"I'm so sorry," wept Jasmine when the New London parents and children were reunited in the home of General Wayne. "How can you ever forgive me?"
Outside, a small crowd of reporters were still speaking in front of cameras for the twenty five thousand civilians who'd watched the touching reunion on their television screens. Jasmine had held her composure along with the other children while one New Philadelphian after another had shoved a camera and a microphone into her face and asked her what she was thinking on this historic occasion. Now, though, they were finally on their own and Jasmine had immediately broken down. Susan held her in her arms as the girl wept into her shoulder, while the other New Londoners stood nearby in the sumptuously decorated library, the other members of her family offering what comfort they could while the others pretended not to be able to hear and spoke softly among themselves.
"I should have told you how he was threatening me," Jasmine said tearfully. "What he threatened to do, but I was too scared. I should have been braver."
"It's all over now," her mother told her, tightening her hold on the girl and rocking her gently back and forth. "No-one blames you."
"You could all have been killed! He told me it was a harmless bug, that it would just make us sick for a while. If I'd known the truth I would never have done it no matter what he threatened to do."
"It was the cow," Andrew told her. "Remember what Vole said. We have to tell everyone it was the cow. No-one else will ever know the truth."
"And in the meantime, we're all together again," said Susan, holding her daughter at arms length so she could look her in the eyes. "The whole family. And very soon now we'll all be going home."
Andrew nodded as he stroked the girl's hair. The negotiations were going well, they'd heard. The Ambassador had brought a freezer containing ten thousand human embryos from New London with him as a show of good faith and the IceRunner containing the first thousand kilos of dysprosium was about to set off in the other direction. Neither city seemed to know of any reason why they couldn't give the other city everything they wanted. Even the Remainers would have cause to be happy since, unless they had key skills that the Mars colonists would need, they now had the option to remain on Earth, among the New Philadelphians. It was a diplomat's dream in which all parties could leave the table satisfied. It wouldn't even require compromises from anyone.
Jasmine nodded, therefore, blinking the tears out of her eyes and looking around to where David and James were smiling at her. James rose from his seat and came over to take her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. David, sitting closer, could do so without leaving his seat, but he gave her hand only a perfunctory squeeze before returning his attention to the window out into the garden where a pair of pigeons were strolling lazily across the grass. The first living birds he'd ever seen. Of the New Londoners, only he and twelve year old Stacey were failing to fully understand what was going on here. David only understood that Joe had threatened to kill James and himself if she hadn't done what he told her, and David lacked the life experience to doubt it. His love for her and his trust in her were too strong.
The door opened and Daniel Vole came walking in, looking pleased. He clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "So," he said. "Who's ready to go home?"
"Seriously?" said Izindaba in delight. "They're letting us go?"
"The final details have been worked out," said the Ambassador, beaming happily. "When the IceRunner leaves, taking the first ton of dysprosium, it will also be taking half a dozen soldiers under the personal command of General Wayne. Your two rovers..." He indicated Philip and Lungelo, "...will take an additional two each. Upon arrival, these ten men will take control of New London's blast doors and hanger level, to ensure we don't seal the city closed when we leave."
"I would imagine they could break their way in easily enough," said Valentina. "Once there's nobody inside to mount a defence."
"True," agreed the Ambassador. "Again, it's a gesture of good faith."
"So they're going to let us have the rest of the dysprosium," said Lungelo.
"As soon as they get the rest of the human embryos," said Vole. "They tried not to show it, but I think they were really scared by the inbreeding problem. Their lack of genetic diversity. Their city was doomed even without their limited industrial capability and they knew it. Now, though, they've got a chance. They'll have to get used to having red, yellow and black faces walking the streets of their city, of course. Let's hope that history doesn't repeat itself."
"I hope they make it," said Andrew. "They seem like decent enough people, if they can get over the whole military dictatorship thing."
"The civilians knew they were doomed as much as the military did," the Ambassador told him. "Everyone was seeing more and more people with inbred features walking the streets, more with each generation. Military rule was necessary to keep everyone under control. Without it, the whole city might have collapsed into violence and despair. Now, though, they've got hope, and an entire planet to explore and colonise." He laughed. "One of them let slip that they want to rename our city New Jamestown."
"The first successful British colony on this continent," said Andrew with a smile. "They see the wave of colonisation across the Atlantic going onto reverse, the whole planet becoming the new USA. And why not? Good luck to them. I have to admit that this comes as a tremendous relief to me. The Return is such a gamble, but now mankind has two chances. One here and one on Mars. Even if one goes extinct, the other might survive."
