At the beginning of the harvest, much of the world was divided on how to handle the situation. Scientists began devising plans to save their dying civilization. They decided the most logical thing to do so was to send off portions of the population into space. They devised a list of the ten most habitable planets to send them to and created manifests for the crew and passengers. Some of the major religions came together praising the world ending Ruiners. They worshiped them as heavenly messengers and proclaimed the end was nigh. The world military sent mission after mission to take down the Ruiners but ultimately, the attacks proved ineffective. A month had passed and finally the Crown of the World Council addressed the world.

"These times have been incredible. The past month has tested and tried us. It has been so, so tough but you, each and every one of you have been more resilient. You have been the inspiration for all of us in our quest for answers. It is true that all of our previous attempts to stop the Ruiners from harvesting our water have failed. It is also true that they have taken approximately a third of our waters. I will not lie to you, our weather patterns, wildlife, and vegetation have all seen dramatic changes. We have also seen many of our great citizens perish. There are water shortages all across our great planet. They have truly tested our resolve, not only as people, but for our species as a whole. We are not without hope though, we will be changing the original Expedition missions to Restoration missions instead. We have 10 launch sites around the globe that will send up our brightest citizens to one day reclaim this place. We will send the Restorations to different parts of our galaxy, so that they may rebuild and expand our once great civilization. Future scientists will study to find the weaknesses to these abominations. Our historians will teach our children and grandchildren of our great feats of world peace and cooperation." He firmly spoke

He took a moment and choked out, "We truly have accomplished so much together."

He cleared his throat and continued, "Our great military minds will concoct strategies to finally bring upon these horrors the same destruction they have inflicted upon us. One day, our offspring will come home and reclaim this place for themselves. I thank you all for your time and may we create a radiant future for our children." The Crown yelled from the podium at the Restoration base. 

Reporters vied to get their questions asked and one yelled their question loud and clear.

"What will happen to the rest of us?" her voice and question quieted the rest

He simply smiled and walked off the stage and said, "Get them out of here." 

WSB agents grabbed reporters and began shoving them to get out of the room.

Each shuttle only had enough room for 10,000 people. A few weeks before, WSB agents were tasked with collecting all of the people from the manifests. Many of the people had families and only the name on the list was permitted to board. Agents ripped people from their families. Only 100,000 people would be saved, leaving the other 3 billion to their fate. As news of this spread throughout the districts, mobs of people began massing around the launch sites. Many of the mobs began rushing the barricades and climbing over them. The soldiers stationed at each site were ordered to shoot to kill anyone who breached those barricades.

"Son," an older voice said

"Yes, dad?" Duke said

Duke tried desperately to turn around and hear his father's words but those words spoken years ago still were inaudible. 

"Dad, I wish I had gone back and visited you before all of this..." He tried looking back at his father, who was sitting in his chair at that beautiful lake. As he began to turn a voice shattered the illusion.

"Duke!" A feminine voice yelled. 

He snapped to attention. "Sorry Ma'am."

"You need to pay attention." She said sharply. 

The screen above showed the ten different destinations for the upcoming missions and the paths each would take. 

"You one hundred pilots will be conducting the largest and most important mission in the history of our world. You will need to memorize the coordinates on your screens below. You will all be leaving in the next few minutes. The situation is dire and mobs are beginning to overtake the barricades. Make your way to your shuttles now. We cannot afford mistakes." The voice continued as they jumped up.

Duke and his team headed towards their shuttle and noticed the mob of people who had breached the barricades. There must have been millions. It was as if a crashing wave of bodies was careening itself towards them. They hurried into the cockpilot and began the launching sequence. 

After much chatter and checking of systems a feminine voice called, "All systems green, captain. We are ready for launch."

As the team began the countdown to launch, Duke began to notice the voice from earlier was still speaking to them. 

"I just want to say that I'm proud of you. You all will have a bright future that will bring us all home some day. May your missions end successfully." The voice said in their helmets.

"One." The crew said as the shuttle quaked from the massive engines firing up and blasting the crew of Restoration 7 into outer space. The crew was held tight against their seats until they exited the planet's atmosphere. 

The radio began to crackle, "Can anyone read me?" An voice said through the static

"This is Restoration..." The captain paused and stared straight out into the expanse, "Why is it so dark out here?" He said as his eyes searched the darkness for those all too familiar guides

"Where are the stars?" A female voice asked

Duke looked up and noticed too. He lowered his head and began to think back to that day so many years ago.

"There isn't a single star in front of us..." One said quietly and began to sob.

"Please help us... please get us through this." Another began to pray loudly and held her hands together tightly

It suddenly became very obvious why the stars were not visible and the horror of the situation began to sink in. The youngest of the crew screamed and put their hands in front of their face in a feeble attempt to defend themselves.

A wave of orbs began to engulf the Restoration 7 and the hull began to rip away. The cabin depressurized and all of the previous noise was erased. Just as the last bit of light around Duke waned, he pondered to himself, "Are those the words he said to me that day?"

"I'm proud of you, son." An older voice said

"Are those the words he said?" Duke breathed out softly as the darkness consumed everything.

-----

Sometimes we never get to say the things we want. We live with regrets of the words unsaid. Even in our dying breath, we simply do not have enough time to say all of those things. Sometimes we are simply just too late to tell the ones we love, that we love them. Sometimes we go years and years without saying those words. But I would challenge you to not wait that long. If it's on your heart, don't hesitate. Oftentimes, we have so many chances to redeem the time we have left. So many chances to restore those once dead friendships and relationships. We can still hang out, talk to, show love, and have so many more adventures with the ones we love. While sometimes it means we have to admit we are wrong or sometimes we have to forgive... that pain is so much more bearable than the pain of regret. Time doesn't stand still... so neither should we.