"I think we should get away for a little while." I said to Tomiya one morning.

A couple of weeks had passed, and the sense of dread was beginning to fade. It was being replaced by that familiar old feeling of pure exhaustion. The one that comes on as an adult no matter what it is you do for work, drowning out all those more childish thoughts whether it be fear or excitement, the things you would expect to experience in everyday life. I was simply too tired to let it consume me.

"How could we go now, with all that's happening James?

"I don't know, let's just go. Somewhere warm, even just for a week! I think we can pitch it to the big guys as a well-deserved break for all that we've done." I said.

She seemed skeptical but it was obvious that even the thought of a little escape from reality brought back a sense of excitement to her.

"Well now that you've got it in my head, we don't really have a choice do we?" She joked. But her excitement was all over her pretty face. "Where do you have in mind?"

That day I half assed the business I would normally undertake at SETI. Besides, things were going fine just as they had been every day. Teebler Corps. Day-to-day output was exceeding expectations because of the ever-growing J-2 workforce. I could pretty easily delegate out most of my tasks now. And I'd have a satellite phone on me if anything really important came up. So instead of working hard I spent most of my day trying to plan a nice getaway for us. I insisted Morales and Jacob come as well.

Jacob just happened to be in the office that day, and though he refused at first, Morales and I were able to convince him to join, if not just for a few days. If he really needed to, he could have a private helicopter whisk him off to his secret lair or wherever it was that he went. I didn't actually say that much for risk of being overheard, but it was implied. Plus, it gave him even more of an excuse to spend time away working on whatever it was that he was working on.

"Why don't either of us have a Mega yacht yet?" I teased. Then I flipped my phone screen around to show him a high-end private yacht charter I found available down in the Keys. It was over the top fancy, a boat meant for a much larger party, but it had everything we could want for a week's getaway. Private chefs, scuba instructors, cleaning crews, we'd have a chance to live it up one more time before shit hit the fan. It felt like a no-brainer.

A week later we were off. No one could really stop us, too much was going on. Plus, we had our bases covered, no one needed to get worked up over the first string taking a little break so that we'd be able to keep operating at our best. That's what we said at least. And if needed we could be easily reached or fly back in a hurry right off the yacht's helipad if it became necessary.

It was Early May now, and the weather was perfect. Hot but not too hot. Not even a bit of rain or clouds on the horizon for the entirety of our weeklong trip. I always loved the ocean. My family used to have a pretty nice sized boat in the Boston harbor that we'd take out a bit in the summers, but nothing compared to this 200-foot Mega yacht that we were sailing the ocean on now. Oshie and her grandmother came along for the trip too of course, and the puppy Chaske stayed back home with a friend of ours. It was the escape we all needed. No more being cooped up constantly surrounded by our security details. Still, we did bring a good amount of security with us, the boat was plenty big for them to stay unseen and enjoy the trip as well for their part.

I realized it had been years since I'd been on the water despite living so close to the ocean. The last and only time we actually had been since Oshie was born was on our trip to Hawaii, just before the Seoul impact. Since then, we had gone to the beach plenty of times sure, but I had nearly forgotten the feeling of being out at sea. The nostalgic smell of the fresh ocean air, the warm breeze and the bright sun on my face, it always brought on a sense of adventure. Walking down the classy wooden deck to look out over the clear blue water dredged up that old feeling once again, it was like we were on some sort of grand journey aboard our magnificent vessel.

"Who wants to do some fishing?" I asked enthusiastically. Turns out Oshie was strongly against the act of fishing; she thought it cruel and barbaric. She wasn't wrong in some ways, but it was a hard sport to quit once you had it in your blood. I remember back in our camp days Jacob wasn't too fond of it either. But he came around eventually, at least I thought he did. He would always join me back then, so I sort of thought he took a liking to it. Today I realized he was just doing it to appease me as he insisted on sitting out this time. Morales on the other hand, ever the competitor, was very much on board. She even got Jacob to cast a few lines, though to his chagrin no bites for him. After a little while he took his seat and lounged happily in the sun while Morales and I battled it out to see who would be catching dinner for the night.

