"Now, who can tell me the name of the ship the Founding Fifteen arrived in?"

Anna smiled at the sea of hands which shot up into the air. "Melissa?"

"The Roanoke," a little girl said proudly.

"That's right," Anna said. "And why was it called that? Anyone know?"

No one did.

"Devon Adair named her advance ship the Roanoke after an old, old colony back on Earth," Anna explained. "You see, 800 years ago, our distant ancestors were all still on one planet, the Earth. And they didn't have the technology that we have. They didn't have electricity, or machines, or space ships. It took a long time to travel from one place to another. And some groups of people sailed on wooden ships far over the ocean to set up colonies in new and different places, which they had never seen before. One such colony was called Roanoke. Devon Adair named her ship in honor of this historic colony. If you'll all activate your gear, I'll show you a representation of what that ancient colony looked like."

The children all wore gear sets. They swung the eyepieces around and connected into the VR program Anna had brought with her. They were instantly transported to a world of log cabins and sunshine. People dressed in funny clothing – from head to toe – walked around. There were horses, carts, pigs, chickens, and several other animals.

"How did they live like this?" one of the little boys asked.

"Well, to them, this was normal," Anna said. "They had never known any other way of life."

"I got a program like this at home!" another boy spoke up, tugging on Anna's jacket. "But it's got these pirates in it, and they come in these great big ships, with cannons, and try to blow up the town, and it's up to me to save everyone!"

Anna laughed. "Well, that's a game. You won't find any pirates in this VR program. This is just a historical representation of what we think the colony looked like."

"Oh," the boy said, clearly disappointed.

Mrs. Angelhide, the teacher, motioned to her watch that they were almost out of time. Anna nodded and switched off the program. They found themselves back in the classroom.

"Now, the colony of Roanoke was founded in the Earth year of 1587," Anna said. "Can anyone tell me what year we know that as?"

Some of the children looked confused. A couple of them quickly pulled out their datapads and did the math, each hoping to be the first to arrive at the answer.

"Six hundred nineteen BC!" they both cried.

"That's right," Anna said with a nod.

Another little girl raised her hand. "My dad said that 'BC' used to stand for 'Before Christ."

Anna nodded again. "That's true. Back on Earth, 'BC' stands for 'Before Christ.' But here on our planet, it stands for something else. Do you all know what it stands for?"

"'Before Crash,'" the children echoed.

"That's right! You all are really smart!" She turned to the teacher. "They are so smart!"

"They certainly are," Mrs. Angelhide said. "All right class, it's time for Ms. LeClark to go. Now remember, she's the curator at the New Pacifica Historical Museum. If we're nice to her, maybe we can see her again someday. Maybe we even can take a tour of the museum. So can we all tell her, 'Thank you' for coming out here today?"

"Thank you," the children echoed, getting up from the semicircle around her and heading back to their seats.

"You're welcome," Anna said. Then she quickly put her VR chips in her bag, said good-bye to the teacher, and left.

The moment Anna LeClark was beyond the door, her cheerful smile disappeared and she fell back against it, holding her forehead in one hand. She felt so tired, and she really didn't know why. And her head hurt.

She wearily weaved her way through the parking lot, found her car, found some painkiller in one of the dashboard compartments, and drove back to the museum.

She wondered why she had accepted Mrs. Angelhide's request to visit her class. She was already overloaded with work as it was. Not only was she curator of the museum, she was also head of the Bicentennial Planning Committee. She didn't have time to be doing other things like this.

She reached the museum, noting that most of the staff seemed to have gone for the day. She should have been irritated at this, for some of her work could not be accomplished unless they were there to assist her. But she was secretly pleased. She really wanted some peace and quiet for the rest of the evening.

Of course, if she really wanted peace and quiet, she supposed she could have gone home. But she knew she didn't want to go there.

She nodded at Howard, sitting behind the security desk, as she entered the building, and made her way to her office. She laid her bag and coat over a chair as she entered, and sighed as she noticed the 87 messages waiting for her. Couldn't the world just get along without her for one day?

Dropping heavily into the chair behind her desk, she scanned through the messages, and caught her breath when she noted that the first was from Matt.

Damn. What did he want now?

She hesitated before playing it. She really didn't want to deal with this.

"Ms. LeClark?"

She jumped slightly. A man stood in the doorway, smiling hopefully. One hand was raised to knock on her open office door. His other hand held a briefcase, and a coat was draped over his arm.

"Yes?"

"Hello." Smiling brightly, like he'd just discovered a long-lost friend, he walked in and shook her hand. "I'm Roger Fulbright, head of Archaeology at Heller University."

"Oh!" Anna broke into a surprised smile. "Dr. Fulbright! I've always wondered when we would meet in person. Uh...what brings you here?"