"Both will survive," said Susan confidently. "A thousand years from now Earth and Mars will both have populations of a hundred million. I know it."
"Will we be able to keep in touch?" asked Andrew. "I know we're going to be in suspended animation for a hundred years, but when we wake up, will we be able to communicate with the New Americans to see how they're doing?"
"I don't see why not," the Ambassador replied. "I intend to petition the Council to build a radio telescope outside New London. It'll be pretty much the last thing we do before we leave. The crews of the Return ships won't be joining the rest of the population in suspended animation until after they've made the Malina flyby, which won't be for several months after they set off. They'll be able to send messages back to New London's new occupants, giving them any advice they need on how to operate the equipment. And then, when we arrive on Mars we'll build another radio telescope and we'll be able to send messages back and forth."
"That's a great idea," said Lungelo enthusiastically. "With the ships pretty much finished now there's all that industrial capacity going spare. They might as well use it for something." He smiled happily. "Imagine when we arrive on Mars. We dig some underground shelters for ourselves and build the radio telescope to find out what the Americans have accomplished while we were asleep. After five generations there could be a million of them by then, living in a dozen cities the size of New London. Domed cities on the surface, maybe dozens of kilometres across with forests and rivers and areas of wide open grassland under artificial light. I almost wish I could be here to see it."
"We'll have something better," said Andrew. "Real sunlight from a real star. A million times more energy than we'll ever need."
"So you're no longer worried about the gamble we'll be taking?" asked Philip. "The failure of the first Mars colony?"
"Like I said, it's no longer the entire human race that's at stake," Andrew replied. "There will still be people here, on Earth. And the colony won't fail. We won't let it. And Mars is just the first step. Nothing more than an industrial base that'll serve as a stepping stone to the rest of the solar system. With the power of a star at our disposal there's nothing we won't be able to do. We'll send probes, maybe even people in suspended animation, to other solar systems in light sail spaceships driven by laser beams powered by the sun. Maybe we'll send visitors back to the Earth, just to say hello."
"The only thing we won't have is real gravity," pointed out Lungelo. "Mars only has one third the gravity of Earth, that'll take a bit of getting used to. If we colonise the asteroids things get even worse."
"We'll only have to put up with it for a few generations," Andrew replied. "Then we'll have the resources to make space habitats for ourselves. Rings that spin to provide as much gravity as we want."
"We may have gotten used to Mars gravity by then," pointed out Valentina.
"Maybe," said Andrew, "but Mars will always be too cold to be comfortable. A space habitat can be closer to the sun, where Earth used to be perhaps."
He looked at his wife and children and they stared back at him, as if they could see the vision of the future that was unfolding in his head. "Give it a few hundred years," he continued, "and there's no limit to what we'll be able to create. Habitats so large that they won't need roofs to hold the air in. We can dismantle the planet Mercury for raw materials. With the power of the sun we can do it, and that'll allow us to build dozens of habitats, each with as much surface area as the entire planet Earth. We'll be able to walk under the open sky again."
He stared off into the distance as if he could see it in his mind's eye. "We'll be able to feel the wind on our faces, get soaked by the rain. There'll be cities of millions for those who enjoy the company of other people, while those who prefer solitude will be able to walk for days through untamed wilderness without seeing another human beings. Those who want to will be able to live close to nature again. Living off the land, hunting and fishing the way our ancestors used to.
He looked at Susan and she beamed back at him. He looked at James and David and saw them quivering with eagerness as if impatient to get to work. Even Jasmine was looking happier. The tears were gone and she was smiling, a sight that lifted Andrew's heart and sent it soaring into a grand vision of what was to come.
"It won't be easy and it won't happen in the lifetimes of anyone alive today," he said, "but one day mankind will once again walk in the sun."
The End
Postscript
Ten days after the members of the LaSalle expedition returned to New London, Reginald Fox was found battered to death in his prison cell. Philip Badger, as the obvious suspect, was interviewed by the police but he denied any involvement and they had no evidence to link him to the crime. Also, the alibi provided for him by Andrew Birch, Susan Birch and Lungelo Inyosi, that he'd been playing poker with them when the crime was committed, could not be shaken. The police had no choice but to release Philip Badger, therefore, and the case remains open and unsolved to this day.