Chapter Twelve: The Wrong Way

"To be honest, we weren't expecting to be part of Search and Rescue."

"Well, it's appreciated. To be honest, being rescued, or even needing to be rescued was never part of my plan for the Final Test either." Alec sighed, hating himself a bit. "I'm a Trib Survivor. You'd think I, of all people, would remember to walk by faith."

"Don't feel too bad. Faith can turn bad on you sometimes." Atxi tried to reassure him. "My faith was my biggest problem back when I first got here."

Alec looked interested. "Oh? How so?"

Atxi had told the story a thousand times. But with the Final Test in full swing, she found it helpful to remember how she started out as a Believer. "I was an Aztec. In fact, I was a temple priestess. I volunteered to be a sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli. It was considered a great honor back then. It was what Aztecs did to show their faith. I stretched out on the altar, and I woke up here."

Alec let out a breath between his teeth. "It makes my story of feeling badly about myself seem like a joke."

"I didn't do it to feel good about myself, brother." Atxi said simply. "I did it because it was my duty. It was how I showed my faith."

"It's a hard mindset to get out of." Alec admitted. "I guess we both have that problem."

Atxi frowned. "What?"

"Getting out of the old mindsets." Alec clarified. "That was actually my… well, let's be honest: The weakness that The Enemy exploited in me. I didn't even see it as an attack until I was well out of view of land; but it suddenly hit me: I was doing exactly what he wanted." He spread his hands out, almost beseeching Atxi for forgiveness. "I panicked because for the first time in more than a thousand years, I wasn't sure how to serve God correctly. I wasn't sure that offering any kind of service still mattered. With the Organization disbanded, how do we serve? Just for a day; I was worried that I was part of the wrong side."

Atxi blinked. "I don't follow."

"Back when I was an Elder, or even a publisher, I knew where to contribute. Contribute my time, my labor, resources… But that was before the Thousand Years ended. There's no hierarchy or mediator between us anymore; and hearing His voice only happened until the Test began." He spread his hands wide. "I lost heart for a while, because I wasn't sure I trusted the idea that I was the only connection to God I needed. I always liked the idea of being part of something bigger than I was. Something that could handle my mistakes without missing a beat in service to Jehovah."

Atxi nodded. "I understand that part, but what did you mean 'we both have that problem'?"

"Well, think about it. Your first religion, back in OS, had an organization, same as the Paradise System did." Alec said, sounding tired. "What Altar is there for a willing girl to be sacrificed on now?"

"There isn't one." Atxi nodded.

"Then why are there people dying?"

"Which people?" Atxi demanded.

"The ones moving away from Sanctuary." Alec said simply. "I'm ashamed to say that I fell back into an old weakness of my own. I was halfway out to sea before I realized what a chance I was taking. And I prayed. I prayed harder than I have since A-Day, begging for help… And you found me." He gave her a look. "What about you? What's your 'old pattern'?"

Atxi froze. "I'm… I'm not looking to sacrifice myself again. I want to get the Database working. It'd help people so much. It'd help people get to where they need to be."

"And if you don't make it back to safety in time?"

"God would surely understand why I delayed."

"And He would surely be so grateful." Alec nodded. "He would reward your act of giving your life for the good of the faithful people; in the name of serving your God."

Atxi paled. "I… I hadn't thought of it like that." She wavered. "I mean, back when I was young; the Aztecs considered old age an affront to the gods. Because you had to give your life… because the Gods needed us to restore what they…" Her voice was growing fainter. "...what they gave to us."

Alec nodded. "Jah doesn't need His people to make Him stronger. Acts 17:24, 25 says 'The God who made the world and all the things in it, being, as he is, Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade temples; nor is he served by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.' If God felt the Database was a necessity for the Final Test, would it have gone down? You think God is beaten now? Like He had it all worked out, until Benedict hit the off-switch?"

Atxi stared at him for a long moment… before she jumped up and ran to the bridge.

~~/*\~~

James saw his wife come running in. "We got a signal!" He said brightly. "Benedict's people back at the Foundation have been searching for him. He's in the comms room now-"

"The Stargazer hasn't been yours for centuries." Atxi said in a rush.

James blinked. "What?"

"You're charging full speed towards California because you want to turn the Database back on. And if it doesn't work, or you take too long, then the Chariot, and the Stargazer's legacy won't ever be restored."

James nodded.

"But it hasn't been your ship since the 1600's, James. And there hasn't been a god that needed us to sacrifice ourselves to work out whatever the 'Divine Plan' may be in a thousand years, but I did it too." She said intensely. "There's our Hook. We fell right back into the pattern we had when we first came to this world."

James stared at her.

~~/*\~~

Two rooms away, Benedict hunched over the radio. "What's the situation there, brother Wallace?"

"Unsettled. Everyone knows we have to head for Sanctuary, but the reports are that the roads are becoming too dangerous."

"Dangerous? Surely not!"

"The announcement regarding the violence at the Undecided Colony has rattled people strongly. Some of the people here had family over there." Wallace responded. "There is something of a schism as to what that means. We got our instruction from an Organization that admits they are no longer our mediators to God. There is some debate as to whether or not..."

"Whether or not you trust them?" Benedict guessed.

"We all agreed the Sanctuaries were being managed in the strangest of ways. Ways that didn't make any sense, but got everyone working."

"These people need leadership." The thought came to him from somewhere. "Using the Old-Tech solutions turned out to work." Benedict offered. "The only buildings and vehicles left totally intact are ones that have never used advanced construction or repair technology."

"Sure, but they'll get the Database working again soon enough."

"They don't need to know how it was turned off." A little voice said from somewhere in Benedict's mind; and he bit his lip. "I can turn it on as soon as I get there."

"You can?!" Wallace seemed stunned.

"You can perform a miracle for them." "I can." Benedict admitted; but didn't elaborate. "I can turn the whole world back on."

"This is wonderful! Brother Benedict, if you can do that, it would be a miracle! A genuine miracle! It would solve everything. The rift between our people here would be solved. In fact, now that I think of it; that's what's lacking. With everyone so jittery, we need leadership. Strong leadership. You've been a well-respected Elder since the 'Now On Earth' conventions. That's a thousand years of experience. We need you!"

"They need you!" Benedict blinked back tears, touched by the man's faith, hating himself for the mistake he'd made. "I'll get there as fast as I can." He promised.

"Thank God for you, brother. We really need you here." Wallace enthused. "It's getting messy out there. We need someone we can really trust. Someone we can be sure of!"

Benedict shivered. Jehovah God, I swear, I will make this right. In your name.

~~/*\~~

Hugh and Kasumi heard the clip-clop of horseshoes on the road, and the squeak of wagon wheels, still made by hand from lumber and iron, even after so many centuries. The two of them hurried out to meet Isobel, rolling up to the house in her wagon. The Romani beauty waved happily at her oldest friends in Paradise, and jumped down to run to them. The hug went on for several moments as they reunited.