Roger was grinning with barely concealed excitement as he sat down opposite her. "Well, I am in need of your assistance. I've been trying to reach you all day, but your staff told me you were out. They said you would return later this afternoon, so I came here directly to meet you."

"Yes," Anna said hesitantly, wondering why he had come to meet her in person. "I was giving a talk to some six-year-olds at one of our local schools."

"Really?" he asked. "I wouldn't have thought you would have to do any work on the side."

Anna froze for a split second, taken aback. As Roger gazed at her, she realized he had asked that question with perfect innocence, and a complete lack of tact.

"I did it for free, Dr. Fulbright."

"Oh, yes, of course." He nodded and smiled. "So sorry."

"Dr. Fulbright-"

"Uh, Roger, please."

Anna nodded. "Roger – isn't it somewhat unusual to hop a plane and travel halfway around the world just to talk to somebody?"

"It most certainly is!" he said eagerly. "But I think you'll agree that this is an unusual occasion."

Anna sighed. "I don't like games, Dr. Fulbright. Please come to the point."

He pulled out a recording chip and handed it over. "I think you'll find that this will explain everything."

Anna looked at it curiously.

"You'll have to use one of the early model gear sets to read it, I'm afraid," he said. "As you can see, it's an old 16 megabyte record-"

"I do know my history, Dr. Fulbright," Anna said, giving him a quick warning glance.

"Roger," he whispered with a smile.

Anna opened a safe and took out a rare antique, an old-fashioned gear set. She had to have one in her office, as it was the only way to read data chips over 150 years old.

She gently put it on, plugged the chip in, swung the eyepiece around, and turned it on.

Both the picture and the voice were blurred and scattered with static. She could make out a white, round hut set against a snowdrift. A soft, eloquent voice with a strange accent drifted like music into her ear.

"Day.... n this planet...log n...ber 67: The original inhab...of this dome had e...ntly prepared for a long sta...not found any records of who they w...sent here by the stations as outlaws-"

Another voice appeared on the recording. "Yale?" The original speaker stopped and turned. The view showed a raven-haired woman approaching. And Anna knew that face all too well.

She ripped off the headset and thrust it at Roger. "Is this a joke?" she snapped.

"No joke, Ms. LeClark," Roger whispered, smiling. He pointed at the gear set. "Keep going."

Anna stared at him for a long moment. Slowly, she put the headset back on and restarted the recording. To her relief, the static cleared a little as it went on.

"What is it, Devon?" the speaker asked, apparently forgetting to pause the recording.

Devon Adair approached and looked the speaker in the eye. Anna realized this must be Yale, the tutor of Ulysses.

"Have you seen Uly? I can't find him anywhere."

"I believe he and Baines and True are off learning how to build snowmen."

"Off learning how to get pneumonia, you mean," Devon said.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it, Devon," a third speaker said. A blonde woman walked into the field of vision. "I think you're overreacting. They'll be all right, just as long as they're bundled up, and don't stay out for extended periods of time."

"With respect, Julia," Devon said, "you don't know anything more about snow and cold than we do."

Julia just smiled. "Snow? No. Cold? Yes, I do. They'll be fine." With that she walked on.

Devon just shook her head.

"Devon," Yale said, "the snow is coming down harder each night, and the average temperature is still dropping. I think it would be very wise if we were to make serious plans to stay here for the entire winter."

Devon sighed. "I know, but I don't like it. Every delay means less time to set up the colony at New Pacifica, Yale."

"I agree, but what can we do?"

There was obviously more to the recording, but Anna could no longer contain herself. She ripped it off again. "Is this for real?" she asked.

Roger nodded.

"The Winter Camp?" Anna breathed, hardly daring to believe it. "This...is an original recording of three members of the Founding Fifteen, with a visual sighting of the Winter Camp?" She stared at him incredulously. "Year 1?"

Roger nodded again, allowing her the moment of excitement he himself had felt. Anna just stared at him, and swallowed hard.

"Where did you find it?" she finally asked.

Smiling, Roger took out a map and unrolled it on her desk. "Here," he pointed. "In the middle of the Martin Mountains. And I'm not the one who found it – Grendler hunters found it."

"Grendler hunters?"

"Yes," Roger said with distaste. "Even though hunting Grendlers is illegal, you'd be surprised at the number of people who only think of them as animals, and hunt them. Two days ago, the forestry office caught two hunters in the Martin Mountains with a couple of Grendler pelts. One of the hunters had this little treasure among his possessions," he pointed at the recording.

"And how did you get ahold of it?" Anna asked.

"The forestry officer who made the arrest, Officer Haguewood, was a student of mine, and she's pure hell on anyone who hunts Grendlers. She's fascinated with the history of the Founding Fifteen, and finding historical sites. She recognized the chip for what it is and contacted me about it.

