Prologue
When I return from my mission, the earth is gone. There is nothing left but empty, vacuous space. I panic and thank Evolai that I messed up and transferred to an off-earth pod instead of the one I was assigned to. When I'm done congratulating myself for accidentally surviving the apocalypse, I huddle in the corner of the station, unsure what to do next.
I was never prepared for this situation; in theory, it's impossible... can't happen according to the words of the mechanic. I should start configuring the computer for time-streaming before I can't anymore. It hasn't hit me yet, and for that I am again thankful. I know that the weakness of my nature soon will overtake me and I won't be able to concentrate. They are all dead; my family, my friends, my lovers, all gone. I am alone now. From the looks of the debris, they never even existed. I feel like my insides have evaporated. I suddenly panic that my bones have dissolved and that I'll fall down into a big structure-less skin puddle.
I remind myself that there must be others. Statistically speaking I know there are more scientists like me, floating in the past. I feel my bones begin to grow back slowly, every limb straightening and lengthening, like a tree trunk sprouting from the soil to the sky. The thought of trees and bones and other hard things grounds me. I stand up straight in my costume. It is the costume oldVera made for me. She tailored it with precision so that no one would notice how far away from home I was. Vera is gone now, but someone will return to an off-world pod and help me. I will not be alone forever and ever as I have always feared.
I breathe in slowly, daring my foolish, human mind to worry about such impractical things. I look around the station to see what I have to work with. It's hard to tell without going through the piles. There is virtually no assembled equipment. I will have to make the tools I need to survive. I know that I can do this. I can survive. In truth, I have lived through worse suffering than the homeless ness that stretches before me.
I have to live long enough to find my charge and set her straight. It is clear what has happened to the earth. We didn't win the war of the oppressed 650 years ago. They came and killed us all. They destroyed our planet and left a void where Evolai, the nature of all things, once thrived. It is clear. Heloise Christianson doesn't know who she is. I must tell her before it is too late.