Using a lottery system, evacuees are selected at random from across the Freedom Alliance using carefully calibrated metrics to ensure as many cultures as possible survive. The various national governments have kept the colony ships a closely guarded secret to avoid a mass panic. At the same time, the best and brightest of humanity is spirited away to join the exodus, along with a complete technology, biologic and zoological base, ensuring when they find a new planet to call home, it can be adapted to resemble Earth.