Confused about the ending, explanations appreciated (SPOILERS)

[Mendhak]

SPOILERS BELOW

Two questions about the ending which left me a little confused.

In the last few chapters, Donald and Charlotte fly off in an aircraft where they see the blue skies and Donald gets very happy. In the very next Donald chapter, Donald is back in Silo1 with Charlotte upstairs. Is this just a 'flashback' to what he did before he left or did he actually return to Silo1?

Can someone explain the suicide pact? What exactly was that about - all I could glean was that the silos were created and nobody was meant to get out alive. Donald asks Thurman about it towards the end but there was no answer. Why was nobody supposed to get out alive, why keep everyone alive for centuries if that was the case?

[Jennifer]

Mendhak wrote: "SPOILERS BELOW

Two questions about the ending which left me a little confused.

In the last few chapters, Donald and Charlotte fly off in a drone where they see the blue skies and Donald gets ve..."

*SPOILERS*

Drones are unmanned, flown like a video game.

My understanding of the suicide pact was that only one of the numbered silo's would "win" Thurman and co.'s entire experiment is to synthesize a perfect society through one of the test-tube silos. By creating a utopian society, mankind would never be at risk of destroying itself. Hypothetically. Also, the theoretical need for the silo's and the genocide, or really species-cide was that the nano-bots would have wiped out the entire planet.

[Mendhak]

Oh yes, meant aircraft, corrected now.

Thanks for the pact explanation, it's a bit out there but I understand what Thurman meant now.