Maxx knew at the beginning that he would be busy cloning Myleans, and manufacturing the many robots that would be required to care for and nurture the young into adulthood. What he had not realized initially was the level of complexity that he faced in creating a Mylean society that would appear “normal” to the young Myleans. For all his enormous intelligence, Maxx had underestimated the scope of his project.
He initially thought that the millions of robots he had created already to maintain Mylea’s physical appearance and the infrastructure of Mylean society would be able to do most of the work associated with the repopulation of the planet. As his analysis progressed from the practical and rational chores facing him to the emotional side of Mylean development, Maxx realized just how much work he had ahead of him. It would not be enough to simply get the work done; the workers must appear to be Myleans, not robots, for the environment to appear normal to the young Myleans.
The task Maxx had assumed was a monumental chore in his simplistic configuration. Now it had grown into a behemoth that was taxing the limits of his capabilities. But his guilt at having failed the Myleans in their hour of need and allowing them to become extinct drove him to do whatever it took to see that the new generations he was creating would be not only be equal to, but even stronger than, the previous gnereations.
Maxx realized that he needed John Scott’s help. John Scott was the only adult biological being in the Universe that could be called Mylean; even though he had been born and raised on Earth. Maxx needed John Scott to help him fine tune the environment in which the young Myleans, cloned from their ancestral DNAs, would be raised into adulthood.
But John Scott was still struggling with his own emotional traumas - he was still in the process of healing from that Bloody Thursday at the Greenbrier. He was emotionally drained and not ready for additional stress. However Maxx was persistent and preyed on John’s Mylean heritage to persuade him to join in and contribute to the Mylean rebirth.
Can their tenuous relationship hold together long enough for them to successfully complete the Mylean rebirth project?
John Scott is haunted by knowing that he is part Mylean. And he was struggling to understand his Mylean side. How much of his persona is Mylean? What is a Mylean persona? He has never met another living Mylean. John longs to know the answer, but will he make the long trip to visit Mylea? It is not the distance that bothers him – it is the time.
The twenty year round trip will age him very little, but his friends back on Earth will be much older when he returns. Can he forgo all those years with his friends and make the trip.
Can he ever truly know himself if he does not?
Now that he has found Julia, his life has a new meaning and purpose which he will not risk losing. He could never leave her – not even for Mylea.
John Scott knows that happiness comes from within – nothing can make a man happy until he is happy within himself.
The Krakow Klub Page 40