The food in the house was getting low and no new food was being delivered. Jake began planning his departure. The morning he was going to leave, the bald bearded man from the meeting landed and came inside. He had an expression of deep grief. It was much the same expression that his parents had when they told him about the cancer.
"I'm sorry about Lulu's death, Jake. She told me you were her nephew visiting from Arizona. The Aye explained to us what the virus was really for and we generally believe its explanation is credible. We even checked against some information that we think the Aye doesn't know that we have. We believe that reducing fertility rates is an affront to human dignity and rights. What's really unfortunate is that it turned out that some members of our group were involved in the school bombing. They were getting help from the Oregonian rebels. The Aye scanned my mind, hunted them down and executed them all. The Oregonians have also been found and killed. This may mark the end of the rebellion. The Aye also told me to convey a message to you. It said that Riojme is still in a cell and that you'd better return home soon. I don't know what that means, but Riojme is my daughter and the Aye hasn't released her. I was the one who adopted her. If you can do anything, please help."
Without waiting for a reply, the man left. Jake was again alone. He had been thinking too much of himself and not enough about the nature of time travel. He had thought since he wasn't going to see Riojme for five years, he might as well spend some of it here instead of back home. But that wasn't the case. The five year clock wouldn't start ticking until he got home.
Jake went out to the concrete slab and brought up the tablet. Instead of the date and arrows there was now one big image of the word "HOME". Jake hit the button.
Jake hadn't noticed that the vacikarce was gone from the slab. It would take him several years to realize that he could return to 2286 before he left and keep Riojme from waiting.