"Pauly sent me a text from the Engineering facility in Sector 4, where he is studying. His tutor asked him to bring parents for a progress report and define the next steps in his grooming. Would you and Jake consider giving us a lift with your minions. It wouldn't be much of a detour." Martha asks.

"I'm sure Jake would agree. We're in no real hurry and able to adjust the tour as we wish," Grace replies.

The next morning brings a very enthusiastic group to the HoverPad and they get underway. Jake sets the engineering community ETA for lunchtime and notices they have ample time for detours. Eschewing the ski resort for something more interesting is an easy decision. Jake includes points of interest for the kids to enjoy and soon reaches the Engineering community. They are met on the HoverPad by Pauly and his mentor, John. After some overdue hugs and kisses, they stroll towards the Mess Hall and go inside.

"How is your tour going?" asks John.

"Wonderful! Both fun and educational."

"Great, let's eat and gather in the park when we're done. After lunch, you kids can go to the playground to make new friends or stay with us to listen in."

"We want to stay!"

"Well and good, we'll get together in the park in about an hour."

The group reconvenes in a small depression of the ground where bench seats have been carved into the perimeter. They find a seat and John introduces himself.

"Welcome, Welcome; my name is John and we're here to update Pauly's parents on his progress and define the purpose for our community's existence. Please feel free to interrupt me whenever my communication is not clear. We'll begin with Pauly.

"He has been here for the last two years, off and on, to learn what is necessary to traverse the universe in what we call a "seed pod." The purpose of seed pods is to locate other livable planets, explore them and, if applicable, start a colony of humans. There are many unknowns to prepare for and all the individuals on board have to synchronize, cooperate and be aware of what needs to be done in any situation they encounter. Once they leave Mother Earth, they will age much more slowly than those of us here and will never be able to see their families and friends again. Pauly is willing to do that and David and Martha have somewhat resigned themselves to his wishes. I want to make sure they all understand what a huge commitment that is.

Michelle: "What's a seed pod, Mister John?"

"It's designed as a sphere, like our earth, and will contain sixty couples of approximately the same age. They will be voluntary soul mates, cleared of any preconceived notions, and equipped to survive in a new environment to begin a new civilization. The interior has much the same facilities as our communities. There will be Aquaponics and Hydroponics to supply their food, an anaerobic digester to process all waste as well as provide energy for interior activities. Exercise areas will maintain muscle tone and a jogging track is available as well. The sphere will rotate as all planets do to create centrifugal force and internal gravity. If you've experienced a ride that rotates and holds you against a wall while the floor is dropping, you get the idea.

"The onboard computer will mirror what we use in our communities and have additional capabilities. It will monitor very sensitive equipment that will analyze things like atmosphere, water content and other requirements for the human body to survive on whatever planets they encounter. Many will not qualify and the search will resume. The problem this causes is aging. Pods will get their propulsion power from stellar energy once out of gravitational pull. Huge vanes will deploy to capture sunlight just as our solar panels do. Since there is no resistance in a vacuum, the pod will be in a constant state of acceleration during its probing. According to our calculations, if we accelerate the pod to near light speed, onboard aging will be minimal.
If it travels nonstop at near light speed, about fifty years would bring the crew to the ends of the known universe. We are certain that many livable planets from the billions of galaxies available would qualify for humanity to thrive long before this happens. Worst case scenario is that the crew may have to start having babies in the pod so that their progeny can continue the search.

"What else are you planning for these journeys?" asks Martha.

"There are many things to consider, of course, John replies, but the most concerning is encountering humanoids already occupying the target planet. Probes will be sent to the surface to land in remote areas to sneak around and see what is going on. Primitive conditions that threaten alien life may necessitate returning to the pod, going back into space for a quick spin to have the inhabitants age a few hundred years and returning to see their development. At some point, a decision can be made to either join their civilization or seek a different planet. Our technology could be very useful to them if they accept us.