"When I realized what she had, I persuaded the university board of regents to get involved just in time. They spoke with the justice department, who promised to give the hunter a little leniency if he could tell us exactly where he picked up this recording."

"And did he?"

"When he realized what was at stake, he led us to the very spot."

Anna's face fell. "You realize he probably led you to nowhere in particular, just to save his worthless neck."

Roger reached into his briefcase and pulled out a sonograph. "We took a satellite reading of the area he led us to." He handed it across. "This is what we found."

Anna looked at it. Sound waves penetrating the surface of the earth had bounced back to give an incredible picture: one medium-sized dome and two smaller structures.

She looked up in amazement. She almost felt like crying. "You found it," she breathed. "You found the Winter Camp from year 1."

Roger pointed at the map again. "The Reagan fault line runs right by their campsite. My comrades in the geology department tell me it gave a slight hiccup about 190 years ago – enough to move some dirt around and cover the site completely. That's why we've never been able to find it."

"This campsite is about 10 meters underground," Anna said. "How did the hunter find the recording? How did that little recording chip get to the surface?"

"We don't know. That's a bit of a mystery."

Anna let out a huge breath, her mind awhirl with the possibilities. Then she looked sharply at Roger. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Money," he said simply.

"Uh huh," she replied, leaning back in her chair.

"My university has already blown most of its budget for the year. I'm certain I could convince them to fund an expedition to uncover the site, but the fiscal year doesn't start for another three months, and this can't wait. And I know you and your museum do have money. In fact, because of the upcoming bicentennial, I believe you have more funds available than you usually do."

Anna gave Roger an appraising look. "Would you have shared this discovery with me if it weren't for the fact that you needed funding?"

"No."

Anna found herself laughing. "I wouldn't have either. When can you start?"

"When can you?"

"Tomorrow morning – and thank goodness it's a Saturday. I'll prepare everything we need tonight. I don't care how many people I have to wake up. Be at the New Pacifica airfield at 6:00 AM."

"I'll be there at 5:00," Roger said. He gathered his belongings and left.

Anna counted to ten to make sure Roger was fully out of earshot, then keyed a button on her desk and raised security.

"Howard here," a voice said.

"Howard, run a check on the man who was just here. Verify that he is Dr. Roger Fulbright of Heller University."

"Right away, ma'am," Howard said.

Smiling to herself, Anna instructed the computer to start playing her messages. Her excitement plummeted as she heard Matt's voice – she'd completely forgotten that she didn't want to hear anything he had to say right then. She closed her eyes, refusing to look at his face on the screen.

"Anna, this is Matt. Look, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to change plans for dropping off Todd. Dana's parents came into town early, with no warning, and I can't just leave in the middle of the evening to come see you. I'll swing by the museum on the way home from work and leave him there with you. I'll probably be there around 6:00. See ya."

Anna sat bolt upright and called up her calendar on her datapad. Damn! This was a weekend when she had Todd! In her excitement over the greatest archaeological find of the century, she had completely forgotten!

She looked at her watch: 5:30. Double-damn with chocolate on top!

She snapped the return key on the message board.

Matt's face appeared. He was behind the wheel of his car, although he didn't look like he was driving anywhere. "Matt LeClark," he said.

"Matt, look, I've been out all day, and I just got your message. I can save us both some trouble – don't bother bringing Todd by. Something incredibly important has just come up, and I can't have him this weekend. You'll have to keep him."

Matt gasped several times in astonishment and frustration. "What do you mean, 'I'll have to keep him?' This is part of the agreement. It's what you wanted, if I recall!"

"I know, I did, and I do, but this is really major, really really major. Please, Matt. I absolutely cannot afford to keep Todd this weekend."

From off the screen, Anna heard a little voice whisper, "Mommy doesn't want to see me."

She closed her eyes.

Double-damn with chocolate and strawberries – of course Todd would be in the car listening. This was not turning into one of her better days.

"Yes, Mommy wants to see you very, very badly," she said aloud. "But sometimes bad things happen, Todd, which keep us from being able to do the things we want to do, and we just have to deal with them as best as we can. And this is one of those times."

"You're telling me," Matt said dryly.

They glared at each other.

"Please, Matt," she whispered.

Matt sighed. "Todd, wait for me outside for a second."

Anna heard a car door open and close.

"Anna, do you know where I am?" Matt asked.

She shook her head.

"I'm right outside. I'm in the parking lot of your precious, holy, God-almighty museum. That thing you seem to care about so goddamned much. Why didn't you call earlier?"

"This just came up-"

"And I'm supposed to suddenly turn my entire schedule inside out to accommodate you? Anna, I got sick of that. I divorced you for that very reason, so I wouldn't have to put up with this crap any more. And I still have to put up with it!"

