The End of the Beginning

“Emerson knows everything.”

“Yes. I am aware.”

“Do you not consider this matter to be a problem, so close to our rise? He knows - ”

“He knows what?! Persistence may have granted him knowledge and fact but his conclusions are still his own. His mind, like that of the few, is twisting fact to meet what he wants to be truth. He may think he has found the rock he has always wanted to see but his rock is still nothing more than malleable clay, ready and waiting to be molded.” “Yes, but - ”

“This is not a setback, this is an opportunity, an opportunity to feed the scapegoat one last time. Adapt. Learn to learn.” “Of course.”

“Captain Emerson wants to see, so show him what he wants for by this time tomorrow none of it will matter. The tanker attack will only reinforce his beliefs. I am leaving Alaska, after the final rally in Nome, after the inception of the virus, to watch a beautiful sunrise over our new world. Be ready. Everything begins at fifteen hundred hours Alaska standard time.” “All preparations will be complete. We will be ready.”

“I expect nothing less. Tomorrow the past will die, the present will burn, and the future will rise from the ashes, finally with a chance to live…”