Humans Untied

Michelle Murrain

Published by Ursa Minor Publishing

Copyright 2011 Michelle Murrain

ISBN: 978-1-4524-6336-0

The Casitians Return by Michelle Murrain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Cover Image courtesy of Christian Hollingsworth, Smart Boy Designs:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smartboydesigns/

Casitian Universe at: http://casitian.com

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Four Whlis Leaves, One White

Chapter 2: Twelve Fingers of the Tud’scla

Chapter 3: The First Will be Last

Chapter 4: Seven Ways of Knowing

Chapter 5: One Hundred in the Highlands

Chapter 6: Treaty to Last a Quarter Century

Chapter 7:The Twelvers

Chapter 8: A Warm Eighteen Degrees

Chapter 9: Two Hundred Thousand Square Kilometers

Chapter 10: Ten Percent

Chapter 11: Twenty Years’ Time

Chapter 12: Fifteen around the Table

About the Author

Preface

In the first book of this series (“The Casitians Return”) the Casitians – human beings from another star system who are a part of the Galactic Community – came to Earth in 2011 for two purposes: to bring Dolphins into the Galactic community, and to reunite two branches of humanity. Many Earth humans resisted the changes required, and the Casitians unveiled a surprising solution: Terrans were given the option to migrate to a whole new planet, if they chose. This planet, called “New Earth” (or Rec'jeter'she in Casitian) would be free of Casitian or Galactic interference or influence. The second book (The Story of New Earth) was the story of that planet, now home to millions of Terrans, and also the continuing story of the relationships between Casitians and Terrans.

Because of the behavior of the Casitians and the Kinder in the second book, at the end, humans are found guilty by the Galactic Council of acting against Galactic principles. The sentence: restriction from the Galactic Community for 1000 years, including exile from the planet that now belonged to the dolphins: Earth. This story is the story of the evacuation of Earth.

Chapter 1: Four Whlis Leaves, One White

(AP) August 1, 2025

World Government Process in Chaos, Some Say

New York, NY – As the world prepares to unite under one government, some skeptics are pointing to chaotic procedures orchestrated by the United Nations, United States, and the European Union. "They really don't understand the complexities of the situation," said one participant, who wanted to remain anonymous. Although the conversion to the world currency, the Bancor, went without a hitch in 2017, many observers suggest that a one-world democracy, even without much of the rancor that preceded the Casitian Crisis, is a much more difficult arrangement. "Yes, we have some hurdles, but we've come quite far in working out the details, country by country." Diana Westinghouse, one of the top candidates for World President, is confident about the process. "Look, a lot of things we take on are complex, but we can do it, and we've got support and help from the galactic community. We'll do fine."

Hilcyon, Mrontl 5 1158

Hreller shook his head. "I don't think we're ready, Pkygy. We have, by our count, 120 cells spread out around the city. And we do know of cells in many other cities. We need a critical mass of cells in each city before a takeover will be successful – this just isn't widespread enough."

Pkygy nodded with what seemed to Beatrice to be reluctance.

"Yes, yes, you are right - I guess it was wishful thinking that we could get started now. I'm impatient. I can feel change coming."

Beatrice was in the back of the room, listening. She had felt out of the loop since they had started on Hilcyon. As a woman, she was considered simply Pkygy's wife – someone who cooked, cleaned and took care of him, and was going to have his babies – she wasn't someone who had a mind of her own, or ideas of her own. Pkygy respected her, but his friends and people they knew didn't know how to respect women. She had let Pkygy lead, and he had been a good leader. He took her ideas, added his own, and grew the movement they had started.

She had begun to focus more on working with women she found who were sympathetic to their cause. The Independent Christian State on New Earth was demeaning to women, but Kinder society took it one step further – complete disenfranchisement. It was at times very difficult for Beatrice to tolerate, or to abide by the rules.

Hreller said, "I have a friend who is starting a cell in Wlyntry, in the Central Valley – I hear there are many, many cells in the Valley. And I have another relative who happens to be moving to the upper highlands. This will spread, faster than you think – but we must be careful. I had a very close one with a suspicious Fourth Chief. He was playing sympathetic, but then I was beginning to tell it was an act. Luckily, I caught that before I invited him to the cell!"

Pkygy turned to the tall, broad-shouldered man next to him named Jren. Of his colleagues, Jren had been the most respectful to her.

"Jren, do you have anything to report?"

Beatrice thought his quiet voice belied strength of will that she had seen on occasion.

"Yes, Pkygy. As you know, I am being groomed to be promoted from a Fourth Chief to a Third Chief. My Second Chief had me over for drinks. When he was well into his cups, he let me know how unhappy he is with the way things are. I think he is a prime target. Like you, he respects his wife, and says he feels like we stifle creativity and waste talent, and we need to foster more independence to help the Kinder people grow and mature. He even confessed to me that he really wanted to be a story teller, not a Second chief!"

"Yes, Jren, that sounds like someone who could be a great asset to the movement. Thank you all for coming. We will meet again next moon." The meeting broke up, and the men left the house one by one, leaving Pkygy and Beatrice alone in the house.

"I am quite optimistic, Beatrice. I keep being surprised by how many people are unhappy with the way things are. I look forward to flexing our muscle."

Casiti, 12 Nird, 784

Joel, David and Laura had been surprised to be invited to Casiti, given the frosty relationship between Terrans and Casitians that followed the Sejo’s verdict and sentence. They had been asked to temporarily represent Terrans on the Caraj, the Casitian council. The Caraj was having many days of joinings to deal with the ramifications of the Sejo's ruling.

Joel felt that the whole mess was a complete catastrophe. Humans had three Casitian years, or twelve Earth years to completely vacate Earth because the dolphins had decided to claim Earth as their own. Terrans would have use of a very large fleet of colony ships, a fleet about five times larger than the fleet that brought humans to New Earth. But it would take many, many more trips to take all of the humans off of Earth. And there was no question that there would be conflict, perhaps even all-out war.

"We need you to create a plan to move Earth people to New Earth." Joel was yanked out of his reverie by Erit’ala speaking to him.

"You want us to create a plan? You're saddling us with all of this? We don't even know where to begin!"

Erit'ala looked at Joel with sad eyes. "Joel, I know how hard this seems, but you have to move forward – we have three years."

Joel sighed. "We can't do this alone, Erit'ala. We need your help.”

“Of course, we will help as we can.”

Joel thought that was an exceedingly weak promise of assistance. He decided to let it go for now. But he knew this would be revisited again.

“Well first, we have to tell people everywhere – on Earth, on New Earth, on ... what is that other planet?"

"We will not be communicating with the Za'aref. They are why we are in this situation."

Joel lost his patience. "No, it is not only their fault. Certainly, they precipitated this – but your actions were as much at fault as theirs. Face that. And we have 1000 years to get this right. Until we can unite the human race, and bring all humans to peace, we will never be re-united with the galactic community. Sure, 1000 years is a long time, but if we don't start out right, we're dooming the race to perpetual isolation. Is that what you want?"

David said, "Erit'ala, perhaps Casiti won't contact the Za'aref, but we will."

Joel knew that it was going to take a long time, way longer than he had to live, for the Casitians to own up to the mistakes they had made – in hiding the existence of the Za'aref from Earth humans, in trying hard to separate themselves from the more troubling members of the species, and in locking the wormhole. But Joel wasn't going to let them off the hook.

Joel added, “We have to tell them. We have to find a way to at least begin to coexist."

"It's just not possible. You all saw how impossible it was for some Terrans to go along with the changes that had to take place on Earth. The most conservative Terrans are nothing in comparison to the Za'aref."

David countered, "Look, we have three Casitian years, and we only have three planets, and a planet with seven billion people to empty. They have to go somewhere. I'm assuming that you don't want all that many to go to Casiti?"

Erit'ala blanched. "We think they all should be settled on New Earth."

"And how would that happen? There aren't any real cities built there yet – they have to be built. Fast. Casiti and the Za'aref planet are the only ones with already created infrastructure. My suggestion is that we place as many Terrans on each of these planets as possible, to lessen the problems that are going to arise with billions of people arriving on a planet with no infrastructure."

The room became suddenly quiet. Joel knew that the likelihood of many Earth humans ending up on Casiti was fairly slim. If there was one thing he had learned over the Earth year of this unfolding disaster, it was that the Casitians were truly human, after all. With all of the human frailties and tendencies. And somehow, he was going to have to convince the Casitians that their lot was finally, ultimately, tied to the lot of all of human kind, whether Casitian, Terran, or Za'aref.

Joel sighed, and decided to change his tack. "Can we at least send a ship to New Earth, and make contact with Marianne again? There is no reason to keep that wormhole locked anymore."

A tall, broad-faced man named K'lellen raised his head from the tablet had been looking at studiously. Joel had first met him today, and he learned that K'lellen had been newly assigned as teacher in charge of all Casitian space flight.

K'lellen looked at Joel, and spoke. "Yes, Joel, I agree. We should dispatch a couple of ships to New Earth – one to repopulate the New Earth station, and the other to defend it. We can at that point make contact with Marianne and the New Earth people, as well as the remaining Za'aref ship. We will still need to defend the wormhole from further Za'aref passages to back New Earth."

Joel got the uncomfortable feeling that K'lellen had been picked because he had characteristics that were a bit closer to that of a military man than most Casitians could ever be.

Joel nodded. "I think Marianne can help us strategize settlement on New Earth, since she's the only one of us that has spent time there. She'll understand how things are shaping up, and help us to figure out where best to put people."

Joel saw David being busy on his small tablet. "David, suggestions?"

"I'm just doing a little math – I'll let you know what I come up with. I realized that a reasonable way to figure this out was to look at the available temperate acreage on each planet, and come up with some optimal figures given some ideas also on spare resources. Erit'ala, I would appreciate some data from Casiti on carrying capacity, given the harsh winters."

Erit'ala nodded, although Joel wondered what kind of data the Casitians would actually provide. He knew that one of the biggest parts of this battle with them was going to be convincing them to take a significant number of Earth humans.

Hilcyon, Mrontl 10 1158

Krely took the water off of the top of the cook oven, just as steam began to rise from its surface. Perfect. Hot enough to drop the curlick eggs into for a slow cook. She thought that they will be perfect for last meal, slightly warm to the touch and solid inside. She put the pan on a small wooden table next to the cook stove. One of the things she liked so much about the new house that they had built was that she convinced Sadre to make the kitchen large. The cook stove sat on one wall, with small tables on either side. The iron sink which sat on another wall had shelves above it where many of her cooking implements were kept. In the middle of the kitchen was a large table she used for preparing food, and it had some trell leaves soaking in salt water. She and her daughter ate here when Sadre had guests for dinner.

Krely tried her best to keep herself busy and out of trouble. She did this by cooking as much food as she could, as often as she could. She loved to cook, and loved the results of her hands. The fresh breadmufs, the steamed trell leaves, which most cooks made tough, but in her hands were so tender, they almost melted in one's mouth. The baked jeltors she made were juicy and flavorful. People always loved her cooking, and they almost always had guests for dinner.

She learned, very early in her life that she might as well do the one thing that was a part of "women's work" that she enjoyed – and do that so well that the rest that she didn't do could go without notice. It worked. She managed to be married to a man who tolerated the fact that she always had to ask someone else to sew his clothes. That the house wasn't ever especially clean, and that most of their children had largely been raised by other hamlet women. But she cooked for the entire hamlet often, and it seemed that the rest of the women held no grudges against her for the things she did not do.

Sadre walked into the kitchen.

"Krely – a special visitor is coming tonight. What can we serve him?"

"Who is it, Sadre?"

"Does it matter? You're always asking me questions like that!"

"I'm just curious."

"Women aren't supposed to be curious. But he's important."

"Sadre, he will be treated well, and stuffed with good food, I promise. That's all you need to know, right?"

Sadre smiled, and waved his arms toward Krely. "Yes, yes, woman! It's a good thing you can cook!"

Sadre turned and left the kitchen, leaving Krely to think about what she'd add to the menu for the evening. Perhaps an appetizer, and some flatbreads, and perhaps even a special dessert...

Jurrl pushed his chair back from the table, leaning back. "that was wonderful, Sadre. Your woman sure knows how to cook." Krely was listening to them from the kitchen.

"Second Chief Jurrl, tell me of the capital. You say you have news? And why have you come to me?"

There was silence for a minute.

"Yes, Sadre, I have news. There are rumors that there is a movement to take over the Kinder High Chiefs. All of the Second and Third Chiefs are now on alert, but there is a fear that it has gone quite far."

Sadre was a Fourth Chief – the lowest Chief rank. Krely knew that Sadre was ever loyal to his own Third Chief, Ceckzl. She wondered why this Second Chief – from the capital, had come here to talk with Sadre.

"I have heard nothing from Ceckzl."

"I assume has chosen not to tell his Chiefs."

"Why would that be?"

"Because, I am afraid, he is one of them: those who would take over the High Chiefs. We fear they have infiltrated very high up."

There was more silence. Krely imagined Sadre was thinking about what to say, or do.

"Why are you speaking with me?"

"We know you are loyal to the Kinder way. We know you would never want to see things change."

"Yes, I am loyal."

"You must choose loyalty to the Kinder over loyalty to your Chief. You must watch him. Talk with him. Get us evidence that he is a traitor to the Kinder."

In that moment, Krely knew what she needed to do, and what her destiny was. She didn't know whether she would see the end of it, but she knew that if there was a movement to change the Kinder way, she wanted to be a part of it.

Hilcyon, Mrontl 12 1158

Krely knocked on the door of the small dwelling, and Tivyl opened it, welcoming.

“Krely, what a nice surprise. On an errand for Sadre?”

Krely shook her head. "No, no, I thought you and Ceckzl would appreciate this new kind of breadmuf I made. It has a lot of fresh spice."

"Ooooh, Krely, thank you so much. That is so thoughtful of you."

"Well, I know that Ceckzl is a very busy man ..."

Tivyl, Ceckzl's wife, looked at Krely as if sizing her up. Krely, of course, had known Tivyl since she had come to the hamlet to be Sadre's wife.

"Please, Krely, come in and sit for a while."

As Krely entered the house, she began to see some small details she'd never noticed before. She'd been in the house a few times, running errands for Sadre. It was very well cared for, and in good order. She knew that Tivyl and Ceckzl had never had children – she assumed, like many couples, that one or both of them were sterile, which was not uncommon on Hilcyon. What was uncommon was for men to stay with a sterile wife or for a wife of a sterile man to remain childless – there were always agreements made.

There were two large relaxing chairs, side by side, with a table between them – as if Ceckzl and Tivyl relaxed together! Krely's house had only one relaxing chair – for Sadre. The table between the chairs was bare on the top, but on a shelf underneath, there were many books in piles. There were a few paintings on the walls – but nothing she recognized. That seemed strange, since the only thing that she had seen anyone put up on their walls were the reproductions of the paintings of the big epics by either Qyren or Pemintel. These didn't look like anything in particular, but they were quite beautiful.

"Please, sit," Tivyl pointed toward the low bench with cushions, "can I get you something to drink?"

"Some jul juice, if you have it."

"Of course. I'll be right back."

Tivyl came back with two cups of juice, and sat down next to Krely on the bench.

"How are you doing, Krely? How has life been for you?"

Krely was taken aback. What a question! It so surprised her, because she realized that not only had no one ever asked her that question, it seemed, in some ways, a taboo question.

"Well, I do what I can. I get by. What else would a woman say? Why ask this, Tivyl?"

"My husband and I have been doing some thinking – with the help of some others."

"What kind of thinking? I've been thinking, too."

"Thinking that it's time for things to change. We don't like the Chief system, and we don't like the fact that women don't have any say in things."

"Well, Tivyl, I don't like that either, but I worry that we can't ..."

"Don't say 'we can't change anything'! Things can change. Things can be changed."

"Tivyl, I think I believe you, but the system hasn't changed since ..."

"Yes, I know, since we and the Breft split."

"How long has it been now? Thousands of years? It's hard to imagine changing thousands of years of tradition overnight!"

"Yes, Krely, it is hard to imagine. But we have to start somewhere. And talking about change is starting somewhere."

Tivyl began to describe the small "cell" that they were a part of. Ceckzl had been recruited by a Second Chief who was an old friend, and they had decided quite some time ago that this hamlet was a good place to start a new cell.

"Tivyl, you must tell your husband that Jurrl was at my house last night – he has asked my husband to spy on Ceckzl, and report back. He is asking my husband to be loyal to Kinder, but not to Ceckzl."

