I never thought I'd feel so relieved to be back inside the habitat while so disturbed about everything we had encountered during our overnight adventure into the wilderness. We lost my bag with the food and water rations while returning with only one meal for us both. After we retreated to the living room and the furniture I had unpacked from the crates, we finished the final rations and couldn't help but relax and inhale the security, and exhale the last of our tension and anxiety.

Eve sprawls out on the sofa, using up the entire thing while I drape a leg over the arm of a chair and lean back into the cushion, exasperated. Jinx had docked the drone to charge in the storage room near the Animal Barn, which I'm not so sure how I feel about filling with animals at this point. I just want to breathe.

I told Jinx we needed some quiet time, and he obliged, his persona vanishing into the habitat's computer system once again. More than anything, I'm grateful Eve and I survived. I want answers, but searching the computer archives can wait till morning. As we sit here, the skylight fades to dim with nightfall setting in, and it's not long before the stars twinkle overhead.

I flick on a lamp and look at Eve. "I want to find out a few things about the reseeding."

"Let me guess, in particular, the vile bears?"

"That's one thing, but more than that. From what Abraham told us, I thought the reseeding had taken place recently. As in, not long before we awakened."

"It's the dead trees, isn't it?" Eve sits up.

Her abruptness prompts me to take my leg off the arm of the chair and focus on her. "Yes, but not only that, I'm thinking about the entire circle of life. The process from beginning to end. Think about it... the spruce trees were thick and mature, and moss covered the forest floor like a blanket in a lot of places. Then there are the dead trees... the hollowed-out log that not only had time to die, but rot from the inside out. How long does it take for the entire process to occur?"

"Years, I would imagine," Eve says. "How long does it take for a tree to grow to full maturity?"

"Exactly." I lean forward, my elbows on my knees. "It takes up to sixty years for a spruce tree to grow sixty feet tall, about ten feet of growth a year."

"How do you know that?"

I shrug. "Memory transfer, I guess. Sometimes I think about things, and I just know the answer. I'm not sure how or why, but I know."

Eve scratches her cheek. "So..."

"Well, think about it. Sixty years to grow a spruce tree forest—more time for them to die and rot—and I saw more than one tree. There were multiple fallen trees out there. We were in stasis for what, a hundred and seventeen years?!"

"Okay." She nods cautiously. "Maybe he reseeded the Earth while we were in stasis? Ever thought of that?"

"Yeah, but the way I took it, the waters covered the planet for that length of time. Then the reseeding took place. Then we awoke."

"What are you saying?"

"Just that maybe we aren't the first people to try to establish a presence for humanity on Earth."

"What makes you say that?" Eve slides down the sofa, stopping close to me, our knees bumping.

"Well, remember the octagon-shaped room on the space ark, where we got off the elevator and boarded the habitat?"

"Yeah."

"There were eight doors. One was the elevator, one was our habitat, and the other six, who knows?"

"You think there are six more habitats?"

"I think so, yes. Maybe they still exist? I don't know, but there could be six other habs somewhere, scattered all over the Earth."

Eve sits back. "Hmm. I don't know. Maybe? Maybe not? We'd never know unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter. Even if Abraham had already sent down other people, we'd never know where they are. They could be anywhere, all over the world, far away from us."

"Or not," I say. "Abraham meant for us to land in Florida, on Merritt Island, but we didn't. We could be close to another habitat and not know it. The computer records could reveal the locations of the other habs."

"I don't know." Eve rubs her eyes. "I'm tired, and I want to relax without being threatened by any vile creatures."

"I didn't mean we'd go back outside right away, or that we'd search the computer files tonight." I shrug. "But we could do it tomorrow."

"Just search the computer system?" Her eyes meet mine. "Not go outside?"

"Right."

Eve's eyes brighten with a thought. "Didn't Abraham say there was a pool?"

The shift in topics and the spark in her voice catch my gaze. "Yeah."

"That means—" She pauses. "Jinx?"

"Yes, how may I assist you?" His voice comes from a speaker up above.

"Where's the pool, and do we have swimsuits?" Her hazel eyes reflect a glimmer of moonlight through the skylight.

"The pool is across the hall from your private quarters, on the right side, leading to the bridge. Your swimwear is in the drawers under your bed."

