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The Civilization has recently received credible intelligence that a group of six young people, ranging between the ages of five and seventeen, have escaped froents have informed us that they are likely headed toward the Mission Should they reach said destination, they are to be treated with the utmost care and hospitality They are to board the very next train and be brought back to the Civilization It is iin"

Yours, the Civilization

"We received that letter only a feeeks ago," Krugman says "That’s eren’t completely astonished when you appeared at our doorstep We were expecting you, see"

Sissy flips the paper over It’s blank She looks up at Krug on this train toed with suspicion "And you were going to tell us this, when?"

Krugh of mirth But inside that explosion of sound, I detect his irritation "Why, when young Gene recovered That’s when We weren’t about to get your hopes up only to be forced to dash theh toon just a couple of nights ago But look now," he says, looking at me, "he’s the very picture of health and vitality, isn’t he? So, you’ll be leaving us tos and, no doubt, the fondest of memories"

For a randfather clock

"What about the Scientist?" I say "Why wasn’t he sent back to the Civilization? You’d think he would have received the same treatment as us Why wasn’t he fast-tracked?"

The air tenses In the ’s reflection, I see Krugman says, "The simple answer is: we never received a directive fro answer is?" Sissy says

Krug answer is: it’s co answer," I say "Tell us everything Tell us why he co When Elder Joseph returned, he wasn’t altogether in his right mind He proved to be … uncooperative"

"How so?"

"He cla the duskers No one had ever lived in the dusker metropolis and lived to tell the tale He was there for over two decades; he should have been a storehouse of information But he refused to talk about his time there And very oddly, when it came time for hio Outright refused, locked himself in this lab, in fact When pressed, all he would say was he had to wait for the Origin"

"And what did he say about the Origin? Didn’t you think to ask?"

Kruguously "Of course we did He only said that it was a cure That in the years living with the duskers, he’d been able to gain daily access to laboratories and top-secret scientific docu in the metropolis, apparently Anyith access to all that information and equipin The cure that would reverse the genetic effects on the duskers, completely retransform duskers back to humanity"

"Reverse the effects?" I say

"That’s what Elder Joseph said If he’s to be believed"

"This cure, the Origin," Sissy whispers, just as overwhel it with him, but clai prophet, every day prophesying with staff and rod about the coin Blessed are the young feet of those who co When he wasn’t working in the laboratory facility we have here, he was on the fortress wall, keeping watch through the night Frankly, toward the end, he lost it He had to be isolated in a cabin about half a day’s hike froo "How long was he there?"

"Not long A couple of months at the most We’d check on hi froazes somberly at us "You wanted to know So there you have it, the unvarnished truth Hurts, doesn’t it, truth?"

"But what drove hilassy eyes flash with sudden clarity He gazes out the hen he looks at ?"

"What’s that?"

"This conversation It’s been a little one-sided Frankly, I’ the sound ofnow And for you to do a little lance at each other, confused "About what?" Sissy asks

"The Origin" He sniffs "I’d thought Elder Joseph was co about it, but then you six suddenly appear quite out of the blue, just as he’d predicted And then the Civilization apparently not only gets wind of this Origin theory but actually seems inclined to believe it So Tell me What is it? And more importantly, where is it? I’d like to see it, please"