"Thank you Mr...Malcolm. I wanted to talk to you privately before everything breaks lose out there." She paused just a little. "I just wanted you to know that Tris and I both realise that we are still very young, and we have no intention of rushing into things before we are mature. I just wanted you to know that we are going to be sensible about this."

She paused again.

"Tris is your son, and I know you care for him deeply, I just wanted you to be rea.s.sured."

"Well, thank you Hope, I am, very rea.s.sured. I knew it from the first time I set eyes on you. Bless you." Malcolm said, through the tears, and Dorothy was not far behind him. The three of them hugged each other as though they had been friends for life.

"Thank you," Malcolm whispered into her ear, "you've shown me how to be free."

Hope turned to Dorothy, "Is there any advice you would like to give me before I go?"

Dorothy thought for a moment and said, "Yes dear, always try to make him feel wanted, they're happiest then."

Hope smiled and took her leave of them.

"You know Dot, it's going to be like losing a daughter as well as a son."

"Strictly speaking dear, we're not losing them, we'll just be separated from them for a while."

Hope had certainly lived up to her name in the Eves' household.

"How is it that dogs always know when something's about to happen?" Clare said, having spent a good half an hour looking for Rufus, but to no avail.

"Don't worry Sweetie," Steve rea.s.sured her, "he'll turn up, he always does."

Hope entered the room.

"How did it go Hops?" Steve asked.

"Very well daddy, I think I've made some new friends there."

"Well done Sweetheart, that family has needed something to happen for a long time."

Steve leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Yap, yap yap."

"I've found him," Jimmy said, bursting in behind Rufus, "but you need to see this."

Steve and Clare went outside and there was Lady, Rufus' female friend with her owner, Sarah.

"I think he wants to take her along," Sarah said.

"Do you mind?" Clare asked, "She's been with you a long time?"

Sarah was one of the original remnant, she was in charge of the hydro systems.

"No, not really, I have five pups to see me through, and he'll be lonely up there without her."

Clare picked up Rufus and said, "OK, she can come." Rufus seemed to know what that meant and set about licking her frantically. She had to put him down before she drowned, and he went and sat next to Lady. "I swear that dog..." She didn't finish the statement, she didn't have to. Rufus had long since established his superiority over human kind.

"That'll be six of us then," Hope said.

"I guarantee it'll be more than six coming back," Jimmy said, with a chuckle.

"Aint that the truth," Steve said, turning to go back in doors.

"Are you coming to see me off?" Tris asked.

"Of course we are dear." Dorothy answered. "How sad it is that you have to ask, I'm so sorry son, I should have been much more of a mother to you, please forgive me."

"That goes for me too son." Malcolm had walked in on the back end of the conversation. "I have not been any kind of a father to you in ways that matter. I'm proud of you son, very proud."

The two men hugged for the first time and tears flowed freely.

"Hope is special, isn't she dad."

"She certainly is son, you take good care of her, and bring her back safe. I want to get to know you both an awful lot better than I do now."

"I will, I promise."

It was time to go. The walk to the ship was not long, but today it would be very significant. Tris walked between his mom and dad, an arm around each of them. The Foresters were some way ahead, but they had noticed what was happening behind them.

"Now there's something you don't see every day," Clare said.

"Maybe not, but I'll bet there'll be a lot more of it from now on mom." Hope said, waving to them, but she stayed with her own parents for the rest of the walk.

All of Eden had gathered for the launch, it had been declared a holiday by Kay, who had insisted that all attend. Even Gareth was there, standing by Danny and his parents.

"That looks to be a solid friendship in the making," Steve said, pointing and waving to them both.

Tris came and joined the Foresters on the ramp, a cheer went up as they walked up it. At the top they stopped and turned to wave their goodbyes.

"PRAY FOR US." Steve shouted over the din.

"I LOVE YOU SON!" Malcolm hollered for all to hear.

"LOVE YOU DAD, LOVE YOU MOM," Tris replied, as loudly as he could. They all took one last look at the Eden they had been a part of for so long, gave a final wave, and entered the ship.

The noise faded as the hatch closed, and it became silent inside the ship.

"If there are any doubts," Steve said, "now's the time to voice them."

There were none, all the members of the crew were eager to get started.

"Tris, I'd like you to have the privilege of piloting us out of Eden."

"Thanks Steve, I'd like that very much."

Tris headed for the c.o.c.kpit with Hope in tow.

"Come on," Steve said, to Clare, "Let's go and keep the dogs company."

As soon as the hatch closed, folk began to drift away. There was a safe viewing area to watch the actual take off, and it was already crowded. Place was given to Malcolm and Dorothy in honour of their son's momentous discovery, they proudly stood by the viewing window, waiting for the launch. The radio came through the tannoy system, it was Tris' voice.

"Eden this is Discovery requesting permission to take off, over."

Malcolm took Dorothy's hand in his.

"Permission granted Discovery, have a safe and blessed trip, over."

The engines started, and slowly, the huge ship lifted off the pad and began to climb. It soon accelerated away and was lost from sight. Malcolm and Dorothy were the last to leave, they were silent and lost in a mixture of sadness and deep joy. Slowly, they began their own journey into a new future.

