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least it stopped the bleeding. Then he replaced the mask and pressed a button on the left side, which produced a hissing sound for a few seconds. Sterilization procedure.
    “You good?” Harry asked. Ben waved it off as he filled his lungs with air. One day someone would breathe Aurora air, if not by design then by accident. Then we’ll see , he thought. He looked around. Cancri was still high, and a warm eastern breeze made the leaves of the ancient hardwoods rustle.
    “Wanna go for a swim?” Ben nodded. Harry waved for Lisa, Drew, and John to come over, and they all picked up their stuff and walked toward the Trickler.
    The Trickler was wide, and sometimes the currents proved dangerous. At first, the kids hadn’t been allowed to swim there, but that had proven a futile mandate soon enough. So, instead of having kids swimming in places that could be particularly dangerous, the adults had given in and made them promise to stay within one of two areas that were deemed mostly safe.
    There were three kids and one adult there already, and soon they were all splashing in the cool water. Ben though that this could be paradise, if they could only get rid of those demons that seemed to haunt them all the time. The adults seemed mostly fine, but the kids... The kids of the final shuttle were all psychologically damaged in some way or another. Some, like himself, had been soldiers, and seen unspeakable horrors. Some may even have done some pretty ugly things themselves. Ben knew at least one kid, just fourteen at the time, who’d shot an unarmed prisoner and laughed about it afterward. Others, like Lisa, had been spared the cruelty of war, only to be brutally separated from those they loved. Lisa had been the only daughter of General Hayden. Everyone knew the rebel leader had shot himself when the rebellion had fizzled out, but no one told Lisa. She found out by studying the history files on her tablet, close up pictures and all. She’d been real quiet afterward, until one day she exploded and cursed them all for not telling her. Several of the kids, Ben among them, had cried with her, and those quiet moments afterward were probably the first time he’d shared in the feeling that everyone talked about here on Aurora: hope. They were the future of this planet, the future of mankind, and they were slowly mending.

Chapter 3
    THOMAS DUNN
    Yawning, he had almost decided to call it quits for the day. He’d been working for more than ten hours straight, being Havelar’s spy and henchman, and the one job was demanding enough. If anyone knew he had another, they’d be amazed at his stamina. But he had no one to confide in. Thomas Dunn was still the lone operative working his web of lies and deception, and the strain of it sometimes got to him. Lately, he’d been so exhausted, he’d started doubting his own abilities. Who was he to change the fate of humanity, all alone?
    It was only a matter of time before the situation would blow up, if his suspicions proved correct. He still couldn’t be certain what Havelar’s Human Expansion Program was all about, but the reason it was being kept secret, and the task he’d been assigned, gave him a vague idea. It would take more research though, and until he had hard evidence, there was no point in taking it any further. What he suspected though was ugly; something mankind hadn’t seen in two centuries. And Havelar, from what he could tell, thought he was their savior!
    There was a knock on the door, and as he turned around Maria Solis, smiled at him. She was beautiful, despite the lines from the facemask around her nose and mouth. Inside the administrative compound, they were now able to walk around without their masks. He waved at her to come in.
    “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said. Cancri would soon set, and he hadn’t expected her to come this late. But she was here, so he logged into the personnel file, and entered her ID number.
    “I wasn’t sure I’d make it today,”