As his mind drifted back to all of this, Tress stared out the platform window as the ground zoomed out. A comforting hand broke his trance, causing the boy to stare up into his grandfather's kindly eyes. Tress grimaced as he slowly looked back at the world he was leaving behind.

"Are you sure about this?" Tress' eyes sparkled with the morning's dew as he fought with this decision. "It's not too late yet." The boy stared up at Laguna, locking the gaze.

"No," he replied softly, looking away slowly. "I feel like I have to do this."

"It won't be easy," Laguna warned him. He grimaced slightly as he cast his eyes to the colony above; a distant object hardly visible only at night. "Celestial Garden isn't like the others. The death count is far higher. It's brutal, like training in the army except in space. Course," he added, with a slight chuckle, turning to Tress. "I can't really expect you to understand that."

"I believe your words," Tress told him, lowering his hands from the pane, the ground just a distant patch of gray now. Fixated on the sky now, he continued, "But I'll face the danger. There is nothing left for me here."

Laguna frowned at this, his mind toying with the notion. He knew that perhaps if he had been around, his grandson, the only family he had left, wouldn't have to suffer like this. Shaking his head, he whispered, "I'm sorry."

Tress didn't say anything to this, but remained in a trance-like state till the lift finally came to a rest beside the shuttle. Laguna led him into the metal confinement, hand pressing lightly on the youth's back. Tress seemed to break out of his daze as the doors closed behind them. The boy looked back at them, startled. Laguna watched Tress in wonder and confusion. His grandson looked as if he wasn't sure where he was.

"Tress?" he questioned hesitantly. The boy straightened a little, seeming to come to terms with himself. After a moment he turned his narrow eyes to his grandfather, merely nodding.

"It's nothing," the youth told him. "Just thought I felt something, that's all."

Tress' mind wondered back to the doorway as they passed through the halls. He didn't see where they were heading, nor did he notice the people shuffling along around him, talking excitedly.

Head home was what the voice had told him. When Tress looked back at the doorway, he thought he caught a glimpse of a woman dressed in a black dress with straight, dark hair.

The walls of the shuttle were made of feet of titanium, sturdy and new. The craft was built especially for transferring large numbers of people. The demand to get to the colony was increasing as the disease spread rapidly amongst the people. Though clearly excited about New Esthar, Tress noticed the hesitation in the citizens' movements; their feet dragging along the floor as though half wanting to head back. Their voices shook slightly.

"I won't see you often," Laguna told him, striding casually with hands in pockets. "Few visits are allowed through the years you'll remain there."

After a moment Tress questioned, "How long is that?"

"They say it depends," replied the aging man, flipping his bangs a bit out of his eyes. "Most it takes seven to ten years."

"So I'll be about sixteen and a half." Laguna looked down at his grandson curiously.

"How do you figure that?"

"It's just the average," Tress told him. "I took the average of the range you gave me and added it to my age."

"I understand that," Laguna told him. "What I don't understand is how you know averages with no schooling."

"I may be a kid," Tress replied defiantly, casting a dark look on his grandfather that startled the aging man. "But I know some things. I've had a lot of time to myself." Laguna nodded after a moment.

"So what else do you know?"

"The binary concept," he replied, shrinking his shoulder back as someone passed. "I studied a bit of information technology from the books in the library when I got the chance. Outside that and basic concept, that's about it though."

Laguna nodded once more, saying, "It would seem you've gained experience in a few fields. You've done well for yourself then it would seem."

"I get bored." Tress looked up curiously as Laguna broke into laughter. The youth hid a smile at the look of his grandfather's face. Ease passed over the lines, and the eyes seemed brighter now.

At a three-way cross people began to break off at the arrows; rooms specified in their length that ran all the way down the halls till out of sight. Tress stood beside Laguna as they watched the others depart.

"Where do we head?" asked Tress, watching retreating backs.

"We'll be told in a moment," replied Laguna, nodding ahead of them.

A soldier dressed in a white and blue suit strode his way through the crowd to them. Stopping before the pair, he saluted as he told them, "Sir, we have chambers awaiting you. Preparations for travel have already begun."

Nodding, Laguna replied, "Good. I wish to leave as soon as possible." The soldier nodded, saluting once more.

He turned and began leading them down the hallway. Tress watched his grandfather's smiling face curiously. He knew that Laguna had once been the president of Old Esthar, but news of his lifestyle now never reached their ears. Tress' parents hadn't the money to buy a terminal, so news of their friends never reached them. Any mail sent wouldn't arrive for another sixteen years.

At this thought, a realization hit him. "Will I see them there?" he asked. "My parents' friends?"