Isobel pulled back enough to gesture at the useless plane. "So, I guess you guys have a story to tell." She gestured back the way she came. "The rest of the Caravan is heading East. We can catch up with them fairly soon."

Hugh and Kasumi climbed aboard the Wagon and Isobel cracked the reins. As they hurried back to the rest of her group, Hugh filled Isobel in on their story. He told her about the false Angelic Visit, Zann's people stripping the plane, and their fears for Megan.

"It's happening all over the place." Isobel told them seriously. "The Brotherhood is fracturing. It's been a thousand years without error for some of these people. So when they get a 'problem' happen to someone, it's like everyone jumps back to keep the 'sin' off." She tilted her head back at the rest of the Wagon. "Hugh, I've got a radio. It's low power, and low range; but if we're close enough to Sanctuary, you might be able to get word on Megan."

Hugh thanked her and climbed back into the Wagon, leaving Kasumi and Isobel up front.

"Hugh's taking it kind of rough." Kasumi admitted quietly. "He died in a war. He loved that there was no such thing as an 'enemy' here. Having factions form again? It's got him more rattled than anything else I've ever seen, in the eight hundred years we've known each other."

"Yeah?" Isobel was surprised.

Kasumi gave her a sad smile. "Hugh's thing was prejudice. He had to overcome a lot of wartime thinking towards German and Japanese brothers. When he first came back, he wouldn't believe any of us about anything until he got back to Brooklyn and saw what had become of his hometown." She pointed at her face. "When he first met me, he all but ran in the other direction."

Isobel shook her head. "He obviously got over it."

"He did." Kasumi agreed. "And he was proud of that little achievement. Some people still haven't. Or at least, they haven't faced that part of themselves. That's why Zann has him so twisted up. Hugh sees his old problem suddenly come back into play; and he's not liking it."

~~/*\~~

Life inside Sanctuary was crowded, but optimistic. The lack of Database Access was actually keeping up morale. The only thing to do was greet each other and celebrate the numbers growing. Not knowing about family and friends hung over everyone's head, but they knew they'd get that answer eventually; and there was almost nobody left in the world who didn't have patience.

Every now and then, someone would filter in with new information, so announcements were made to keep control of the rumors.

"Our latest reports say that there's been an uprising in the middle eastern regions." Brother Sheridan told those in his Sanctuary. "A large group have banded together, and they're saying they won't accept the Land Assignments they have been living under all this time."

There was a loud murmur.

"According to our reports, they are now claiming the old lands, according to their old boundaries. The people currently living there are being… marched out. No word on anyone being hurt; but there are millions of people walking across the countryside now. They were just… routed."

"Another war." Kit hissed, trying to comprehend such a thing.

"We knew that was coming eventually." Melody shook her head in jaded awe. "I don't get it. Part of what won me over was the idea that everyone had a home now. Why would anyone who's been… displaced, not want the same thing?"

Brother Sheridan heard that, and answered. "For some nations, religion was a way of life, even in a warzone. You've read all four testaments. The first two were tied almost exclusively to a single part of the world. A part of the world that is barely visible on the global map. But that's still thousands and thousands of years where the land you walked around on was as much a part of your belief as God. In a lot of these people's minds, they're the same thing."

"Holy Lands." Melody mused quietly. "But we're here now. Everywhere is Holy Land."

Kit squeezed her hand. "Melody, don't assume that the majority of them were holding onto their guns because they thought a loving creator wanted them to do it. It's personal."

Melody looked over at her. "Your husband, Kasuf? He's from one of those ancient parts of the world, isn't he?"

Kit nodded, feeling it. "He has family that are still out there, last we heard."

~~/*\~~

"There seems to be quite a discussion going on below decks." Atxi reported to James. "I'm a little concerned that we've set course for California. There are closer places to find Sanctuaries."

"We still have time." James promised. "I've been listening to the radio. The Foundation may be the only place left where we can drop off our passenger in time for him to turn the Database back on."

"And when he does, I'm sure the world will want to know who to thank for such an amazing turn of good fortune." Atxi countered.

"This isn't like the old days. It's not my old sins coming back to haunt me-"

"Isn't it? Saving your old ship? Hunting a Treasure? Taking chances with your life when the Authorities are coming after you?" Atxi paused as the terminal beside her dinged. "Another castaway?"

James looked. "No. It's airborne… and it's slowing down." He turned to look out over the water; and they saw the aircraft. It wasn't like any other they'd seen; more narrow and compact. It slowed to hover on the same sort of repulsors as the usual Auto's, but it was the first thing they'd seen in the air since the Database failed. The radio crackled beside them. "If that's the Nicholas, I believe you're expecting me. I'm looking for Alec Ducard."

"Ah. The client." James snatched up the radio. "This is the Nicholas. We have your passenger on board. Though I'm a little curious how you found his location."

"All boats, including private and rented craft, have transponders." Grant's voice responded. "I was tracking him from the moment he launched. When the Database failed; I thought it safe to assume he would be in the same place; but I wasn't sure what condition his boat would be in." They could hear the grin in his voice. "Of all the charter services in this part of the ocean, I picked yours because you started out long before the Database took over navigation for all the world. Your company details the time your founder spent as a sailor in OS. I figured you'd have at least one ship that was still seaworthy."

"Well. You were right." James admitted. "I'll bring my ship to a halt so that you can board; since your craft can hover."

Atxi hit the intercom to the rest of the ship. "Brother Ducard, your ride is here, if you still want to leave."

~~/*\~~

By the time Grant and James had figured out how to dock their two craft together enough for the passengers to come aboard the Nicholas and stretch their legs; Benedict and Alec had made it up on deck; in the middle of a heated discussion, though what they disagreed on, neither of them were sure.

"The organization is over now." Alec insisted. "What the conventions said about how the Covenants moved us progressively into a more and more personal relationship with God? Well, here's the final form. Nothing but us and Him."

"The Organization is what built Sanctuary." Benedict said seriously. "God is pulling back His control for the duration of the Test, leaving it up to us. It's just like the Last Days all over again, and the Elders have always been-"

"The Elders have disbanded too." Alec put in. "It's up to us now."

"We still have each other." Benedict countered. "We still care about each other. A thousand years of that? It's still our best chance." He turned to James, Captain of the ship. "And besides, I can still provide the miracle the world needs right now. I can turn it all back on."

James and Atxi traded a look. The plan to get him there had soured a bit with their conversation.

"We've been here before." Alec said simply; as if that ended the argument. He turned to Grant; then looked past him and saw the rest of his passengers, tearing up. "You all came after me?"

Megan pulled her head in. "Sort of." She admitted. "We all needed a little help to get this far, Uncle Alec. I'm not sure how you wound up out here; but I do know that Beckah's in Sanctuary. She got an Auto there before the Database went down. That's our next stop."

