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A/N - Okay, so let's just get this out there. These works are mine. My poor little brain came up with the plots and characters, and I'd really prefer you to not steal them. If you're reading this on a site that is NOT Wattpad then it is most certainly stolen. No, I really don't want them converted into fanfics or into other languages as well.

Thanks!

Loiosh

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Six months doesn't seem like a lot of time in the big scheme of things. And yet, so much can happen in that span, that perhaps it really can be a lot of time. A baby could learn to walk and say their first words. A city could burn. War and famine could strike. Disasters and celebrations could alter the lives of many.

In the six months after the citizens of Earth learned some of the secrets that the members of the Uranus trip had discovered, even with some important ones still unrevealed, the world imploded. Truly, had they told them everything, then society might have collapsed even sooner.

Jason James was still the CEO of PASSpace and had been living in Earth's orbit for the last year or so, sending information out to Pepper and Vanessa from the PASSpace Orbital Station. Every day, Pepper and Vanessa would read the news that was sent to them from Jason's team and just shake their heads at the absurdity of what was happening back on their home world. The latest had been months in coming, but was no less shocking, for all that they'd expected it.

"It's official," Pepper said while she sat at the terminal, reading the latest dispatch from the team. "The United Nations has officially disbanded." Much like the League of Nations gave way to the United Nations back after World War Two, perhaps the United Nations might also lead to something new. But right now, it didn't appear that it would. There was just too much turmoil and distrust.

Vanessa scoffed, pouring a cup of coffee, and then adding some sugar to it. "I'm not surprised, but I'd hoped they could hold out a little longer."

The trouble had started soon after they had discovered the bridge of the Atlantis. Lena and Miles had strapped a dozen of the tiny fox ships, as well as a larger one that looked to be what humans would consider a frigate, onto their own new working ship, and brought them back to Earth for scientists to study. Many countries argued over who would have access to the ships, and the UN tried to say they would stay together in orbit, with scientists brought to the International Space Station to study them. Most countries were fine with that, but ancient rivalries flared among China, Russia, and America, and each wanted their own ships to study. They also wanted the working Atlantis ships that the team still had, though they all flatly refused to turn them over. As it was, Lena and Miles had their ship, as did Pepper and Nessa. Emily and Xavier had left one ship in orbit at the PASSpace Station for Jason's team to look over, and the other was hidden with them on Earth in Texas, on their ranch.

The issues were only exacerbated when it was proposed that a scientific team be sent to Uranus to examine the ship there. Technically, it was still a UN heritage site, but at this point that seemed to have been forgotten. The women didn't really want that, as anyone coming to examine the bridge might also find the second hangar bay with the additional four ships, much like they had, and they wouldn't trust anyone else unless they chose them. By the time they'd found the ships, the Earth was already being ravaged by political and religious turmoil, and so they never told anyone but Lena and Miles about it. Even Jason, Emily, and Xavier didn't know, because they were too close to Earth, and there was a danger that they could be taken in for questioning.

The religious turmoil was both hilarious and disheartening, though all too predictable knowing how humans worked.

The realization that some ancient Greeks may have come from a distant planet had dozens of people around the globe claiming to be descendants of the crew of the Atlantis. For some, this was just a passing fad that fizzled out in days or weeks. For others, they spent a few months being famous and gathering followers before they were shown to be liars. But there were three that called themselves prophets and commanded millions of followers in competing fellowships. Each could trace their lineage back thousands of years to ancient Greece, and each claimed to be the true king of the planet that the Atlantis came from. Because of course they did.

The problem was that it wasn't just ordinary people that believed them, but some powerful politicians and military officers that either believed them or used them as pawns to control things happening in the world. In several countries, there were threats of nuclear war to support their position, and the United Nations had been helpless to stop it, along with the rest of the issues it was facing. It was doomed to fail, and when America, China, and Russia all pulled out of it, people could see the writing on the wall.

Funny enough, the people yelling the most were the people on the Mars colony, but they also had the most to gain. They had their eyes on the prize, the functioning ships, as that would allow them to resupply much faster and cheaper than the current cargo transport system that was being used. They really wanted to be more independent from the Earth, and having their own ships might help with that. Not that any of the group were giving up any of their ships, and for all their loud yelling nothing was happening, but at least they were asking for something that would help their situation, instead of just power.

