In my dream, Fiwo smiled.

“Fiman, let’s go for a walk along the shore. I’d enjoy your company, and we can look through the telescope. It will be fun!” Above her, small puffy clouds moved toward the horizon as warm afternoon light moved across my arm.

Behind me, Lawrence said, “I tried to catch that fish, but it got away.”

Close to him, Lisa began laughing. “You’re hopeless! Try again tomorrow.”

Lawrence grinned, “Okay. Okay. I’ll use better bait.”

Fiwo leaned over a fire and lifted a pan of frying potatoes, which smelled very good.

To her right, Ben smiled and spoke quietly, “Beea, you look tired. Didn’t you get enough sleep last night?”

She glanced at Ben. Then Beea giggled. In the distance, the ocean roared faintly.

Afternoon shadows moved over Adam’s head. He said, “Atta, I love you so.”

She smiled. “How sweet.”

Lawrence gently grasped Lisa’s hand and began whispering to her.

Mary ran her fingers through her hair, flirting with Mark. She said, teasing, “Don’t you ever get tired of me?”

Mark frowned. “No. That’s an odd question.”

Mary pouted, “You spend so much time studying. Talk to me.”

Through the sunny afternoon, Nara and Nick kept strolling, headed for a palm. Nara murmured, “I like it when you look at me. It makes me feel special.”

Nick smiled. “I hope so.”

On the beach, Laura was massaging Lenny’s back. She grinned. “Does that feel good?”

Lenny purred, “You know it does.”

Not far from them, Cathy and Carl were running up a steep path. Cathy shouted, joking, “I’m faster than you!”

Eve was watching a screen with Ed, studying Beyo’s outer orbit, trying to find out more about this planet.

Jane and Jim were talking about Uis, one of Ori’s moons, wondering if we would ever go there.

As always, Ora and Orson kept arguing. She wanted to remain on Hopely. He felt that it was best to search the entire planet because there might be a better place to live.

Candied yams, a fragrant meal that Nick was preparing, were cooking slowly.

Lisa was complaining, telling Lawrence that he was too lazy to clean.

Fran was listening to Frank as he talked about our optical interferometric telescope, hoping it might help him find Laiplen. Behind them, sunlit palms shifted in the wind.

Gina and Gary kept complaining, “Fiman, if we leave Hopely, we’ll die in that jungle!”

I shuddered as the dream collapsed, remembering that most of my friends were gone forever.