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AUBRIOT STEPPED FROM the shuttle. At first glance, Earth looked nothing like his dream. They’d landed in what used to be northern Europe. They were in the farthest northern reaches, on an island within the Arctic Circle. The place must have been sparsely populated even hundreds of years ago. It made sense the scientists had chosen it for the seed vault. At that time, the ground had probably been permanently frozen, which would have helped to preserve the seeds.
Things had changed.
Like most of the rest of the globe, the island was green. Not as lush and verdant as a jungle, but green nonetheless. The climate had already warmed significantly when he left Earth and the process had clearly continued. Here, the permafrost had melted, the sea level had risen, encroaching on the lan