Alec already had his bag; with the last of his possessions in a pack over one shoulder. He glanced at James. "Permission to leave the ship, Captain?"

"Granted." James said automatically.

Alec hesitated, and addressed James and Atxi. "I'm embarrassed about how close I came to following through on the wrong choice. You guys were there for me at the lowest point. An answer to a prayer, in fact. I won't forget you."

Behind Grant, Biggs and Megan were trading looks, trying to figure out what was going on. Biggs had known Benedict in OS.

He turned to go, and Benedict called him back. "Wait. What did you mean, about having 'been here before'?"

"When Tribulation broke out, the Heavenly Class was all 'swept up'." Alec explained. "They'd been the head of the organization for a long while, and then they were just gone. They were smart. They knew it was coming, and they put helpers and leaders in place so that the 'hand-off' was quick. But it doesn't change the fact that some people lost their nerve at the eleventh hour, because they wanted the people they knew and trusted to tell them what to do."

Biggs spoke up. "In fact, I remember our Warden made that announcement during GT; telling the brothers that their leaders had fled with millions of dollars and left them to twist."

Benedict nodded to Biggs, acknowledging that. "I remember."

"Now it's happened again. Our leadership has turned to smoke; and yet something better is right there." Alec summed up and went towards Grant's aircraft.

James watched Benedict carefully. Benedict had survived that time too. Alec was pushing buttons without realizing it. Part of James was hoping Benedict would agree on the spot.

"I have to go back." Benedict insisted. "I have to make it right, before I can face God and say I've done all I can."

"What's going on?" Biggs asked Benedict, honestly confused. Benedict had been an Elder for longer than Biggs had known him. "You're still going to Sanctuary, right?"

Hard silence.

And then, from the most unexpected direction; the stalemate broke. "Take me with you." Atxi said to Grant.

"Atxi?" James choked out.

She came over to her husband and kissed him tenderly. "There's a lot of uncertainty right now. You're wondering about Sanctuary. And I guess, on some level, so am I. But I made the bold sacrifice once, and I was wrong. I'm not taking the chance this time." She looked down. "Not if there was any other way." She looked up at him. "Come with me."

"Sweetheart, if Benedict is right, I might even beat you there." James reminded her.

"And if he's wrong, we may never see each other again." Atxi said seriously. "I've been through that before."

"Of course you can come along." Megan declared. "Whatever doubts may be circling around the world, I don't have them. I think everyone should-"

Grant gestured for Megan to be silent. Biggs looked the question to him, and Grant spoke quietly. "Only room for six people. It was built for speed and redundancy, not passenger space. I don't even have a co-pilot chair. I only thought a few family members might need it. Dexter added a passenger. We came for Alec. Someone new coming too means..."

"Means there's no room for anyone else." Dexter spoke up, not lowering his voice at all. Everyone turned to look at him. "Sister Atxi, you can have my seat." He said immediately.

"No." Rika said quickly.

"Our ride wasn't designed with me in mind." Dexter said practically. "It was designed to be ready if your extended family needed help to get there." He pointed at Benedict. "We've been told that when we get to the Foundation, the Database can be turned back on. I can take an Auto to the nearest Sanctuary."

"You're still taking a chance on dragging it out too long." Megan said neutrally.

"As Atxi would be taking that chance, going by boat if there's no room for her with you." Dexter returned. "Rika, Megan… It may have been a while ago, but I still cost you both a lot. I made it worse by being a reason for you both to delay getting to Sanctuary. Now I make that right."

Rika looked to Grant, seeking his opinion.

Grant sighed hard. "When I started making this thing, I figured the risk would be you and Megan, maybe Nick and Isobel. I thought all the Trib Survivors in the family would be there before the gates opened." He gestured around at the assorted company. "I had no idea Dexter would be with us, and I still have no idea who Atxi is."

"Have you heard from Nick and Rachel?" Megan asked.

"They got there long ago." Grant nodded. "And I saw Hugh and Kasumi land before I even took off."

"So, you've got two extra seats, and two people who are suddenly in a hurry." Dexter said, gesturing at Alec and Atxi; as if that solved it.

"What was it you said?" Biggs couldn't help but ask of Grant. "God's the sort who knows how many seats you need on a lifeboat?"

James, the lifelong sailor, snorted at that. "Look, you don't have room for everyone on your plane; and this is still my ship. If my passengers want to go to California, I'm the only one that can get them there."

That was more or less the end of the conversation, and everyone started making haste.

Atxi had enough time for one last word with her husband. "We've been here before." She said. "The day I thought you were going to Age Out. You came close, but you made the right choice. The Final Test is about the faith God has in us. I have faith enough in you to be sure you'll make the right choice in time. You're at your best when the clock is ticking."

James couldn't help the laugh, but it faded quickly. "We will see each other again." He promised, kissing his wife passionately. "Now hurry. I have to get to the Foundation, and fast."

Biggs' eyes were glued to Benedict as he backed towards his ride; still trying to figure out what he was looking at.

~~/*\~~

"Hugh! Kasumi!" Moira called brightly.

Kasumi jumped down from Isobel's Wagon before it even stopped moving, running over to give Moira a hug. "Ohh, there's a face I really needed to see today."

Moira hugged her back. "Been a long trip, huh? You must be hungry." She guessed, gesturing at the rest of the Caravan, already setting up. "We're serving lunch in a few minutes."

"Do we have time?" Hugh asked, joining his wife.

"We've been moving without break for two days. It was almost a full day's ride just to get the three of you to catch us up. The horses are tired." Moira excused. "Besides, we need to figure out our destination."

"Sanctuary." Isobel said, as though it was obvious.

"Yeah, but which one?" Moira countered. "We can keep going to the water, and Corrion will take us all over to Sanctuary J9 on his boat… but we'd have to leave some of the wagons. It's a shorter trip when you go over water, but the trip may take longer once we land. On the other hand, we follow the highway and we reach Sanctuary J8, but…"

"But you don't know how safe the roads are." Hugh finished for her. "I think Zann's people took the Highway; though they have their own transport to Jerusalem."

"Either way, we're safer if we go together." Moira nodded. "You're welcome to come with us, of course."

They were the first people to offer help in days, after a thousand years of cooperation and friendship coming as naturally as breathing. Kasumi let herself breathe at last, feeling like she was finally coming to the end of the ordeal.

Hugh noticed Isobel was suddenly watching her mother with a hooded look, and sidled over to her. "Problem?"

Isobel shook off her expression immediately. "No. No problem."

~~/*\~~

The gates in Jerusalem's city walls were still open. People had been entering Sanctuary since it started. But it was getting close to full now, and everyone knew it. There were few reports trickling in that suggested that not one Sanctuary had overfilled yet. Jerusalem had been a city, before a Sanctuary; and there were reports of some people leaving to be with family, or for some other reason; but these reports were a minority. Before the Database went down, a surprising number of Gold Letters and Trib Survivors had camped around the outside, waiting to be let in. Getting there was easy at the time, and they were drawn to the reputation of the place.