Tivyl nodded her head. "Thank you Krely, for that – I saw Jurrl walking in the hamlet, and wondered if that was why he was here. He has no idea how many Third and Second Chiefs have been moved over to our cause. Many, many!"

"I will be with you – but I must be careful. My husband is so loyal to the Kinder way."

"We must not think of the present system as the Kinder way. The Kinder can do so much better."

Hilcyon Asteroid, Mrontl 12 1158

The bell rang, and Jasmine slowly straightened from her stooped position over the instrument, feeling the pain in her back from being bent over it for so many hours. She was measuring the amount of certain key metals in this new part of the asteroid they were opening up for mining, to see if it was a promising area to spend effort on. She could taste the dust in her mouth today for some reason, which surprised her. She seemed to have lost her sense of taste long ago.

She'd been on this asteroid for so long that it felt like forever. She lost track of time a long time ago. She figured it had been at least three years, but it might have well been 10 years, or 30 for all she knew. Jasmine had gotten used to seeing her friends get sick and die, buckle under the load of endlessly increasing quotas, or become heartless to raise themselves as high in the ranks as possible. She had decided to bide her time, do the best she could without compromising her ethics. She thought, somehow, she'd get out of the mines, even though the avenue out hadn't yet shown itself.

One of the strategies she'd employed was to be willing to take on very physically risky tasks. It ended up putting her in positions where she didn't have to work as hard as most. She would be the first person inside of a newly opened cavern, measuring the ore. Or she'd be working alongside of the caver bots in a caved-in section, trying to rescue either equipment or people.

It made her invaluable to her Third and Second Chiefs, and she worked hard to stay that way by doing dirty, dangerous work that none of her male colleagues would do. And it allowed her to avoid the compulsory marriage and child-bearing that her fellow women faced.

She was hungry; it had been a long day. Even though most of the day had been spent in measurement – she rarely actually mined anymore. She, like the single men, ate in the main commissary – having no one to cook for them. The food was barely passable. She enjoyed the rare meals when an old friend invited her over to dinner with their families. The food was always better prepared.

On her way to the commissary, she ran into William, who was a newly minted Second Chief, the first of their group of New Earthers to make that rank since Craig lost it (and died) very soon after they had first come here.

"Hello Jasmine. How were the measurements on the new mine region?"

Jasmine knew that this question had more to do with how he could position his crews. If it was bad, he'd avoid it, and good, he'd do what he could to get his crews there. Jasmine was a part of his crew, and as much as she hated it, her fortune rose and fell with his, and the more information she could give him to help him, the more she easily she could avoid things she didn't like.

"I'd avoid it, William. Very low on Titanium and Gold."

"Thanks, I appreciate the tip."

"No problem."

"Oh, and by the way, it's pretty likely that Gary will be your new Second Chief in a couple of moons."

"Why?" That statement puzzled Jasmine. Chiefs only took over by one Chief being killed or dying.

"I've gotten an assignment on Hilcyon. I'm leaving the asteroid." Jasmine was surprised by the matter-of-fact way he said it.

"Wow. Well, I guess congratulations are in order, then?"

He smiled a thin, humorless smile. "You would not believe what it's taken. Anyway, I'll make sure Gary understands how useful you have been to me."

Jasmine knew Gary, and had no hope, actually, that Gary would listen.

"Thanks."

She walked past William, into the commissary.

Hilcyon Asteroid, Mrontl 25 1158

"Jasmine, may I speak with you?" Gary sat down across from her at the table in the main commissary. It had been almost a moon since he took over, and he was reshuffling everything. Jasmine had heard rumors about his intentions for her, but had tried her best not to get anxious about it. Jasmine knew that Gary was, like William, from the ICS, but she thought he was probably less willing to let a woman be the one doing complex, dangerous work.

"Sure. How's the new position, Gary?"

"Look, I know that for some reason I can't understand, William allowed you to avoid getting married. Frankly, I'm a traditionalist. I don't think a woman should be in the position you are in. There are several men who need wives, and here you are – available. We need more children since so many die."

"What are you saying, Gary?"

All of a sudden, the alarm klaxon went off. Cave in! Jasmine had always been first on call for any cave in rescue duty. She decided to sit still, to see how Gary would react. Gary looked at Jasmine, as if making a decision, and then sighed.

"OK, come with me, let's see who or what needs rescuing."

The next several time periods were a blur. Jasmine managed to rescue four miners alive, recover three bodies, and several expensive pieces of equipment, in varied states of damage. When that was done, she went to her quarters, showered, and fell into sleep.

The next day, she saw Gary approaching her.

"Jasmine, I can see that I really need you to be on rescue duty. John, Walt, Kevin and Marquez would not have made it if you hadn't been there – and that equipment..."

"You are letting me be?"

"Reluctantly, yes. I clearly need you as you are more than any of my men need a wife, or we need children. There don't seem to be any men who want to do what you do. Be warned, if you don't keep up your end..."

"Believe me, I know. I've known it all along." Jasmine walked past Gary, back to her quarters, back to the only peace she knew on this misbegotten rock.

Casiti, 16 Nird 784

Hetl'zef and Re’il were sitting in Hetl’zef’s office, discussing the Earth emigration.

Hetl’zef said, "Re'il, aren't you being a little extreme? No Terrans on Casiti at all? In fact, all Terrans already here deported to New Earth?"

"As far as I am concerned, if we had never had to re-unite with Terrans none of this would have happened. We'd be living happily on Casiti and in complete connection with the Galactic community. I want those days back."

Re'il had called this joining with Hetl'zef, the head teacher of the Caraj. Hetl'zef had been appointed to this position by consensus after he had been serving on the Caraj for only a year. Hetl'zef knew that Re'il didn't really approve of him, having been a previous companion to Silandra, one of the key Casitians involved with the Terrans.

"Re'il, that’s silly, we can't go back. I understand your desire to protect Casiti from Terran influence, but we have to be realistic. Besides, the Terrans who are here have been great. What has been a problem?"

"Oh, there has been talk. Talk of tearful break-ups at the end of Winters, talk of ..."

"Re'il, tell me you've never cried at the end of a Winter!"

"You know what I mean!"

"Let's be realistic. I agree with limiting the number of Earth people we can allow on Casiti. Erit'ala is working up some data for carrying capacity, which will only include Rel'toro. This will limit the number of Earth people who can emigrate to something like five million."

"Five million? That's an enormous number!"

"Re'il, there are seven Billion people on Earth. Even five million is a tiny number in comparison to what they need. And there are more than five hundred times that number of Casitians here. They will not have much of an influence on our culture, especially if they live separately."

"New Earth is big enough to handle them all."

"New Earth doesn't have much infrastructure yet. We're already in danger of relegating some people who go to New Earth to starvation. As it is, it's going to be a massive feat to get things in place in three short years. We have enough spare greenhouse capacity, as well as building materials and farming equipment to easily take care of that many Terrans with almost no effort. We should, honestly, take many, many more, but I think five million is the most that we'll get consensus on."

"Honestly, Hetl'zef, I don't care who starves. I don't want any Terrans here!"

Hetl'zef was taken aback. He was surprised by the vehemence with which Re'il was expressing his distaste for Terrans.

"Re'il, you don't really mean that! That is not the Casitian way. We must do everything in our power to make sure that all humans, no matter who they are, or what planet they came from, are taken care of. We cannot give in to the kind of hatreds that our other human brothers show."

Hetl'zef could see in Re'il's face that he didn't appreciate being corrected in this way.

"Thank you for seeing me, Hetl'zef. I'm sorry that we don't see eye to eye on this. I want you to know right now that I will block consensus on any Earth humans coming to Casiti."

Re'il rose from his chair, turned quickly, and walked out of the room. Hetl'zef sighed. He didn't like the potential outcomes he saw facing him, not in the least.

Hilcyon, Mrontl 25 1158

William had a hard time actually believing his luck as he strode out from the port, into the light of the Hilcyon sun. He'd spent so much time in the dark that the sun of Hilcyon made his eyes hurt. He knew this sun was less bright than Earth's sun. He looked up at the sky to see three of the nine moons – he knew that at night, whichever of the nine moons that were up would be spectacular. He looked forward to seeing that.

He was to report to Fourth chief Sadre for his assignment. He didn't much care what it was. He did whatever he needed to do to get ahead. He'd left his wife and child back at the asteroid- the first chief of the asteroid had been clear. They stayed behind, assigned to another man, while William started his new life on Hilcyon, free, apparently, to marry again.

He had committed the address of the Fourth chief to memory, and was able to easily find it. He was gratified by the orderliness of the city layout – hamlets were clearly labeled and streets numbered obviously. As he stood in front of the Sadre’s door, he wondered what kind of stance he should take. Too deferent, he might be seen as weak. Too aggressive, he might be seen as a threat. It was a very thin line he had to walk on. He took a deep breath, and raised his fist to knock on the door, but before he could complete the motion, the door flew open.

"Ah, you must be ... Wllem? Sadre said that you'd be coming around now. Come in, come in, have a seat. I've got some breadmufs, do you like those?"

William was used to being called Wllem. He found that the Kinder all had short names, and a name like "William" was hard for them to pronounce, so they shortened it and took out most of the vowel sounds. He realized he had no idea what a "breadmuf" was - it was an unfamiliar word to him.

"Yes, thank you. Where is Sadre?"

"He's out doing his rounds. He'll be back soon. Come, please, sit here."

The woman, who William assumed was Sadre's wife, pointed him to a bench with some padding next to the window.

"Thank you."

He looked around the room, taking in details. William was surprised that Sadre allowed his house to get as dusty and cluttered as this. William had always been very strict with his wife around the cleanliness of the room they shared.

"My name is Krely. I hear you're just off one of the asteroids. Congratulations. I know it's quite rare to be let out the asteroid mines."

"Yes, it is rare."

Krely handed William a fist-sized thing resting on a cloth napkin, which looked a lot like the cinnamon buns he vaguely remembered from Earth. It was the first thing resembling real food he had eaten in years.

“Thank you so much!" He ate the breadmuf with relish - it reminded him of Earth food, and he was for a moment, transported back. He felt an old sadness tug at him

As he was finishing the last crumbs, and wiping his face, the door opened and a squat man with gray hair and a pot belly came into the house, and turned to see him.

"Ah, Krely, I see you are already stuffing the boy's face! Good!"

William was caught totally off guard. He rose, and wiped his hand on his pants, and put out his hand. He then realized his mistake, pulled his hand back, and bowed.

"Fourth Chief Sadre, William Harris at your service." Sadre nodded, and looked at William with some curiosity.

"I hear you are not from Hilcyon, but from Grier Nro."

William had no idea what Sadre had said, but he surmised that Grier Nro must be either their name for New Earth, or Earth, so he nodded.

"Yes, sir, I was not born here."

"Well, Wllem, you'll get used to it. I already did my rounds this morning, but there are a few people I'd like you to meet. Let's go walking, shall we? Krely, you'll be feeding our guest this evening, and he'll be staying here – apparently his apartment won’t be ready until tomorrow."

"Yes, Sadre, I'll get everything prepared, and we'll have a very nice meal." William followed Sadre out the door, and Krely closed it behind them.

"She's a wonderful cook, but that's about all she can manage. If she weren't able to cook as well as she can, or hadn't made a baby, I'd have given her up a while ago. OK, let's go down Tsrul Street. I want you to meet one of my assistants."

They had been walking for a few minutes when William saw an especially dark-skinned woman leave her house. She looked at him, and started clearly recognizing him. He recognized her as well: Beatrice! He knew that she had gotten off the asteroid with her Kinder husband. He never could figure out how they had managed to do that, but William always assumed that her husband had connections he could pull.

William saw her put her head down, turn, and walk back into her house, as if she didn't want to have to acknowledge seeing him, or talk with him. William was instantly suspicious. He was going to get to the bottom of this. He thought that if he did, he could possibly learn something invaluable to Sadre, getting himself in position to move up the ladder again.

Sadre seemed to have completely missed that whole exchange. One thing William knew that most Kinder men did not – women could not be taken for granted or expected to always be docile. William knew better.

Casiti, 22 Nird 784

Jal'end'a heard the light, quiet chime of her meditation bell. She emerged from her meditation uneasy rather than settled. The communications that she had received from the Caraj suggested to Jal'end'a that very few Terrans would be allowed to settle on Casiti, no matter how dire the need.

After she returned from Earth, she returned to her cloistered life. She was working on a book about Earth religious and spiritual tradition and practice. She had been honored to spend time among the most revered Earth spiritual leaders, and she had learned an enormous amount. There was much for her to process and to write about.

This new crisis, though, had been eating at her for days. She realized that she could not stand by the sideline. She came to a resolution, suddenly. She may not be asked for her opinion on the matter, but she would give it.

She rose from her cushion, and started to compose a letter to Hetl'zef, the new leader of the Caraj. She thought he was likely aligned with Re'il and others on the Caraj who wanted no Earth human influence whatsoever on Casiti. Jal'end'a knew that there was much to mend among humankind. Bringing Terrans to Casiti would be a good first step. She outlined a plan she thought made sense – to have Terrans settle on the other continents of Casiti.

Casiti had three large continents. The smallest was Rel'toro, the in the northern hemisphere. It had the largest band of temperate zones on Casiti. Although it was the smallest, it was a similar size to the Asian continent on Earth. Casitians were living all over Rel'toro, although it was much more sparsely populated than most Earth continents. Loc'deher was a continent also in the northern hemisphere, and mostly covered over with glaciers. There was a relatively small band of coastal land on Loc'deher that could certainly be settled. It was completely empty of Casitians. The largest continent was Jul'when. It like Loc'deher, had glaciers, but it had as much arable land as Rel'toro. Casitians used it almost entirely for recreation – camping, wilderness trips, etc. There were probably only a few thousand Casitians that lived there full time. There were a few monasteries and schools in remote southern reaches of Jul’when, but they would not be affected, since they were in regions of Jul’when that were not temperate.

In truth, Casiti could easily hold another billion human beings, without much effect on its environment. All Casitians knew this. But Casitians didn't want anything to change. The time for holding back change was done, closed off irrevocably by the judgment of the galactic community. Jal'end'a finished her missive, sent it along, and hoped for the best.

New Earth, Month 1, Year 25

Marianne was dreaming of Ja'el. She could feel Ja'el's soft skin against hers, her deep voice in her ear. She was brought out of that dream with an insistent low-pitched chime that she didn't recognize. It was dark out – it was the middle of the night. Marianne looked around her room and saw an orange glow in the far corner, and realized that was the source of the chime. For a moment, she was puzzled, then she remembered – it was the communications device that had been given to the Dlejonese by the Casitians, and was now in her care.

She groped to find the lamp on her end table so she could turn it on, and stumbled up to take the device out of the cubby hole that she had stored it in. It had only been about eight years since the Casitians had locked the wormhole. She had expected never to see any Casitians again in her lifetime.

She moved the device out from its cubby, and saw that there was definitely an incoming signal. She ran her finger over the activation switch, and stood back. A holographic image began to form in front of the device. It was none other than Ja'el. It felt odd to see Ja'el standing in front of her, after her vivid dream.

"Marianne. It is good to see you. You look well."

"As do you, Ja'el. I have to say, I'm surprised to see you."

"Yes, I imagined that you would be. I am at Illsenor station. The wormhole is open again."

Marianne let that sink in. "So soon? I didn't expect you to open it again in my lifetime."

Ja'el nodded. “Yes, it would have been many years before the Caraj would have chosen to regain contact with New Earth. But we were not given a choice in the matter."

"I don't understand."

"I can't explain now. A shuttle is coming to get you – it should arrive in about an hour. Please be ready. Joel, David and Laura, as well as Erit'ala, Silandra, and I are at Ilsenor station. We have much to discuss."

"OK, I'll be ready."

The holographic image faded, and Marianne realized she would need to wake up Douglas. She quickly got dressed, and walked out of her small cabin, down the dirt road to the more central part of Dlejon's main settlement. She turned down the small lane where Douglas’ apartment was – a part of a small cluster of apartments where council members lived. She found his door, and saw the bell. She took the mallet hanging next to the bell, and rang the bell several times.

In a few moments, she heard the sound of muted voices, and footsteps on the way to the door. The door swung open, and Joy, Douglas' current companion, stood in the door, looking a bit disheveled.

"Joy, I am so sorry to wake you up. I must talk with Douglas immediately."

"Of course, Marianne, please, come on in. Have a seat. I'll get Douglas. Would you like some tea?"

"Thanks, but no, I don't really have time."

Marianne could tell that Joy was puzzled. Marianne internally chuckled. She was puzzled herself. Joy went into the other room, and Douglas came out of it, in the last stages of putting on a robe.