"The other side of the coin is finding a civilization more advanced than we are. In that scenario, we know our crew would be welcomed and comparing notes would help everyone advance. Any such civilization would have eliminated the hardships we suffered on this planet when the Morlocks were in charge. The last option is discovering a pristine planet suited to support our human form. Whatever life abounds there in whatever form it takes would be like a candy store of new experiences. Pod crews can have their children and teach them how to become stewards of natural beauty. The only danger here is that the gene pool may suffer. We feel sixty couples would avoid a genetic calamity.

"What drives you to this fantastic dream," Jake poses.

"The destiny of humanity is not to survive on Earth until she rids herself of our presence. Man has been aiming for the stars for ages. The methods to achieve that were not obvious in Days Before, at least not for average citizens. Many intelligent people questioned the leadership and were angry that they had to fight their own governments to have clean air and water. Conspiracy theories abounded. After the Morlocks lost their stranglehold on the population, we discovered some interesting things to explain their behavior. Why would the Morlocks recklessly despoil the planet for them to have more power? One potential reason was suggested when we opened the gates to Area 51 and 52 in what used to be called Nevada.

"Both areas were heavily guarded by military units and highly secretive. What we found confirmed one potential reason - virtually all equipment was related to space travel. Interviews with workers who had spent time there described an environment of Fascist and cruel conditions. Workers would be eliminated if they were just suspected of leaking what they were doing in the facility. Different crews would be cloistered in separate facilities to produce components for equipment they would never see. The assemblers of the huge Bill of Material were like inmates in solitary confinement while putting the pieces together. Those assemblers were the key source of information for us to envision what we are currently creating. Additionally, mounds of documents, schematics and even Nikola Tesla's papers were discovered. They had disappeared when he died and they contained huge amounts of information that we used in our energy systems.

"What did the Morlocks hope to accomplish?" Grace asks.

"Speculation is that they were trying to leave Earth's population behind with the horrendous mess they created. If they had had another generation, they may have been able to do that. Many world leaders knew of this plan and lobbied to join them. All members of what was called G20 were granted a seat and the G7 group took priority. There were not that many more to consider. We chose 120 passengers for our pods and that would probably satisfy most of the rats deserting our earthly ship. Political and religious systems played with people's minds continually to distract them from seeking the truth. All leaders were to follow the Morlock agenda or be assassinated. Visionaries like John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, John Lennon and many others were murdered because they cared about the whole population rather than feather their own nest. When Stalin attained power in his country, he immediately started eliminating the intelligentsia in what was Eastern Europe, about 25 million people. He learned his lesson from one Adolf Hitler who was responsible for the murder of nearly twenty million earth citizens during World War Two. The existing political leaders and the condition of the world suggested that history might be repeating itself.

"The change that started their demise began when the Green Party gathered enough momentum to overthrow the existing system. Once the unjust economic system crumbled and the floodgates of information opened, it didn't take long to restructure society on Mother Earth. The rest is history. The details are all available in our libraries and I encourage you all to research them if you're curious.

"People were now occupied with educating themselves instead of chasing dollars. Scientists of every discipline could share and grow their knowledge bases with their findings and theories. Mysteries kept hidden by the Morlocks surfaced. The Mayan civilization sculptures of astronaut-like figures and the Mayan calendar moved the idea of alien occupation from speculation to likelihood. The structure of pyramids for the purpose of triangulation made sense. Using pyramids as tombs for the aliens who were regarded as gods made sense. Huge drawings on the plains of the south and west continent were now interpreted as information that could be detected from orbit. After some deep genetical testing, one particular gene stood out among the rest and could only be termed "alien." The possibility that our civilization was invaded by an alien seed pod didn't seem farfetched anymore. After all, that's what we're doing, isn't it?

If the previous pod had deposited its cargo in a somewhat primitive environment the occupants would soon have to adapt to life here without technology and its vehicle(s) would soon run out of fuel. They would have to join the natives in order to live on. Likewise, they would have to copulate with the planet's population to maintain a healthy gene pool. There was no way to maintain a line of descent without becoming rulers. Those rulers knew how the brain works so they instituted systems of religion and politics to be managed by their progeny. Unfortunately, some of the mixed marriages created aberrations of humanity, creating despotic rulers like the ones that caused their own demise. Good riddance. Now we can go back to our true purpose. We are compelled to continue seeding the stars. That's why we do what we do.