"I hoped so too, but you know that means we won't be getting that independent scientific research team now," Pepper pointed out.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps we will, but we'll be able to pick the one we want. We can easily shuttle people back and forth now since nobody else can move through the solar system like we can. Worst case, we can use the team that Jason is using to study the remaining ship," replied Vanessa with a smile as she brought the coffee over to her wife. "I think we should stop the old ship headed back to Earth too. There is too much on it that could cause more problems. There were way too many of those portable weapons."

"Yep. Lena already suggested it. We could bring it here and add it to the station." Currently, here was an impromptu space station cobbled together from some more of the modular Mars transport containers that PASSpace had detoured to their team, and it was now sitting in an orbit around the tiny moon Praxidike, which was one of the many smaller moons around Jupiter. They had set things up here at first thinking that they would be exploring more of the planets, while the scientists were surveying the alien craft around Uranus. But with no scientific team, they were spending less and less time at their station, and more heading back out to the giant hulks of the ships. It had become obvious that the station would be better served by moving out to their original planet now that things were getting worse.

Lena would like that too. She and Miles had spent the first few months after getting their spaceship jetting from planet to planet and enjoying the views. But now they were as nervous about the future of the world as Pepper and Nessa were and were usually found near the Earth docked to the PASSpace Station, and collecting as much information about human history, and anything that could restart society once the humans down on Earth started pressing the wrong buttons. Lena had also found out a few things about their ships as she did all that travelling, namely that they were much faster than anticipated.

Months ago, Emily had estimated that the colony ships that the fox like aliens travelled in were doing 9-10 times the speed of light based on the displays they'd called up. When they had originally used the ships from the Atlantis, they had kept everything going with an automated method that was almost like cruise control and assumed they could do a similar speed. But when Lena played with the controls, she discovered that the human ship was much faster than they could have dreamed. The trip that the colony ships did in about four years, their new ships could do in a month. In fact, that trip was something they were counting on happening while they did the rest of the preparations, and Lena had already assured them that she and Miles would like to take care of it. She very much wanted to be the first Earthling to visit the new solar system. They wanted to see where the ships had come from.

"I'll let her know to do it. They can bring the ship back to Uranus, and then we can move this station too, and make a bigger base out there. We might need it. We can start bringing as much equipment aboard as possible." Vanessa ran her fingers through her hair, already thinking of the people that might be needed if their backup plan was to take shape. If they couldn't go back to Earth because of the way it was these days, they'd have to go elsewhere.

Luckily, they knew where two habitable planets were.

But would they be welcome there?

"Do we really want to go forward with our plan?" Pepper wondered. "Would anyone want to go with us, or would it be too dangerous?"

Vanessa sighed as she sank into one of the other seats next to her wife. "There will be people that want to go, the issue will be finding the right ones that would fit in a harmonious group, just like our team. Some people have nothing to lose or want a chance to be free. The problem will be determining which of those people have the skills and temperament to help us settle on a new planet. We'll need to rebuild an entire society, and there will be a lot of skills needed for that. It won't be easy either, so we'll need to account for mental stress too."

Pepper was silent for a moment, trying to formulate her response. When she finally was ready, she turned, looking over at Vanessa and taking her hand. "I know we need people like that, Nessa, but we need more. We need some younger people that will want to explore and learn, because we won't know everything that we'll need. We'll need teachers and artists and musicians so that we're not purely thinking of science, but of our happiness too. We'll need people that are older and are willing to remind us of things they've seen, and maybe on how to help raise kids. Because we'll need to be able to have kids and be prepared to expand our population if we're truly making an improved Earth."

Vanessa was smiling at her before she'd finished speaking. "You really believe the planets are empty?"

Pepper nodded quickly. "I really do. It's the only thing that makes sense. Those ships have been around Uranus for thousands of years, and the Earth should be habitable for the populations of both planets. For them not to have come back and try to live here can only mean that they somehow lost the means to. So, either the planets were at war and their populations killed, or they moved far away, and our world was no longer needed. Plus, we have real time communication with Lena everywhere in the solar system, as well as the two smaller ships, so why would we have not heard other ships if they all use the same system?"

Considering how many times Pepper had been correct in her assumptions in the past, Vanessa wasn't going to bet against this one being right. "Then we better see if Lena and Miles really want to go scout it. The way the Earth is going, we may not have much time."

"I'll get in touch with her now then."