"I'm so sorry to bother you Douglas, but this is very important. Ja'el activated the communications device. The wormhole is unlocked, and they are coming to get me in a shuttle within the hour."

"What? How can that be? Why?"

"She wouldn't tell me – but based on what I know of them, she probably didn't want whatever the news was to spread out of their control. I expect it's fairly dire, but I can't imagine what it would be. Perhaps war broke out between the Kinder and Casitians? I just don't know."

"You’ll find out. In any event, I think it's probably wisest not to tell anyone of the wormhole until you know more."

"Yes, I think that's wise. I don't know when I'll be back – probably tomorrow."

"Well, good luck. I do not envy being in your shoes."

Douglas saw Marianne to the door and gave her a hug. Marianne quickly walked back to her cabin, thoughts of what was to face her in her mind and heart. She felt more ready to see Ja'el, somehow – much of the hurt had healed. But she also was worried about what circumstances provoked this change in the Casitians behavior. It was ominous.

She gathered a change of clothes and assorted required odds and ends, and put them in a small travel bag. She heard a rustle of wind outside, and realized the shuttle must have arrived. She walked out to the small clearing across the road from her cabin, and saw the characteristic open door in the middle of nothing. She walked up to it, and walked inside.

K'flef greeted her. "Hello Marianne, it's been a long time."

They gave each other a clasped-arm hug.

"K'flef, I missed you. How have you been?"

"David and I traveled around the galaxy, then we were involved in the ... oh, you'll hear about that – I can't give it away yet. There is a lot to tell."

Marianne smiled. "OK, K'flef, it's fine. I can be patient."

K'flef got back in the pilot's seat, and the shuttle took off.

"It's about a five-hour ride. Tell me about New Earth. How have things been?"

Marianne settled in, and told K'flef what she'd experienced in the years since the Casitians left.

Ilsenor Station, 22 Nird 784

When they arrived on the station, Ja'el met them at the shuttle dock, and came forward to give Marianne an embrace. Marianne felt enveloped in Ja'el's love. She lingered in the sweetness of the embrace for a bit, then they broke apart, looking at each other.

"Marianne, I've missed you. I'm glad that I am able to see you again."

"I truly never thought I'd see you again, Ja’el. It is wonderful to see you." Marianne paused. "So tell me. What happened?"

"Come, Marianne, let's go to the joining room. Everyone is anxious to see you."

They walked down hallways that Marianne noticed were bereft of artwork. Clearly they hadn't been here very long. Marianne wondered if they intended to stay.

They walked into a large conference room that Marianne recognized – the room they were in on that fateful day that she decided to cast her lot with in New Earth. It seemed both so long ago and just yesterday.

David shot out of his seat to run up to her and embrace her, and before she knew it, she was surrounded by people she loved and missed. She'd assumed for so long that she'd never see them again. It was a sweet moment for all of them. Finally, after a while of greetings and hugs, they all sat down. Marianne was anxious to hear what had happened.

David cleared his throat. "It's pretty dire, Marianne. After the Casitians locked this wormhole, the Keeelo asked the Sejo to have an inquiry. The human species was put on trial. We lost. It was the combination of the Za'aref using the wormhole to promote conflict with New Earth, as well as the Casitian decision to lock the wormhole. We have been banned from the galactic community for 1000 years."

"Oh, my. Banned, huh? So we're stuck on four worlds. That's really sad, and I can imagine hard for the Casitians. But ... why did you unlock the wormhole? That doesn't change the relationship between the Kinder and the Casitians."

Joel leaned forward. "It's because we don't have four worlds, Marianne. We have only three. The dolphins are kicking us off of Earth. We have 12 Earth years to move everyone."

Marianne was stunned. "Kicked off of Earth? But..."

"It's the dolphin’s planet, too. The Kwalloo requested on the dolphin’s behalf that we leave. The Sejo agreed."

It was going to take a while to let all of this sink in. Twelve Earth years to evacuate more than seven billion people? She found it hard to fathom.

"I guess we have our work cut out for us, don't we?"

Kinder Ship, Mrontl 25 1158

First Chief Glendr paced, back and forth first slowly, then quickened his pace. He was a patient man. But he was losing his patience after four long years. Bercyg, the one he thought had the most promise, had deserted him, to stay on that accursed planet. He had a new Second Chief in command of the troops, Krelso, who had so artfully disposed of Retyl. But he had had no more success in raising more troops from the New Americans than Bercyg had. In fact, the President they had been originally working with had died suddenly, and had been replaced by someone who was insular and protective of New America, and had pulled their army away from the border entirely and ceased most communication and trade with the Kinder. Krelso had also had no luck in rounding up defectors.

Worse still, Jercyn had still not gotten anywhere in breaking the wormhole lock - so they were still completely stuck here. He was running out of options, and worse yet, the ship was running out of food.

His door chime rang. "Come."

Jercyn burst in, out of breath.

"You finally broke the wormhole lock?"

"No, First Chief. It has been opened."

"Opened?"

"From the other side. The Breft are back."

Although he was shocked, his wits kicked in quickly. Glendr thought – this was his moment. He would go home, and bring more ships and troops. Then he could take over New Earth, and finally be triumphant.

He turned toward his console, ready to command the movement of the ship toward the wormhole and being battle preparations when Jercyn said, "They want to talk with us."

Glendr snapped his neck to turn back to Jercyn. "What?"

"They initiated communication. They wish to talk with us."

"There is nothing for us to say to them, besides, get out of our way, so we can go home, or we'll destroy you."

"They didn't tell me any details, First Chief, but they wanted to speak to the commander of this ship, with the note that it was very urgent."

Glendr went back to his console, flipped a couple of switches. "To all personnel. We are leaving this system. All Second Chiefs please meet in my office in 30 time units." He flipped them back.

"OK, let's go to the comm center and see what it is that this Breft idiot has to say."

Ilsenor Station, 30 Nird 784

"I think I should do it." David was adamant. He had a strong intuition about this.

"Why you?"

"I think that Terrans will seem more threatening to them than you will. And they don't know us – but they know that we are different than you are. If I talk with him, he'll be disarmed, to some extent, and also probably convinced that he knows something he doesn't. You all are completely predictable and disposable to him."

K’lellen looked thoughtful. He finally spoke. "I believe you are correct. You will speak with him. Be careful, though."

David nodded. "Always."

A group of them were in a small space set aside for communications. They were waiting for the commander of the Za'aref ship to make contact with them.

A soft chime rang, and the AI's quiet voice spoke, "Za'aref ship requests comm connection."

David went to sit at the console. "Initiate connection." A face appeared on the screen in front of him. Clean shaven and bald, with a severe chin, and small lines in his eyebrows. He began to speak, and it took a few seconds for the translator to kick in.

"This is First Chief Glendr, commander of the Kinder ship 'Kingdom'. What urgent news do you have for me?"

"First Chief Glendr, my name is David Lopez. I am from the planet Earth."

Glendr's face changed. He clearly looked surprised. Then he laughed.

"What could you possibly have to tell me?"

"There has been a change in the status of human beings in the Galactic community."

"And I should care because?"

"Because all human beings, including Terrans, will be required to live on only three planets - Casiti, New Earth, and ... Hilcyon. We have been restricted as a species, and need to leave Earth."

It was difficult to read Glendr's face. He seemed to be going through a number of thoughts and emotions at once.

"I see. In other words, you are telling me that there are many, many more humans on their way to New Earth?"

"Yes, billions of them. I'm also telling you that our three branches of humanity must find a way to coexist. We are all we have now. We need you to bring this message back with you to Hilcyon. We also wish to send both Terran and Casitian emissaries with you."

Glendr laughed. "No, that is not possible."

"Why not?"

"There are Kinder, and there are Breft. If you Terrans cooperated with the Breft, you are Breft. We have not had any diplomatic communication with the Breft since the betrayal of Klor, and that will not change."

His face disappeared from the screen. David turned toward K’lellen, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know if that was any better..."

"Actually, I think it was. I don't think he would have even let me deliver the news."

“What was the ‘betrayal of Klor’?”

K’lellen’s face was a mask, and he said only, “just history.” David didn’t dare ask more.

"So what's next?"

"We let them go home."

Kinder ship, Mrontl 25 1158

First Chief Glendr turned off the comm device with one hand, and sat motionless for a few minutes. He could feel Jercyn standing uncomfortably behind him, waiting for him to say something. But he was far from ready to let any of his nascent thoughts out of his mouth. His plans of finally conquering this planet were, he realized, for naught. Billions of new people from the planet Grier Nro (roughly translated to "Origin of Kinder") would be coming to this planet, overwhelming any possible force the Kinder could array against them. Hilcyon and all of its colonies had but 500 million people.

He must bring this news home, and help Hilcyon defend itself against a likely invasion by Grier and Breft. He began to build a new plan in his mind – one that he thought would be even more likely to result in his ascension to Supreme Chief.

"We are going home now. Send out a message to any still on the planet that we are leaving. Send shuttles down to the planet now to pick them up. We leave in 3 days."

Glendr rose from the stool perched in front of the comm panel in one smooth motion, spun on his heels, and started the walk back to his quarters. He could feel Jercyn's incredulity behind him.

San Diego, Earth, August 4, 2025

"Ms. Henry?" The slight girl with pigtails and glasses in the front of the classroom raised her hand.

Joanne impatiently answered, "yes, Maria?"

"Ms. Henry, Question 5 on the quiz didn't seem fair."

"Fair, Maria? What do you mean?"

"Well, you asked about our understanding of Dolphin behavior, and my answer..."

Joanne got angry. She could feel her fatigue and her barely suppressed rage bubbling toward the surface. Better end the day.

"Maria, your answer was wrong, that's all you need to know." She raised her voice. "Everyone, remember tomorrow we'll be studying Jane Goodall's work. Please make sure you read Chapter 15 in your text. I'm letting you out early today."

The standard end of day chaos ensued. Maria looked as if she was going to come up and challenge Joanne further, but then thought better of it. Joanne gathered her things, and walked out of the classroom.

"Joanne..." she heard a deep voice to her left, and turned. It was the principal of the school, now called "head teacher" standing in the hall. Joanne felt far from ready to talk with Hank Peters, who was younger than she by a number of years, and didn't have the education she did.

"Yes, teacher Peters? How can I help you?" Joanne figured that her voice sounded far from patient.

"Can you please come in to my office?"

Joanne followed him into his office, and she sat down in the comfortable chair he had for guests. He closed the door, then swung his office chair out from behind the desk that faced the window, and sat down.

"Joanne, I just got the annual reviews back on the teachers."

"And..."

"For the second year in a row, your evaluations have been far below average. This year, they are even worse than they were last year. I warned you about this last year. I'm sorry, but this year will be your last teaching here."

Joanne let the seething, bubbling anger surface. "Fine. Actually, today might as well be my last day. I'm done here."

"Joanne..."

"What, do you have something to say?"

"I'm sorry this didn't work out for you. You need to find some help - I can see you eating yourself alive."

She had nothing to say. She got up, left the office, and walked down the hall, knowing she'd never come back. It didn't bother her, really. She'd hated teaching high school since the day she arrived.

It had been the third of three post-dolphin careers she'd tried. After the dolphins became part of the galactic community, all dolphin research was stopped. So Joanne lost her life's work – her life's passion. Worse yet, there was no room for her in any sort of liaison position. The dolphins were adamant - people who had so misunderstood them could not be in a position to communicate with them. Joanne understood, but felt that she had been painted with the same brush. She'd theorized for years, in private, that dolphins were in fact more intelligent than human beings.

She had tenure at UCSD - she could change her research subject and still remain on the faculty. She tried studies of other ocean mammals, but all of those avenues seemed closed. She, along with all other Marine mammologists were casting about for new research subjects. Others of her colleagues started looking at terrestrial mammals.

She just didn't have the heart for it, so she left UCSD after a few years to join a small startup using galactic medical technologies. That lasted about a month. She decided then, that perhaps teaching kids was the best idea. That idea was now at its end. She didn't know what she'd do, except go home and drown her sorrows as usual in the bottle of '10 Merlot she'd gotten at the wine store the other day. Drinking pre-Casitian vintage wine had become not only a habit, but somewhat of an obsession for her. She swore it tasted better.

New Calgary, New Earth, Month 1, Year 25

Mira, Leticia, Jeffrey and Thomas were sitting around Jeffrey and Thomas' dining room table in New Calgary, having a heated discussion over dinner.

"No way, no way, Jeffrey! Sean Joseph was the personal doctor to two New American Presidents. He even admits to immigrating to New Earth because he hated Casitians! You can't hire him for the medical school."

"Mira, he left New America, and he's been living here for more than a year. He's a nice man, and he cares a lot about people. He was one of the best oncologists on Earth, and he's clearly the best on New Earth. How can we not hire him?"

Mira countered, “but there isn’t any cancer on New Earth!”

Leticia placed her arm gently on Mira's. "Love, we can't make political or cultural litmus tests for faculty of the New Calgary Medical School. We need to find the best physicians and other practitioners that are on New Earth, no matter what their political leanings."

Leticia could see Mira relax, and heard a quiet sigh. "I know, Leticia, it's just hard for me. He just seems so ... I don't know, emblematic of what's wrong with some of New Earth."

Leticia and Mira had graduated from the first Medical School on New Earth in the Southern Independent Zone, and had moved up to New Calgary. Their goal was to create a second medical school to train a new generation of physicians in this part of New Earth. The four of them, along with a small nucleus of others, were beginning the process of hiring faculty, getting funding to build the school, and other endeavors. It would likely be two or three more years before they could have their first class. They also were soliciting funding to start an associated research institution.

Mira looked at Thomas. "Anyway, on a totally different subject, this was an amazing dinner. What you did with the grapeberries and chicken..."

Thomas grinned. "Thank you, Mira."

They started to clear the table of dishes. Leticia could not imagine being happier in her life. She had work that she loved, good friends, and a partner with whom she shared so much. A lot had changed in the years since she ran away from the Independent Christian State. She was even on good terms with her mother, and got to see her Aunt Marianne once in a while.

Her one sadness was for her missing sister, Beatrice. She hoped, someday, to see her again, but every once in a while, she was afraid that her sister was lost to them. She knew her mother mourned for her as if she was dead, but somehow, Leticia couldn't fully believe that.

"Hey, Leticia," Thomas called from the kitchen.

"What?"

"Guess who I ran into yesterday?"

"I don't know, who?"

"Leonard Wilkins. Remember him?"

"Oh, the guy who came with us to help build out the widenet! How is he? Where is he living now?"

"He's fine. He lives in New Orleans. He was up here just visiting, and checking out how the network is up here."

"I've been meaning to send him an email, actually. I was curious to see how far the widenet has made it so far."

"He says that wherever there is a settlement, there is widenet. It hasn't made it to many individual homes, though. He says his biggest problem is getting equipment - he has to hand-manufacture it, which takes a lot of time."

"Yeah, and he can't just order equipment from Earth, now can he?"

Hilcyon, Mrontl 26 1158

As the movement had progressed, more and more women were getting involved, and Beatrice had become the leader of the nascent women's movement. A few of the women leaders were gathered in the small living room. Pkygy was off at work. The morning was a great time to meet – all of the men were busy at work and a gathering of women would not be noticed.

There were about seven women present, of varied ages, from Klana who was the very youngest – a single teenager who was doing everything she could to avoid having to marry, to Jvly, an old wizened widow. She had especially taken to Tivyl, who reminded her of her mother somewhat. They sat on the chairs and pillows in the small room, quite close to one another. Beatrice started to speak, raising her voice slightly so that all could hear.

"Thank you all so much for coming to this meeting today. We are at a momentous time. Pkygy estimates that we have about one half of the Second, Third and Fourth Chiefs at least sympathetic to our side. Additionally, he says have about 5 First Chiefs all around Hilcyon that we know we can count on. We are almost ready to make our first moves."

Tivyl asked, "what would those be?"

"Well, the first step is an action that is subtle enough not to be noticed by the enemy, but powerful enough for us to know that we had an effect. One of the things we did on the mining moon was to have an actual speed-up of work."

"Ah, I see. So we would do something like a minor change in schedule, or increase a quota, that sort of thing. To show ourselves our power and to confirm the extent of the growth of the movement."

"Exactly. As women, we have it a lot easier than the men – we are mostly ignored. My suggestion for us is that for Kyl holiday, coming up in two Zhurs, the women who are part of a cell put out exactly four Whlis leaves on their doors, with exactly one being white, instead of the more usual random numbers and colors."

