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Dad’s hand to fall away but instead Dad squeezed harder, applying a comfortable pressure.
    “Everything is going to be fine. And when you get back, it’s time to delve into some high-concept theories. Your brain is going to be fried by lunchtime every day.”
    Ben looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean you’re going to intern in the Holocene lab.”
    “Really? Are you kidding? No, you can’t be kidding. You don’t kid about lab things. You’re serious.”
    Dad nodded. “Everything is squared away with the bosses. You’re in the lab as soon as you get back. You’ll get some boring assignments to start, but maybe we can sneak you into a few genetic studies. I’ve got a pet smilodon who loves meeting new people.”
    “Dad . . . um, that’s . . .” His stomach lurched. He swallowed his excitement. “I would be honored. It’s a great honor. It’s really, really neat.”
    Dad just laughed and patted him on the back.
    They stopped at the entrance to Station 6-A. It was empty, save for a young man with a shaved head and three Spartans. A boy and an older man stood next to each other, both eyeing an ad for a holo-movie playing on one of the platform pillars. The Star War . An action-thriller about a love-struck couple who shoot their way through hundreds of Specters in search of their missing baby. Not Ben’s favorite genre.
    Then he saw her. And for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, Ben’s stomach felt like it was doing somersaults in his abdominal cavity. Only this time the source of the disturbance was somewhat different.
    Skye. All grown up. Her curly red hair had gotten darker, and so had the freckles that dotted her sharp nose. Her skin was still pale, just a little sunburnt. She stood tall, hands on hips, VR rifle slung over her shoulder. She licked her full lips, looking around. Taking in her surroundings, just like Spartans always did anywhere they went. Her eyes passed over Ben, registering nothing as they met his gaze briefly before quickly going back to the empty mag-rail track and the wide, inclined corridor on the other side of the station that led up to the first floor of the Parliament building.
    Ben couldn’t look away. Skye was beautiful.

Chapter 3: Gabriel Martinez
Parliament
    The Free Chamber was bustling, as always. It came as no surprise — these were trying times, and there was much to discuss. The Ark was complete. It had been completed years ago and now Clan Athens scientists had calculated that based on their most recent laser-comm readings of New Earth, the planet was finally terraformed to the point that it could sustain human life.
    It was time to go.
    But who would go? Now that was an interesting question. The answer, it turned out, wasn’t cut and dried.
    And so here they were. Thirty citizens freely elected from Neo Berlin’s thirty districts standing in the crowded amphitheater, arguing heatedly with more than eight hundred other representatives from Earth’s eighty remaining cities protected by the Phenocyte shields. But since traveling outside the shield was nearly impossible by night, and since even the most efficient mag-rail transport lines could only take so many passengers from city to city during the day, these arguments were taking place in cyberspace.
    The other representatives were all holograms.
    Good holograms, though. In fact, if it wasn’t for a momentary static blip in the hologram program, Gabriel’s eyes would have been perfectly deceived. The amphitheater was built in the style of a traditional forum: circular, with seats in ascending rows. At the center there was enough room for a handful of people, though protocol dictated that when one person stood there, he or she had the room and respect was to be observed no matter where your hologram was broadcasting from. The holograms themselves were powered by holo-lamps built into the floor, which meant the floor was layered with a graphenite grate composed of little