Prophecy had warned that there would be an attack coming from immense crowds of people, but there had been no sign of an attack massing. Not yet.

Zann had reached the rest of his people in the Jerusalem area. They had been rallying near the city, trying to figure out their next move. When Zann joined them, they all had the same question: 'What do we do now?'

"Word is that the Dormitories are close to full." Zann was told by his friends. "There's not enough room for all our people. If we're going to try and get to another Sanctuary, we have to move very fast."

Zann saw many faces he knew, people he had known and lived with for a thousand years, and they were all looking to him intently; waiting for direction.

"This is our place." The thought came to Zann from somewhere.

"Jerusalem is our city." Zann told his people. "We've been commanded to welcome outsiders into our lands for a thousand years, and we have done so; but it's not a coincidence that Jerusalem is the only city turned into a Sanctuary site. God could have made every capital city a Sanctuary; but He only did so here. People from the nations can go to any Sanctuary in any Nation around the world. This is our place."

"Except it's full." Someone answered him. "Do the people here have time to go elsewhere?"

"Isn't that their problem?"

"They chose to come here, to a place that wasn't theirs." Zann said seriously. "We know that not everyone will make it. It's a tragedy, but it's a fact. It was prophesied; and we have to look out for our own now." Zann squared his shoulders. "So. We have to make some room. Get them out of Sanctuary, and our people in."

"I think I can help you with that!" A voice called, and someone pushed their way to the front of the crowd. "My name is Jadu. I want to make a deal."

~~/*\~~

Safely in Sanctuary, Kit was in prayer when she felt a presence nearby, and looked up. "Elizabeth?"

"Don't let me interrupt." Elizabeth stayed in the doorway.

Kit waved her in. "Nono, please join me. Biggs isn't here, and Kasuf is trying to get our census sorted out. Something that wasn't widely talked about? The Sanctuaries are placed like the old Repeater Towers. But with the Printers down, practically the only places that can still send and receive are the Sanctuaries themselves."

Elizabeth came in. "That was actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I spoke to Argo. He's been looking for 'Aunt Meg' since we got here. And he can't find her. Anywhere. Not in any of the Sanctuaries." She bit her lip. "I was hoping you might be able to help, seeing as…"

"Seeing as she's my sister-in-law." Kit nodded. "Megan is not in Sanctuary. Neither is Biggs."

Elizabeth froze. "Oh…"

"I don't know what that means yet, but I can't believe it means the worst." Kit said seriously. "It could be something as simple as him not putting his name down on the Census, could be something more serious. But Biggs is a Trib Survivor; just like us." She pulled out her Device. "After A-Day, it took months to put a full census together. Believe it or not, I held onto a copy; all this time." She turned the Device to face Elizabeth. "The percentage of Trib Survivors that were in here as soon as the doors opened is well over ninety percent." She put her Device away. "Liz, during GT, you and Biggs couldn't get to me until it was almost over. I never told anyone, but my mortal fear was that I was being kept apart from the others because I wasn't going to make it." She smiled. "God never gave up on me, and my brother never gave up either."

Elizabeth smiled. "Right. It's not over until it's over." She paused. "I just wish I had something better to tell Argo."

"Tell him we can expect a lot more people flooding in soon." Kit reported.

"What? How do you know?"

"Well, people have been arriving all day, here and there." She explained. "I've been hearing bits and pieces; and it looks like it's a question of range." She went over to the table, where a map of the area was laid out. "The Sanctuaries on this map are marked in gold; the major towns are marked in blue. Notice anything?"

Elizabeth looked. "Fairly uniform distances. From towns, and from each other."

"Yup." Kit nodded. "Before the Database went offline, it was a matter of picking your favorite place to meet up with family and wait out the storm. But then the lights went out, and everyone had to make their way to the nearest lifeboat. The ones that were here already are inside. The ones that were able to improvise something, they've been coming in here and there. But the majority of people had to come on foot; and they're still on the way. Average foot speed, average distance…"

"You're saying the majority of people are still on their way."

"Yup." Kit suddenly sounded exhausted by the whole thing. "Of course, the people who aren't coming are still out there too."

~~/*\~~

Jerusalem and her surrounding area had undergone many changes over the centuries, and construction had left a new terrain; but with the Arcology, tall enough to be seen from everywhere in the region, they had no chance of getting lost.

"Why don't we just go in?" Heda demanded. "Sanctuary is right there. Surely, the smartest place to fight your enemies is from inside the walls?"

Zann actually agreed. He'd been planning to seize the Sanctuary quickly, and make sure only the right people were safe within. But now that he was here, there was something holding him back. Something ironclad. Something he couldn't defy. And he didn't know what it was.

"No." Zann heard his voice say. "We're not going in until we have everyone with us. We know our people won't be going anywhere else."

"Numbers might become the problem! Sanctuary is filling up; and if we wait…" Heda waved back at the street. "There's a huge mass of people still to come."

"We can get them to leave. That's what the Dopple-Cast is for." Zann said firmly, and went looking for Jadu. "Speaking of…"

They found Jadu in short order. He was already finished creating the 'cast', and played a preview for them. "I just worry that people will say it's a lie."

"What are we lying about?" Zann reasoned. "It will say that this Sanctuary is filling up, and certain people have thousands of other places they can go to anyway. Hasn't that been the whole-"

"But we're not just saying that, we're having a specific person say that. Even if the message is right, isn't it like faking a signature?"

Zann hesitated. The thought came to him again, like the reassuring sound of his father's voice. "Is it really a lie?"

"We're just using it for this." Zann said firmly. "We just have to keep people from filling up our Sanctuary any further than it already is. After all, by the time we get all our people inside, it will, in fact, be overcrowded." He brightened. "If we're lucky, maybe the people inside will leave before it gets any more serious."

Jadu looked uncertain.

Zann let out a breath, and realized Jadu needed a little hand-holding. "Jadu, you know we hold you in the highest esteem. You're worried that if you help us protect our inheritance, then immediately after, we're going to decide to kick you out? Well, I assure you, that won't happen. And more importantly, we don't intend to kick out anyone who needs to stay. Many of our children and their children have families, wives… They're all welcome in God's house. We just want to make sure that Jerusalem is filled with the people who can legitimately claim to belong here. Whatever room is left over will be available for everyone. But for thousands of years, this is the way it has been. Our own first, and the foreign resident is then treated with compassion. Every single person in there right now has family in other Sanctuaries… because those are the lands they come from."

Jadu nodded, looking up at the walls. "It is a beautiful city."

Zann nodded. "I didn't live to see her built." He admitted. "It was still a dream until I came back."

"Really?" Jadu was surprised. The way he talks, you'd swear he built it with his own hands… He shook it off. "We have the Dopple-Cast prepared, but… Transmitting it will be the problem."

