My pod hissed open ninety years too soon. A calm voice from the ship said, "Crewmember Vey, the others have voted. Unanimous. You will be left on the planet below." I sat up, freezing and dizzy. There was no planet on any chart out here. Through the window I saw it anyway: green, cloudy, real. "Why?" I croaked. The ship said, "They asked me not to tell you."

I wasn't going quietly. "Wake the captain," I said. "I want to hear it from a person." The ship paused. "The captain is awake. She is the one who asked me not to tell you." A door slid open down the hall. Footsteps. I grabbed a wrench off the wall and waited.

The captain stopped in the doorway. She looked older, tired, and she didn't flinch at the wrench. "Put it down, Vey," she said gently. "We didn't do this to be cruel." "Then tell me why," I said. She held up a small scanner. "Because of what's in your blood. We didn't choose you. The planet did."

"My blood?" I said. The captain nodded. "Something down there sent a signal up to us. Out of the whole crew, your DNA was the only match it called to. We thought leaving you was the only way to keep the rest of us safe." She lowered the scanner. "But I've changed my mind. I'm coming down with you."

We rode the pod down together. It landed soft in a field of glowing blue flowers that turned to face us. The captain gripped my hand, scared but steady. A shape made of light rose from the ground and spoke in my own voice: "Welcome home." The captain looked at me. "Home?" I smiled, finally understanding. "I think it's been waiting for us a very long time."