"Logical places for all those things." My breath hitches at the thought of Eve in any swimsuit.

"Let's go," she says with an excited grin and pops up from the sofa like her legs are spring loaded. I thought she was tired, but now I wonder.

I follow her into our sleeping quarters and watch as she rummages through her drawers, down on her knees.

"Jinx, lights please," I say, to help her out. We had yet to cut on any since the sun went down a few minutes ago, except for the lamp in the common area.

Eve waves her swimsuit in the air like a prize and disappears into the bathroom. While she changes, I ask Jinx if the pool is ready, as in, does it have water? He replies it is, and that he prepared it before we fled from the habitat. I thank him and then ask him if Eve and I could have some privacy, so he accommodates us.

I gulp air at the sight of Eve emerging from the bathroom in a simple one-piece swimsuit. It's dark blue and contrasts against her fair skin and scarlet hair in a way that I can only describe as... perfect.

"Whatcha think?" she asks.

As she stares at me, I freeze in place, my tongue unable to form words.

"Hello? Earth to Noah."

I swallow and force the hard lump down my throat, willing my tongue to do its job. "Yeah, it fits you well."

"You can join me if you want to." She snatches a towel from the bathroom and disappears into the hallway.

I stand there in our room for a few heart-racing seconds, contemplating what I'm going to do next. What am I going to do? Really? I shake myself, knowing what I'm going to do. I'm going swimming. In less than a minute, I change into swim trunks, grab a towel, and dart toward the indoor pool.

Stainless steel walls reflect the shimmering water, and the enclosed space—as large as the common area—echoes with Eve splashing as she dips underwater and knifes through the clear blue like a mermaid from heaven. I drop my towel and stand there, stiff as a spruce tree in the Yellowstone Forest.

My insides quiver.

There's no doubt I want her. I have since I first laid eyes on her in the space ark.

She's my wife.

This is what we came here to do, to repopulate the Earth—and—what we could do in this room, what we might do here, is the thing that can make that happen. We have to start somewhere.

What am I thinking? She just wants to go for a swim.

Isn't that all she wants?

Then I think about how much we've been through together in such a short time. I saved her life by leaping to the other side of the bridge to shift the weight distribution, and she saved mine by CPR. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Mouth to mouth.

Lips to lips.

"Aren't you going to get in?"

The water ices my skin as I step down into the pool, my heart jittering in my chest as I move toward her. Eve stares at me, unblinking, and then slowly, submerges beneath the water to swim over to me.

She breaks the surface a few feet away.

I can't breathe. I'm supposed to be swimming, but all I can focus on are the splotches in her hazel eyes as the earthen brown shimmers... and also the water dripping from her hair and trickling down her body. The full moon shines from above, casting her fair skin in the most desirable light.

"Are you thinking about searching the habitat's computer system for answers? Right now? At this moment?" Her smile softens, anticipating my answer.

"No."

"What are you thinking about?"

"You."

"Me?" She sighs, like the thought catches her by surprise, but I sense she knows what I'm thinking.

I dip below the water to wash away the chill and get my body used to the pool's cooler temperature. When I come up, I feel the droplets sliding down my shoulders and chest, running cold rivulets down my sides and stomach... but when my eyes open, I gasp when I realize Eve is closer to me, much closer.

"I thought we were just going for a swim?" I ask.

"We are." She touches my arm as I bite my lower lip. "Sort of... I've been thinking about a lot of things lately. Wouldn't you admit that we've grown closer since we ventured outside?"

I nod, breathlessly.

"We're married," she says. "Abraham said so."

"I don't want anyone else."

"I'm the only woman on this vile planet."

"Even if there were others, I'd only want you."

Her fingers grip my arms and pull me closer as she stretches her neck up toward me. "We need to fix the problem of there only being us. I've been reconsidering my stance on making babies, especially now that we're back in the habitat's safety."

My eyes widen and zero in on her pale green irises, splattered with earthen brown.

"We are adults," I say. "And repopulation requires us to do such things, but where do we begin?"

"Kiss me, stupid."

And I do.

As Eve's lips slide over mine, I hold her against me and feel the embers of passion warming our bodies like the heat of a thousand suns. At this moment, I can think of no other place I'd rather be than right here with her, under the light of a full moon.