Bleaker

up with a way.”
“Or move people.”
“Move people where?”
“You heard Quinn,” Rey said. “There were areas never touched by the wave or disasters.”
“Maybe we need to go to those places.”
“I would think the Genesis settlers did already.”
“He didn’t mention it,” Finch said. “Might be worth it. Could be an entirely different ball game.”
“What else is there to do other than sightsee a broken world?”
“It’s not broken,” said Finch. “Just different. What, um…were you asking Lincoln?”
“Well, I was just thinking about a quote of his. It deals with fixing what you can for tomorrow.”
“You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading today.”
“Yes. That’s it,” Rey said brightly.
“I know it well. Kind of fits. If you know something is going to happen tomorrow, don’t ignore it today.”
“And we didn’t,” Rey said. “We were trying to find a future. My question about stopping it was to him. What if he knew?”
“He wouldn’t have believed it. We would probably be burned at the stake as witches or something.”
Rey nodded. “I know you made the decision that majority rules, but I still think we should have tried to go back. Just my thoughts.”
“Me too.”
Quickly she looked at him. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah, I voted to go. You and I, and I am gonna guess Nate or Curt. But I made the call and we’re here. Who knows? Maybe everyone will change their mind before the Androski closes back up and we can—”
“Finch!” Curt called from distance.
Finch turned around to see Curt making his way toward them.
“Hey,” Curt said, slightly out of breath as he approached. “Hey, we…” He looked up to the Lincoln Statue. “That’s cool.”
“What is it?” Finch asked.
“Nate wanted you,” Curt said. “You know how he said it has been a while since anyone has been in D.C.?”
“Yeah.” Finch nodded.
“Well, that’s wrong. Come and take a look,” Curt said, then turned and started leading them down the memorial stairs. “Not only has someone been here recently, it looks like they were camping out and are probably still in the area.”
“Are they native to the area?” Finch asked.
“Or maybe it was the other half of Quinn’s people,” Rey suggested. “He said they separated.”
“He also said they don’t come near here. It’s the forbidden zone or whatever they call it,” Curt replied. “They avoid it because it was, at one time, dangerous.”
“How can we be sure?” Finch asked as they approached where Nate and the others stood. He then spoke directly to Nate. “We were speculating that the Genesis group is here. The ones that separated from Quinn.”
Rey added, “They could be dangerous.”
Nate shook his head. “No, it’s not them. They were a larger group. This is one or two people, and it’s interesting enough that I think we need to find them. But they may be back for this.” He handed them what looked like a small handheld solar charger. “No dust, no wear and tear,” Nate said. “This is brand spanking new. Whoever it is came from a time close to us and, like us, they haven’t been here long. If they were part of the Genesis group, this would look older.”
“If they aren’t Genesis, they have to be from the ARCs, right?” Finch furrowed his brow. “I mean…who else could it be?”

PART TWO: LOLA


THREE
EARTH, 25 Years Post-Omni Mission
Tucker Freeman was not the original. He was the third. His grandfather and father were both Tucker Freeman, but all three men were different. His grandfather owned a farm in the Dakotas, and it was one of the only farms in the area that hadn’t been sold to the government. He was a farmer. A no-nonsense man who focused on his work. Tucker’s father hadn’t wanted to be a farmer, he dreamed of bigger and better things, but his fast and furious lifestyle brought his life to an end by way of a car accident when Tucker was nine years old.
Tucker and his sister went to live with his grandparents. He loved them and saw nothing wrong with farming. In fact, Tucker thought his grandfather’s farm was cool. And just at the end of the property, lit up like a stadium for the Super Bowl, was the construction site for one of the ARCs.
When they first started building it Tucker didn’t live with his grandfather, and he recalled that they all believed it was going to be a mall.
It wasn’t long before they realized what it was and suddenly it was exciting.
Tucker remembered the day he moved in with his grandparents. It was the day before the Omni-4 took off to go through the Androski to check out the Noah, or the new Earth.
At that young age, Tucker’s world stopped. Everywhere else was suffering disasters, but his world, with the loss of his parents, collapsed.
He found a strange and obsessive focus on the Omni mission. He watched every bit of news, every social media video. Stories of the crew’s lives, what they would do. When he wanted to cry and get angry, he looked to the Omni and the hope they sought.
A CGI generated animation speculated about their entire mission through the wormhole. When he missed his parents, he watched that video. The animated likeness of the teacher reminded him of his mother, and ‘The Clutch’ looked exactly like his dad. Acted like him, too. He was dashing, personable. He imagined his parents were on board the Omni. That they didn’t die at all, they went on a mission.
When the news reported the Omni didn’t return as scheduled, everyone was sad. But not Tucker. He knew they weren’t dead, that there hadn’t been an accident, but they had found a home and just like that old satellite, were having a hard time getting back.
They would return, he believed, eventually.
Until then he looked to the sky, did his homework, and watched more omni videos; someone turned that one mission animation into a short video series.
In one episode they landed, in another they faced trouble, and in the finale they encountered friendly alien life.
It was