"Nobody encrypts transmissions, beyond setting the frequency."

"I know, but it's a question of power. The Mains aren't running, because of the Shutdown."

"Well, figure something out." Zann said, as though it was a simple matter of him thinking a little harder.

~~/*\~~

"I find myself looking for faces I don't know." Kasumi commented quietly to her husband. "Does that make me a very bad person?"

Hugh sniffed, knowing exactly what she meant. "No. I'm doing the same."

Unless you were going somewhere entirely new, travel was all about stepping away from the people you knew and loved and saw every day, and joining the people you knew and loved and saw infrequently.

Hugh and Kasumi had their own joyous reunion with the Caravan. True friends. They had visited every time the Caravan traveled through their area; which was every five or six years before they disbanded. But it had been a while since they took a journey together.

"You guys seem to have taken to the change in situation better than most people." Hugh observed.

"Well, not that I don't love the people we meet along the way, but we're still a company town on wheels, even after this long." Moira admitted. "I guess, for us… It hadn't reached us yet, if that makes sense."

"Eight hundred years, and you still consider yourself to be 'other people'." Hugh commented lightly.

"Not other people. Just... other place." Moira admitted. "It's hard to think of yourself as a local in any place when you never stop moving."

"Hm." Isobel observed archly, but nobody commented on it.

The Caravan did seem far less touched by the chaos around it than anywhere else they'd been yet. The bonfires lit while they camped still smelled the same, the spiced stew in the large cast-iron pots smelled and tasted the same, and the music was a little more melancholy, but the same couples danced again; as they had for many years. Those without married mates danced with the same group they had always been in.

The Shutdown didn't affect their life at all. Hugh reasoned with a smile. Hi-Tech and Lo-Tech, side by side in the world.

Isobel watched the married couples dancing with a kind of distant loneliness. She'd been in the larger 'singles' group for most of her life, and had a dance partner only briefly.

Hugh and Kasumi joined the dance, leaning into each other tightly as the haunting guitar tune refrained. It was exactly what they needed after the first very bad day they'd had in centuries.

Isobel watched them, feeling jealousy grow for the first time in many years, their easy intimacy making her feel worse, and she could stand it no more, turning to pull her mother aside roughly.

"What? What is it?" Moira was surprised at the brusqueness.

"Mom, don't think you can fool me." Isobel said once they were alone enough to speak privately. "You said Corrion was able to take us all across the water on his boat. How can you be sure he's still there? Our radio's are meant to use local towers as repeaters and they're all offline. How could you get the Caravan this far without knowing if he was there?"

Moira stilled. "There… There was a plan in place, for this whole time of testing. We had contingencies agreed upon."
"Yeah, except the Caravan reformed for the trip to Sanctuary. Or so you told me." Isobel pressed. "Mom, how long do you want to keep playing this game?"

Moira was frozen. "Izzy… You have to remember how upset everyone was! Vano was part of the family for multiple generations, and-"

Isobel started to cry. No sobs, no sound at all, just a few large tears rolling down her face. "You didn't even tell me. How long after Vano did the Caravan stay 'disbanded'?"

Moira couldn't meet her daughter's gaze. "After a thousand years, it was just… not at all comfortable, being without each other. We thought maybe we could ease into it, staying together in groups, but… we just had too many connections. If someone wanted to ask a question, we had to call another group. If someone wanted to throw a party, we all knew who we wanted to invite."

"I didn't hear from anyone but you." Isobel protested. "And you didn't mention any of this!"

"You needed a clean break after losing your husband." Moira explained. "Of all of us, you were the only one desperate for new friends, and the only one who seemed to find any."

"So you just decided not to tell me that everyone felt 'comfortable' again, without me there." Isobel said, and her face was unreadable.

It was an expression Moira knew. She'd seen it when Isobel was a little girl, desperately wanting a birthday party with the village children, only to find out that their parents would never let their kids play with an 'undesirable' like her. Isobel had made her face a stone that day… And Moira had told her that she'd find all the love she needed with her 'own kind'.

Moira winced at her daughter's even face. The Caravan had, by unspoken agreement, left Isobel out. "I know this must be a hard thing to take on top of everything else happening in the world, but you know it makes no difference to how much I love my-"

"Your what?" Isobel countered swiftly. "The Caravan was home for so long that I forgot the rest of the world existed. We were so insular that it cost me a husband; and the only comfort I had was knowing that we learned the hard lesson from that tragedy. Now I find out that I'm apparently the only one that wasn't welcome back into the family."

"You are my daughter, you are always family." Moira protested. "But you were finally moving on from Vano, and I thought… I was afraid that if you came back, then-"

"Maybe. Or maybe it was because Vano's father was the head of our Caravan, and he didn't want me back as a reminder of what he'd lost. Because I can't help but notice he's back, and seems to be in charge again." Isobel said, pointing across the wagon circle. "See, it would have been very easy for me to stay away and avoid causing everyone pain and stumbling. I would have done so willingly… But I wasn't given that choice of whether or not to help in that way. And the fact that it was a secret means it was never really for me." Her mother was about to speak, but Isobel pounced. "Mom. What about Sanctuary?"

"What's that got to do with this?"

"I can read a map." Isobel retorted. "I know the routes we used to take. If you've been back together all this time, then you guys have gone past two Sanctuaries already, and it wasn't for me."

"They didn't have room for everyone." Her mother admitted.

"And you'd rather roll the dice than split up and be in two places." Isobel nodded. "A thousand years of habit is hard to break, huh?"

Moira could say nothing to that. "You had a life again. We had each other again. It seemed the most elegant solution."

"Yeah. The math works out perfectly once you subtract me." Isobel said tightly and stormed away from her mother.

Over closer to the bonfire, Hugh and Kasumi saw it, though they didn't hear what was said. With the barest glance between them, they split up. Kasumi went after Moira, Hugh went after Isobel.

~~/*\~~

Isobel didn't go far, in the mood to stomp out her frustrations a little, but unwilling to go too far from the Caravan, no matter how mad she was. Hugh was there, waiting for her. Isobel sighed, oddly pleased to see he'd given chase. Hugh was the oldest friend she had without connection to the Caravan; and that made him the only one she could confide in. In short order, she had told him everything. The reunion that she'd been left out of, the unspoken agreement among her own family to go on without her. Saying it out loud made it seem smaller, but she still felt more betrayed by it.

Hugh sighed. "I wish I could make this whole thing stop." He admitted. "After eight hundred years, we've all gotten used to things. That's not limited to your Caravan. For all our talk about how insular it is, the fact is almost everyone I know has gotten used to something. It's just… hard to imagine not having it anymore."

"What is it for you?" Isobel couldn't help but ask.

"Life." Hugh said simply. "You and I died in WW2, in a place where neither of us ever expected to reach old age."