"Ah, Btric, that is a wonderful idea!"

"So we need to spread that word – four Whlis leaves, one white. And we watch. Our next action will mean something!"

They said their goodbyes, and left Beatrice's house, one by one. Krely hung back, clearly wishing to speak to Beatrice alone.

"Btric, I need to tell you about something."

"What is it, Krely?"

"There was a man at my house yesterday, a man named Wllem."

Beatrice tried her best to hide her reaction. "And?"

"Btric, he asked me about you, by name. He wanted to know how long you'd been here, and what you were like."

"What did you say?"

"I told him enough of the truth to try and ease his suspicions. I'm not sure if it helped."

"Thanks, Krely. I knew him on the asteroid. He's from the same planet I'm from. He knows me. I saw him walking with Sadre yesterday."

"Be careful, Btric. I feel like he is dangerous. I can't believe he asked me about you. It doesn't make sense."

"Krely, men from my planet do not ignore women, or expect them to always be docile. It's not the way it is anymore."

Beatrice could see the understanding dawning on her.

Krely nodded. "I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Thanks, Krely." Krely walked out the door, and Beatrice closed it behind her, feeling more worried than she'd felt in a while. William wouldn't ignore the women, or an action that women took. That could be dangerous for the whole movement. She needed to talk about this with Pkygy when he got home.

Independent Christian State, New Earth, Month 1 Year 25

The woman who was the host of the gathering was standing at the podium, gesturing toward him.

"I want to thank you, Parker, for being willing to tell us about your travels to New Aard, and even further afield. Everyone, Parker Hill." As she took her seat, Parker stepped up to the podium, and looked out at his audience. It was a group of about 40 people, gathered at one of the churches in the settlement. They were curious about where he'd traveled, and what he'd seen. He suspected few, if any of them, had been out of the ICS, let alone out of New America.

"Well, friends, thank you for having me. I have a lot to share. I'll focus on two key highlights of my trip: my connections with the business leaders of New Aard, and the Kinder, who are a very interesting bunch."

Parker regaled them with his tales of the riverboat trip down to New Orleans, which is the only way to do north-south travel at this time. He talked about meeting in several communities in New Aard, setting up trading pacts, arranging buyers and sellers of goods for the ICS. He then shifted his talk to describe the meeting he had with the Kinder – a seemingly accidental meeting that was, in his mind, completely ordained by God.

"I had just finished a meeting in New Orleans, setting up buyers for our biodiesel, and as I was leaving the building, I literally ran into a group of men. They looked very unfamiliar, although they reminded me a lot of Casitians. Then I remembered hearing about the Kinder, and I realized it must be them. I greeted them, and started talking with a few of them. As we were chatting, Marianne Michaelson walked up." He heard hisses and boos from varied points of the room.

"Yes, well, apparently she had been meeting with them. She wanted to know who I was, and where I was from, and I told her. She was perfectly friendly toward me, and invited me to join them for a dinner celebration they were having with representatives from other territories. She said that there wasn't a representative from either the ICS or New America, and I certainly could serve as one. I agreed."

"So I spent the rest of the afternoon, evening, and into the night with the Kinder. They are noble, honorable people, with the kind of social order that we crave here in the ICS. They worship God, although they call Him the 'Exalted King.' I think we have a lot to learn from the Kinder. I invited them to come here to visit sometime." Parker could here murmuring in the room.

"I'll take questions."

A man in the back stood up. "Parker, I heard that the Kinder were just like Casitians."

Parker laughed. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The Kinder and the Casitians are the exact opposites. Where the Casitians are immoral, the Kinder are upstanding. The men marry ... wives ... for life." He heard snickers. "They have a highly ordered, society. Women bow down to men, men bow down to their superiors. Literally. They bow, no stupid hugs." Full out laughter.

Another man, closer to him this time, stood up. "I heard that these Kinder had originally come to take over New Earth. Why should we trust them?"

"You have a good point there, Donald. The truth is the Kinder didn't want to invade, and take over. But they saw opportunity here. They learned that they could take advantage of that opportunity without a fight. So they are happy, now."

A woman, who was blond and short of stature, stood up. "I have heard that these Kinder know where our disappeared children are. I heard that their people took our children back to their planet. What do you know about that? It's been years! They aren't even children anymore. Why can't they come back?"

Parker knew that toeing the party line on this one was the right way to go. "Ma'am, I know that they are safe here on New Earth. They just are working outside of the range of communication and the widenet. They'll be back soon." Parker decided to cut the questions off there.

"Folks, thanks for listening. I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about the Kinder in coming months and years."

Everyone stood up, and milled about. As the woman who had asked him about the children started to walk up to him, Parker decided to make a hasty retreat. He quickly thanked his host, and walked out of the side door, into the night.

Ilsenor Station, Month 1, Year 25/24 Nird 784

The discussions had carried on for what felt to Marianne like forever, but it was only a few days. Marianne was having a hard time with the strange, distanced stance the Casitians were taking with the Terrans. They seemed to blame the whole thing on the Terrans, which made no sense, as well as leaving the whole thing to the Terrans to deal with.

After a long-winded lecture from Erit'ala about how the Terrans should take responsibility for their own people, Marianne lost her temper.

"Erit'ala, I have the greatest respect for you, and other teachers of Casiti. But, frankly, you screwed up in locking the wormhole – something Terrans could never have been in the position to do. To blame us for this situation, and leave the huge task of getting Terrans off of Earth to us is not at all fair. We need your help. We don't have the expertise with Galactic technology that you do, we don't have the liaisons with the Galactic pilots. We simply can't do this without you."

Erit'ala was quiet for a moment, as if carefully considering what she was going to say next. What she did say surprised Marianne.

"You are correct. It is unfair for us to hand this burden to you. And I personally am clearly not the person who should be helping to make decisions about this at this time. We will do our best to make sure that you have enough Casitian help."

Ja'el said, "this is my suggestion: a Terran team should oversee the political process of the immigration to New Earth, and a Casitian team should oversee the logistical aspects of an infrastructure building process on New Earth, as well as be the liaisons with the galactic authorities who will be in a position to help. These teams will meet regularly together, and share information and help problem solve together."

Erit’ala nodded, “yes, that makes a lot of sense.” The other Casitians in the room agreed.

Marianne was happy things seemed to be moving forward again. She agreed with Ja'el.

"Yes, Ja'el, I think that makes the most sense."

Joel broke his silence, and said to Marianne, "I think you should be the head teacher of the Terran team."

That was not what Marianne wanted to hear at all. But then everyone started to agree with Joel, and there wasn't much she could do about it. She could see the logic in it. People mostly trusted her (except those who didn't,) and she had come to an unusual understanding of the populations of both planets during the initial crisis. She had to admit she was the right pick, even though it was not a job she wanted.

Chapter 2: Twelve Fingers of the Tud'scla

(AP) October 1, 2025

Last Holdouts Agree to World Democracy. Elections set for July, 2026

New York – The last few countries that were reluctant to join the world democracy have relented, paving the way for the World Presidential and Congressional elections in 2026. It was an epic effort, led by the United States, the European Union, China and some others. There are three major candidates for World President, and campaigning for representatives to the World Government will start in earnest. Debates will be scheduled by a global media committee.

Dlejon, New Earth, Month 1, Year 25

After several days at Illsenor station, Marianne finally returned to Dlejon with a lot of work to do. She was spending some time in her cabin, arranging her thoughts and next actions. She wanted to contact the major leaders of the settled areas by audio first, so they heard directly from her, and not via the rumor mill. Then, she'd have to travel, and meet with people all over New Earth. The team at Illsenor, both Terran and Casitian, had agreed that the leadership role belonged to Marianne, and she was now in charge of the process of settling Terrans on New Earth, as well as the communication with the Kinder.

In general, she was pretty unhappy with the way that the Casitians were acting. Silandra and Erit'ala were leaving the system and going back to Casiti. They apparently had no intention of being involved going forward. Ja'el was also leaving, but Marianne was less sure about Ja'el's intentions – she expected to see Ja'el again on New Earth.

She had this feeling that they didn't want to deal with the consequences of their actions. They had promised her Casitian personnel - K'flef and Wren were staying behind, as was a man named K’lellen, and several others she didn't know. She appreciated that – but she felt she needed their leadership and leverage with the Casitian council. She didn't have a liaison she could trust with the Caraj, and she thought that might make things difficult.

In any event, she needed to talk first with Douglas, and have him tell all of Dlejon. Dlejon was still a tender issue. Her re-appearance on New Earth, especially after the promise that the Casitians would never contact the planet, was still, after all of these years, a sore spot, even though it meant that New Earth had been saved from invasion. That she had seemed to be in contact with those in Dlejon made others suspicious of them, and they could feel it. She had to tread carefully.

She decided to get it over with. She left her cabin, walked down the road again, this time in daylight, and rang his bell. It was a day off, so she knew he was likely to be home. He answered the door, smiling.

"Marianne! It was a few days, I expected you back sooner."

"It took a lot longer than I thought – there’s a lot to deal with, Douglas. I have much to tell you."

"Well, then come in, take a seat. Tea?"

Marianne nodded. "Yes, Douglas, thanks."

As Douglas prepared the tea, Marianne told him the outlines of the story. He listened quietly, without interrupting. He brought two steaming mugs of tea to the table, and sat down across from Marianne.

"I'm a little daunted by all of this. Dlejon is, as it goes here, a very small region. We're happy to take on more people. I imagine we could easily double our numbers without too much trouble in the short term."

"Thank you Douglas. That's the kind of thinking I need. But I actually have a much bigger role in mind for you and Dlejon to play."

"Bigger role? Marianne, we need to tread very carefully."

"Douglas, remember, at least, 7 billion human beings from Earth will be emigrating here over the course of 24 years. We have a lot to figure out in that time, not the least of which is how to make sure that we build sustainably. Dlejon knows better than any other settled region how to do that. We need that leadership."

"You know I would do just about anything for you, so I'll do this. But I need to prepare my people first. There are several folks I know I can count on to help me work on the sustainability issues."

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 1, Year 25

He liked the way this brush felt in his hand. He'd traveled all the way to New Orleans for it. He chuckled internally. That was not strictly true. He'd traveled to New Orleans to meet with some New Earth leaders, to tell them that he led all Kinder on New Earth, and assure them that all Kinder were peaceful and would stay that way. It had taken him many moons to gather his people and to show them the wisdom of a peaceful coexistence on this planet.

While he was in New Orleans, he had been walking by a shop which had in its display these wonderful paints and brushes. He'd wanted to go back to painting ever since he'd left the Kinder invasion force, and started to think about settling down. He didn't have any money, but Marianne, who happened to be walking with him at the time, saw the look on his face when they passed the shop, and went in and bought him what he wanted. He was stunned by her kindness and generosity. Ever since then, he was sure that it was the grace of the Supreme King that he'd ended up on this planet.

He liked painting the sunset best. It was certainly true that he missed the nine moons, but the sunsets made up for it. His tent was perched on a hill that faced west, perfect for watching and painting.

Ngellin heard the sound of rapidly moving footsteps on the gravely path on the way up to his dwelling. He wondered who had decided to make the wrong choice of bothering him at this moment. He realized his companions here knew him well enough that if they came up now, it must be important.

He saw the now tousled hair of Lren bobbing up and down before he saw Lren's face. It looked like Lren was running. Ngellin had also grown out his hair, and grown a beard. He figured that it would disguise him in the unlikely event that any Kinder came back looking for him. In reality, he liked his new hair, although at first it had itched a lot.

Lren crested the small hill, out of breath. "Ngellin, I'm sorry to disturb you – I know how much you like your sunsets in peace."

"Thank you, Lren. I figured it must be important."

"It is. Marianne is on the audio link. She said it was urgent and insists on talking directly to you, and only you."

Ngellin wondered what this was about. "OK, I'll come down." He left his paints, and ran back down the hill, behind Lren.

They entered the building that served as a small central government office. In the corner was communications equipment, including audio transmitters, and computers that had become hooked up by radio waves to what had become called the “widenet". Ngellin saw the small, blinking orange light on the audio communications device. He picked up the handset.

"Hello? This is Ngellin. Marianne?"

"Thank you, Ngellin, for taking time out to talk with me. Lren was loathe to disturb you during sunset."

"I realize it must be important."

"Ngellin, I need your help."

"My help?"

"First, I must share the news. The Sejo, that is the galactic council, has banned humanity from the galactic community for 1000 years."

"So?"

"I know, Ngellin, that you don't care much – the Kinder haven't been in touch with the Galactic Community for all of this time."

"That's correct."

"But the problem is this – Earth is now the planet of the dolphins."

"Dolphins?"

"Dolphins are the species that now have galactic enfranchisement. They have requested, and the Sejo has agreed, to remove humanity from Earth."

Ngellin was stunned. "Aren't there billions of humans on Grier Nro?"

"Yes, seven billion. We need to put them somewhere. Most will come here, but we hope to put some on Casiti and Hilcyon."

"Marianne, I'm sure that my Kinder fellows won't want any Terrans on Hilcyon, even if the planet could hold them, but it can’t. Hilcyon is already strained with the people it has – it couldn’t take more."

“Really? I didn’t realize that.”

“Yes, Marianne – it doesn’t have much water, and growing food has always been difficult because of that and because of the climate.”

“Thanks for the information, Ngellin. Even if we can’t settle any Terrans on Hilcyon, I do think we should still be in contact with the Kinder there, and I could use your help with that."

"I am, how did you say it, 'persona non grata' among Kinder."

"I don't expect you to be in contact with them, I just need some advice. I'd like to visit, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to get permission to show up there."

Ngellin laughed. "First, you can't go alone. You are a woman. You need to find a man to go. He needs to be the leader. You need to follow."

Ngellin heard Marianne sigh. "Marianne, you know I am different now – we have talked a lot. This isn't how I feel – it's the reality of Kinder life."

"I understand, Ngellin, I do. OK, I'll have David lead."

"David must do everything. Make contact, make arrangements, everything."

"OK, I understand. In fact, the Kinder already know David."

"What?"

"We had to tell first chief Glendr about the edict. David was the one to break the news to him."

"Marianne, have David promise technology, especially technology to help with water."

"But you've had access to galactic technology..."

"Not really. The Kinder are shortsighted. We use galactic technology for war making, big warships, etc. But we did not ask for, and did not use much in the way of technology to help us with living."

"OK, thank you, Ngellin. I think I can figure out how to make some clear promises around water."

"So, there will be billions more here, then."

"Yes. It will be a chaotic, strange few years. They will probably start arriving in about four years. We have 24 years to empty Earth entirely."

"I don't envy you this task, Marianne."

New Columbia, New Earth Month 2, Year 25

Marianne spoke to David on Illsenor Station. "David, any news from Hilcyon?"

"No. There has been no response to our communiqués."

Marianne exhaled. She was frustrated. "We know they got it, because it is the same communications protocols they've used with Casiti in the past. I'm a little confused as to why they are simply not responding – not even saying 'leave us alone.'"

"Maybe there are internal struggles going on. Who knows? We just need to be patient. I'm expecting that our offers of technology will mean that they will eventually come to the table."

"I guess in the end it doesn't really matter. Settling any more humans on Hilcyon doesn't make much sense from what I understand of their resource issues. But I’d like to at least start a communications process with them."

"They'll come around, Marianne. The terraforming ideas will help as well. In the meanwhile..."

"Yes, David, in the meanwhile, I have some more traveling to do. I'm in New Columbia to talk with President Mason, and I'll be going up north to the ICS to see Governor Hurler. I'll cross the river and visit the settlements in the North Central IZ. I'm looking forward to being on the river again, and, of course, it will be great to see Leticia and Mira again. I've heard such great things about how the new Medical School up there is shaping up."

Kinder ship Mrontl 35 1158

Glendr looked down at the report in his hands. All in all, they'd lost over 2,500 troops to that damned planet. 2,534 to be exact. From what he could tell, only about 150 died in battle. The rest... the rest deserted him, including two Second Chiefs, 18 Third Chiefs, and over 70 Fourth Chiefs. The sheet in his hand was the only evidence of the desertion. The official logs all had the 2,534 lost as honorably lost in battle, and none of his remaining Chiefs had any reason to advertise the desertions. Those desertions looked bad for all of them. He took out a spark lighter, and lit the page on fire. He watched the flame curl toward his hand, and the smoke rise to the ceiling of his office. He dropped the sheet and stamped it out before it set off the ship's fire alarm.

