The aroma of bacon, fresh bread, and coffee lingered over the valley long after breakfast had ended. Men carried benches back beneath the hay barn while women gathered plates, kettles, and serving bowls. Children laughed as they chased one another through the tall grass, their worries already giving way to curiosity.

Rebecca wiped her hands on her apron and looked across the busy yard with quiet satisfaction.

"We fed nearly five hundred people," she said with a smile.

Samuel chuckled.

"And tomorrow you'll probably feed five hundred again."

"I reckon I will."

Nearby, Buck Rogers stood with a clipboard tucked beneath his arm. Beside him, Rebecca held a small notebook and pencil.

Samuel gathered Buck, Rebecca, Jacob Yoder, Elias, and Galileo Maestro beneath the shade of a large oak.

"We've been blessed with willing hands," Samuel said. "Now it's our responsibility to see that every hand finds useful work."

Turning to Rebecca, he smiled.

"Rebecca, you're going to organize the women. Find out their names, who they're married to, how many children they have, and what skills the Lord has given them."

Rebecca nodded confidently.

"I'll have them sorted before supper."

Samuel looked toward Buck.

"You'll do the same with the men."

Buck tapped his clipboard.

"I've been waiting to hear you say that."

Samuel laughed.

"While they're waiting to be interviewed, nobody stands idle. Jacob can use every spare hand at the brickworks."

Jacob puffed thoughtfully on his corncob pipe.

"They don't have to know brickmaking. By this evening they'll know enough to keep the mud moving."

Samuel nodded.

"Good. We don't need perfection today. We need momentum."

Within minutes Buck rang a handbell.

"If I could have everyone's attention!"

The crowd slowly gathered near the growing stacks of drying bricks.

Samuel climbed atop the pile until every face could see him. Nearly two hundred fifty newcomers stood quietly before him, waiting to hear what would become of their families.

He raised both hands.

"My friends... welcome."

A gentle silence settled across the valley.

"Before we begin assigning work, I'd like you to meet someone."

He motioned toward the man standing quietly below.

"This is Galileo Maestro. He dresses like us, but he wasn't born among us. Even so, he has chosen to stand beside us, work beside us, and live beside us. That makes him one of us."

Samuel stepped aside.

Galileo looked across the gathering for several moments before speaking.

"Nearly a year ago, I was studying the work of a man who dreamed of ending war forever. He believed the Creator had filled this world with enough energy for everyone, just as He filled rivers with water for all to drink. His greatest invention was never allowed to fulfill its purpose. Fear, greed, and the business of war buried it before it could bless mankind.

"With the help of my friend Elias, we built a working replica of that invention. During an extraordinary series of solar flares, something happened that none of us expected. The Earth itself began to move from its orbit and into the heavens.

"We believed we were facing the end of the world. Instead, we discovered we were resting safely in God's hands.

"The Earth now travels inside what we simply call the Glove. It protects us from the dangers of space while giving us light, warmth, rain, and seasons. Every week we discover another blessing.

"After those terrible days, my wife, my daughter, and I found Samuel and Rebecca. They welcomed us without hesitation. They shared their food, their labor, and their faith. I realized I had not simply found shelter. I had found a family.

"I hope each of you will find that same family here."

Galileo stepped back.

No one applauded.

Instead, the crowd stood quietly, absorbing words that were almost too remarkable to understand.

Samuel moved forward once more.

"Now we begin."

He pointed toward Jacob.

"Anyone waiting to be interviewed will report to the brickworks. You'll learn something useful before this day is over."

Turning toward Rebecca, he continued,

"Women with experience in cooking, baking, sewing, nursing, dairying, or caring for children will meet Rebecca beneath the hay barn."

Buck raised his clipboard.

"Blacksmiths, carpenters, loggers, masons, millers, farmers, teamsters, coopers, wheelwrights, and anyone with a trade, line up right here. We'll get to every one of you."

The crowd began moving with surprising order.

Within minutes confusion gave way to purpose.

Children gathered near Rebecca.

Men rolled up their sleeves beside Jacob's clay pits.

Carpenters began measuring foundations.

Loggers prepared wagons for the forest.

Buck filled page after page with names.

Samuel climbed down from the bricks and watched the valley come alive.

Only an hour earlier they had been strangers waiting for instructions.

Now they were neighbors, each carrying a piece of the future.

Beside him, Jacob smiled through a cloud of pipe smoke.

"Looks to me," he said, "that we've just started building more than houses."

"We've started building a civilization."