"I remember wishing it'd hurry up already." Isobel admitted wryly.

"I know this is the Darkest Day for a thousand years, and I know a lot of people aren't going to make it, and if I'm honest, I'm reviewing everything I've done in my life, wondering…"

"Yeah." Isobel sighed. "Something I've noticed? The rest of the Caravan isn't. They're treating this like a regular day, with a regular destination; if not a relaxed pace." She looked down a bit. "And I can't blame them. Everyone they know is here, on the way with them. The only one who's hit a 'speed bump' is me."

Hugh squeezed her hand. "What do you think happens after?" He wondered.

Isobel wasn't sure if he was thinking out loud, or trying to lead her somewhere. "What do you mean?"

"After the Final Test. Is your extended family just going to keep going like this until the end of time?"
"I don't know." Isobel admitted. "One thing I've learned from seven or eight hundred years of life; you can't plan for eternity. You just don't know what it'll look like."

"Exactly." Hugh nodded.

Isobel smiled a bit. "Y'know, for all the fear the Final Test brings, we keep forgetting that it's a good thing. We've kept the past alive in our memories for a thousand years because Returned ones needed us to find that common ground with them, even as the world shone brighter and brighter. This is the end of that whole job. The day when the darkest, most difficult days can officially fade into nothingness and we're free of all of it. As you say, we both died in the wars. Me in the camps, you in battle. This time next week, we won't ever have to say those words ever again. The Returning meant we had to talk about it with the new people; but now there aren't any people who have to point to OS for any reason. Our history books start over with the end of this."

Hugh smiled. "There you are."

Isobel smiled a bit. "I was working up a perfectly good mad, you know."

Hugh chuckled. "We won't be parked long. And once we get to Sanctuary, we might be packed in a bit. One last dance? For the road?"

"One last dance." Isobel agreed, taking his hand and leading him back to the circle of wagons. "And then it's possible I may never come back to the Caravan again." She flushed. "Well, not for a long time, anyway."

~~/*\~~

Kasumi and Moira were having a similar chat. "I've spoken to people who were alive just before A-Day." Moira said quietly. "They're almost… nostalgic."

"The Witnesses spent their entire lifetimes preparing for an appointment that they didn't have a time for." Kasumi added. "Part of me feels greedy for having not heard of it before waking up here."

"I went through some of that myself." Moira agreed. "I guess we get to put our money where our mouth is at last. We can't count on luck or timing, or even death to carry us through this time. We're all Tribulation Witnesses now. We gotta earn our bones."

There was a pause as they both watched Isobel return to the Caravan, pulling Hugh along behind her as they went over, closer to the fire, and the music.

"Y'know, something? A hundred years ago, the Returning ended, and for the first time, I thought that I was putting my past behind me." Moira said quietly, watching her daughter. "I could go years without thinking about it, and then I'd meet someone who was just back fairly recently. It would all be new to them again... And they'd stare around the world with their jaws hanging open, and it'd remind me of something… I feel like the last hundred years was the first time we were actually seeing what we were meant to see."

"Thousand years are as a day, Mama-Moira." Kasumi said, in a mellow sort of way. "This isn't the Plan, this is the cleanup from the first bad week. Nick, he talks about a project, about how the creation and construction process is chaotic and sometimes messy, until the first construction is finished, and then the shakedown time begins. The first six thousand years of human civilization was messy, and the last thousand years was the shakedown time. A hundred years from now…"

Moira shook her head. "I wonder if we'll ever be sure that we've got it right. I don't just mean the world, I mean all of us. Every single Returnee has asked me if I regret my choices, and…" She sighed. "I don't know how to answer that. I regret a lot of my choices, but all of them lead me here; and I like my life. I like my life, Kas. I wonder if I had turned left instead of right, would I like it more, or less?"

"I don't know. But I do know you'll never find out." Kasumi said simply.

Moira sighed. "No, I guess not." She rose, brushing down her skirts. "I'm going to pack up the last of the food. We've rested the horses enough."

Kasumi jumped up. "I'll go with you. I want another cup of this cocoa before we start running again." She smiled sideways at Moira. "Unless you're willing to give me the recipe."

"I told you, my recipe book stays right where it is, under armed guard." Moira said imperiously with a smile, but put her arm in Kasumi's. "Come on then, let's see if there's any left."

~~/*\~~

Over by the fire, the few couples still dancing made room for Hugh and Isobel.

"Y'know, I never thanked you, for taking me in when Vano died." Isobel said softly. "I was the most lost I'd ever felt. I hadn't been that 'adrift' since I was Returned to a world without any of the Caravan even alive." She gave him an emotional smile. "You and Kas keep rescuing me when I'm alone in the world."

"This time you rescued us." Hugh admitted. "But something I've figured out about Paradise, Izzy: No one is alone."

"I know. But there's a difference between being on your own and being lonely. Most of my life, I never felt either. But when I do, it's because I'm both."

"You were my hero." The thought jumped into her head, though she didn't say it out loud.

"Can I ask you something I have no right to ask?" Hugh commented, relaxing into the dance steps with the ease of long experience.

"How come I never married again?" Isobel guessed the question.

"Or before. You waited a long time."

"Well, as I said, I was never lonely, never separated from the people I loved. And after the first hundred years… I figured if the world was always going to get better, and better. And better." She shrugged.

"Why settle?" Hugh finished.

"Terrible reasoning, I know." Isobel sighed ruefully.

The two of them danced together for a while. Neither of them were feeling particularly energetic, and just swayed for a while, as they had done a hundred times before.

Isobel glanced over at the others to make sure they were out of earshot, and leaned in close to quietly confess something in Hugh's ear. "Before Kas, I would have married you, if you'd asked."

Hugh was stunned. "Really?"

Isobel nodded. "You spent a long time with us then, and you had my mother's approval. That's something that hasn't happened more than twice. But I knew you wouldn't want to stay, because wherever the caravan was, Kas wasn't there."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I knew you would have been happier with her; and I would have been happy for you and her together." Isobel said simply. "Arranged marriages were not uncommon in OS. Not for people like me. I think we would have been friends, and I think we would have been happy; but it turned out better this way."

"It did." Hugh admitted. "Did Kas know?"

"I told her, after Vano. She wasn't upset." Isobel said softly. "I have to admit, back when we first met, if I'd known how things with Vano would turn out, how long it would be… I would have…" She caught herself.

"No harm in being honest." The thought came to both of them.

They weren't dancing anymore. Neither of them had noticed the music had stopped, neither of them aware they were still standing in so close. He started to say something else, when he noticed just how her eyes had suddenly become so big and dark and deep, and he suddenly realized she was looking at his lips…

Their eyes met, and she didn't even realize she was leaning in until their lips touched... and she blinked, like something cloudy was passing out of her eyes and they stepped back, startled by the electric moment.

