Epilogue
Murphy Cooper was laid to rest four years after her father was declared AWOL with his android, MIA again. She would never tell anyone why he left after one conversation, but it wasn't the first time the human race had to follow her instructions on faith.
But long after the funeral, in another galaxy, in a System orbiting a huge Black Hole, a large Space Station gilded slowly across the darkness, into orbit of a planet that was once called 'Edmunds World'.
Eric Brock was older, hair starting to grey, monitoring from the Bridge, as his son Jesse was the first one to land the scout Ranger and plant the flag of the Council on a world that was once called 'Edmunds Planet'.
"Gravity and Atmosphere is good…" Jesse called back. "We were right about that beacon. It's faint, but it's definitely sign of construction; but just barely."
"What do you mean, barely?" Eric called to his son.
"Well, there are foundations here that look like the old Survival Habitats, but the foundation is all there is. The actual sections are gone, save for the anchor struts."
"Storm damage? Erosion?"
"No, the sections are intact. The rest of the Hab simply isn't here; like it got taken away." Eric reported. "I'm following the beacon."
"Remember, even if she never tried Plan B, there may be multiple survivors in Cryo if their equipment survived this long." Eric reported. "That forest could have sheltered the area from a lot of the weather."
"By the way, does this forest seem strange to anyone else?" Jaina ran a hand through her grey hair, and adjusted her glasses as she checked the readouts. "The trees are all young, by all appearances; and the rest of the planet is desert at this elevation. All the rest of the life is concentrated in the canyons."
"Yeah, all of it." Eric agreed, and switched the comms off. "You really think this is going to work?" He asked Jaina quietly. "I mean, air and water are great, but we need more than just a viable place to live. This isn't a pit stop, it's a colony. The O'Neill Cylinders are way more popular with the thawed refugees, and… There are only a few hundred people on board. Barely enough for sustainable genetic diversity, even without anything going wrong."
"I know, it's a bit of a Hail Mary play." Jaina said tiredly, wheeling herself over to Eric. "But if we can convince people that this place is liveable, there are still enough folks who will make the trip, just to be on a planet instead of a station. It's inherent. Primal. A bird will always fly, a human will always put down roots. There's always going to be more love for a natural place than an artificial one. It's why we put so much work into making the Stations feel like suburbia."
Eric scoffed a bit at that. "Yeah, I guess so." He glanced back at the beacon. "You really think there's a chance we'll find Edmunds, or Brand, or even Cooper?"
"He could have made it. Gravity Drives can make this trip easily enough. If we can get a station here, he could certainly get a Ranger. It's just a question of… well, what he'd find."
"I found something!" Jesse called on the Comm. "It's the Cryo-Sleep Chamber. It's still functional, but…"
"But what?" Eric called, excited to learn for sure.
"Well, good news/bad news… There are no long lost astronauts here."
Eric deflated. "Well, it was a longshot to begin with. And the good news?"
"I think we've got a solution to the Genetic Diversity Problem that Jaina was so worried about. There's a 'population bomb' here, perfectly preserved."
Jaina sat up immediately. "Embryos? How many?"
"Thousands, looks like." Eric reported. "Hang on, I'm checking the logs."
Eric and Jaina traded a look. They had played with the idea of bringing their own 'Population Bomb' with them for colonization, but nobody wanted to donate genetic material for a generation they wouldn't see, now that future generations were a sure thing again. But now...
"Thousands of embryos." Jaina breathed. "Endurance was carrying a Plan B package, last reported intact, going with Brand when she aligned for planetary transit." She covered her smile. "If they made it, that would solve everything! We could raise thousands here!"
Eric leaned back to the Comm. "Son? Those records? Who left them?"
"Well, there's an old series 148 Android here, currently inactive. According to the Chamber's Logs, he detected a power failure in one of the Plan B containers. His job was to protect the human crew; so I guess the embryos qualify." Eric reported. "Looks like he pulled his own power core to get the cryo-bed working again."
"And he's been standing there beside it, shut down, for who knows how long." Jaina finished. "Which android is it, Jesse?"
"Paint's faded, but it says 'TARS'."
"Cooper's Droid!" Eric beamed. "So, we just solved one of the biggest hypotheticals of the last four decades. Cooper did make it here!" He keyed the Comm. "Jesse, bring the android back to the Station. If we can access his memory files, we'll have the answers to a lot of questions."
Jaina was smiling too. "I think I can guess where the rest of the hab went."
"Oh?"
"A story my mother once told me, right before she died." Jaina waved him off, her smile giving her face more wrinkles. "I was hoping for a happy ending."
AN: Now we're done! Remember, to get the whole story, you have to read 'Feel The Need' to see how Brand and Cooper reunited before we caught up with them in the previous chapter.
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