It was time to leave the ship, and take his place among the Kinder leadership. He had an appointment in a few time units with Supreme Chief Vondryn, to give his official report, one he wished he could miss. He gathered his things, left the office, and walked toward the docking area to catch a shuttle down to the surface.

Hilcyon, Mrontl 35 1158

"Supreme Chief Vondryn will see you, Chief Glendr." The tall attaché to the Supreme chief wore a uniform so well pressed and starched, Glendr wondered whether he ever got cut while putting it on. He nodded his head to the attaché, and walked into Vondryn's cavernous office. The office that Glendr knew he would have someday.

He walked toward Vondryn's desk, and stood in front of it, and bowed deeply.

"Supreme Chief Vondryn, Glendr at your service."

"Glendr, tell me of your time on that planet, the planet settled by the Grier.” Like Glendr's office, Vondryn's office had only one chair, the one on which he currently sat.

Glendr told the whitewashed story that he had rehearsed over and over again. Vondryn listened, and nodded his head at appropriate moments. When he was done, Vondryn steepled his fingers.

"First of all Glendr, you are a liar, and not a very good one at that."

Glendr could feel the color drain from his face, and he felt a tingle of fear move up his spine. How could Vondryn know?

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't know what you mean."

"Don't act stupid. Just come clean. There are Kinder down on that planet that deserted, aren't there?"

"Sir?"

"We have been in communication with the Grier on that planet."

Glendr could see something in Vondryn's face – he wasn't quite telling the truth. He thought he'd dissemble a bit.

"Yes, sir, yes, a few Kinder stayed, deserted. We chose to call them lost in battle so that their families would not lose honor."

"And so you would not lose face."

Glendr bowed slightly, raising his hands, palms upward.

"Yes, Supreme Chief." The fact that Vondryn had not said anything about his comment "a few" suggested to Glendr that Vondryn had no idea of the extent of the desertions.

"I don't exactly trust you. I never quite did. First Chief Ylen, who was to be on the ship after yours, was originally slated to complete the invasion. Of course, he was unable to, and you were left. And it is clear you were unable to do much of anything, even though you were there for more than four years."

"Sir, you heard my report. The Breft used..."

"Never mind. My attaché will give you your next assignment. Get out of my sight."

Glendr bowed, and left the office. He felt ashamed and angry. He vowed that Vondryn would someday regret his words.

New York, Earth, October 15, 2025

Joel looked at Lwel'in, who was piloting the shuttle down to New York. Joel liked Lwel'in. He thought he had a great sense of humor, and also a good understanding of the issues currently facing humanity. He, along with a tiny contingent of other Casitians had chosen to assign themselves to duty on the Moonbase and Sol Station to assist with the process of evacuating humankind from the planet of their birth.

Joel was angry at the Casitian leadership, and this emotion was shared by most of the Terrans who had most closely worked with them over the past 14 years. They now were overprotective of Casiti and Casitian interests, uncooperative, and largely placing the responsibility for pulling off this evacuation of Earth onto Terrans, who were far from the most able. This undertaking required technology and know-how only very recently available to Terrans. And the worst of it was that they were acting as if it were Earth's fault, when, in fact, Terrans were the least at fault. The true fault lay in the millennia-long conflict between the Casitians and the Kinder.

Their next task was to tell Earth the news. That was going to be a huge and unpleasant task. But he was happy about getting to see Diana and Janie again. They had finally gotten married, and they lived together in a nice little brownstone in lower Manhattan.

He felt the soft change in movement that signaled that they'd landed. "We've arrived. You'll call me when you need a ride?"

"Yes, Lwel'in. I expect we'll be doing a lot of traveling using planetary transportation, but I'll let you know when we need a ride. I expect we'll be down here for a several weeks."

"Okee dokee." Lwel'in smiled. One of his favorite things was using American colloquialisms.

Joel and Laura disembarked into the street across from Diana and Janie's house, and he could see Diana in the doorway. He smiled.

"Well, Joel, that's quite the story. I'm not sure I know exactly what to say, except that they chose a hell of a time in Earth history. Just as we managed to get our act together to be collectively responsible for all of Earth's people, we have to leave. Damn."

"Diana, I know, really, I know. But I also think that the fact that you are running for World President is a good thing."

"Oh, you think so? Why in God's name would I want this job now? Earth's first and last World President??"

"Diana, you are trusted with stuff like this."

"Yes, yes I know. Well, let's talk about what's needed now."

"I don’t want to go to the press until I've first talked personally to the world leaders you think I should talk with, and other leaders are told."

"Fair enough. I'll get my team in place to help you out with that - and I'll get you two an office to work out of."

Hilcyon, Rtlel 10 1158

An insistent chime woke him. He hadn't been sleeping well, ever since Vondryn had assigned him to be First Chief of the desert quadrant. The only worse place would have been a mining asteroid, and Glendr thanked the Exalted King that he hadn't been assigned to one of those. It would have made his work of seeing his plans through much more difficult. As his vision cleared, he saw the blinking light on his desk communicator. He got up and answered it.

"Yes?"

"Glendr, this is Hgliz." Hgliz was an old friend of Glendr's who was acting as a spy in the capital for him. Hgliz knew that when Glendr ascended to be Supreme Chief, Hgliz would rise as well.

"Hgliz, why are you calling now? It's the middle of the night!"

"Glendr, Vondryn is dead."

"Dead? Did someone...?"

"No. Apparently he died of a sudden brain hemorrhage. Natural causes."

Glendr's mind worked rapidly. He didn't expect this, and he worried about his physical abilities at this moment. He'd just begun the strict regimen that would have gotten him into shape for the inevitable struggle to gain the Supreme leadership. Well, there would be no help for it. It was now or never.

"I'll be in the capital by daybreak."

"Glendr, you should know..."

"What?"

"There are at least four First Chiefs who have already made it clear they wish to enter the ring."

"I expect there will be more."

"One of them is Rplic, another is Ylen."

"That doesn't surprise me. Does it surprise you?"

"No, but you should know that Rplic is ... he is very skilled. And his weapon of choice is the Klee."

"Thank you, Hgliz, that's good information to have. Do you know Ylen's weapon of choice?"

"He is a master of the circle blade, I've seen him train with it, and no other weapon."

"Ah, good. That's very good. I'll see you tomorrow."

Glendr got up, and began to quickly put his things together for the trip to the capital. He would not be coming back here. He either would become Supreme Chief, or he would be dead.

Mexico City, Earth, October 16, 2025

Raul Garcia looked around his office. Sometimes he had to shake himself – it was hard for him to believe how he started out as a poor fisherman who lost his boat in Baja Mexico, and became one of the leaders of the Environmental Green Party of Mexico. It all started with that day that he lost his boat. After losing his boat, he moved up to Tijuana, and worked with his sister, and got involved with the local Green Party, after learning that it really was environmental pollution and overfishing that caused him to lose his boat.

As it turned out, he was a great organizer. Between the new ideas and the new consciousness engendered by the Casitians, and a long-overdue change in the Mexican democracy, the Environmental Green Party of Mexico became one of the two major parties. Raul's role was to keep the on-the-ground organizing process going – in hopes of finally making his party the leading party heading into the new election process for world leadership.

His phone rang, startling him out of his reverie. He reached across his desk to pick it up.

"Hello?"

He heard a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

"Hola, amigo, es Laura Hernandez."

"Laura! Mi amiga! Como esta?"

"Doing fine, Raul. I have some very big news for you, and I wanted you to hear it from someone you knew, before you heard it on the news."

"Big news? I guess big enough to bring you back to Earth after cruising the galaxy..." He laughed.

"Raul, this is very serious."

"Sorry chica. Tell me."

Raul could hear the intake of breath on the other end of the phone line. He sobered up, realizing something quite dire was up.

"I know you probably kept up with the news that Joel had brought last year. Humans were tried by the Sejo, the galactic community council, for violations of the use of wormholes. "

"Yes, yes. Was there a sentence?"

"Yes. Humans, from all branches, Earth, New Earth, Casitian and Za'aref, have been banned from the galactic community for 1000 years."

Raul's heart sank. He realized he’d never get to see some of the more spectacular sights he'd heard about.

"Ah, that's bad. So we are relegated to our four little planets for a long time, eh?"

"No, Raul. This is where the really bad news comes in."

"What could possibly be worse?"

"We have been told we need to evacuate Earth."

"Say what?? Leave? But..."

"It's the dolphin's planet. They petitioned the Sejo to stay. There is no other alternative but for us to leave."

"Oh, no! How long do we have? 20 or 30 years?"

"No, Raul, we have 12."

"Twelve? Twelve? That's ... ludicrous."

"It's what they ordered."

Raul sighed, and mentally moved in to problem-solving mode. "Well, tell me what you need me to do, and I'll do it."

New York, Earth, October 20, 2025

"I'd like to welcome Joel Martin and Laura Hernandez. They should be quite familiar to all of you - they were instrumental in helping with the Casitian Crisis. Joel, as you might recall, was the discoverer of the signal that lead to our introduction to the Casitians. He also was the one who told us of the trial of humankind in the Galactic Council."

Joh Appel turned from looking at the camera, to looking at Joel.

"So, I guess the trial didn't go well, did it?"

"No, Joh, it didn't go well at all."

"Can you explain how it came to be that we are being forced to leave Earth?"

"Well, it's fairly simple, really. Galactic law says that any species that is banned, either permanently, like our original slaveholders, the Tud'scla, or temporarily, like we are, can have no contact with any species in the galaxy that is either an official member of the galactic community, or is a provisional member species."

"I would hardly call 1000 years 'temporary'!"

"Well, yes, Joh, I agree, but in galactic years, it's not a very long time. Remember, the Sejo has been meeting regularly for more than 50,000 years. So 1000 years isn't all that long from their perspective.

The dolphins are now an official member of the galactic community. They have representation on the Sejo. Either they get taken off of Earth or we leave. There is no other possible answer. Since we are the species deemed guilty, and the dolphins didn't want to leave, the Sejo declared that we are the ones that have to leave."

"Well, of course, I don't blame the dolphins for not wanting to leave. But making us leave... Isn't there a way to limit contact?"

"No Joh, it's not just communication - species have to be separated by wormholes that can be closed."

"You understand that most humans aren't going to want to leave."

"Of course. Why should they? But it doesn't matter. We have no choice in the matter. We have 12 years to evacuate Earth. Just 12. Assuming, and this is a big assumption, that we could start the evacuation in 2 years, we would have to evacuate more than 700 million people per year, or almost two million people per day off of earth. It's an enormous task, and we have to start now."

"People will fight to stay."

"And they will lose. There is no way we can win this. We have to just bow to the inevitable."

New York, Earth, October 31, 2025

"Trick or Treat!"

Joel watched Janie give out candy to the latest group of kids coming by the brownstone. He was dead tired. They had traveled all over the world, been on countless talk shows, talked to countless leaders, and very few people were being realistic. He was frustrated. He was glad that he had such a strong friend and leader in Diana. Otherwise, he thought they would have been sunk. It scared him to realize that their only hope in making this happen in a fairly reasonable way was if she won the election.

He'd had a communication exchange with Marianne, where he asked her if she was willing to make an appearance on Earth. She declined. He knew she had enough on her plate – having to deal both with New Earth and the Kinder, but ... it made him think again about the absence of the Casitians, and the bile started in his stomach again. Let's not go down that road, he thought.

"Joel, you look positively terrible. What can I do to help?" Janie looked at Joel sympathetically.

"I feel kind of hopeless right now, Janie."

Janie sat down next to him, and put her arm around his shoulders.

"Joel, you are putting all of this on your shoulders. You can't do that - you'll buckle. It's too heavy just for you. Let others take some of the weight. You know that there are people all over the world who will help."

"I know, Janie, but ..."

"But nothing! Face it – you alone cannot make seven billion people leave Earth. It has to be a collective effort."

Joel sighed. "I know, I know. It's just so hard to watch people resist the inevitable."

"Remember, Joel, you've had months to get used to this. We've had barely two weeks. Give it time."

Joel nodded. She was right, after all. It was time to return to Moon station, and start the planning process.

Lakota Territory, New Earth, Month 1, Year 25

The sunset was magnificent, as usual. This time, the sky seemed to be florescent in its display of yellows, purples, greens and blues. Wachiwi thanked the ancestors again for helping his people find this new land. Tomorrow was a big day. Chiefs from other tribes over New Earth, the Blackfoot, Navajo, Western Apache, Cherokee, and Seminole were coming to Lakota Territory to meet, and discuss the news.

Rumors had been spreading all over New Earth, and it was time for the Tribes to unite and find homes for all their tribal brothers and sisters coming from Earth. Wachiwi knew that old enmities and rivalries would rear their heads. He also knew that there was plenty of space for the tribes to settle. All of the tribes now lived far west of the Southern IZ and New America. There was plenty of land further west of them – thousands of miles of unexplored, unclaimed territory. Wachiwi knew that there were many other peoples to be settled on New Earth, but he also knew that there would be enough. Enough for them to live a life of freedom, finally, from the Wasi'chu.

He had a brief talk by audio with Marianne. He knew that she would be back to help figure out how to settle people, and divide up the land equitably. She knew of the dreams of the tribes, the dreams his tribe on New Earth had already realized. They realized true sovereignty, true freedom, and the ability to determine their own destinies. He had faith that she would hold her promises to his people.

Hilcyon, Rtlel 10 1158

"Come in, come in, Wllem. I keep hearing very good things about your work around the city. You'll be a Fourth Chief in no time at the rate you're going."

William walked into Jurrl's house. He'd only been here once, a few moons after he landed. Sadre answered only to Jurrl, not to his Third chief, Ceckzl. This was very mysterious at first, but became much clearer as time went on. Sadre had brought William to the capital to meet Jurrl. Now, he was back on his own.

"Thank you, Chief Jurrl. I have some important information for you."

"OK, go ahead."

"When I first arrived, I saw a woman that I recognized - she also is from Grier Nro."

"What? You are supposed to be the first person here from Grier Nro."

"Yes, I know. She had been on the asteroid mine with me, and had been assigned to a Kinder man. They had managed somehow to get off of the asteroid mine and make it back here.

This was pretty suspicious to me, so I did some digging. It turns out that the man, whose name is Pkygy, is very close with Ceckzl. Pkygy was arrested originally for publishing seditious literature -- a crime which should have assured him of permanent occupation on the asteroid planet.

I have seen Ceckzl at his house a number of times. I have also seen other Kinder men at his house, together. I did some more digging, and found that Ceckzl was the one who managed to get Pkygy off of the mine. "

William could see Jurrl beginning to understand the gravity of the situation.

"There's more. Beatrice, Pkygy's wife..."

"I don't care about Pkygy's wife. What could she have to do with any of this?"

"Chief Jurrl, one of the biggest mistakes Kinder men make is to underestimate the ability of women to ..."

"Stop right now. If you are suggesting that they are smart enough to orchestrate some sort of rebellion, I will have you arrested for seditious thought."

William shut up. He seemed to continually hit that brick wall. They would have to learn the hard way! He bowed.

"Of course, Chief, you are right. There is no reason to think about his wife. I think there is reason enough to arrest Pkygy."

"Yes, indeed there is. And..."

Jurrl walked to his desk, and lifted up a piece of paper. "There happens to be an open Fourth Chief spot in the Wrzcol district of Wlentry. The poor sod got hit by a transport, and there really isn't anyone I trust there to take over. Interested?"

"Of course! Thank you for your faith in me, Chief Jurrl."

"I think you are going places, boy."

Hilcyon, Rtlel 14 1158

Glendr wiped the blood from his face as he sat down on the bench for the short rest period. The audience was raucous. He was exhausted from 2 days of fighting. First, he bested First Chief Ghnor, which was easy. Ghnor was out of shape, overweight, and slow. Next, had been Rplic. Rplic was harder. He was young, but inexperienced. He had more stamina than Glendr, but didn't know the weapons as well, and didn't have the moves. Glendr knew that he had to kill Rplic fast, before he lost his stamina. He'd managed, but barely.

Now he was facing his most difficult adversary, and he was afraid he was going to lose. Ylen was the same age as Glendr, and had about the same amount of experience, but Ylen was in superior shape, and clearly had been working hard with fighting coaches for this day. Had Glendr had time to train ... but that didn't matter. He hadn't had time. And it was showing.

Glendr's weapon of choice was the circle blade. A wickedly curved blade at the end of a long staff. It could be a weapon to slice, or he could use the other end to bludgeon. Ylen chose a short sword. This was a surprise to Glendr, since Hgliz had told Glendr that Ylen was a master of the circle blade. A short sword was one of the few weapons that had an advantage against the circle blade. Glendr thought that Ylen had changed his blade choice, until he saw him with that sword. He was a master with it, and, adept at avoiding either side of Glendr's weapon. So far in the three fighting periods, Ylen had been the only one to draw blood.