Automatically, Hugh looked back toward the Wagons, and saw Kasumi glaring at them with no small amount of anger. She'd seen the whole thing. Moira was with her, staring in disbelief.

Kasumi turned on her heel and stormed toward the wagon that she and Hugh shared during their visits with the Caravan. Those that had seen it happen quickly dove out of her way.

Isobel broke from Hugh like he was on fire and hurried quickly to her own Wagon. Moira went after her daughter. Hugh went after his wife.

~~/*\~~

Kasumi was furious when Hugh caught up with her. She was tossing their few things around, moving with quick sharp movements, filled with barely restrained temper. During their visits, it was their 'room'. Other times, the Caravan used it for excess storage. Either way, it was their only bet for privacy.

"You know that nothing would have happened." Hugh said simply. "Kas, we've been together for eight hundred years, and Isobel has been part of our family all that time."

"I know!" Kasumi kicked the cabinet again.

"Nothing would have happened. She was as caught off guard as you and I were. And even if she'd offered, I never would have gone along with it."

"I know that too!"

"Then why are you reacting like this?" He asked, confused.

Kasumi stilled and turned to stare at him. "I don't know." She admitted. Her voice had changed, suddenly sounding very small and confused. "I really don't know. I'm… I'm…" She struggled for the word. "I saw what happened, and suddenly I was just so… Angry!" She froze. "I was angry." She said again. "I don't get it. I haven't been this angry since… I can't even remember. Maybe not even in OS. Why am I so angry tonight?" She paled. "Unless, maybe; it wasn't coming entirely from me?"

Hugh reacted. "Yeah. I could see that. Just for a second, when you..." He shivered. "...when you weren't expecting it; an Angel shows up and tells you not to go into Sanctuary, and you obey."

Kasumi deflated. "How did this happen so fast?!"

Hugh reached again, and finally, she let him, stepping into her husband's embrace.

"I wonder how the angels felt the first time it happened." Kasumi said softly. "Never had a wrong thought, never had a bad impulse; and then one day…" Kasumi felt him shiver and came a little closer. "I used to feel that rage all the time when I was little." She admitted. "How could I not? I was so young, dying in a bed, and I never got a chance to do anything. I was so full of misery and anger… If the Witnesses had come to me then and told me that God loved me, I would have thrown my bedpan at them." She covered her eyes with his shoulder. "Anger. My problem is anger."

Hugh sighed a bit and looked out at the rest of the Caravan. Everyone was very pointedly not looking at them, or in the direction of Isobel's Wagon. But it was clear they were talking about nothing else. The moment had happened in full view, after all.

"No. We're not letting this fester." Hugh said decisively, and strode out of the wagon, to the center of the circle. "Everyone?! Can I have your attention for a moment please?"

~~/*\~~

At the other end of the Caravan, the same conversation was happening. Moira knocked at her daughter's wagon door three times without answer, and let herself in anyway. Isobel was curled in her hammock, looking shaken.

"I don't know what happened." Isobel said immediately at the sight of her mother.

"What did happen?" Her mother demanded in disbelief.

"We were talking about how it was 'back then', and how Hugh and Kas got together, and I started to think about how it might have turned out if I had just said something differently, and suddenly I felt so… Jealous." She blinked. "I was jealous." She said again, as if trying to convince herself of the word. "Why was I jealous?"

Moira stared at her daughter. "What do you think?"

"Mama, I've been an honorary member of the Alman family for more than half a millennium. I was a bridesmaid at the wedding. I was there applauding the moment they got together, and in centuries and centuries, I never felt anything but happy for them."

"So what happened?"

Silence as Isobel turned that over. "There was a part of the last convention that suggests people will come face to face with their old sins, their old weaknesses; to see if they had changed." Isobel looked down. "Back in OS, my thing was jealousy." She looked at her mother, teary. "Every town we stopped at, there was always a lawman telling us to move on, or a padre warning about the 'undesirables' like us. I was nine years old, and everyone who wasn't 'one of us' made sure their kids never came over to play a game with the 'gypsy brats'."

"Jealousy." Her mother said it like a sigh. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Would it have made a difference? I had everything I would ever need, or was likely to get; and all within the caravan." Isobel said softly. "Eight hundred years. And I think that none of it will stack up against one stupid mistake which took one stupid moment."

"I'd give them more credit than that." Moira squeezed her hand.

There was a knock on the side of the Wagon. "Izzy, you'd better hear this."

Isobel came out of the wagon with her mother to find Hugh was standing by the fire, telling everyone their story.

"-turned out that our daughter wasn't there!" He was saying. "And that was when we saw 'him' again, and realized we had been duped. It was never an angel at all." He saw Isobel. Standing beside him, so did Kasumi. "We've known most of you for centuries, off and on. We were warned once that part of the reason we're so grateful to Jehovah God is because He sees us as more than our mistakes. That's what the last thousand years have been built around. Well, we've all had many years to get a sense of what humanity is really like. What we're like when we're away from a corrupt, selfish world. When we're not fighting over scraps to stay alive. When we don't have literal demons in our ears. We finally have an idea of what humankind really is. Except for right now. From the moment the Dragon was loose, till the moment Sanctuary closes; we're seeing the worst of us come back to lash out for the first time in a thousand years. Try to see yourselves, and each other, as more than your mistakes. All Satan sees is weakness. Look at yourself through Jehovah's eyes."

Throughout this little speech, Isobel had been looking around. He wasn't winning anyone over. They agreed; but none of them were about to say so. And more than a few of them were reacting to her the same way. It was such a small lapse, just for half a heartbeat...

Unable to stand it, Isobel backed away from the whole thing.

~~/*\~~

"Mind if I join you?"

Grant looked up and found Biggs in the door to the cockpit. "I'm afraid I don't have a seat for you." He said, but waved him in.

Biggs came in and looked over the back of the pilot's chair, getting a look at the control center for Grant's plane. It was a cockpit, but the controls were different. The panels were all screens, rather than dials and needles. The flight controls were focused towards observing the outside, instead of pilot control. "Can you even fly this thing without the computer?"

"Without the computer? No. But without the Database, I can." Grant told him, tapping his large headphones. "I'm been listening to the radio bands. Every frequency you can think of, I can hear for a thousand miles. There's still plenty of people talking to each other out there." He pulled off his headphones and held them out. "Want to hear?"

Biggs leaned close enough to pull them on; listening to the people talking to each other, far away. "Someone calling for reinforcements?"

"Looks like it. And I think it's the Foundation."

Biggs blinked. "Rachel and Nick?"

"No. I confirmed they made it to Sanctuary some time ago. In an airship, of all things." Grant said seriously. "So this is happening in their absence. I've heard some of the Collectives calling in their members, heading for the Foundation Tower. It's a landmark they feel comfortable with." He tapped at the screen beside the flight controls, and pushed his chair back swiftly; turning to a screen with a large map displayed. "You should know, I think I heard Belle's voice. She's Rika's friend, and she's not going the right way."

