Elisabet Sobeck studied the sealed access port one last time, satisfied that GAIA Prime will remain undiscovered by the robotic swarm. Occasionally, her armoured environmental suit would update the HUD, a blinking reminder of its remaining capacity to sustain life. "I better get going," she said, to no one in particular, as communications had been purposely disabled from her end. She was dead-set determined not to risk anything that might jeopardise the location of the only facility that will give birth to hope. Even if it meant ostracising herself from the last vestiges of human contact.

Turning away from the GAIA Prime facility, Elisabet started making her way down, towards west. Even though it was still morning, air quality has badly deteriorated over the last few weeks, causing drastic visual decline. She needed to take advantage of whatever available daylight to get down from the mountain as quickly as she could.

Ecology devastation was evident around her during her descent; lifeless trees, withering shrubs, and carcasses of small animals choked to death by the toxic air. The reality of Earth's precarious future slowly hit home. Will we succeed in giving life a second chance? How many tries will it take to stabilise Earth's ecology? What would be the scale of the aftermath when engaging the HADES sub-function each time to provide a clean slate for GAIA to terraform again? If the ecology becomes sufficiently sustainable to introduce humans into it, would HADES still be retained as part of GAIA? She couldn't explain why her head started flooding with thoughts about HADES. She began to feel uneasy. "It's a sub-function, Elisabet," she consoled herself. "Trust GAIA to know what to do with HADES when it is not needed indefinitely."

She was interrupted from her reverie when her Focus registered an anomaly a few yards away. The hazy air was frustrating her efforts to identify it. Being extra alert and cautious, Elisabet quietly slinked off the visible path, crouching among boulders and anything that can provide her with cover as she approached the oddity. Only when she was within a few feet of it did she breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the harsh environment, a sprightly patch of small camas flowers was blooming; its bright bluish petals raised on clustered stalks projected a stark contrast to the bleak surroundings.

Kneeling down, she gingerly touched one. Though slightly dismal that she couldn't feel its soft texture through her gloves, she marvelled at the plant's tenacity to thrive in such given conditions. Her thoughts temporarily drifted to one particular moment when GAIA queried if she had any favourite flowers. "Camas," Elisabet replied, without skipping a beat. Returning to the present, she found reassurance in the significance of it all.

"I'm resting my hope on you, GAIA," she whispered, as she stood up and continued her trek, homeward bound. "All of humanity is."