ago from radiation poisoning. The team then adjourns to the cave to hear Anna's translation. Finding the lyrical prose difficult, the girl haltingly recites the 'Testament of Arkadia'. The ancient text reveals this civilisation annihilated itself in a nuclear war, but, in spite of the destruction, it affirms that Arkadia will live on—in the hearts of an enlightened few who fled before the end, carrying the seeds of a new beginning into the depths of space. The passage ends with a plea for those guided here to make this world live again. Overwhelmed, the Alphans cannot reconcile the presence of human skeletons and an ancient human language uncountable light-years from Earth. Humans could not have travelled here over 25,000 years ago. With a strange intensity, Ferro astounds everyone by asserting it was the Arkadians who travelled to Earth. He reveals Anna's untold discovery: the petrified remains of forty varieties of tree thought native to Earth. As stated in the inscription, the Arkadian survivors took the seeds with them...when they settled Earth and became Mankind. Shaken by the implications of Ferro's conclusion, they move outside to discuss their situation: Alpha will be powerless in twenty-four hours and the team is no closer to discovering what force is holding the Moon a static prisoner. Should they migrate to the planet, it will take two years to reclaim the soil and begin growing crops. The overwhelming problem is that, even with strict rationing, three hundred Alphan settlers will exhaust the current supply of food in six months' time. Koenig reckons the planet buys them time...enough to hope for a miracle. In the cave, Ferro and Anna are packing their gear. They are distracted by a prolonged, eerie chord, building in intensity. Though frightened, the pair is drawn to the skeletons—which they briefly perceive as flesh-and-blood men. A long-dormant intelligence has been activated, choosing this man and woman to be the agents of its will. During a silent dialogue, the couple's fear turns to understanding and elation. After the communion concludes, Ferro and Anna are empowered by a new purpose. The pair joyfully embrace when Koenig calls with the news he has decided to abandon Alpha. As the party breaks camp and departs for home, the power situation on Moonbase becomes desperate. Most activities and services are severely curtailed, if not cancelled. Lighting and heat are radically reduced and all personnel wear cold-weather gear.