The first to leave were the colonists headed for Virrion.
Nine groups of fifty people, forty-nine on the last, left the room that had been our salvation.
There was no order to who got onto which ship.  Everyone seem to simply group up and move off, one crowd at a time.  A few were held back and redistributed as the carriers filled to capacity.
Each of the ships were named after the ship we were on with a point number.
Screnac.1, Screnac.2 and so on.
I lost count of how many hugs I was crushed by, how many cheek kisses I had to subtly wipe off, how many “I love you”s I had to echo.
Had it been over a longer space of time, I probably would have been a bit more open to the whole process, however, as it was, my exhaustion had reached breaking point.  I felt my guilt swell with every half hearted farewell.
In my mind ten units (which equated to about a fortnight), was next to no time at all.
Usually, I could go for months without seeing even my closet friends and family.  With websites like Facebook and a mobile in everyone’s hand, keeping in contact with people without actually being in contact with people kept what little social life I had going.  The majority of communication happened when we would tag each other on posts that we had common interest in.
I know that a lot of people turn their noses up at people who communicate online, however, without such mediums, I would quite genuinely never see anyone or have any idea of what was going on in their lives.
I have no doubt that I would have become a hermit.  Living in a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere, probably Scotland.  Nothing but books and movies to keep me company.  Maybe a scooter so I could pop to the nearest shop if need be.  A boiler that never worked, a dozen mismatched plates and bowls, a leak in the living room window, a stove that took a special method to light because the spark was broken and about a million pillows and blankets to curl up in on a moth eaten sofa.  As long as there was internet I could work from home, preferably as a writer.  I would probably even own an old style typewriter to produce the first drafts.
Such an existence seemed heavenly to me, all the more so since Scotland no longer existed.
Speaking on the phone was one of those things that would make me feel inexcusably nauseous, so when mobile phones became common place and text messaging and messenger apps were introduced as fast, easy ways of communicating, it genuinely saved many friendships which would have otherwise dissolved into nothing.
Although, having said that, would I still worked up just trying to find the right words for a message.
Communication between Virrion and Kenglowe was only half an hour for signal to go from one to another, therefore, there would be barely any more separation than there ever had been between myself and everyone else.
Everyone, except for Chasity and her six followers, was given a translator and a tablet.
The tablets were more or less the same as the ones that we were used to, minus the apps.  They were for communication and allowed access to the galanet or locanet.  Both were human words, abbreviations of their names.  Galanet was taken from galactic internet, it contained only news and information and could be accessed anywhere.  Whereas the locanet was taken from local internet.  These were much more like the internet that we had known, full of adverts and sites that could be created and accessed only in certain areas; either on a planet or space station.  For example; in you were on Virrion, you would not be able to access Kenglowe’s locanet.  However there were sites that were distributed to each locanet and therefore would be the same wherever you went, although the local information would not be transferred.  There were sites similar to youtube and tumblr, if you uploaded something in one place it would not be available in another.
The Screnac had its own locanet, a few small sites for on board information, jobs and entertainment, as well as conversation boards, most of which had studiously been avoiding mentioning the fact that we were on board.  I was beginning to wonder if we were in fact stowaways that only a few beings actually knew of.
With the tablets, the time spent on other planets would be the same as the time I used to spend at home.  It would go quickly, communication would be as it always was, if a little delayed, and if anything happened, we would be informed and given the choice to go there, if necessary.
It would be just as it always was.
Then before anyone knew it, we would all be reunited.

Amelia, Jennifer and my family were the last ones to board.  Sylvia had gone much earlier with her mum and aurora.  We exchanged nods as she left.
Jennifer made me swear to look after Jim, he may be rather brilliant when it comes to engines, but he usually ends up with countless burns and scars.  I swore I would bring him back to her in one piece.
There were no tears, yet I could see the shine in my mum’s eyes, “take care of yourself.”
“That’s what we’re going for,” Julie piped up, attempting to relieve the tension.
“We’ll all look out for each other,” Phoebe reassured her.
The cylindrical craft disengaged from whatever gravity pumps were keeping it grounded and was guided towards the hangar doors as the airlock closed, obscuring our view of its departure.
