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up.
    In that moment, the Atlantean Commander speaks again.
    “The journey to Atlantis itself will take approximately one Earth year—enough time to learn skills and integrate, so that when we arrive on Atlantis, you will feel at home, and you will know exactly what needs to be done. We start this journey and leave Earth’s orbit tomorrow, at exactly 8:00 AM, Earth Universal Time Coordinated, accelerating gradually. In about a week we will be outside your solar system. And then we will continue accelerating for six months, reaching incredible speeds within a special physical flux-state called a Quantum Stream, at which point we will Jump, crossing an immense light years distance in a blink, and emerge far in the Constellation of Pegasus. There we will decelerate for another six months, then emerge out of the Quantum Stream and arrive in our new solar system on Atlantis.”
    Commander Manakteon Resoi pauses. “And now, you will begin considering your choice, and you will begin your life with us. There are two thousand ark-ships in the Fleet, including four Imperial Command Ships. Each one of you is currently onboard one such great ark-ship, under the command of an Atlantean captain and crew. Today, you will learn who your captains are, and you will receive further instructions directly from them at the end of my transmission to you. With that, I leave you, and once again, I welcome you to your new life. As of now, you are all Atlanteans.”
    The display grows dark, replaced by a great square rainbow logo of Atlantis. We all continue staring, and in moments the large screen is refreshed and another face looks back at us. This one is a youthful woman, seeming ageless or merely an older teen, with shoulder-length golden hair and a serious expression.
    “Greetings to all of you,” she says in a loud no-nonsense voice. “I am Captain Bequa Larei, and you are onboard Ark-Ship 1109. After you make your choice of Fleet Cadet or Civilian, five days from now, it is likely most of you will remain here and be assigned to this same ship as your permanent living quarters for the rest of our trip. However, a number of you will be reassigned. For now, I want you to get to know the Atlantean Officers in charge of your Barracks and your Residential Section Deck. You will also familiarize yourself with the ship layout. A directory map can be called up at any display screen anywhere on the ship. Get to know this useful schematic because each of the ark-ships is identical, and you will need to know it regardless of what ship you end up being assigned to—”
    Captain Larei talks for about ten minutes, telling us important stuff about the ship, the various decks and their functions, the living quarters, the meal halls, the medical sections, the exercise and recreation decks, the classrooms and training centers, the hydroponics and greenhouses and resonance chamber hubs and various ship systems, on and on, blah, blah, blah. . . . My mind glazes over, I admit, which is very much unlike me, who usually soaks up learning and new facts like a sponge. But all I can think of is my brother George, as he was yesterday, riding his hoverboard, as he flies away, receding in the distance, and turns into a tiny speck against the sunset. . . .
    I will hear plenty more about this ship in the days ahead, but I will likely never see George again or have as clear a memory of his face as I do now.
    And so, I tune out mentally and submerge in precious flickering memories. . . . Eventually the Captain’s talk is over, and we are led back, and this time taken to a huge shuttle bay similar to the one in which we arrived last night. Since I haven’t studied the ship schematic yet, I don’t have any idea if it’s the same one or not, or if there’s even more than one, but it doesn’t matter.
    Here we are once again scanned by crew officials, and our token ID data is matched to our luggage. So we spend about three more stupendously dull hours waiting in