Glendr held out some hope. He knew some tricks with his blade that he hadn't shown yet, on purpose. It had always been his plan to get Ylen overconfident, then move in with some of his best moves for the kill. He had only one more fighting period left to do it in.

The loud bell rang, and Glendr took a last drink of liquid, and a last wipe of the towel on his face, and he got up again to face Ylen, swinging his weapon.

Ylen feinted with his short sword, and Glendr recognized the moves Ylen was making. Glendr laughed inside. He didn't think Ylen's fighting trainers were all that good, after all. Glendr started the first of his special moves, designed to draw Ylen closer to him in an unguarded way, and Glendr was happy to see that Ylen was following his lead, and doing what he expected him to do. Glendr thought, a couple of more moves, and he'd have Ylen.

Glendr shifted his weight, did the right feint, then the left, and watched Ylen follow. As he swung around to slice Ylen's exposed neck with his blade, he saw a glint of metal where he didn't expect it. His swing brought his midsection right into the blade, and before he could complete his swing, he felt a sharp pain and looked down to see the short sword's hilt in his chest. There was no time for regret. He fell, hearing the roar of the crowd, and then knew no more.

Hilcyon, Rtlel 15 1158

Ylen sat in his new, spacious office, writing a few notes for his speech to the gathered First Chiefs. In reality, he had worked most of his life for this day. It all started with his mother. He had been twelve. He had just come home from being beaten up by the local boys for being a weakling. When his father saw him, he beat him even more, telling him he would turn out to no good, unless he could best other boys.

After his father left the house, his mother bathed him, dressed his wounds, and began to read to him stories he would never forget. Those stories gave him hope: hope that someday he could make things different among Kinder. And every step of the way, he was blessed. Every barrier for him was easily jumped, or spontaneously disappeared. Yes, he trained, and worked hard, and told no one of his dreams. But they stayed with him, all this time. He wished his mother were alive to see him.

The subjects of those stories, the Breft and Grier, had always been so far away. But now, they had come into his life, and the life of all Kinder, with an unimaginable force. To Ylen, the timing was astonishing. Two moons after the Breft and Grier are known to them, Vondryn dies, and he became Supreme Chief. He knew this was destined by the Exalted King.

There was a quiet knock on the door, and it opened, with the face of his attaché, Hgliz.

"Supreme Chief, your audience awaits you."

"Thank you, Hgliz. And Hgliz?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Thank you for your service to me. I imagine I could have won against Glendr anyway, but your work with him made it easier."

Hgliz nodded. "Supreme Chief, I want to see the Kinder change. Glendr was more of the same. It was worth all the risk."

Ylen rose, and bowed to Hgliz. "I am in your debt." They walked together to the room where he would face his First Chiefs.

As he spoke, he could hear the murmurs start. He knew would have to move slowly, and be fierce.

He barked, "if you have something to say, say it to me."

The room went silent. He knew that many were already plotting his demise.

"The Grier are offering us technology to make our lives better. I am going to accept their offer. We need to make our lives better here. We have too many children who die and too many women who die in childbirth. We are crowded into smaller communities than we need to be. With water we can grow more food, and spread out, and finally grow our population and become more of a power among humans."

A hand went up. It was Rplo. He was going to be trouble, he knew.

"Yes?"

"Supreme Chief, I worry about the influence of these people. We already have a growing rebellion on our hands."

"Yes, of course. We will keep contact between the Kinder and the Grier to a minimum." In fact, he had no such intention.

"But Supreme Chief..."

He raised his voice. "Do any of you question my leadership? If so, I hear that they have just finished cleaning the ring."

There was silence. He knew that all of the First Chiefs that had been inclined had already entered the ring. He was the only one left. None of these would try to best him anytime soon. And if his plans went the way he expected, he would be the last Supreme Chief of the Kinder.

New Aard, New Earth, Month 2, Year 25

Olam often thought of his friend and mentor Abdul. Abdul had dreamed of a day when the leadership of New Aard would soften, and allow progressive voices. That time had come. He was a new member of the New Aard Parliament, and leader of the progressive coalition.

He was sitting around the table with other leaders, discussing immigration. He liked the vision of a unified Islamic state, with different regions governed autonomously, depending upon whether they were Sunni or Shia, with secular or sharia law. People would immigrate and migrate to the regions according to how they wanted to live. Olam imagined a varied, vibrant future where Turks lived with Somalis and Egyptians, and Iraqis and Iranians sharing regions, and more. National borders wouldn’t matter anymore.

Because Olam was a political, rather than religious leader, the whole question of where Mecca would go was a conversation he was not privy to. He knew that they were doing varied calculations, trying to figure out where in New Aard Mecca would go. It was mind-boggling to think about Mecca. As it was, Muslims on New Aard now prayed pointing toward Earth, which could sometimes mean standing up looking at the sky, or prostrate, looking at the floor, through New Earth, toward where Earth was.

He didn't know how the Masjid Al-Haram and the Kaaba were going to get transported here. He assumed that the Casitians had the wherewithal to do it. He knew that some proposed leaving Mecca where it was, and postponing the one of the pillars of Muslim observance for 1000 years. He wished that Abdul were here to tell him what he thought of the whole thing.

"Olam" Olam was shaken out of his reverie.

"Yes."

"We need you to join the committee to work with the Casitians on infrastructure building. That seems like it might be up your alley."

Olam nodded. "Of course. I'm happy to."

New Calgary, New Earth, Month 2, Year 25

Marianne and Leticia sat together on the bench in the park, across the street from where the new medical school was to be built.

"You're leaving again?"

Marianne gave a short chuckle. "Going to Hilcyon. It seems my destiny to do this shit."

Leticia smiled. "Not your destiny, Aunt Marianne, you're good at it."

"Well perhaps that's true. What's also true is that they were very clear that no Casitians could come. Not as if any Casitians wanted to! I’ll go and talk to the new Supreme Chief guy. Well, no, I'm not going to talk to the guy, David is. It's infuriating."

"I can imagine. It's like they have stone-age patriarchy or something."

"That's exactly what they have. Anyway, I don't really expect to be gone too long. We're establishing communications, and doing a technology transfer. Even though we know that Hilcyon can’t handle them, I got the strange feeling that this guy would have welcomed some immigrants."

"Really?"

"I watched while David talked with him via video link. He came across as ... well, soft. Almost as soft as the Kinder I met with down south. Surprising."

"Maybe he wants change."

"It's hard to believe that someone who has attained that status in Kinder society wants change, but you never know."

Marianne looked up to see Mira approaching with bags of lunch in hand.

"I thought I should bring you both lunch. Leticia seems to forget to eat if I don't feed her."

Marianne looked at both of them, and smiled. She was happy for Leticia. Happy that she'd found her place after a tough time in the ICS, and happy that she'd found Mira. They started to dive into the sandwiches.

"So, you two, I need your help."

Leticia started to talk around the sandwich in her mouth. "How?"

"I need you to be the coordinators for medical services in a zone of New Earth."

Mira looked up. "Zone?"

"This is an idea cooked up by David and your father, Mira. The idea is to divide New Earth into zones and regions, with equal amounts of natural resources. They thought that dividing up New Earth into zones, and then determining immigration patterns per zone would be the wisest course. There will probably be about ten zones and ten regions per zone. The zone I'm asking you to be in charge of will likely encompass all of the NCIZ, as well as a big area north of the Mississippi and Lake Superior."

"That area hasn't even been explored, let alone settled."

"I know. But it must be."

"OK! Count us in. I've always wanted to travel up north."

Mira rolled her eyes. "Oh, no. We just got started here, and you want to travel more? You are incorrigible. Of course, I have to come with you."

"I'm sure Thomas and Jeffrey would want to come too. There might be some other varieties of medicinal plants up there."

"Well, I'll leave this to you. I'll get Douglas to send you the plan for that zone when it is finalized. Oh, Leticia, go visit your mother before you go traveling. She misses you, and wants to see you more often."

"OK, Aunt Marianne, I will. And let me know if you hear anything about the missing teenagers."

"They are one of the first items of our agenda with that Supreme Chief guy! No teenagers, no water tech."

Hilcyon, Rtlel 15 1158

The loud knocking on the door woke her up. When there was silence, she thought perhaps she'd dreamed it. But it came again, and then Pkygy awoke, and turned on the light. He looked at her with fright.

"Open up!" The banging continued, and Pkygy arose from bed and walked into the living room. Beatrice quickly put on a robe and followed, entering into the room to see five men storm in and tackle Pkygy.

"What are you doing?! Pkygy!"

"Shut up, woman; go back into your bedroom, now!"

One of the men shoved her ungently back, and she stumbled into the bedroom. She heard the door slam shut behind her. She didn't know what to do. If she opened the bedroom door again, she knew they might hurt her, so she went to the window, and began to open it. As she did, she saw the men walk by with Pkygy in tow, chains around his wrists and ankles. She sat down on her bed, and wept.

She didn't know what else to do, so after the sun rose, she dressed, and went to see Tivyl... She knocked on Tivyl's door, and Tivyl opened it, looking as distraught as Beatrice felt.

"Oh no..."

Tivyl nodded. "They came and took Ceckzl last night. They took Pkygy?"

Beatrice nodded.

"We must find out how many other men were arrested. But we must be careful. Go home; wait for me or Krely to come to you. It will be fine."

Beatrice nodded, and turned and walked back to her house. She had no confidence it would be fine.

Hilcyon, Rtlel 30 1158

Marianne looked down at the planet's surface from the shuttle windows. It almost looked to her like Mars – dull, cloudless, and dry. There were no oceans, or even any rivers or lakes she could see. No wonder the Kinder were tough. She'd talked at length with W'ren, who had been unceremoniously yanked from the project terraforming Mars when the Sejo had made its decision. After that talk, she'd convinced members of the Caraj that in the long term, terraforming Hilcyon was going to be worth pursuing. It was a huge planet, with a lot of frozen water. W'ren was convinced that there were just a few small adjustments to be made, and Hilcyon could become as verdant as Earth in as little as 50 years. She knew, also, that if the Kinder could have done that sort of thing, they would have done it a long time ago. That was a piece of technology that they would be dangling in front of the Kinder at some point.

As she looked out the window, she could begin to see settlements – small hexagonally shaped hamlets, bordered with neat lines. She thought it was an interesting way for people to arrange themselves. She and David were coming to Hilcyon as official representatives of Earth. This was the third planet Marianne had been able to visit. She was sad that she never made it to any other non-human planets, and she could not imagine fitting in time to see any before the 12 years was up.

The Kinder were reluctant enough to allow Terrans access to Hilcyon – they absolutely forbid the presence of Casitians on the surface, people they called "Breft”. Many hundreds of years ago, there had been an active trade between the two planets, although Marianne suspected that the Kinder were more in need of Casitian goods than the Casitians were in need of Kinder goods. Casiti had given the Kinder many food plants. At some point about eleven hundred years ago, that trade had come to a halt and there had been no Kinder/Casitian contact since. Marianne didn't know why that happened, and the Casitians refused to talk about it.

The shuttle was piloted entirely by remote control by W'ren in orbit. They were directed to land on a pad near a large building in the Capital. They settled down, and opened the door to the hatch and stepped out. She had let David lead, and leave first. It was going to be a challenge for her to keep quiet, she knew.

It was cold, with a breeze blowing from the north. She could see two groups of people walking toward them, and as they got closer, she saw three men followed by two women. David walked toward the men, and Marianne realized she needed to wait for the women to approach.

One of the women started to talk, and after a short delay, Marianne's translator AI began to speak in her ear.

"Hello. My name is Wtric. I am Supreme Chief Ylen's wife. This is my servant, Jrlil. She will see to your every need. Please come with me, I can show you the quarters your husband has been assigned to, so you can prepare whatever he needs."

Marianne wondered what they would think of what the actual truth was. David and she were best friends, had been for years. David had a male companion, and Marianne ... well, Marianne would have a female companion if... She let that thought go.

"Thank you, Wtric. Let me get our bags..."

Jrlil quickly walked past Marianne, and picked up both bags that were just inside the door of the shuttle. Wtric lead the way, and the three of them walked to a small vehicle, which took them through the city to a small dwelling tucked in the corner of a dead-end street. They walked into the dwelling and Wtric gave her a little tour.

"The bedroom is over here, and next to it is the toilet. The tub is on the other side, over here."

Marianne could not for the life of her figure out why the tub would be on the other side of the bedroom from the toilet. And she didn’t understand why there wasn't a sink. But she didn’t ask.

"The kitchen is here. There is a box full of food for you, and food in the icebox, here. Of course, if you don't want to cook, Jrlil here can cook for you."

"Thank you Wtric. I appreciate that. I do know how to cook..." she stopped herself. She realized that she would make a mistake if she revealed that she'd been on Casiti, cooking using the same vegetables and other ingredients that she knew they had here.

"I know how to cook for my husband."

Wtric smiled. "Well, there may be some things you'll need help with. I imagine the food is different on Grier Nro."

Marianne was already tired. "Wtric, thank you so much for the help. I want to spend some time preparing for my husband."

"Of course, of course. Forgive me. Jrlil is staying next door, and there is a bell here." She pointed to a small indent in the wall of the kitchen. "Ring it when you need her help."

"Thank you so much. I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, you will. There is a large state dinner planned in your honor the day after tomorrow."

Marianne tried to smile, and saw them to the door, and closed it behind them. She wasn't looking forward to state dinners, or anything else, really. She sank into a chair.

After a long while, David walked in.

"Aye, aye aye."

"Yes?"

"This is going to be interesting, Marianne."

"Why do you say that, David?"

"I spent what felt like forever with Ylen and five men he called 'First Chiefs.' In their presence he was bombastic, demanding, rigid and insulting. When they left, he was a completely different person. Marianne, he spent his whole life working to get where he is so he can change things. He is playing a very dangerous game, and we have to help him. He wants change, big change. He wants to be the last Supreme Chief of the Kinder to be chosen by death battle. He wants future leaders to elected."

"Chosen by death battle?"

"That's how leaders become leaders. For any Chiefs lower than First Chiefs, if a Chief dies, then the Chief above him can appoint someone. But anyone below a Chief can challenge a Chief to a battle to the death. The one who wins is now that Chief. The Supreme Chief is the worst. Apparently Ylen had to kill three men to get his current job. He said that he's killed seven in total."

"That's completely barbaric!"

"Well, as I said, he wants it to change. Anyway, this visit is going to be short, and not very productive."

"I'm confused."

"We agreed that he needed to play this slowly, and that we'd be backing him all the way. He said that there was a burgeoning movement among the people here, but the time hasn't come to link all of this up. Soon, but not now."

"So what are we doing?"

"We're going to go to the state dinner, pretend to be bored and bothered, stay a couple of days, and then leave empty handed. But not really, of course."

Marianne nodded. "OK, I can handle a short visit. In fact, I prefer a short visit. Did you ask about the teenagers?"

"Yes. I asked about them first in the presence of the First Chiefs. And Ylen blew up at me. But then, later, he told me exactly where they are. He said that he as operatives on all of the asteroids, and we can go and pick them up. There won't be a fight. We should signal to W'ren to get a ship large enough to carry them. He said there should be about 17,000 of them."

Marianne whistled. "I knew there were a lot, but 17,000? It will be good to see Beatrice again."

Casiti, 45 Nird 784

Jal'end'a rose, slowly, composing her thoughts. She was speaking to the Caraj, in a public, open joining. She knew that this moment could make all of the difference. There were hundreds of people in attendance, seated in the tiers of seats around and behind the central table where the 12 members of the Caraj met. She recognized members that she knew well, such as Erit'ala, Yr'len and Hetl'zef. She'd had less opportunity to get to know the others. She smiled, remembering the history of the 12 seats, and realized that it might be useful to invoke it.

"Honored members of the Caraj, and guests, I thank you for this opportunity to hear my voice. As you know, I have spent many years in silence, contemplating what it means to be human. I broke out of this life of silence once before, more than a year ago, to help us become united with the planet of our origin, and learn about their lives and cultures. I am breaking out again now, because this time is critical to human history.

I know that for many of you, it was a shock to learn how much humans from Earth seemed to resemble the Kinder, our fellow human sisters and brothers who we have been cut off from for hundreds of years. We saw them as warlike and patriarchal, greedy and full of hatreds. Of course, this is what it means to be human. And, surprisingly, we found many humans that were a lot like us.

