Jinx didn't intend for us to stay at this habitat, but he's no longer with us, and he hadn't been for the last four weeks. I know he's still alive back in the computer system of our previous dwelling, but he can't help us unless we figure out a way to charge the sphere-shaped drone. So far, we can't muster a spark of electricity, so that's a no-go. But even though we don't have power, this hab has yielded a ton of surprises.

The day after our battle with the vile wolf, we discovered a skeleton in the habitat's Embryo Lab with a bullet hole in its forehead. Morning light illuminated what used to be a workspace for the people who lived here. Tattered clothes covered the corpse, and judging by the height of the remains, I believe it was a man. I could be wrong; CSI is not my brand of science.

Not long after that, outside, close to the rear airlock, Eve found a grave marked by a wooden cross with a name engraved on it, or at least what we think is a name. Someone broke or blasted off part of it, half obliterating the identity of the deceased person. The other half had letters scratched into the surface with such haste, making it illegible. All we can make out is the letter 'V'. After discovering the skeleton and the grave, we knew that Cain and Jezebel were out there somewhere, hunting us. And if we didn't outsmart them, we'd end up dead too. We still know that, but...

But we're afraid to leave the habitat. Even though it's without power, there have been no more vile wolves or any other creatures for us to deal with. That alone makes it difficult to shoulder our backpacks and venture out, especially after all the close calls we had. Also, we haven't seen or heard from Cain and Jezebel since arriving here. So for now, there's no reason to leave. They may be searching for us everywhere under the sun, but they haven't found us yet because they haven't looked here.

Eve and I settled into our routines of cleaning the habitat and doing our best to make the place livable. If we plan to stay here long term, the skeletal remains of the murder victim needed to go. So, we buried him next to the other grave. After that, we cleared out the animal enclosures, loading the bones into a wheelbarrow I found in the garden area. We worked together, taking turns dumping the remains into a hole I dug with a shovel, the same one I stumbled across the night we killed the vile wolf.

Speaking of the alpha, we tied a rope around its massive body and used the catwalks to create a leverage system to hoist it up out of the canal. Eve said it weighed over two hundred pounds, much bigger than the average gray wolf of pre-global ocean times.

The labor brought sweat to our brows, but did little to bring us together as a married couple.

Since divorce is our destiny, I sleep on a cot in a spare room while Eve takes the bed in the main quarters. The memories of our past life rule the moment, even though we're the only two people on the planet, besides a pair of murderers.

Something else happened the day after the vile wolf incident.

As per Jinx, we checked the so-called cargo bay in the rear of the habitat behind the garden area. I didn't know there was anything back there. I thought the garden was it, but I was wrong. The cargo bay is an enormous garage which includes a repair shop for all things mechanical. Basically, a maintenance bay. But this garage had something that surprised me... a tracer craft identical to Cain's. At first, I discussed the possibility of using it to go wherever we wanted to, but Eve said we would just get ourselves killed trying to fly it. She's probably right. Besides, it won't start. Guess the battery is dead, or it's out of gas, or it's broken beyond repair. I don't know, but lately, that's how I spend my spare time tinkering with it.

The last month of monotonous existence crawls by like a vile snail trying to suck my brains out. To pass more time, I fiddle around with restoring the habitat's electricity, but everything seems fried, like Cain overloaded the hab's circuits and toasted the computers, the wiring, and anything else requiring power. I gave up on that yesterday. Just slung my screwdriver and wire cutters down with a curse and walked away from the main power box. I'm a planetary scientist, not an electrician. Geology and chemistry. That's my specialty. Maybe I need to look outside at all the rocks surrounding us, down in the valley of a vast newly formed canyon larger than the Grand Canyon? Possibly the rocks can help us? Maybe I can come up with a chemical reaction to give us some power? Or use it to jump start the tracer craft? There might be organic material beneath the surface. Who knows?

Eve wants to stay, so we stay. She wants nothing to do with me, so I leave her alone, except to help her with the menial tasks that make both of our lives better. Like planting corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and various other vegetables from the seeds I found in the Farm Lab. Without power, the dispenser didn't work, so I pried open the panel and beat my way into the bins with the hammer I found. But the ground is dry and filled with rocks and makes for a slow, weak yield of crops. Have reaped nothing yet. Eating rations of the freeze-dried food we discovered until then.

Eve and I communicate, but it's dull and practical, nothing meaningful. Our lives seem destined to continue on this same course until this morning when Eve woke up sick. She was fine when I fell asleep the previous night, but when she got out of bed, first thing, she puked on the floor in the common area.

