Ablation ✔️

3 - Left Behind

Talia's back arched and she could feel the air crushed from her lungs but she could say nothing. Her feet dangled lifelessly and she resigned, helpless to resist her assault as those arms pressed in squeezing her tight. They were stronger than they had any right to be, imbued with the strength of a decade of love, passion, and commitment.

At last, Milton set her down, Talia's only shock in that he hadn't twirled her helpless through the air like a soldier embracing his love on the return from a tour of duty. Her husband dabbed at his eyes, attempted to speak, then choked back the words.

"I understand, Milton. I do." Talia dabbed her thumb against his tears. They locked eyes, both choked, but Talia fighting back the emotion as best as possible. She couldn't cry in front of Milton. If she did, she didn't know that she'd be able to go through with the mission.

"My turn!" Bernard tugged at Milton's pants.

"What's that?"

"My turn! Hume!"

"Hume? Okay, Bernard." Milton bent down, embraced their two-year-old son, and lifted him up, hugging him tight. Talia turned away.

Hume was Bernard's word for hug me. Watching Milton with Bernard she could feel the emotional wall she had spent the better part of the past year building begin to crack. She had to focus on something else – anything else.

A few feet away she saw the same scene playing out with another family. Beyond that an elderly woman embraced Dr. Sam Keeling, Mímir Group's physician, surgeon, and linguist. From the look of it, obviously they were mother and son exchanging their final goodbyes. By the time Dr. Keeling and the other colonists arrived, his mother would likely be dead or senile. By the time a message could reach her, chances of the former would be far greater.

"Mommy, hume!"

Talia turned back to her family as Milton held out Bernard. She lifted her son from her husband and hugged the boy close.

"Tank you," he said, giggling the whole time.

"You're welcome, sweetie."

Milton broke into a wracking, full-chested sob.

"Oh no." Bernard twisted in his mother's arms. "Why's daddy sad?"

"We have to say bye-bye, sweetie. Saying bye-bye can be sad."

"Don't say bye-bye."

Milton and Talia exchanged a pained glance. Talia had known from the beginning how difficult this day would be, yet she had been unable to turn down the opportunity. It was historic, but more it was critically important. Humankind had talked for centuries of the need for a backup in case of an extinction level event. Since then they had colonized Mars and the rest of the solar system, yet those colonies still held a deep dependence on Earth and on luck. Man could survive unaided in those colonies, but a mechanical malfunction could easily destroy their fragile self-sufficiency. Anima, as the Global Coalition had named the target planet, offered real hope: a world on which humankind could survive even in the failure of technology – a breathable, habitable, Earth analog. To colonize it, to create that backup, required sacrifice.

"We have to," Milton said, hugging Talia again and squeezing Bernard between them. He laughed.

"Again! Again!"

Milton pressed close once more sending Bernard into another spasm of laughter. He squirmed and kicked as he squealed, then stretched out towards his father, pressing off from Talia with his feet. She knelt down, doing her best not to drop him, and minimizing the fall if she failed.