I waited patiently for it to pull away, not so much to be within the letter of the regulation as to feel at peace of heart. But worst of all, only a few feet from me lay Pauline. A flock of birds of all sizes appeared from behind the hills and settled half in the trees, half on the shattered remains of the shuttle, and the stars were disappearing and against an impossibly blue sky a pale yellow sun caught to shine merrily. But how would the creator of my little Eden react if he realized I was lying to him? I moved my shoulder and was delighted by his mobility so I said decisively:
“Adam I am now. If all went well and the terraforming went acceptably, we could send a signal to the mothership to stop at our planet on the next pass and dump its multitudes of people who were looking for a new home in place of the destroyed Earth. Even from this distance it seemed immense, as hope should always be.