"It's time to leave",

she said as her husband took one last look.
"Do you have all the records with you" she
asked, trying to keep her tone business-like
so the tears wouldn't grip her throat again.
He nodded slowly, still drinking in the
windswept, desiccated scene, resigned,
consumed by sorrow, and yet convinced
that it was necessary. They climbed into the hold
of the ship, and were soon rendezvousing
with the others in the fleet that was
spread out so many miles in all directions.
A red sun flooded the scene with fierce light
as the thousands of vessels
united as one.
As soon as the last stragglers were in place,
the behemoth was gone, time enfolding around it,
and the last of home was only a scorched memory.
And as the huge vessel
plunged into elsewhere
and elsewhen,
she held the little cube in her hand and thought,
we can add the last chapter now.
Time to start a new book.