"Ahh, you would mean the SeeD group," said Laguna. Nodding, he added, "I'm sure you will soon enough. They've been wondering about you as well."

Tress grimaced as a thought occurred to him. "They don't know," whispered the youth. The president looked away at this.

"No, I didn't send them the message yet."

"Can I tell the?" asked the boy, looking to his grandfather. Laguna looked back, startled for a moment, before nodding.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'd rather hear it from you."

The rest of the walk to the room was quiet. The travelers had gone their separate ways, as Tress had grown grateful towards. Their constant chatter and strange looks agitated him. He never liked it when people eavesdropped. Then again, he supposed that he would never see most of them again.

At last they stopped outside a pair of doublewide steel doors. The soldier pressed his hand to a scanner, and they slid apart. Tress watched the process curiously. Laguna turned to the man as he took a step, saying, "It's fine. I know how to do this. I will just have one of the bots assist us. You get yourself ready."

The soldier only nodded before hurrying off. Laguna watched him till he disappeared around the corner. Turning, he strode into the white tiled room, Tress following as the doors shut behind him. The room was small, made up of a few biros and stands with various little decorations here and there. Two beds stood adjacent to the sides of the door. They were set on metal platforms, and Tress watched them hopefully, weariness taking effect.

Laguna went about issuing button commands into the back of an android. Tress studied it in interest. The expressionless face was curved perfectly with large, green eyes with dark locks tickling its cheeks and neck. It stood straight, clothed in a black jumpsuit. Tress found the stare hypnotic. It was only when his grandfather shut the back of the robot that he was able to snap to attention.

Immediately the android began moving freely, turning to Laguna now. "Mr. President, it's nice to see you again." Tress was amazed at how casual the voice sounded.

Glancing around the servant, Laguna told the youth, "Surprised, are you? New Esthar's technology has come a long way since it was established." Tress merely nodded at this. Laguna grimaced slightly before turning back to the android, but the meka was staring at the boy.

"What despairs you?" Tress looked up in surprise.

"You can tell when there's something wrong?" he asked.

It nodded, saying, "It is in our functions. We are programmed to notice the changes in face and appearance so we may assist in any manner that seems fit." After a moment Tress nodded, but then he shook his head.

"You're a machine," he told it frankly. "You wouldn't be able to understand anymore than you could help."

After a few moments of silence an announcement came on from the speakers on either side of the doors, declaring the preparations for takeoff. When it was finished, Laguna turned to the servant, saying, "Lola, if you would assist us in getting situated…" The android nodded, and strode over to a machine in the corner. Laguna turned to Tress, adding, "We have to undress. When we arrive, the awakening and cleansing process begins. To clear us of any bacterial infections we may have received, it requires exposure to our skin. Standard procedure."

Tress turned as he began undressing, his cheeks burning. But as the youth thought about it, it wasn't a big deal. He would be asleep, in one of the beds he supposed, for the next twenty years. If this was to prepare their bodies for the awakening, Tress wondered how embarrassed he'd feel when he found himself naked in presence of strangers. Folding his clothes and placing them in a corner beside his pack, the youth found himself growing a little excited. Despite everything that had happened, he would at least get to meet up with his parents' friends again, and even train in the space Garden. Tress couldn't help but feel this was a strange change as he followed his grandfather's example; climbing into one of the beds. The emotions he'd been caught in were misery and boredom with life. But as the boy pulled the covers up over his shoulders like Laguna he found it a sort of relief. Tress believed it meant that he wouldn't always feel that way.

At the sounds of footsteps, the boy looked over as the android Lola stood beside Laguna; blocking the president. When she moved, Tress began panicking at the sight. From a hole indented in his arm, a tube ran from Laguna's arm; the chord running along the floor to the machine on the other side.

Seeing his grandson's pale face, Laguna reassured him, "Part of the process, Tress. They freeze the very blood itself." Tress began to sit up as Lola approached him with a needle, the tube running from the back of it. She pushed him back down firmly, and boy glanced fearfully at his grandfather. "Don't panic, Tress. It makes the process worse. This is your first travel, so you don't have in the indent in your arm for the tube. The pain will cease soon. There are painkillers in that tube as well. She's going to insert it into your right arm to prevent complications with your heart."

"But…"

Before Tress could say anything more, the tube had been plunged into his vein. The youth squirmed as pain shot up his arm, filling his head till he couldn't see. The android let go of him as a glass casing spread up from his feet over his head; the tube fitted perfectly through a gap made for it. Tress' body eased some as the drugs took affect, creating a sleep cloud over him. He watched his grandfather as Laguna shut his eyes, already drifting into deep slumber. Cold swept over him as he slipped from consciousness; the last thing he remembered was wondering if this was what death was like.