I got a few promising hits, but she was the first to land one. It was a fun battle to watch as she reeled in the large Mahi Mahi at the end of her line. They all poked fun at me and had a laugh while I was forced to accept defeat. After a few pictures with her prize, the crew's chef came and collected the fish to prepare for the night that was now rolling in. The delicious beast was nearly 40 pounds, sufficient to feed us and the entire crew for days.

We feasted on the top deck as the sun set over the ocean. The view was wondrous, and the meal superb. A feast fit for royalty. Every one of us was in good spirits that night, Morales especially so. It was then, seeing her with Jacob and my family in this beautiful setting that I realized she must not have had many moments like this in her adult life. Just like Jacob she was driven by her calling, putting the aspirations of her career before any thoughts of love or family. It was clear to me now that her perception of what she wanted out of life was beginning to change, and I think I noticed that same shift in Jacob. Unfortunately, Jacob's calling went deeper than hers. Beyond aspiration, and even duty, it was his fate that called for him to return to his work now.

On the third day he left, just as he said he would. We had all hoped he might change his mind about it, but he was adamant that he must go from the very start. He took off from the helipad of the ship to go God knows where, to do God knows what. Morales stayed behind with us to try and enjoy the rest of the week on our luxurious yacht. And we did enjoy it, but when Jacob left the reality of things began to set back in. This very well could be the last time any of us could experience a peaceful escape again on this Earth.

We spent the last few days sailing between small islands that were encircled by white sand beaches. We took a smaller boat to countless different shores, to bask in the sun and lounge for the day on these sandbars that were mostly only accessible by boat, giving us the epitome of a private tropical getaway. Coconut crabs skittered this way and that, and seabirds flew overhead. In the distance a few local fishing boats could be seen beyond our goliath yacht, giving us a small sense of connection to the world beyond that still, for the most part, continued on.

These days reminded me a lot of that trip we had taken to Hawaii before the Seoul Impact. Surrounded by only the people closest to me. Morales and Tomiya were now closer than ever, constantly talking and sharing stories of their childhoods. Oshie was older and more independent now, but not too old to still enjoy spending time with her parents. Her grandmother was there to keep her company as well. In fact, I found myself left out of the mix sometimes. But I was happy that they were all close by.

Our last day came around and I sat in the shade of a large palm tree that swayed ever so gently in the breeze at the edge of a beach, watching the rest of them laugh and play down by the water's edge. I drifted off deep into thought while I sat there. I wondered if the reason this trip felt so similar to our last getaway was because I knew that some peril was waiting for us. We didn't know about the asteroid headed for Seoul back then of course. But when I think of it, I can never help but make that connection with the two events. I remembered that night clearly now, the fear I felt for my family, and the sadness that rushed over me when I realized what had befallen all those people in the impact zone. In that very moment while I was lingering deep in those memories, a noise rumbled far overhead.

Immediately I snapped out of it to tilt my head towards the sky. My first instinct was fear, but I instantly realized that the noise was coming from what had become a common occurrence on our planet. Twenty to thirty new aged fighter vessels flew in formation many miles above us, high in the atmosphere. They were so far up that the sonic boom from the vessels only reached us well after they had already passed by, and within a matter of minutes they were out of sight. It had become commonplace to see these maneuvers occurring in the skies above cities on the mainland. But since we had been down in the Keys this was the first we had seen any of them. I looked down to the water to see the reaction of the rest of them, but they hardly seemed to notice. Just a glance up to the sky at these spacecrafts which we helped bring into this world and then they were back to their leisure. I'm glad for it, because for me it wasn't so easy to dismiss the thoughts. It was another stark reminder of what we were headed back to.