Piatu sighed as she ran her hand through her cropped silver-streaked hair. She stared out of her office window at the scene below. People hurried along the streets, tugging children and pushing the elderly, while trying to hold on to what few precious belongings they could carry. The crowd flowed in one direction, towards the landing belt where the escape modules were taking off. She was thankful they’d known in enough time about the impending disaster to build enough modules to take everyone from the city. Piatu sighed and turned away from the heart-wrenching sight. She shook her head, saddened that there was nothing they could do to save their world. A knock sounded at the door, startling Piatu out of her thoughts.

“Enter,” she said loudly.

The door to her office opened quickly and in stepped her Chief of Staff, Janzra.

“Counselor, the dome has officially cracked,” he said. His face said a thousand words that he would never speak. “We must vacate and head to the executive escape module that is waiting.”

Piatu nodded and rushed to throw on her flaming red counselor’s robe. She grabbed her reading glasses, and after great consideration, The Book of Laws from her desk. Order would need to be re-established as soon as they were settled on the surface. If they ever reached it, she thought, before chastising herself. “Any word from Captain Burnew and the first scouting module,” asked Piatu as she followed Janzra down a flight of stairs and out of the executive office building. “According to calculations, they should have reached the surface hours ago.”

“No Counselor Piatu, no word yet. But we must remember, this has never been done before. Anything could have happened. Our calculations could have been wrong, or they might have made it and cannot make contact,” said Janzra as he guided Piatu through the stragglers on the street. “We must move forward as planned, and hope for the best.” They were almost to the outskirts of the city, when Janzra noticed a small crowd coming back towards them, away from the landing belt. He moved to stand in front of Piatu to protect her from possible harm.

“What is going on?” asked Piatu, giving a stern look to Janzra before stepping a round him to see what was going on.

Coming towards them was a tall, thin man who seemed to be the leader of the crowd. He stopped directly in front of Piatu and Janzra.

“What are you doing Lazrus?” asked Piatu with fury in her eyes.

“We are not leaving Counselor. You can run, but we will not desert our homes, our livelihood, our world,” said Lazrus as he gestured widely. “We will stay and find a way to fix the dome.”

Members of the crowd nodded emphatically and shouted in agreement.

“Our best servicemen could not find a way to keep the dome from cracking you fool,” responded Piatu heatedly. “What makes you think—”

Suddenly, a loud noise reverberated through the air. Piatu and Janzra spun around, fear unmasked upon their faces. In the southwest region of the dome, the crack begun to expand.

“This is death’s folly Lazrus. You have all these peoples’ lives in your hands,” spewed Piatu as she spun around. “I beseech you to relent and join us.”

“No, Counselor. You have not promised us life after the dome, as it is. We’ll fix that crack or die trying,” said Lazrus with finality as he pushed past Janzra.

The small crowd behind him followed, with only a few turning to say goodbye to the counselor. Piatu watched sadly as they walked away, then turned to hurry after Janzra. They finally reached the landing belt and Janzra assisted her up onto the platform. An associate from the other end of the platform yelled and motioned for them to hurry.

“Counselor Piatu, Chief of Staff Janzra,” nodded the associate as he ushered them into the module. “Please hurry and strap in. We must depart immediately.”

Piatu and Janzra quickly sat down near the left port window and strapped in. The associate closed and locked the module, then joined the other associates manning their controls. The modules shifted back from its position, then rose in the air. Piatu stared out the window at her beloved home, soon to be no more. She shed a few tears, seeing the vacant modules still docked along the belt. Lazrus and his followers have surely committed suicide, thought Piatu as she mourned their loss already.

“It is not your fault,” consoled Janzra as he placed his hand on her arm. “Their legacy will live on with us.” “But for how long?” whispered Piatu as she watched as the module exited the dome and shot upward into the wide blue waters and beyond.