The flight was actually pretty short. Ground 1 was only a little ways from Ground 2, but still far enough away to be mistaken as one of the stars, or not even seen at all. The hardest part now was not burning up in Ground 1's atmosphere.

Lumina adjusted the flight speed by turning a dial placed on her wrist. With a quick glance at her watch, she adjusted the dial to speed 20. It would match with the slowness that you would feel at 20 mph in a car. It's not too slow where she wouldn't reach the ground until more than an hour later, but not too fast where a fire would ignite around her body.

Slowly, she started her descent, Heinz's message at the forefront of her mind. She hoped to end Soal's plan. But she had no idea, first of all, on how she planned to do it.

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Lumina's metal boot soles met the black pavement of Newburgg, the new capital in Ground 1's half of South Carolina. People walking along the sidewalks cast glances over at Lumina, and then looked away as if someone descending in hover wings was a part of everyday life here on Ground 1.

Lumina just shrugged off this new, weird feeling crawling up her spine and tore the oxygen tubes from her nose. There was that intense burning, half gagged feeling after removing the oxygen tubes, but it wasn't as painful as the first time she removed them. And that was after nineteen long years of nonstop use.

Lumina removed the speed dial cuff from her wrist and clicked a button on the hoverwings. The wings retracted, forming a boxy shape that Lumina later stuffed into a canvas backpack.

"Simple," Lumina mumbled to herself.

Lumina slid the backpack onto her shoulders, and took off down the street, casually jumping up onto the sidewalk as if nothing had happened. On the way to her destination, her holo buzzed in her pocket. She pulled the glass rectangle from its spot and awoke it from sleep to see the text message.

It was from Eva.

How's the flight, she asked.

Quickly, while navigating through the flood of people, Lumina texted back: It felt really short. I'm already on the surface of Ground 1 trying to make my way through a horde of people.

Eva was quick to reply. Wow! So, it wasn't as long a distance as I might've thought.

I thought the same thing, Lumina responded. By the way, how's the progress going back at Ground 2?

We're about halfway done. Cooperation is pretty handy in this type of project. I also think people are ready to reunite with their relatives too.

All of us are, Lumina answered.

Mom and dad? Eva asked.

Yes, was Lumina's reply.

Out from nowhere, someone came walking in the opposite direction, bumping Lumina and knocking her Holo to the concrete ground. Lumina chased after it, and when in hand, dusted it off only to see the massive, spider webbing crack lining the middle of the screen. Lumina let out a low, frustrated groan.

Footsteps ran up behind her, and soon, a tall figure was looming over her. She turned to look up at a man's squared face with twinkling blue eyes, thick grey eyebrows, and slick, silvery hair. Lumina's jaw dropped with three words escaping after it.

"I know you," Lumina blurted, quite surprised to see who was staring down at her.

The man squinted, and then recognition twinkled within his eyes. "Hera! You're home," cried the man, his arms quickly wrapping around Lumina.

Lumina remembered those big, strong arms that now enclosed her in their warmth, the aftershave smell upon his freshly shaven cheeks, and the perfume that cloaked his shirts whenever he held his wife close to him.

"Dad," Lumina cried out joyfully, wrapping her arms around his back and squeezing him.

"Where have you been for the past nineteen years? We looked everywhere for you and feared you had drifted away with the other half of Earth."

Lumina pulled away, but her eyes were still aligned with his. She could see both the happiness, and now the sadness. It made her eyes fill with tears.

"I have been on Ground 2. I've wept, bitterly, many times after our separation. In fact, because I missed you and mom so much, I moved my office and all of Ground 2's technicians into our old apartment building. That's where I've been, leading a lost half of Earth's civilization until our recent plan to patch Earth up again."

Lumina's father cradled her in his arms again, tears dribbling out from the corners of his eyes. "That's what I feared."

Lumina's father held her for a little longer. Then, he released, the knuckle on his index finger working away the tears from his eyes. "How'd you get over here?"

"I actually flew over here, the only thing helping me to survive, this small oxygen capsule," Lumina replied, patting the little red canister on her hip.

"What made you decide to come over?"

"That's a good question, Pops," Lumina replied, a grin plastered onto her face. She tugged him closer and whispered into his ear. "Do you know where the NASA settlement is? I have to talk to Soal Dienze."