2079 a.d. – Autumn

Elaine and Béla were on Béla’s big four-poster bed. It had been almost two years since Béla had announced her intention to return to Earth when the great ship high above them departed.

‘I already miss you,’ Elaine thought sadly to her sister. ‘You will leave a big hole in my life until you return.’

She knew, deep inside, that there was disaster ahead for all of them, but somehow she understood that her sister would find a way to return from her doomed home world. Something had changed on Earth that would make it possible, now, if…

“You must remember to take a Praetor with you,” Elaine insisted. “It’s important, somehow. You will need the knowledge it contains in case something goes wrong and you can’t come back with the ship.”

She knew with certainty the great ship wasn’t coming back from its final voyage, but with the help of a Praetor, her sister could limit the extent of the tragedy.

“There are only four Praetors left,” Béla explained, “one at the university, one on Deimos and two in the great ship; one with father and one spare. If I take the spare to Earth and something happens to one of the others, the group without the Praetor will be crippled.”

‘You must promise me that you’ll take a Praetor!’ Elaine insisted in her mind. ‘I’ll know if you’re lying! Your life depends on doing this!’

Béla felt saddened by her sister’s madness. No one could see the future and know with that kind of certainty what was going to happen. Elaine watched Béla reject her demand with a terrible feeling of grief and fled her sister’s bedchamber.

Without bothering to dress, she fled to the goddess’ temple and ran inside. She pounded her fists against the marble walls of the temple she would inherit when her sister departed.

‘I don’t want this!’ Elaine screamed to the universe, sobbing hysterically. ‘I hate this! Take it all back!’

‘What is it, Child?’ Elaine felt her father’s gentle, but powerful mind caress hers from the great ship a hundred miles above her.

‘Father!’ Elaine cried out. ‘You’re all going to die and I can’t stop it! Béla can save you and she won’t do it!’

She suddenly got an idea. ‘I have to go with you! I can prevent this by staying with her and taking the Praetor, myself!’

‘No, Child,’ Sibilius told her gently. ‘You are being groomed to stay behind and lead New Eden into the new age; to prepare them for our final return from Earth and Deimos with the remainder of our people. We each have our tasks to perform. You must perform yours.’

“No!” Elaine screamed to the solid marble walls around her. “Don’t you see, you aren’t coming back!”

She collapsed against the wall, sobbing.

High above, Sibilius looked at his Praetor, an unformed question in his mind.

‘What can you do?’

Sibilius knew the Praetor understood the question; they were constantly mind-linked. He felt the Praetor reach down and put his tortured daughter to sleep, not too surprised by the ability of the Praetor to affect someone at such a distance. Then, claiming it had routine maintenance to perform, it gently withdrew from his mind.

The Backup Project was almost complete. The Praetor had initiated the project on its own, using the Regent’s authority. Soon, all the data stored in the central core of the ship would be duplicated in the central core of the skinless ship that made up Northern Depot. In constant contact with the Praetor inside Deimos Station, it instructed that Praetor to duplicate its data entries into both central cores until further notice.

The Praetor melded with the sleeping mind of the Seeker once again, checking her predictions for the future.