The vibration was not as bad as on other takeoffs, the huge ship had lifted off the pad with ease. Tris handled the controls as only a sharp young man can, and orbit was achieved in a matter of seconds. Steve entered the c.o.c.kpit, along with Clare, and tapped in the coordinates for the first stage of their journey, but let Tris take her out.

"Hold on," Tris said, as he engaged the first stage Trion. They knew this feeling well, there was a mighty rush forward as the ship accelerated away from the Moon. They weren't going to engage the light speed drive until they'd let the first stage Trion show what it could do.

Acceleration was constant and 100,000 miles-per-hour came up in a few minutes. In the rear viewer, the moon was receding rapidly, the Earth was also becoming smaller with each minute that pa.s.sed.

"500,000." Tris called out, and the mighty ship kept accelerating. The next time Steve looked, Earth had all but gone, now, the focal point was the Sun. This would be visible for quite some time, a last landmark for home. Once it had gone, only the instruments would ever find it again. It was a chilling thought.

The evening was warm as Eden returned to an approximation of normal. With the Foresters gone, there would have to be a new definition of the word normal. On the way home, Malcolm and Dorothy b.u.mped into Sarah, affectionately known as, 'the drip', because of her work with water. It's a nickname she had started herself, to counter 'on tap', which some bright spark had coined, or was it gushing? It didn't matter, Sarah was 'one of the boys' and could give as good as she got, she was respected for it too.

"Evening both," she said, on seeing them, "just a thought, but would you like a puppy? They're really good company, and seem to fill little gaps that appear, if you know what I mean."

"A puppy," Malcolm said, he'd never liked pets, and especially dogs, "we'd love one, can we come and pick our own?"

"Certainly," Sarah answered, while Dorothy stood open- mouthed. "Come around tomorrow and see which one you like."

Tris had been timing each successive hundred thousand. "They are getting shorter Steve, we are accelerating at an ever faster rate. We've just pa.s.sed the million mark."

"Wow, a million miles per hour in what...Twenty minutes, that's amazing. Is there any reason why it should be different when we engage light speed?"

"None that I can think of," Tris replied.

"Good, we'll try it tomorrow, we should be clear of our solar system by then, I'm starved, fancy something to eat?"

Steve punched the auto pilot b.u.t.ton and the computer took over.

"Look out galley," Steve yelled into the intercom, "two hungry s.p.a.ce men coming through."

Early the next morning, Malcolm and Dorothy arrived at Sarah's house. She wasn't used to getting up so early any more, as her job now was very much part time.

"Come on in folks," she said, opening the door to them.

"Sorry we're so early," Malcolm apologised, "but we couldn't sleep."

"That's all right, I quite understand," Sarah replied, with a warm smile. "The pups are through in the kitchen. Go and pick the one you want while I get dressed."

The Eves' hurried through into the kitchen, quite anxious to get started, both of them very excited about the new family member. Dorothy took one look and fell in love with all of them, Malcolm was a little more cautious; it took him several seconds to fall in love with all of them.

"Oh dear," he said, "they're all so adorable, how ever are we going to choose just one?"

Dorothy took the hint, "We'll make it 'his and hers' then shall we?"

"Agreed." He said, without any hesitation.

Sarah had just caught the last two sentences. "It's always difficult to choose, you just take your time. I'll put the kettle on."

Coffee was made, and mostly drunk, and still no decisions had been made.

"I know," Sarah said, "let's let the puppies choose."

She got up and let the pups out of the pen she kept them in. There was a general rush in all directions, but slowly the mayhem settled and one little chap came to Malcolm and flopped on his foot.

"I'll take this one," he said, picking the little fellah up, and grinning from ear to ear. It wasn't long before another one gave Dorothy such a look that she was smitten, and made a grab for the owner of 'the eyes'. The choices were made, and the Eves' stood up, ready to leave with their newfound offspring.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Sarah said, bidding the two little rascals a fond farewell. "This is James, and this is Jane," she said pointing out which was which. "You can pick your own names of course, and start your own litters too when they're older."

Malcolm and Dorothy left Sarah's house beaming and thanking her profusely for the idea.

Clare and Hope had been busy in the galley. They wanted their first meal in s.p.a.ce to be special, and it was. The boys floated through into the most wonderful smell you could imagine.

"Wow," Tris said, "we should have left sooner!"

They all laughed and settled down to eat. Settling down being quite an apt word for it, they had to strap themselves into the dining chairs so as not to float away. The table had been designed to handle all this, and was fitted with restraints for all the dishes and utensils. Tris was invited to say grace, which he did by saying, "Father I'm stunned at all the you have done for us already, and excited about all that is yet to come. Our lives are in Your hands. Amen."

Under the table, Rufus and Lady were tucking in too. They had special cages to hold them, and their food, down.

The meal went smoothly, as did the conversation afterwards. Apart from the people talking, the ship was silent, Trion made no noise at all, unlike the rockets that could damage ears if not properly protected.

"So Hun, what do we do next?"

Steve just shrugged his shoulders, "I don't rightly know Sweetie, wash the dishes I suppose. The ship is on autopilot, so we don't need to worry about that side of things too much. If anything happens, we'll hear an alarm."

As if on cue, the intercom fired up with, "Mak 1."