after the fleet returned from transporting the last of the Exiles. The launch ceremony was lavish. Pundits and politicians hyped the expedition as the opening of a new age of Atlantean exploration—under the strict guidance of the anti-Serpentine laws. The team of scientists would study human life throughout its galaxy, on the worlds within the new sentinel line, finally unraveling the secrets of evolution and the Origin Mystery itself. Many believed that the breakthroughs could yield new clues about how the Serpentine ring accessed the Origin Entity, and how it might be defeated. The team was given the opportunity to conduct research that had been banned, never even talked about for thousands of years. Janus had been right about one thing: the project was the perfect place for Isis to continue her research. But that wasn’t her true motivation.
The first time Isis toured the massive science ship, she was blown away. The scale of the ancient vessel was staggering. It contained hundreds of science labs, and at the center, two giant arcs capable of harvesting entire ecosystems from a world. The ship had been built in the years after the exodus and used to complete a full survey of the stars and planets within the sentinel line. Probes and survey drones had done most of the legwork, but a large science team had followed up on the ship, studying worlds that might have an impact on Atlantean safety. They had used the massive arcs to bring back entire samples of worlds for study by specialists on the new Atlantean homeworld.
Whereas the arcs had been used for science in the distant past, they would serve as entertainment in Isis and Janus’ time. Citizens clamored at the opportunity to visit other worlds without ever leaving. Each time The Origin Project disembarked, a new wave of speculation rose about what they would bring back. The attention served to rally support and funding for the project, and Isis knew that was a large motivation for the arc component. The other, she felt, was Ares and the council’s desire to periodically check-in on the scientists. Each time they returned home, a team of two dozen specialists from fields including infectious diseases, nanotechnology, and psychology performed a rigorous battery of tests on each scientist. But they never brought home anything harmful. And interest in the arcs they brought back waned with every return visit. Eventually the worlds started to look the same, and Janus and the team began seeking more exotic specimens with every trip, a desperate attempt to reignite the public’s interest. It was a losing battle. The crowds lining up to see the arcs were smaller each time they returned.
Over the years, the data began to look the same as well, and the differences in each new hominid species delivered less excitement at every world.
Public disinterest eventually infected the science team.
They had begun with fifty scientists, carefully chosen from thousands of applicants. Janus had enlisted Isis to help him select their team, and she had felt truly lucky—many of the candidates had much more experience than she did and more right to be on the expedition. But her motivation was stronger than theirs… and very different.
The team that started as fifty dwindled to twenty, then to ten, five, and finally two: Janus and Isis. She couldn’t blame them. The scientists had grown up on a crowded world, in a dense social environment. The abject isolation of deep space exploration, hibernating for years at a time and repeating the same experiments over and over wore on the scientists. And those who weren’t bored with the research longed to return to the Atlantean homeworld where a new intellectual renaissance was happening. The new era of a single united society was a lure none but Janus and Isis could resist. They found themselves alone, and they were both glad for it, albeit for different reasons.
“It feels like we’re the last two people in the universe,” Janus said. On the viewscreen behind him, world 1632 emerged, a marble of purple, red, and white. It grew as the ship approached it.
“Yes,” Isis replied. “It’s the perfect way to do our research.”
Janus had collected his samples alone on 1632, barely speaking to her during their three-week survey. Isis knew that she had hurt him, but lying was worse. She was saving the lying for when she absolutely had to, and she would very soon.
As they entered their stasis chambers, Janus finally broke the ice. “See you at the next world, Isis.”
She nodded as the tube closed, and the fog surrounded her.
The next world, 1701, was the one she had been waiting for. It was just in range.
Janus was his old self again when he emerged from the tube. For each of them, only a few seconds had passed, but two years had gone by outside. The time-dilation bells at each end of the ship, coupled with the stasis chambers, made leap-frogging through time and space as easy as taking a nap.
“Some exotic species have evolved since the initial survey,” Janus said. “Let’s take the Alpha Lander. Could be an arc opportunity.”
“I agree,” Isis said. She activated her own terminal and scrolled through, searching for an excuse to escape. “The advance probes also found signs of fossilized life on one of the moons of the seventh planet. I’d like to take the Delta Lander to retrieve some samples.”
Janus agreed reluctantly, and then said, “Let’s maintain periodic radio contact.”
“Of course.”
Isis had selected the Delta Lander for two reasons: it was the only lander capable of short-range hyperspace travel, and it had a resurrection raft.
At the edge of the solar system, she made the jump she had waited twenty-three years for: to the Exile colony.
The viewscreen inside the Delta Lander revealed a civilization taking its first tentative steps. The settlements were still too small to see from orbit, but under the viewscreen’s magnification, she saw farms on the outskirts of simple towns. The Exiles were slowly creating their own utopia, one very different from their homeworld.
Isis made radio contact, arranged the rendezvous, and landed on the surface. She ejected the resurrection raft just before she put down, then stood outside the lander and waited.
The location was a rocky terrain several miles outside a small settlement. After a few minutes, Lykos emerged from an outcropping. His boyish face was more chiseled and weathered, but his features still radiated a charm Isis found irresistible.
Without thinking or saying a word, she closed the distance between them and hugged him, almost bowling him over.
“Hey,” he said, holding her back to look at her. “You haven’t aged a day.”
Isis nodded to the rectangular structure a few feet away. “The stasis chambers do wonders. You’ll see.”
Lykos studied the structure skeptically. “What is it?”
“A resurrection raft. The larger vessels eject them if they’re in danger. If the crew dies, they resurrect there and can be rescued.”
Lykos shook his head. “It reminds me of the old world. Life here is a little more simple.”
Isis sensed something in his tone. Hesitation? Fear? “Are you having second thoughts about our plan?”
“No… It’s just. We’re building something good here. When we talked… back then I thought exile would be our ruin. But we’ve come together here. There’s a unity and purpose.”
“That won’t go away.”
“It’s been over twenty years for me. Tell me again.”
Isis took out a canister. “It’s a retrovirus. You simply release it anywhere. Ideally a populated area.”
He took the silver cylinder. “Sounds like something from the revolt.”
“There won’t be any terror or sickness. This virus will reunify our people, Lykos. We can live together on the same world—any of us can. One world. One people.”
“How does it work?” He raised his eyebrows. “The simple explanation.”
“My research isolated the genes that pull the levers of evolution. I call it the Atlantis Gene. It’s actually a set of genes and gene activation is a crucial part. The therapy will modify the Atlantis Gene for everyone on this world.”
“We’ll change?”
“Slowly. I’ll take periodic readings and make adjustments if anything goes wrong. The changes won’t be noticeable. It’s a slight change in brain wiring, specifically in the areas of information processing, communication, and problem solving. This therapy will expand the potential of everyone on this world. Someday this will be seen as the act that brought our people back together.” Isis waited, but Lykos said nothing. “Do you trust me?”
“Completely,” Lykos said, without hesitation.
“Then I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She smiled. “Ten thousand years, local time.”
In orbit, Isis couldn’t help but watch as Lykos journeyed back to the small village with the silver cylinder. Just before the shadow of night reached across the world, covering the rocky area that hid the resurrection raft, Lykos ventured back to it empty-handed and stepped inside.
Isis exhaled. Anticipation filled her. She opened a wormhole and returned to world 1701 and the main ship.
Janus ins