature. They aren’t compatible.”
“What can I do about this?”
“The Raven is receiving data as we speak. You can use it as you like. I must go now. We’ll talk again soon.” She recedes into the emptiness. The beautiful, daunting images vanish.
I call, “Fromer are you still there?”
There’s no answer. I feel completely alone. I return to the pilot’s seat of the Raven and return to the Institute laboratory, where Eliza’s waiting for me.
“Did you have a fun day mommy?”
“I saw your grandma. She’s happy and wants to meet you someday.”
Eliza smiles and grabs my hand.
I consider our life here, now. It’s peaceful and exciting. I think of our future and Eliza’s after I’m gone. The burden of the gardens is still there, belonging to my family, but now has shifted to a lake of many worlds and possibilities. If I allow the future to happen as my mother showed it, then I would find myself betraying all that my family has worked for since the fall of the ancient ones — those people who have finally returned. Still, I wonder what the future might look like without the Institute. My mother failed to show me that vision. I can only assume that our fate would be better.
I’m resting in bed staring at the beams on the ceiling. Theo kisses me on the cheek. “What’s bothering you?”
“Do we really need the Institute?”
“They’re teaching the kids and providing us with medicine. I like the toys too.”
“But we used to get by just fine with our knowledge of the land. The gardens always provided. We had trade. I’m not so sure they’re really worth having here. Do they have our interests in mind?”
“Even if we didn’t want them, how do you propose that we get rid of them? I’m thinking they be here to stay.”
“I don’t know yet. And I wonder how our formerly exiled friends feel about this.”
Theo rolls onto his stomach. “We can always ask them.”
We convene the exiles the next morning in my house. I tell them about my vision of the future — the rise of humanity, renewed technology, and the loss of nature.
Grey sips his tea thoughtfully. “Did your mom indicate how far in the future this was?”
“Does it matter?” Bets is angry. “Do we want them coming here, building more and more? They’ll impose their beliefs on us, take away what we’ve built for ourselves. We’ve survived for centuries without them. And your mom didn’t tell us what things would be like without the Institute. I’d prefer to have a future we can control and shape in our own way — not the Institute’s.”
“They exiled us for goodness sake.” Minns adds. “We owe them no allegiance.”
“True, but we’ve already begun to adopt their way of life. Look at me and the Raven. The kids are learning so much about the world and space. Many are already talking about joining the Institute when they grow up.” I’m conflicted.
“Doesn’t that prove your point?” Bets sips some tea. “We don’t even know much about our own world and the children want to leave. The Institute will poison us.”
Etch hums. “Amy, do you have a way to shield earth from the outside?”
“My mother and Fromer suggested it. The answer lies in the Raven. I plan to explore today.”
“I have any real sympathy for you all. I think technology is always preferable to ignorance. However, Amy, would you like some company? I’m curious about the solution.” Gorian asks.
“Sure. Theo and Grey can care for Eliza and Ferris while we’re away. I’m certain Magarat will be happy to assist.”
Gorian and I enter the Raven and ask for the data. The ship provides us with a set of coordinates. Gorian squints. “This would have been a city called Frankfurt, a continent away from here. I suspect your mother or Fromer wanted you to visit there. It is a very specific location at the meter-scale, so we won’t be lost.”
“Let’s saddle up.” I lift us up into the wide sky. The ship skims across the magnificent continent Gorian calls North America and then skips across a wide ocean. We hover over a vast ruined city like all the rest. We drop the Raven into a wide paved area with a concrete building in the center.
“Shall we take a walk?” Gorian’s already strolling out the hatch.
Like most of the ruined places, only birds, rats, and insects are present to watch us. The closest human village is at least a hundred kilometers east. The building has a large door with symbols I’ve never seen before. Gorian pulls out a plasma rifle and fires, the door evaporating before us. “After you. Pregnant women first.”
The interior of the building is filled with huge stacks of metallic towers and hundreds of glass rooms with tables and fixtures I don’t recognize. “What was this place?”
Gorian produces her tablet. “The records are murky at best. I think this was a large research laboratory. The language is a mixture of German, Russian, and English. We speak primarily English now. I’ll see whether I can translate some of it.” She fiddles with her computer. “Ah, according to the coordinates, I think we want to go down to the next level. They stored samples down there.”
We’re underground now and enter a large hallway lined with metal doors. Gorian stops and reads the translations. “No shit. Really?”
“What?”
“This is it. They really kept some.”
“Of what?”
“The agent that crashed human society on earth. It was bacteria — tiny organisms that live everywhere. These just had a taste for human-made materials. ”
“Plastic.”
“Yeah. I can’t believe it was a bioweapon — they scare me worse than anything else. We’ve got to get out of here. We’re in danger of picking these things up and of contaminating everything — starting the whole damn thing over again. And it could get out into space. Living organisms are notoriously difficult to contain once they escape.”
“Wait, I want some.”
Gorian stares at me. “Are you kidding or simply stupid?”
“This is the bargaining chip. We hold this in front of the Institute, the whole of space. If they don’t meet our demands, we release it. We have nothing to lose.”
“Have you lost your mind? We have something to lose — our ships, our transmitters, and our computers.” She lifts up her tablet. “Are you willing to give all that up? The Raven? Etch’s vessel? The ability to travel beyond earth? What about medical technology? The Institute doctors can extend your life and keep Eliza and your baby from ever getting sick. For mars sake, you’d likely be dead or at least legless if it wasn’t for our evil technology.”
“Gorian, I lived a peaceful, healthful life before all of you came around. We were able to make a good living from the earth. With Thresh gone and the fog banished, we can return to that. With the lake, I can explore other worlds and communicate with others like me. Like Flip, there has to be others here on earth. We can spread this knowledge to others of our kind. The technology — it can come gradually and through our own design and progress.”