EPILOGUE
David Andalon stood on the deck of Estowen, marveling at the speed with which they raced across the ocean. Though a storm raged overhead and the waves reached the deck, Adam’s shield protected the vessel and held all but a fine mist from sprinkling the passengers. The doctor watched as the children worked the vessel like crewmen in the age of sail. Eve held the ship together, ethereal yet sturdy enough to support both people and supplies. She also worked the rigging, turning the sails like a master as her brother filled them with steady winds. In all, the journey should have taken them a month, but they completed the trek in only one week.
“I can’t believe we’re nearly there,” Stephanie Yurik said, joining David on the rails.
“I can’t believe any of this. Did we make the right choice?”
“Of course we did,” she insisted. “Michael’s crazy with power, and I don’t want to be a part of his New World Order.”
“I meant about Brooke.”
“Oh.”
“I love her,” he admitted, “even if I can never forgive her. I wish she would have joined us. Maybe I would’ve gotten over her betrayal in time.”
“She will, Father,” Eve replied. “She’ll come to Andalon, but not as your wife. She’ll move on more easily than you.”
This struck him hard, the harshness of her knowledge. Sometimes he considered telling the children not to reveal facts when it came to his personal life, but somehow this brought him nearer to closure.
“Where do we go?” Stephanie asked. “Do we join the main population or venture out to find stragglers?”
“The children suggested we sail inland but first insist we make a stop along the way,” David replied. “They said it was important to me.”
“And here it is,” Adam called out with a smile.
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As the horizon rushed to meet Estowen, the children slowed their approach into what was once a broad harbor. The skyline, at one time majestic and recognizable, was gone—ground zero to a lethal bombardment.
All that remained was rubble, yet David knew it at once where they were. “Boston,” he whispered. The ship seemed to shimmer as it turned into what once was Boston channel, then turned southwest into the Charles River. He noticed both children watched and waited for his reaction. “Why are we here?” he asked. “There’s nothing here but bad memories.”
“There’s more than you know,” Eve replied. “You left here a broken man, a failure who never understood his accomplishments. Yet, here is the University that shunned you, laughed at your efforts, and poked fun at your achievements.”
“Even your wife doubted your success,” Adam added. “But now it’s crumbled, vaporized and uninhabitable for many years. Yet here you stand, changed by life and stronger for your failures. And we stand with you, the products of your effort, made flesh and ready to heal this land.”
“Each time this place ridiculed and mocked your progress you persevered, doctor. You overcame the limitations of humanity,” Eve added, “by tapping into our potential and ignoring the barriers others found.”
“You never gave up,” her brother insisted, “and created a new race of humanity. The people of this continent fight for food and water, but you offer them a means of true survival.”
“I’ve done nothing,” David insisted.
“In your pack you have the solution to their crises,” Eve added. “You brought enough vials to ensure the birth of many generations to come. While they fight over worldly concerns like skin color and wealth, you offer them life and a better future.”
“Surely they aren’t that petty,” David argued, with tears forming in his eyes.
“Of course they are,” Adam answered. “They’re human.”
“That means they’re doomed if humanity prevails. That’s the part I tried to extract and improve upon,” David argued.
“Know this, Father,” Eve consoled, “you must never remove humanity completely. They will need it when the time comes.”
“But I want to,” David protested. “I hate that part of me, the emotional failure who keeps getting knocked down.”
“That’s not humanity, Father,” Adam said with a smile. “Humanity is when you get back up and try again.”
Estowen made landfall only for a brief time, a few hours to allow David to chisel out a message for those who may find this spot later. Once he returned, the ship set sail. They journeyed northward to a great river that joined a large lake, nearly large enough to be called a sea. From there they ventured southwest.
David Andalon finally had a mission, to discover humanity and improve upon its chances. Michael Esterling and Astia would come and, when it did, these people must be prepared.