I take a quick swig of air from the tank on my back, then yell "How long until the time bubble is up?"

The warlocks working in the small, perfectly level, valley below don't even look up. Everyone knows that every second we delay in getting the time bubble up is a second closer to Earth's demise…. and Loki's too. Once the time bubble surrounds the planet, we will have time. Lots of time. I rub a hand over my stomach. Our son will grow up in the time bubble, he won't meet his father until they are the same age. Assuming he meets his father at all.

The time bubble is risky. One wrong move and it could destroy the planet before it snaps closed. It could destabilize the Ley line's connection to the planet and leave us without magic. The bubble could be too small, preventing the atmosphere from forming; or too big, throwing off our orbit and putting us out of synch with our orbit.

This must be exact, and exact is the enemy of fast.

In the absence of many of our elders, some are pulling double duty. Thor comes bounding up to me from the valley. He takes a drag from his air tank before pulling his mask off and relaying "Five minutes tops. They are almost done." He takes another deep breath from his tank. "We have already re-run the calculations and removed several steps in the process. There is no way to expedite this further."

I nod while he replaces his air mask. Five minutes. Less than the 45 minutes we started with ten minutes ago, but still five minutes too slow. There is nothing we can do about it at this point. I turn around to look at the enclosed city of New Eden and the submarine in front of it. "Will they survive the bubble formation with the steps you've removed?"

He nods, "That's why it is five minutes. If we didn't have to account for them, we could throw the bubble up now."

"I hope we have everything."

"It is going to be a rough first millennium even if we do. We are as prepared as we can be."

"For the time we had"

He nods, "for the time we had." We turn back to the runic array below us. I can feel the power rising in the air. Thor looks at the hand resting on my belly. "I would feel better if you were in New Eden for this. We don't know how violent the bubble formation will be. Loki would want you protected."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I look down at my belly and nod. It takes a minute for me to get back to New Eden and close the airlock. Scant seconds after the airlock seals, the bubble rises out of the valley and slowly grows to cover the planet. It moves slowly. Too slowly. They only have about 10 minutes once the bubble starts forming to connect it on the other side of the planet and stabilize its height. I unwittingly start calculating the growth rate. It will be close.

I look at the console on the wall and think about sending Loki another message, then decide against it. We have already said our goodbyes. Instead, I stare out the window at this barren world we are making our own. It is beautiful in its austerity.

The ten-minute mark passes. Then another five. Just as I'm about to call Thor for an update, he calls me. "It was touch and go for a moment, but the bubble is stabilized and in the acceptable range to keep us on track."

"How far in the acceptable range?" I ask, ready to run new calculations.

"One centimeter inside the upper bound."

That is incredibly close. I lean on the wall and slide to the floor. "Are we sure?"

"I needed to be sure, so I ran the measurement fourteen times. That is what took so long. One centimeter."

"Exactly?"

"Well, 11.3 millimeters exactly."

My head drops to my knees. That was close. Too close. "But we're good?"

"We're good. Looks like it will take an extra few weeks to get the atmosphere in a steady state. Many of the fledgling forests were damaged."

"Any casualties?"

"Unfortunately. Three from the time bubble team, seven elves, four dwarves, and two sirens. Minor injuries from everyone else."

"Less than anticipated—"

"But more than desired."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks," I can hear the smile in his voice, "will we have enough air given how long it is going to take to get the atmosphere up?"

I re-run the calculations in my head. "No. We won't. I'll have to figure out a way to clean the carbon dioxide scrubbers."

"You take care of in there, I've got out here. If we can survive the next couple of months, we should be okay."

I get up and open the inner airlock. It is strange having oxygen in the air here. New Eden is crowded far over capacity. A diverse group of children run past playing tag, and a group of adults sits on the floor talking. I've never seen so many different people laughing and hanging out together. It is gratifying. The stresses and dangers hanging over all our heads seem to have disappeared from them.

The next several thousand years will be rough as we make the planet livable. The mortals among us will live and die in this time bubble. With so much time stretching before us, we will have to be diligent to make sure we actually build the armada we need to save the first contact team when the bubble breaks. Keeping our eyes on the goal while making the planet livable will be difficult.

I hope we make it in time.