Part 9/10:
In an epilogue that punctuates the narrative’s themes, Cartwright awakens decades later, surrounded by the once-sleeping pods opening to reveal the new potential of humanity. He is reunited with Abby amid the ruins of the civilization they once knew. This moment serves as both a bittersweet culmination of their trials and a poignant reminder of the duality of sacrifice—what is lost and what is salvaged in the aftermath of cataclysmic change.