Most of those that were heading for Kenglowe were already on board Orthus’s Piti.
The Forty-three who were staying to build Rapture would be on board the Screnac for a few more auxes before the construction ships would arrive.  At that time, they would be transferred to one of those ships to begin their task.
Jennifer and Phoebe went ahead to the Piti, leaving me with my dad and Phillip.
My dad is not great at the whole emotions thing, yet he kissed my forehead (being a good foot taller than me) and told me how proud of me he was.
I may have gotten a little choked up at that.
He left it to Phillip to escort me to the airlock.
We dragged our feet very slowly, taking it in turns to stop and steal another kiss.
Just before we reached the gap in the wall where Orthus was waiting, I stopped and fumbled in my bag.
Pulling out my phone, I switched it on and opened up the camera.
He hugged me tightly into him as the image of us captured, blurrily.  So we took another, and another, our cheeks pressed together, lips moving a little closer with each sound of the artificial shutter, until they met again.
My arm dropped.  I did not realize at the time that the phone had taken another three images before my finger hit the lock button.  Smudged images of his hand in my hair, our chests pressed tightly into one another and our ankles, one of mine between his.
A few metres away, Orthus made a noise equivalent to somebody clearing their throat.
Slowly, and not without trembling, I withdrew my lips from his.
My hands, which were on either side of his head, I slowly slid down past his neck, over his chest and around his sides, burying my face into his neck.
He stroked the back of neck, his grip around my back not easing at all.
“It’s not that long, I’ll be back before you know it,” I whispered.
He simply groaned and squeezed me tighter.
Pulling my head back, I looked him straight in the eye and, before I could chicken out, said, “I love you, Phillip Thomas.”
I did not want him to say it first.  I wanted him to know that I meant it and was not simply echoing it back to him.
The smile on his face was not one that I had ever seen him express before.  It quite genuinely made me feel like my heart had been filled with helium.
“And I love you, Laura MacPhaid,” his voice cracked, he would not clear it, unafraid to let me see his vulnerability, “I love you so fucking much.”
I breathed a laugh.
I kissed him, quickly, with force.
I pulled away and began walking backwards the few remaining paces to the airlock, displaying as much love and longing on my face as I was capable of.
He was not standing still, our hands still clasped, footsteps echoing one another’s, keeping an arms length away.
“You’d better hurry back,” he said, voice still a little hoarse, “we’re only a binary star when we’re together.”
We both found ourselves smirking at the corniness of the sentiment, yet knowing that it meant everything to the both of us.
Pulling his hand up to my lips, I pried his fingers open and planted a kiss upon the palm.
Coming closer and stopping my stride, he took my hand back and returned the gesture, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.  With my free hand, I stroked his soft brown hair and pressed my lips to his forehead.
It felt very much as though, once we let go of one another, our hearts would stop beating.
With all of the strength that I could muster, I pulled my hands back, stood up straight and moved backwards, out the range of his grasp.
The sigh that erupted from him squeezed tightly around my heart.
I turned to discover that Orthus had already moved into the hangar, with an expectant look that indicated that I should follow.
I looked at Phillip, taking in the sight of him; the rueful smile on his face, the way his head leaned to the side, the hands which had been put into his pockets as though he were trying to hold himself back.
I pulled my face into a smile which released a tear down my cheek and stepped through the door.
Walking up to Orthus’s ship, I could not bring myself to look back.
A ramp lead up to the Piti’s open cargo hold.
As I stepped onto it, I turned to look at the gap where Phillip was standing.
In a sudden burst of movement, he slammed the palm of his hand over his mouth before flinging the same hand forwards in my direction, revealing pursed lips.
Moving on pure instinct, I snapped out my arm, closing my fingers around the kiss.  I brought it down and held it against my chest.  Then covering my own mouth, I blew him a kiss made of energy.  As he caught it, he looked a bit shocked as I applied a little pressure to his hand.
I gave him an over the top wink and the grin on his face mimicked mine as he drew it to his chest.
The ramp began to rise up, forcing me to hurry inside.
I raised my empty hand a wiggled my fingers a little.
His shoulders rose dramatically as he took a deep breath and nodded farewell.
The hatch closed silently.
I missed the sight of him before the following beat of my heart.