OLIVER: How old are you, Alexander?

ALEXANDER: I'm 3.

OLIVER: But you're almost 2 in Martian years, right?  I think you have a birthday in a few weeks.

ALEXANDER: Ok.

OLIVER: What did your parents do?

ALEXANDER: When?

OLIVER: No, I mean what kind of work did they do?

ALEXANDER: I don't remember.

OLIVER: Did your mom work in Building 14 and 20?

ALEXANDER: I'm not sure.

OLIVER: Did she use the mechsuits at work?

ALEXANDER: Yeah!  I saw her using one once.

OLIVER: Did your dad work in the ferries?  The spaceships that went back and forth to Earth?

ALEXANDER: I think so.  He went away, and he was supposed to come back but he didn't.

OLIVER: Yeah, I think his job was one where he went back and forth, and he was supposed to come back but they have some problems on Earth so he wasn't able to come back, yet.  It wasn't that he didn't want to, he just couldn't, Alex.

ALEXANDER: Ok.  Are they gonna let him come back soon?

OLIVER: I'm sorry, Alex, I don't think so.

ALEXANDER: Oh.

OLIVER: But we're here!  Olivia and Liam and Noah and the rest of us.  That's something, right?

ALEXANDER: Yeah.

OLIVER: What's your earliest memory?

ALEXANDER: Of what?

OLIVER: Of anything!

ALEXANDER: Hmmm...I'm not sure.

OLIVER: What about your first memory of meeting other kids?  Do you remember that?

ALEXANDER: Which one?

OLIVER: Any one.  What about the first time you remember meeting Harper?

ALEXANDER: She was crying a lot.

OLIVER: Was she really little?

ALEXANDER: She's still really little.

OLIVER: Yeah, but I mean, was she a baby?

ALEXANDER: Yeah.  I asked her parents why she was crying, and they said she was tired.

OLIVER: I guess babies do that a lot.  Come to think of it, sometimes we get grumpy in Building 3 when it's late, and we're still up and trying not to fall asleep.  But mostly I think I'm grumpy in the morning now, not late at night.

ALEXANDER: I wake up early a lot.

OLIVER: Yeah?

ALEXANDER: You get to watch the sun come up.  One time, I saw a cloud come up from the ground.

OLIVER: Oh, really?  There must have been some dust storm kicked up when the sunlight heated the air.  Was it kind of a spiral or funnel shape?

ALEXANDER: Not really.

OLIVER: Hmm.  How often do you wake up that early, Alexander?  I think I've seen the sunrise like once in my life.

ALEXANDER:  Most of the time.  Then after a while I go back to sleep and wait until everyone else is up.

OLIVER: Interesting, is anyone else up for the sunset, usually?

ALEXANDER: Not usually, except for Liam.  He starts working on the plants.  Sometimes I try to help, but usually I just watch the sunrise and then go back to sleep for a while.

OLIVER: Is that why you wake up early, because Liam gets up?

ALEXANDER: Maybe, I'm not sure.  Sometimes I have a bad dream.

OLIVER: Oh, of what?

ALEXANDER: The Evacuation.  Sometimes I have a bad dream where it happens again.  I hope it doesn't happen again!

OLIVER: No worries, Alexander.  We're staying put.

ALEXANDER: Good!