[ WP ] You look back through the viewing window of the last colonist ship to the newly-terraformed Moon . The face of the Earth is already obscured by Yellowstone 's debris and ash .

*Changed the bit about the moon being their destination. Hope you enjoy! * 
 
 Not many people had the word `` caldera'' in their vocabulary before April 3, 2064. It was a word reserved for geologists and advanced Earth Science students in high school. Every now and again someone would joke that the majority of the planet could be smothered in ash at any time, and we'd be dead soon after. You'd research it, freak yourself out a bit, then log it away in your mind with giant asteroids and your grandmother's Y2K stories. 
 
 Many believe some government body or scientific group knew when, but even if that's true it hardly mattered. Even if you knew when, how do stop a volcano larger than most countries? 
 
 There were no warnings, sirens, or interruptions of regularly scheduled programs. Everywhere on Earth felt the ground shake. Hundreds of millions died in the initial blast; millions more would be burned and chocked to death by a cloud of hot ash that covered nearly half the planet in mere hours. Moving east from the United States, Russia, India, China, and Japan were the few countries able to detect the problem and take immediate action. 
 
 It was truly incredible to see a few billion people scramble to save what few of us had a chance at escaping. When you have the entire resource and might of an extinction event behind you, motivation is easy. Massive ships were created in a matter of days. But we all knew less than 0.000001 % of the population was actually going to leave safely. For every disaster movie or social theory on survivor mentality, it was not how anyone could have imagined. Many were afraid the ships would n't work, having been made in extreme haste. Some simply accepted the truth; the survival of the species required the best of our species. 
 
 Doctors, engineers, professors, biologists, poets, philosophers, writers, and the intellectual elite were chosen. Of course, there were riots, but a fast approaching cloud of smoldering ash made many too scared or too busy to protest. The rockets launched using nuclear based reactions as a propulsion to escape the atmosphere. We essentially dropped hundreds of atom bombs on those we were leaving behind. It was to save on fuel. It was also a kindness. 
 
 I am an entomologist. My ship has the responsibility of ensuring the survival of several thousand insect species ( along with the human crew of 242 ). We are adrift. Our ships are designed to serve as homes for the next several generations as we travel to a planet that will most likely be insufficient for relocation. This may be a false hope that lasts many lives and hundreds of years. But we had to try something. 
 
 After almost a month, we are passing Mars and will lose our ability to communicate with Earth soon. No one has transmitted a message in weeks, but they did put a repeating message in Morse for us: 
 
.....-.-.... -..... -. --. -- - -- - -.. -... -. --. ( SURVIVE. GOODBYE. )