Anna had her head in her hands. "Matt-"

"Now let me ask you another question," he continued. "Do you know where I'll be tomorrow morning?"

"In hell, I hope," she whispered.

"In the New Cayman Islands. Dana and I are going there for the weekend. It's a getaway for two. Not three – two. No children – just us. We've been planning it for months."

"You said Dana's parents were in town. Maybe they could watch him."

"Anna, they are only in for the evening!" Matt exploded. "They're returning to Denner Point later tonight, for Chrissake! Now come on!"

There was silence for a moment, and Anna could not look at him.

"Fine," she said. "Send him on up. And tell him he's going on a field trip tomorrow."

She flicked the channel closed and flopped back in her chair. Her eyes were shut, and she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

A second later, her video screen came back to life.

"Howard here, ma'am. The ID checks positive. He was the real man, all right."

She managed a weak smile. "Thanks, Howard."

"I take it he hit you up for some money, ma'am?"

"Oh, more than that, Howard. If he had turned out to be another fraud, I would have become the laughing stock of the world. I just can't be too careful since I almost shelled out a thousand credits for a fake leg brace supposedly worn by Alonzo Solace."

"The things people do for money and fame, ma'am."

"Right," she whispered. Howard couldn't know how close to home that statement hit.

"Oh," she said, "my little boy should be entering the building about now. He...would you escort him up to me? His father...is in a hurry, and probably needs to be on his way."

"I understand, ma'am," Howard said. From the way he said it, it sounded as if he truly did understand. "I'll bring him right there. Okay if I get him an ice cream from the shop?"

"Sure," she said with a smile. "I'll be out on the floor."

She took off her badge and tossed it on the desk. For once, she just wanted to walk the floor anonymously, as a patron of the arts of history, rather than as the museum curator.

She left her office and walked out into the empty rooms and sections of the museum. It was open until late, but most people were eating dinner about now, so she was relatively alone. Without the badge to identify her, no one stopped and asked where the restrooms were or tried to engage her in discussions about the origins of the Terrians. She drifted through the exhibits, running her fingers lightly along the glass cases.

Anna LeClark knew a phenomenal amount of history, but she specialized in the Founding Fifteen.

There was something romantic, something beautiful, something truly heroic about the early pioneers of her world, and the struggle they had waged across the continent, against incredible odds, to found the city in which she now lived. Her grandfather had helped design the monument to them in Adair Park. She could recite all their names: John Danziger, Alonzo Solace, Braden Croy. She even knew of the 16th member who hadn't made it all the way, Eben Singh. Eben's burial site was another mystery she hoped to solve within her lifetime.

It should have been so easy, but Anna knew it never would be. That historic trip across the planet had been diligently recorded on over a hundred chips, in over a thousand log entries, detailing everything from medical history, to chronology, to the route they had taken.

And then the Great Fire of year 3, raging across New Pacifica, had destroyed their library, and all those records were lost.

It wasn't fair. Mankind didn't use papyrus and shroud its history in myth any more. The Founding Fifteen had upheld their responsibility admirably, recording everything for future academicians. Dr. Heller and Morgan Martin, in particular, had been fastidious and highly detailed in their work.

But after all that, even in these advanced times, historians were still groping in the dark, just like they always had. It was like a curse. They still had to piece together the past from legends, Grendler tales, and the rare historical find.

Like Fulbright's.

It was the find of the century, there was no doubt about that. The Winter Camp – and just five months before the bicentennial! It was almost too good to be true!

She found herself in front of her favorite exhibit, her personal pride of the entire museum: the transrover. It wasn't just any transrover – it was the transrover. The very one, handled and touched and driven and packed and unpacked by the Founding Fifteen for years on end, the one which had practically carried them on its unbreakable back across the continent.

It had only been placed on display at the end of its life. The old thing looked beat up, worn down, and half replaced. John Danziger himself had probably done most of it. It was going to be the primary display at the bicentennial celebrations next summer – the 200th anniversary of the crash of the Roanoke.

She traced her fingers along the glass. She had only touched the transrover once.

She really wished she could do so again.

And what would she find? she thought. What would she get from placing her hands on the machine in front of her? Answers? Did she think all the answers to all her problems could be found in the past? That everything would become right in the world if only she could find a way to reach the Founding Fifteen?

Would all her problems go away if she could just touch her heroes, just for a moment?

"Mom?"

She looked down to find Todd by her side with an ice cream cone in his hand, staring up at her with sad eyes. Down at the end of the hallway, Howard was walking away, not looking back.

"Dad said we were going on a trip," Todd said.

"We certainly are, honey."

"Why?"

Anna looked back at the transrover. She stared at it, and then at the reflection of her face in the glass, looking right back at her. Suddenly, she felt like a stranger. She put her fingertips to the glass lightly.

"To find something," she said. "But I don't know what."