Casitians like to say that we have evolved beyond these characteristics we find problematic. We've put away our warlike nature, we've eschewed violence and greed, and we support one another, and love one another equally. But, of course, the instant that we are faced with what feels to us like an existential threat – the threat of many humans here on Casiti – we balk. No, we don't balk, we become greedy and hateful."

There were murmurs in the room, and she could see several people with looks of disdain on their faces. She kept going.

"I have done a deep study of Earth spiritual traditions. Those qualities of hatred and greed are often decried on Earth. In one of their traditions, they are two of the 'Three Poisons.' We share so much with Terrans. Of course, we must – they are our blood, our genetic material. I also want to remind you of how much we share with the Kinder. Yes, I will call them 'The Kinder!' Our word for them, 'The accursed' comes only because we have chosen to curse them. We invested in them all of our faults, all of our shadows, assuming that we had none left. But now we see the shadows right in front of us."

"Do you know why there are 12 of you sitting around this table?" Jal'end'a paused. She didn't expect anyone to answer, even those who knew the history.

"There are 12 of you because the Tud'scla organized humans into groups of 12 for maximal control. And do you know why groups of 12? Is it some magic number that the Tud'scla came up with out of thin air? No, it's not. It is because the Tud'scla had 12 fingers!"

She heard more murmurings. "We can no more leave behind the history of that time that shaped us, that made us who we are, than we can turn away from the needs of our fellow humans. We are Casitians! We take care of each other, even if it means hardship for ourselves.

There are two continents on our planet that are free for settlement. One continent has abundant land for raising food. The other has abundant shoreline for harvesting the riches of the ocean. Casiti has benefited from the technology of the galactic community for hundreds of years. We can build cities, build dwellings, and build farms for the humans who need space to live. And remember, what we do here, now, determines whether or not the galactic community will welcome us in a quarter millennium. We are the leaders. We are the ones that can lead the Kinder and the Terrans to a kind of society that the Galactic Community will welcome back with open arms. I know that, and you know that. And you also know that the strategies of separation will not work – that is why we here, now. We must end them for the good of future generations. It is our duty."

She sat down, and there was silence. And then, the room erupted in applause and shouts, so loudly that it astonished her. She was overwhelmed by the response of the people. After a time, she heard the loud ring of the bell, calling everyone back to order. She looked around the room, and saw a new kind of expression on the faces around her. Expressions of determination, joy and assurance had replaced the earlier expressions of fear and anxiety.

Hetl'zef began to speak.

"Thank you for coming to order. Thank you, Jal'end'a for your eloquent speech. We have much to learn from you, and we hope that you will be willing to lend us your wisdom now and again." Jal'end'a nodded her head once in response.

"We have before us a proposal sponsored by five members of the Caraj, to send to Earth details and data on Jul'when and Loc'deher, as well as to organize a task force to begin the process of building infrastructure on those continents for settlement by approximately one billion Terrans. In addition, this proposal includes the settlement of as many as five million carefully screened Terran settlers to live with us on Rel'toro. Is there discussion of this proposal?"

At that moment, Re'il stood up. "I wish to tender my resignation from the Caraj. In all honesty, I cannot agree to this. However, I cannot stand in the way - I can see that now." He turned and walked out of the room, not looking back. Jal'end'a could understand the bind he felt himself in and felt compassion for him.

After some discussion, questions, and some amendments to the proposal, the Caraj reached consensus. Jal'end'a was glad, and for the first time, she felt that the future status of humans was more assured than she'd thought.

Hilcyon, Rtlel 31 1158

The rumors were flying. Beatrice had been convening the women continuously, even though she feared for her life. She couldn't stop. Pkygy was imprisoned, and the work must go on. The rumors she heard from several women was that a man from Grier Nro, Earth, had arrived with his wife, and was meeting with the new Supreme Chief, Ylen. She was trying to figure out how she could get to the Capital to see them. She thought that if she could tell them who she was, they could help save Pkygy.

Beatrice had found her connection. Tivyl's sister, who Tivyl had recruited to the cause, was the wife of a First Chief. Her sister knew Wtric, the wife of Ylen. After some discussion, it was decided that it would be best for Beatrice to travel to the Capital, and find a way to contact them. Wtric had said that there was a state dinner, and that she could arrange for Beatrice to be a servant at the dinner, giving her a chance to meet the Grier. Beatrice thought it was a good plan, and she was hurriedly preparing to leave to catch the next tram to the Capital city.

When she showed up at the back door of the large hall where the dinner was to happen, she was ushered in by Wtric, given a uniform, and told her job. She did it, and kept working for hours. Finally, Wtric came in, and handed her a large platter, heavy with a sweet dessert.

"This is a special dessert for the visitors. If anyone questions you, tell them that I said the visitors specially requested it."

"Thank you, Wtric."

"Go, go."

Beatrice shouldered the heavy platter, and walked through the hall, toward the dais. She couldn't imagine how she was going to manage to talk with the visitors. There were far too many people around. She wished she'd thought of bringing a paper message. She kept walking, and then she looked up at the dais, and almost dropped the platter when she saw who was sitting there. She realized then that she likely didn't have to say much, if anything. Aunt Marianne would recognize her at once. Marianne hadn't looked her way yet, so she kept going. All of a sudden, a large man was in her way.

"Where are you going, woman?"

"To the dais, sir. Wtric said that this platter of sweets was especially requested by the guests."

He looked at her doubtfully, but then stepped aside. As he did, Marianne saw Beatrice, and she could see the recognition dawn. She saw Marianne stand up. The man next to her looked at her with alarm. She said something to him, and he responded, and she sat back down, still looking directly at Beatrice. It seemed no one else had noticed. She finally got to the dais, and put the platter down in front of them. Beatrice thought quickly of what to say to them.

"Gift of Wtric. She knows. This is a very good sweet."

A booming voice, which belonged to the man next to the visitors said, "yes, my friends, this is the sweet called Htlendrz. If it was made with the direction of my wife, it will be delicious."

Beatrice bowed, and turned and walked back to the kitchen. She could feel Marianne's eyes follow her the entire way, but she did not dare look back.

Wuj'tren, 50 Nird 784

Re'alo looked across the table at the squat humanoid with the square face and no neck, hair that looked like flat ribbons, and a large protrusion where his nose should be. He'd gotten used to their appearance over the past few days, since he had been meeting with one Krumptia after another. But every once in a while as he looked at one, he got this weird shiver down his spine.

Re'alo was the Casitian liaison to the Galactic officials who were overseeing the evacuation of Earth. There was a lot to deal with, and a lot at stake. He wished that the Caraj had seen fit to give him some help, but here he was, all alone on Wuj'tren, trying to figure it all out.

The Krumptian, whose name was unpronounceable for Re'alo, slid a tablet toward him, and started to speak. Then, the AI translator kicked in.

"Here are the data on all of the available colony ships. We have 4,200 currently in service. With those ships, we can evacuate Earth in about 16 trips per ship over the course of 10 Earth years."

"I don't know how realistic that is – is there a way to build more?"

"We have started to build more – we can generate another 2,000 ships over the course of the next 5 Earth years. That would mean that we could reduce the number of trips per ship down to about ten."

"That's more reasonable. When can the first colony ships be on Earth?"

"We can send the first 1,000 to Earth within this Earth year. The next 3,200 will arrive within 2 years."

Re'alo nodded his head. "I think that works."

The Krumptian slid another tablet toward Re’alo.

He said, "here is the technology transfer information you wanted. The Sejo has given us instructions to give to you all of the technology transfer information you desire. They understand the hardship that evacuating Earth is causing, and they want to make sure you will have what you need."

"Thank you. When can we expect those shipments that we've requested so far for New Earth and Casiti?"

"You'll have them within the Earth year."

"Thank you. Is there anything else we need to discuss? I think I'm ready to head home and work with my people to figure this out."

"We need to finalize the wormhole closure procedure."

"Now? We're still almost 12 years from the deadline."

Re'alo still could not decipher Krumptia emotions. He couldn't tell a laugh from a sigh, or anger from happiness. All sorts of strange sounds were coming from the Krumptian, but the translator wasn't kicking in. Finally, he heard, "it is our duty to get this right. You will not stand in our way by delaying the inevitable. The wormhole will be closed on schedule, and we need to finalize the procedure."

Re'alo knew by those words that it hadn't been laughter. He realized the Krumptia didn't trust him, or rather, didn't trust humans.

"Fine, fine. You tell me what you need from me to finalize the procedure."

After another long period of discussion, it was finally worked out to the satisfaction of the Krumptian. Re'alo didn't really know why it mattered so much, but then he realized that from the Krumptian's point of view, they were responsible for making sure that this big thing of isolating a species was done exactly right. Their reputation as the bureaucrats of the galaxy depended on it. Re'alo was looking forward to going home.

Beijing, Earth, October 20, 2025

Chin had been glued to her laptop and video screens for hours after the edict was announced. She had been only twelve when the "Casitian Crisis" first occurred in 2011. She had learned all she could about Casiti since then, and had been on a very long waiting list for permission to emigrate to Casiti.

Pundits were saying that the Casitians wouldn't want any Earth humans. Ever since the Kinder were discovered, many people had made conclusions about the Casitians that Chin didn't think were true. And they also seemed to idealize the Kinder, which she also figures wasn't the truth, either. Chin hoped that in this crisis, the Casitians would be willing to accept some Earth humans. She knew that they had space on Casiti to take at least some.

As she heard the analysis, and China's leader Leigin Shan, who wanted to fight the Galactics to stay on Earth, she realized that she wanted to be in the first wave of emigrants away from Earth. She had always wanted to leave, anyway, and she was afraid of what might occur on Earth. She was in good position to make that real as a highly sought after agronomist who had done her Ph.D. Work on Casitian methods for growing high-value food in harsh climates. She had begun to use many of those techniques in the highlands of Tibet.

She needed to figure out who she would need to talk with in order to start her emigration process.

New Columbia, New America, Month 2, Year 25

Rita was having a hard time believing her eyes as she looked down at the unfolded flier. How dare these young upstarts and leaders from far flung settlements threaten what New America had built! How dare they use the excuse of the Galactic edict to cause unrest! She was incensed. Rita had spent most of the last 25 New Earth years making herself a central figure in New Earth politics. She never ran for anything, but was an insider, a behind-the-scenes dealmaker. Anyone who was anyone in New America had to go to her in order to win any seat they wanted. Even though she didn't work, she had everything she needed in life: a large beautiful house, servants to help her, and many movers and shakers of New America at her beck and call.

She had to work fast. The first thing she would do is make sure that the venue these people had chosen would cancel. Then, she would make sure that no other venue would accept them. That would probably do the trick. She noticed several names on the organizer's list who were residents of New Columbia. She would have certain people pay them visits, and make sure that they understood the nature of their efforts.

"Ms. Reid?" Rita looked up to see one of her servant walk into the room.

"Ah, yes, Gloria, just in time. Can you ..."

"Ms. Reid, I need to speak with you."

"Does it have to be now? I have so much for you and Ronald to do."

"Yes, Ms. Reid, it has to be now."

"Well, then, make it quick, what is it?"

"I'm quitting, Ms. Reid. I can be here until the end of the day, if you need me..."

"Quitting? What on earth do you mean?"

"Isn't that self-explanatory? I'm quitting. Leaving. Ronald is coming with me."

"But I treat you both so well, and pay you well." Gloria's face showed a contempt Rita could not understand.

"Ms. Reid, we are moving to the South Central Independent Zone, where I can use the skills I had when I immigrated to New Earth. We believed in New America, but all staying here has gotten us is menial jobs, barely decent housing, and no education for our college-aged kids. New America never really cared about making things work for the majority of its citizens. I've already accepted an offer to work in the Mayor's office of San Antonio, doing city planning. Ronald got a job in a construction firm, and my children are enrolling in SIZU this coming month."

Rita was insulted, and realized that Gloria must have been brainwashed by the same people that were organizing that conference.

"Well, fine, go ahead and leave now. I don't care."

Without another word, Gloria turned from Rita and left. Rita went out to her foyer, and realized that she no longer had a driver, either. With a sigh, she went back into her office, and called the labor bureau where she'd gotten Gloria and Ronald a year ago. She heard the following recorded message:

"We're sorry, but we are currently closed. There are no laborers available, and there is currently a waiting list of more than 100 people looking for workers. If you wish to add your name to that list, please visit our site on the widenet. We are sorry for any inconvenience."

She went to their site on the widenet, only to be greeted by a message in large letters simply saying "Waiting list too full. No new workers have signed on in three weeks."

She wondered what was happening in New America – how could she have missed this? She made a few phone calls, and after speaking with several of her friends, it seemed as if this week was the week all of the servants decided to emigrate from New America.

Chapter 3: The First will be Last

(AP) December 1, 2025

World Presidential Elections in High Gear as Earth Evacuation Debate Continues

Geneva – The debate about whether to fight the galactic edict to leave Earth or to evacuate has become the key issue differentiating the two primary candidates for World President, Leigin Shan, and Diana Westinghouse-Lewis. Ms. Westinghouse-Lewis, from the United States, was a key member of the team which introduced the Casitians to Earth, and prepared Earth for the new reality of the galactic community. She is adamant that we cannot fight the edict, but must plan for a calm evacuation.

Leigin Shan, from the People's Democracy of China, was one of the key architects of the Chinese democracy, and argues that we must fight to stay on Earth, and we can win.

The first debate will be in the New Year, on January 10, 2026.

Casiti, 55 Nird 784

Erit'ala had her hands around her cup of fuge, and was remembering a conversation they had over cups of fuge four years ago. So much had happened since.

"I see you have come to the same conclusion as I have, Ja'el."

"Yes, I have. I can't see how it makes sense for me to be involved. My emotions are too ... too tied up to think clearly."

"We had our time, Ja'el. It's time for others to take over."

"I know. Re'alo and W'ren are so competent. Jal'end'a speaks so eloquently. There are others who are stepping up. They don't really need our expertise, anyway, this is such a different set of issues."

"Silandra, too, has decided to step out, and focus on writing the history from her perspective."

"There is much to learn. I feel that we made so many mistakes."

"How could we not? I feel that we are learning from those mistakes. I look forward to welcoming Terrans, and, eventually ... Kinder. Jal'end'a is right – we must be united as a species."

"I am thinking of spending some time on New Earth."

"Really?"

"Yes, Erit'ala. I'd like to learn more about what has been started there, and visit Marianne again. I miss her, and I feel there are some wounds that I need to help heal."

Hilcyon, Wtler 30 1158

David and Marianne were back in their dwelling after the state dinner. Marianne was feeling a bit ill, and she didn't know whether it was from the food or from seeing Beatrice.

"So what do you want to do?" David was sitting in a chair that was far from comfortable in their shared quarters as Marianne paced.

"Honestly, go grab her and leave! But there's something strange going on. It seems that she's in danger somehow. We need to talk with Wtric."

"How in God's name did she get here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

They heard a knock at the door. They opened it, and Wtric entered.

"I shouldn't be here, but I wanted you to know that woman who gave you sweets..."

"We know who she is."

"I saw the family resemblance. It's a good thing Kinder men don't pay women any attention. If it had been your husband, you probably would all be in prison now. She's your...?”

"My sister's daughter."

"I see. Anyway, she and her husband have been organizing things she calls "cells" for change on Hilcyon. Her husband was arrested for sedition a moon ago or so. She needs help in getting him released. "

"Craig?"

"His name is Pkygy." Marianne let that sink in.

"Is there a way I can see her?"

"Not safely, no. But I will tell you where she lives, in case you have ways of getting around without being seen." Marianne realized that Wtric was much smarter than she'd given her credit for.

David said, "what about Pkygy? Can we figure out a way to have him released?"

Wtric looked at David with a look Marianne could not decipher. "You need to talk with my husband about that, I cannot say. I must go now. I'm sorry."

She walked out the door quickly, leaving Marianne and David puzzled.

New York, Earth, January 10, 2026

Diana was nervous. She didn't think she'd ever been this nervous in her life. She was running for first World President... so she could be its last. It was sobering and scary. Her opponent, Leigin Shan, had emerged from the new Chinese Democratic Party, to be a world leader that many people looked up to. He was adamant that humans fight to stay on Earth. Diana knew that was futile, and she knew that if she lost this election to Shan, there would be much bloodshed – bloodshed she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Joh Appel was moderating the debate. She could hear the producers in the background counting down the seconds to being live on the air.

