Replay Earth [Schlack, Mark]

Raefe and Lina are two twenty-somethings trying to start a life in the mid-21st century. He's beset by crippling migraines, she's trying to outpace the horrors of the genocide she escaped as a child. Their lives are upended by floods that turn 10 million people on the East Coast into refugees.

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But all is not lost. Twenty light years away, a group of ancient and advanced alien civilizations known as the Guardians works to nudge intelligent life in the galaxy past the point of self-destruction that humans are teetering on. They realize that Raefe's headaches stem from his particularly strong empathic nature, a clue that can be the key to human survival. They make contact with Raefe and begin to show him how to use those powers for good.

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But all is not well among the aliens either. A rogue Guardian seizes control of the group, perverting its aims and sabotaging their mission on Earth.

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What follows is a 30-year adventure in which Raefe and Lina ultimately lead a billion refugees around the world to gradually become a new kind of nation, with new kinds of economic and social relationships. Inside the Guardians, Diver and her allies lead a guerrilla campaign to restore the group to its mission and continue to mentor Earth. It all comes to a head in 2082 in an inspiring showdown that changes history forever.