"We have a problem," Eve says.

"Judging by the soupy paste all over the floor, I'd say so."

"Shut up, Noah. Seriously."

"Is it something you ate?"

She shakes her head. "It's been over a month since we awoke from stasis, and I haven't had a period yet."

Something tightens in my gut, and I swallow a hard lump. "Go on."

"I felt queasy yesterday morning and today I vomited everywhere." She gestures to the mess on the floor. "I suspected nothing at first, but then I got to thinking about the last time I had my period. Seems like it was right before I went into stasis."

I wait for it. The punchline. The other shoe. The...

"I'm pregnant."

"But the doctor said you can't, not after the miscarriage." I furrow my brows. "He said your fallopian tubes were blocked. The fluid wouldn't allow sperm to reach your eggs. You were supposed to have that surgery to fix it, but you..."

"I what?"

"You were too overwhelmed with grief. You were afraid of another late term miscarriage. That's one reason I couldn't be around you, because I couldn't forgive you for not wanting to try again. For giving up."

"I couldn't forgive you for leaving me alone in my sorrow."

"Then the waters rose." I shake my head. "The rest is history."

"I'm pregnant, Noah." Eve lowers her chin and slides her hands over her stomach. "I know what it feels like. This is what it feels like. That night in the pool..."

"I remember."

She glances up at me. "I'm experiencing morning sickness. I shouldn't be able to get pregnant, but I am. How?"

"Maybe Abraham performed the surgery while you were in stasis?" I wag my head at the thought. "That makes no sense. He's not a medical doctor, definitely not a surgeon, and I don't think you can do something like that during cryogenic hibernation. But maybe after your awakening, under anesthesia?"

"You said he's not a doctor."

"Maybe a robot did it?"

She closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. "No. He said the drones malfunctioned. They didn't wake us up like they were supposed to, so Abraham woke us after his sleep unit failsafe went off. Did you see any drones on the ark?"

"No." I stand there, thinking for a moment, the air between us thick with confusion. Then it hits me. "It could be a miracle?"

Eve snarls at me. "What? Are you serious?"

I step toward her and take her hand. "You're pregnant, Eve. How else do you explain it?"

"A fluke." She pulls away, her fingers grazing my palm as they retreat. "Fate. I don't know."

"You're right." I draw closer. "It doesn't matter. You couldn't get pregnant before stasis. You go into stasis and come out, and now you are. That changes things, Eve."

"What does it change?"

"It changes us."

"It doesn't change the hurt," she says and turns from me. "I need to think."

"Where are you going?"

"To sit down. I need some time alone."

As she walks away, leaving me to clean up her mess, I feel something I haven't felt in over a month since that night in the pool. Hope. If we have a child together, that means there's hope for life on this Earth beyond us and our dull existence.

That makes me think about the tracer craft in the cargo bay. If I can get it started, we could go somewhere far away. Somewhere where Cain and Jezebel can't find us, like Merritt Island, where Abraham intended for us to go. A safe place where we can raise a family. And not get murdered, or eaten by this planet's vile creatures.

After an hour under the hood of the tracer craft, Eve walks up to me in the cargo bay and slaps a cylinder-shaped object into my hand. I stare at it, uncertain what to make of the device.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead. "What's this?"

Eve swallows a lump. "After we found the tracer, when you went looking for tools, I removed it. I think it's the starter or something. Somehow, it got dislodged, so I dislodged it all the way. I just wanted to make things hard for you. I'm sorry."

I turn the cylinder over in my hand, inspecting it. There's a black line on the side. It looks like glass, but when I touch it, about three-quarters of it glows blue.

I tilt my head with curiosity.

"Eve," I say. "I think this is a battery, and I think it has plenty of juice."

"A battery? So, we can use the tracer to get out of here?"

"I think so. It doesn't run on fuel. I think it runs on nothing but a super-powered battery. This." I shake the cylinder at her. "I was thinking of Merritt Island."

"I was thinking Hawaii." She smirks.

"If we're going to do this, we need to do it right. We need Jinx. That means we need to return to our habitat before Cain destroys the power source like he did this one. I have an idea."

"Do share?" Eve's eyes and smile alight on her face like I haven't seen since moments before our pool experience.

"It'll be dangerous, but it's a necessary risk."

Her expression hardens. "A risk we have to take because we need more than Jinx. We need the fertilized embryos for the rest of humanity, and another reseeding of the planet, too. Everything is at stake, and it's up to us, Noah. If we don't save the world, no one will."