A knock at the door woke Whitney from her sleep. The tv was still on; a news host
and a microbiologist were going over the recent discoveries on Iapetus.
She pulled herself upright, shoved aside a chip packet, and waved at the tv to turn
it off.
The door knocked again.
Whitney wiped the sleep from her eyes, and looked out the window. It was dark. The
lights in her house slowly blinked to life as she trudged to the door.
She looked through the peephole, and froze.
The door swung open a few seconds later. A man, Whitney’s age, dressed in business
casual with a jacket around his arm, was standing on the pavement outside her house. He
turned to face her as she took a step outside.
“Arlen?”
He smiled. “Hey Whitney.”
“Whichever one you want, Tessa. Fire, or ice.”
Tessa gazed down on the barren rock that would soon be Earth. It was desolate,
small, devoid of all life. This was the decision—the responsibility, her father Varin had
given her. He had created this solar system just for her, to watch over, to care for. Now he
was asking her to end it.
She looked up at him, hoping that she was mistaken, but her fathers eyes told
otherwise.
“Don’t be sad Tessa,” he assured her. “This is just a part of the process. All
things come to an end.” He looked over at the Earth. “All you have to do is decide how.”
“How will I know which one to choose?” Tessa asked, not quite accepting that these
were her only options.
Varin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “You'll know… you always do.”