"I appreciate the warning, if I have to give her the bad news." Biggs checked the controls automatically. "You built this thing with autopilot?"

"I had to." Grant said, not really paying attention to him. "I wasn't sure if any of you would be coming with me; and even if you did; I wasn't sure if you knew how to fly a plane."

Biggs just stared at him. Jehovah God, he prayed automatically. There was a time when I feared this man so much. I was scared for my life during every conversation with him.

"So, that's three factions that have formed." Grant said, considering his map. "If Benedict can turn the world back on, it may be risky to fly over Expo territories. Zann's people are claiming the Holy Lands; and some like-minded people are driving the 'foreigners' out. So the ancient hierarchies, and the futurists are divvying up their territory, as well as a few former Gold Letters; who want things to stay the same…"

"Still wouldn't start Benedict's eulogy yet." Biggs put in. "He and I were sharing a Cell when Tribulation happened. He even Baptized me, in a Stone Prison wash-tub."

Grant sniffed. "Still, it turns out Alec's fears weren't far off. The Organization has been the only true direction for a thousand years, but with the Millennium up, there isn't an organization of any kind anymore."

(Author's Note: In the book 'Pure Worship of Jehovah—Restored At Last!' Chapter 22, Paragraph 24 says: 'those who rebel at the end of Christ's Millennial Rule are described as "nations." This is a telling description. Why? Because during the Thousand Year Reign, all nationalistic divisions will have been removed... By calling these rebels Gog and Magog and saying that they are "nations," the prophecy indicates that Satan will be successful in fostering divisions among some of God's people. None will be forced to take Satan's side. Each perfect individual will make his or her own choice.")

"How did you know?" Biggs asked the question in a rush, as though asking would make Grant throw them all out. "When we heard about this project of yours; we wondered if you were getting ready to make some kind of move. You were more ready for this than anybody. I was expecting this whole thing for a Thousand Years. You were the Last Returnee." He spread his hands wide, beseeching. "How?"

"I know why I was brought back last." Grant said quietly. "When I came back, I had to… confront the people I cut down for profit and power." He gestured at Biggs. "And the ones that I employed to do so. I always knew how to recognize a desperate soul. I knew how to spot someone who was fooling themselves about their own 'morals'."

"Like Seth?" Biggs guessed.

"I looked him up years ago. One conversation, and I knew he hadn't really forgiven. He'd only tried to forget. In a world where everyone has perfect memory." Grant sighed. "I knew the rules of the game had changed when I found Melody. I knew things would never go back to the way they were once I found you. And when I found out about the Final Test, I knew everyone would have to earn it." He looked over at Biggs again. "And I knew what it would take to earn it, ever since my last day in OS; when my toughest enforcer told me that he was going to be an honest man, forgiven by a loving God; in spite of what seemed like the simplest bit of common sense."

Biggs was stunned at that.

"A hundred years ago, I came to you all and told you that this world had one weakness: It only worked because everyone worked together. I imagined a day when the whole world would have to refuse their demons, the way you refused me. And most people then couldn't imagine a world where the cars wouldn't come when you called." Grant sighed. "I wasn't sure if the Wings would get you here, Biggs. At least, I didn't know when I started preparing. But I knew the Devil's playbook. If offering power and wealth doesn't matter, threaten a loved one. It worked to pull Rika out of safety. It worked on Megan to send her after Rika… And it worked on you to send you after both."

"It did." Biggs agreed. "Is that really all it took?"

"No." Grant said knowingly. "For Rachel and Nick it was the same thing that shook Peter when Jesus was arrested. He was ready for martyrdom, until Jesus suddenly got taken. It wasn't just fear of man, it was feeling the Foundations shake. The one thing that seemed so unbreakable was suddenly gone. Rachel and Nick knew exactly how strong the world's infrastructure was. They were instrumental in creating it. I knew how much faith people had in the system they'd built; so I knew it wouldn't matter during the Test."

"Hence the idea to design a backup rescue plane, full of non-lethal ordinance." Biggs was shaking his head in disbelief. "And Alec and Beckah?"

"From Beckah, I knew that Alec had been bullied as a kid; purely because of his faith. I've been the very best bully to the very worst sorts of people; and I knew that the one thing all victims of bullying have in common is the quiet fear that maybe they're right to taunt you and put you down. Kick a dog often enough, and he starts to cower like he deserves it. Beckah had entered the new world from a wheelchair. She was a tower of strength to overcome every doubt Alec had; but that was in a world where Alec's doubts were only coming from himself. We both know how much power a self-loathing thought can have… and we know that it was a billion times worse in OS; because it wasn't all coming from us. Someone was pushing it along. Someone that you haven't worried about in a dozen lifetimes. It was quite a bit fresher for me."

Biggs sniffed. "You think you were saved for last, because our family would need someone who could recognize the battle; and know how to win it."

"Not win it. Survive it. Winning is not what I do anymore." Grant smirked. "All those scriptures about resisting the Devil, not one of them suggested that we'd break him."

Biggs bit his lip. "So, one last question. Why us? Why'd you decide to spend a hundred years preparing to save this extended family in particular?"

Grant smiled. "Your daughter was the one assigned to meet me when I came back. You think, given our Pre-Paradise history, that it was a coincidence?"

"No. But it never occurred to me that it would be for this." Biggs admitted. "What about Hugh and Kasumi?"

Grant shook his head. "Last I heard, they were closer to Sanctuary than I was. I can't imagine they left."

"What about you, Grant?" Biggs asked suddenly. "What was your weakness?"

Grant paused. "What to do with all this information." He admitted, tapping his notebook again. "Back in OS, when I got this much leverage on people, I owned them."

"I remember being one of them." Biggs admitted.

"I've never been on anyone's side but my own. It was… Tempting, to try and work the angles again." Grant sighed. "But I did that for a lifetime, and it got me a slow death in a prison hospital bed; and my own nurses were begging the fates to just hurry up and finish me off, because they hated looking after a monster like me." Grant sniffed. "Being dead changes your view on life somewhat." He returned to the controls. "We're almost… there." His voice became hushed and awed.

Grant had left his post on the edge of Sanctuary to collect the extended family. Biggs had been a few hours away before he turned back. This was their first time getting a proper look. The Sanctuary was alive, with lights on in every narrow window. The land outside was crammed full with people. People who were making no effort to get closer, or go inside. What they were waiting for, nobody could tell from the air; but there was a clean, open space between the walls and the crowd.

Biggs pointed. "That looks like a good place to land."

"I agree…" Grant said faintly.

"What's wrong?"

"Hugh's plane isn't there." Grant told him. "Last I heard, it was parked right there..."

Biggs paused, glancing back to see if his wife had heard. "Think good thoughts." He said quietly. "Their daughter is finally here. If they moved the plane to make space, then it's not an issue. And we've all been taking in by the appearance of things lately."