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charge of selecting the right candidates.” Ramon noticed the national security advisor raised an eyebrow, before his face quickly became as blank and unreadable as before. The president walked over to where Daniel Shaw, the former director of JPL, was sitting and put his hands on Shaw’s shoulders.
    “ Some of you may already have recognized Daniel Shaw, former director of JPL of Pasadena. JPL will play an important role, as it has done in several previous space endeavors of this country. When Congress investigated the Mars incident, JPL was shown to have foreseen ,many of the weaknesses that caused the mission to become such a tragedy. It was one of the few institutions involved that was not prosecuted or disbanded in the aftermath.” He paused, and then smiled.
    “ When all that happened, Daniel was just a rocket engineer, of course, but he later came to be director, and his legacy is that of several successful military applications of the technology developed out in Pasadena. He’s also a friend of mine, and one of the people I would trust with something as important as this. He will be in charge of the project and report back to me. The Consortium will be an advisory board that will be consulted on all major decisions. There will be plenty of work, and I expect each of you to already have some idea as to how your companies can contribute. If you have anything urgent, take it up with George.” He nodded at Havelar, who nodded in acknowledgement. One of the business leaders, Dana Fuller of the high-tech Quantum Industries, raised her hand slowly, then spoke.
    “ We need to have a name. I guess we could just call it the project …” Havelar shook his head.
    “ Of course we need a name. A name that says something of the magnitude of the challenges we’re talking about here, of the importance. To help us stay inspired.”
    “ Exodus,” Ramon said quietly, then as the room fell silent, he looked up to see everyone looking at him.
    “ That’s what this is,” he said, and several nodded, others murmured agreement. The president smiled; he was known to be a religious man.
    “ Exodus it is.”

December 2072 ~ New York City, New York
    There was just a week left until Christmas, and Ramon knew it would be very different this year. Even though they had all pledged not to reveal anything to their families, spouses included, Isabella Solis, as much CEO as her husband but for the title, was the sole exception. But both knew their daughter had to be spared the burden of this knowledge. As a teenager, she had enough on her mind. Still, Ramon wondered what it would be like celebrating Christmas while knowing the world would soon come to an end.
    Two days had passed since their last meeting. They were sitting around the same table, almost all the business leaders and the same representatives from the administration, except the president, who had to maintain an appearance to the public as if it was all business as usual. In addition, there were several scientists. Director Shaw had brought several from JPL, some former NASA people, and even a couple of astronomers from ESA who looked mighty jet-lagged. Ramon had brought his wife, Isabella, much to the dismay of Havelar, who agreed with the president that as few as possible should know, including family. Ramon had pushed it through though. Even Havelar had to give in to the fact that, although Ramon Solis was CEO of Cheevo, Isabella had always been a part of the Consortium meetings, speaking on Cheevo’s behalf with as much weight as Ramon.
    The meeting had begun half an hour ago, with a recap of previous events and the decision to establish Project Exodus. They all knew they were talking about sending people off Earth to make sure humanity could survive. But the details were blurry, as most of them had no idea where such an expedition could go, and few knew much about space at all. So the goal for the meeting was to come up with options for the scientists to continue