horrible choice. We could have the pill and have our children, but we’d have to leave. We were banished.”
“ From the planet?” Alicia said.
“ Yes, from the planet.”
“ How’d they do that?” Alicia said.
“ They built a starship. It took time, years. And in the meantime we lived in a special place, a city just for us, but it was really a concentration camp. Not like the ones in Germany during your World War II. It was what you would call a gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless. We were walled in, kept out of sight till the starship was finished, then we were sent away, to start over, to find a new world to live on.”
“ How long have you been traveling around in your spaceship?” Alicia said. “And how fast does it go?”
“ We can do light years in days and we’ve been living aboard for very long time. It seems there’s always a reason why we can’t settle when we find a star system like this.”
“ And why can’t you settle here?” Amy said.
“ You saw how people reacted to Dr. Eisenhower. Imagine if we moved in among you, never growing old. We would ruin your world and that’s forbidden. Besides, we’re not allowed to interfere, sort of like that Prime Directive from your Star Trek movies.
“ But you interfered with the fog and the noise thing, that engine sound, whatever it was,” Izzy said.
“ That was against all kinds of rules, but I wanted you to live and I wanted those bad people dealt with. We could never do it, not allowed, but I cheated a little and helped you. Now can we go?”
“ Not just yet,” Lila said. “When we leave here, where are we going, exactly?”
“ We’re hoping we can find a planet where the people have evolved enough to welcome us.”
“ That doesn’t sound likely,” Lila said. “Your own people weren’t evolved enough.”
“ You’re probably right,” Marlan said, “but there’s always the chance we can find an uninhabited planet that can sustain life. One with oceans, fish, animals, but no humans. But, you know, every island on earth that has fresh water, has people on it. That seems to be the way it is with planets like this.”
“ But you’re going to keep looking?” Amy said.
“ Yes, we are.”
“ How many people on your little spaceship?” Lila said.
“ We left with just over ten thousand, we’re twice that now.”
“ Wow, not so little.”
“ No,” Marlan said. “Fortunately we can cloak it, so the systems we visit never know we’ve been there.”
“ Any single men up there?” Amy said.
“ Hey, you have me,” Alicia said.
“ Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about Nana and Miss Booth.”
“ I hear sirens,” Lila said.
“ Time to choose,” Marlan said.
“ I’m going,” Alicia said.
“ Me too,” Amy said.
“ Alright then,” Marlan motioned with her hand to Amy and Alicia, “come over here by us.”
The girls obeyed.
Marlan tapped her right ear and said, “Five to beam up.”