"Welcome, World, to the first of four debates between the two candidates for World President, Diana Westinghouse-Lewis, from the United States and Leigin Shan, from the People's Democracy of China. The coin was tossed, and Ms. Westinghouse-Lewis won, but chose to have Mr. Shan start with his statement. Mr. Shan..."

Joh turned his chair toward Shan, who took a breath, and began to speak in Chinese. The translation started a few seconds later.

"People of the World, we in a perilous time. We have been asked to leave the planet of our birth. We were born here – our species evolved from others that were born here. We are of Earth clay. ALL humans, whether Terrans, Casitians or Kinder are of Earth Clay. We must stay here. We must fight to keep the planet of our birth."

Shan had much more to say, but Diana was filtering it out, working on her statement in her head. She knew what she had to say. It was painful and devastating, but the truth.

After Shan finished speaking, Joh turned his chair toward her. "Ms. Westinghouse-Lewis, your statement."

"Everything Mr. Shan has just said about the origin of the human race is correct. All humans are from Earth. Earth is our planet. We evolved here, from species that evolved here. We are inextricably linked to this planet.

But this is as true of us as it is of our Dolphin cousins. And, sadly, it doesn't matter. The Galactic government has given this planet to them, and we must leave. There is no choice here. None of this is truly our fault. It is the fault of a millenniums-old conflict between the Casitians and the Kinder. The truth is, that conflict is borne of the fact that human beings haven't yet learned to live with each other peacefully.

In any event, we must leave. You remember what it was like when the Casitians arrived. The Galactics are a force we cannot overcome, no matter what we do. They have tools at their disposal that will make leaving this planet far more unpleasant than it has to be.

I am running for World President so that I can oversee a peaceful, orderly and compassionate leaving of Earth, instead of a violent, chaotic, and forced leaving. We have no choice in whether to leave. Our only choice left is how we leave."

Joh Appel turned to Shan. "My first question, Mr. Shan, is given the strength and power of the Galactic Community, exactly how do you intend to fight being removed from Earth?"

It was here that Shan stumbled. Interestingly to Diana, he clearly hadn't put much thought into logistics. He was simply thinking of the fight, but not how the fight could be won.

When it was Diana's turn, she made it clear that she'd considered, long and hard, all of the options. She laid out the options to fight, and the best strategies, then reminded the audience of the end of the New Earth emigration process. She then laid out, very clearly, her plans for evacuation. She said there wasn't really much else to call it, so we'd might as well get used to it.

When she was at home, later, she read the reviews of the debate. Most analysts felt that she'd won it, hands down, and polls agreed. She'd likely be elected. It's just that this wasn't a job she wanted.

Hilcyon, Wtler 33 1158

The effort had felt monumental to David. Messages to Ylen, waiting, then conversations with Hgliz, then more waiting. Finally, it seemed it was going to work out. Strings would be pulled, Hgliz and David would visit Pkygy in prison, and Pkygy would be released. Pkygy would go with David to the shuttle, where Marianne would be waiting, and then they would leave. They would then secretly drop back down to pick up Beatrice. It all made sense, but it made both of them nervous.

For now, David was waiting for Hgliz to arrive, and Marianne was pacing the floor of the living room.

“I've got a communications device to talk with W'ren if anything goes wrong, and I've given him the coordinates of Beatrice's residence. We'll easily be able to drop down cloaked and pick her up."

"This is making me nervous, David. There is just so much that can go wrong with this. I know we have assurances from Ylen that it will all work out, but..."

"Don't worry, Marianne. Before you know it, all four of us will be in orbit with W'ren, ready to leave this system and take Beatrice home."

There was a knock on the door, and David opened it to see Hgliz.

"Ready?"

"Yes, let's go. Marianne, I’ll see you at the shuttle in a bit."

The two of them walked to the vehicle Hgliz had driven, and they drove down so many streets that David lost count. The vehicle stopped, and David could see a short squat building, with a guard in front, and words written on the top that he could not read, but probably said something like "Regional Jail."

Hgliz paused before leaving the car.

"I don't like this."

"Like what?"

"Seeing that guard. He's not one of ours."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know him. He might not be aligned with us. We may have a bit of trouble."

David tried not to worry. They left the vehicle together, and walked to the door.

"Hgliz Julset Frodr, attaché to Supreme Chief Ylen. We are here to see Pkygy Hostro Gnova."

The man looked at Hgliz with obvious disgust.

"Go ahead."

"Please see to it that no one else enters."

He saw the man nod, slightly, but David was not convinced.

They entered the building, and Hgliz greeted two men inside. David relaxed.

"Who is the man standing guard?"

"He is the son of Rplo. As Rplo is First Chief of corrections, he gets to assign anyone he wants at times. We were surprised by this change."

"Let’s get this over with, shall we?"

They all walked back into the building and went to the cell holding Pkygy.

"Pkygy?"

A slight man curled up in the corner of the cell looked up, and stood.

"Pkygy, we're getting you out of here."

"Out?"

"Yes, Pkygy, out."

One of the men took out his keys, and unlocked the cell. David went in, and took Pkygy by the arm, and led him out. As they were about to open the door to the outside, David could hear voices.

"Just a minute," Hgliz said. Hgliz opened the door, and standing there were five men, all with weapons.

Hgliz shouted. "What are you doing here? I am Hgliz..."

All hell broke loose. Two men attacked Hgliz, and the others went for David and Pkygy.

He had nothing to defend himself with, and the only thing he could think of was to run, dragging Pkygy with him. He couldn't get past the men in front of him. He heard a grunt, and looked to his left, only to see Pkygy getting stabbed by one of the attackers. There wasn't anything he could do for him, and he needed to get out of there. He tried to tackle a man who seemed to be standing in the way between him and door, and managed to bowl him over. He jumped over him, and made it out the door, and started running. All of a sudden, he tripped, was on the ground, tasting dust. He turned over to see one of the attackers jumping on him, blade down. He twisted and kicked, and felt a sharp pain in his side, and he got up, and ran. Only after running a long time did he look back, and he didn't see anyone following. He had no idea where he was. He felt warmth on his side, and looked to see blood. A lot of blood.

He remembered that he had a communications device. He went into a small alley that looked hidden, and switched it on. W'ren's face greeted him.

"W'ren, I'm in trouble. Pkygy's probably dead. I'm injured, and lost."

"I can see where you are, David. I'll tell Marianne. Don't worry, you'll be picked up in a few minutes."

The device turned off, and David slid to the ground, and fell unconscious.

Things were blurry as he woke up. He could hear voices, but he didn't know where they were. He couldn't understand anything they were saying, which made him think he was still on Hilcyon. He strained to sit up.

"David, don't sit up. You've lost a lot of blood."

David recognized W'ren's voice, and saw his face, and calmed down. He still could hear people talking in the background.

"What's going on?"

"Marianne is talking with Ylen. There is a complete disaster down there."

"Marianne's talking with Ylen?? What? You're telling me... Ow."

W'ren stood over David, and gently held down his shoulders. "David, be careful. Yes, Marianne is talking with Ylen. Apparently, Ylen is far more ... progressive than you even thought. We have Beatrice. Pkygy was killed, as was Hgliz. Ylen is livid, and has executed both Rplo and his son for attacking you and his attaché.

Apparently, the swift execution also managed to keep silent the fact that the attempted release of Pkygy was ... unorthodox. The official story is that Rplo and his son had been scheming to topple Ylen, which was probably true, anyway, and you had been offered a last-minute tour of some of the Capital, and they attacked you unprovoked. No mention of the prison or Pkygy was made."

David could feel himself falling into unconsciousness again. "Tell Beatrice and Marianne that I am sorry I couldn't save Pkygy."

Casitian Ship bound for New Earth, Month 3, Year 25

Marianne sat in the chair, looking at David, who was asleep. Beatrice was asleep in her quarters, and W'ren was also asleep. She seemed to be the only one who couldn't sleep.

Ylen seemed to have it all in hand. Marianne couldn't help but feel like he knew it could fail, and had planned to do what he could to get the best out of a failed plan. It seemed that he'd managed to rid himself of a troubling enemy in the process. Marianne didn't fault him for this at all. He was clearly a very smart man. She had been stunned when he agreed to speak with her, and surprised by how respectful of her status and intelligence he was. He somehow had instinctively known all along that it was she who was in charge.

She felt especially badly for Beatrice. This was the second husband she'd lost to tragic circumstances. She had told the story of losing Craig, and being assigned to Pkygy, and explained to Marianne that Pkygy was a gentle soul, and she had come to truly love him. Marianne she was happy that she was at least bringing Beatrice home. It also looked like 17,000 others of the kidnapped teenagers would be following her home soon. The ship to take them home was on its way from Casiti to the asteroid mines now.

Looking at David, she couldn't imagine what would have happened had she lost him. She had so depended on him lately, and she realized that she often took him for granted. Almost losing him had shaken something loose in her, and she knew, somehow, that she'd never be quite the same again.

She got up, dug around the first aid drawer for the magic Casitian sleeping pill, swallowed it, and went to her quarters.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 3, Year 25

It had been a while since Leticia had been on this side of the Mississippi. She visited her mother once a year or so, but she'd been a bit neglectful, and it had been longer than that. After she and Mira visited her mom in the ICS, she traveled down to New Columbia, where she was meeting Kurt and Suzanna, and going to their conference.

Kurt and Suzanna, as well as some New Americans, had organized a conference in New Columbia with leaders all over New Earth and from both IZs, to discuss the implications of the current situation, and the changes that would be required in the governance of New Earth. It seemed that the current leaders of the large New Earth entities, New America, New Aard, and the ICS were ignoring the reality, and assuming that things would remain as they were. It was the leaders of the smaller territories, such as Dlejon, the tribes, the settlements in the independent zones, which were forward looking, and Kurt and Suzanna wanted to foster that thinking. Having the conference in New Columbia was a bit of a slap in the face to the government of New America, but they did that on purpose. The location was chosen because they wanted a large contingent of young, forward-looking leaders from New America to be here to get ideas from people from all over New Earth.

Leticia and Mira left their train transport at the New Columbia station, and walked toward their hotel, a small affair close to the conference venue. They were meeting Kurt and Suzanna for lunch, and would finalize the conference agenda in the afternoon. They walked up to the counter to check in.

"Mira Lindsey and Leticia Green."

The clerk looked at them with an odd expression.

"Traveling from outside of New America?"

"Yes, we're from New Calgary."

The clerk screwed up his face. "New Calgary? Where is that?"

"In the North Central IZ."

"OK, I see your reservation here. Our rooms only have one double bed. I assume you want a second room..."

"No, one room is fine, thank you."

The clerk looked disturbed to Leticia, but he didn't say anything.

"Here is your key. Enjoy your stay in New Columbia." The sarcasm in his voice was palpable.

"Thank you."

They walked up to their room in silence. Leticia was reminded, again, of what she'd left behind.

They sat around a table at the small restaurant that Kurt said had authentic southern food. Leticia hadn't had any since she left the ICS – her mother was a master cook, and made amazing greens, macaroni and cheese, and fried chicken. Leticia wanted to introduce Mira to this food, which she knew Mira hadn't experienced, since was born in Minneapolis, and grew up in Dlejon.

"I don't think I've ever had 'ham hock' before – what is that, besides some piece of a pig?"

Leticia answered, "It's a piece of a pig – don’t worry about it, love. Just enjoy the greens; they are really good, and authentic."

Mira experimentally tasted a little bit, and then started eating with gusto.

"See, I told you."

They chatted amiably about their lives for a while. Leticia and Mira filling Kurt and Suzanne in on life in New Calgary, and the new medical school. Kurt was explaining his work with the Dubuque area housing authority, and Suzanne was describing the new business she and her husband Geoffrey had to manufacture solar cells. Geoffrey had pioneered a new methodology to maximally use the different kind of solar radiation coming from New Earth's sun. The solar cells they were producing were 50% more efficient, and they were doing more licensing of his technology to other manufacturers than producing cells themselves.

Suzanna had gotten married in Dubuque, and had a toddler who was 6 years old. Geoffrey had also been an ICS escapee – he’d left the ICS just a few months before they did. Leticia had heard Kurt say that he had been glad that he'd been able to return to New America again. He'd been persona non grata here after abandoning Dennis Hickler before he became President. Once Dennis died a year ago, Dennis' friends were shunned, and his foes were in favor, which made Kurt welcome again. He settled in Dubuque, but had been thinking about a return to New Columbia, now that things were shifting. Leticia saw in place of the immature, angry, petty, annoying boy she had known, a mature, kind, and thoughtful man. She thought that he would make a good leader.

After the plates were cleared, Kurt broke in to the informal conversation.

"People, we need to finalize the conference agenda. I reserved a room at the conference center for this afternoon. There are a few New America folks I know who will be joining us. Oh, before I forget, I heard from Terrance – he'll make it tomorrow with a contingent from his office in Dubuque."

Leticia had heard from Suzanna about the relatively new friendship between Kurt and Terrance. Apparently, Terrance had held a grudge for a very long time, but Kurt kept trying to cross the burned bridge, and finally Terrance gave in.

They all got up, and walked together toward the conference center. As they walked, a short, slight middle-aged woman with long, graying hair that was tied up behind her head came toward them. Kurt, who was in front, greeted her.

"Rita, how are you?"

She frowned. "Hello, Kurt. I'm a little surprised you are showing your face here. There are still people who don't like you very much after what you did to President Hickler."

"What exactly did I do? Besides, I left before he became President, so whatever it was you thought I did, I did it to Dennis Hickler."

"I heard that you betrayed secrets to the enemy."

"And which enemy would that be, Rita?"

"You know what I mean..."

"No, I don't really. But I do have a little secret for you – you might find it interesting."

"Oh?"

"What I did, actually do to Dennis Hickler was break up with him." Kurt smiled, and walked on, leaving Rita sputtering. The rest of them kept walking.

"Was that Rita as in Rita Reid, that silly journalist that kept hounding Marianne on Earth?"

"Yes, indeed it is."

Leticia and Mira were exhausted after three days of intense conversations, meeting, planning and socializing before and during the conference. The night before they were to leave, they opted to bring take-out to their rooms for dinner and spend some time alone together debriefing.

Mira put down her burrito.

"I have to say, I do feel generally hopeful. There is true consensus in the IZs and other small settlements that we should do resource mapping, and determine exactly how many Terrans each settlement can take, so they don't all have to go into the non-developed areas of New Earth. And that guy Harry, from Burning Man, had the great idea of publicizing the character of each community, so that the right people would end up joining these communities. My dad will be all for that. And Dlejon has a fair amount of space. They are already planning for new immigrants."

“I so wish that Aunt Marianne could have been here. We can certainly start the process – set up a site and recruit representatives from each settlement to post a settlement profile, as well as the resource mapping so that it is clear how many new settlers can join."

"The guy from New America ... what was his name?"

"Oh, James something."

"Yes, his comments about where he sees the New American leadership heading were troubling.” Mira shook her head. “I can’t believe that, all they are interested in is immigrants who can fill the jobs that people have been leaving in droves. I think New America is sort of destined to be a backwater."

"Something’s got to change. No one in their right mind will immigrate to New America so that they can do menial labor, when they could go anywhere else and be part of building something they will have an investment in, and can benefit from in the long term. Unless the New American leadership gets a clue ..."

"Well, if they don't, something else will arise from their ashes."

Leticia heard the beep of her widenet phone. She looked at her messages.

"Aunt Marianne is back! She says to meet her at mom's? That seems strange. Why there and not Dlejon?"

Mira shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it's been a while since she's seen your mom, and she wants to see her again. Who knows?"

Independent Christian State, New Earth, Month 3, Year 25

The taxi stopped suddenly. "Here you go."

Leticia asked, "how much?"

"61."

Leticia thought that inflation in the ICS had gotten a bit out of hand lately. Mira opened the door on her side and got out, and Leticia handed the driver seven 10 unit bills.

"Keep the change."

"Thanks. Enjoy your visit."

Leticia got out of the taxi, closed the door, and watched it drive away. The front door of her mother's house opened, and her aunt Marianne stood in the doorway, with a very big grin on her face.

"I have a surprise for you, Leticia!"

Leticia couldn't for the life of her figure out why her Aunt should have such a huge smile, and then she realized what it was.

"Beatrice?"

Marianne nodded. We got here yesterday. She's inside resting. She's been through a lot, Leticia. Craig was killed just after they arrived in the Hilcyon system, and her second husband, Pkygy, was killed just a few days ago. And, she and Pkygy were organizing a resistance, and from what I can tell, it was working."

Leticia smiled. "Why am I not surprised?"

They walked into the living room, where Leticia's mother and father were sitting on the couch. They got up, and hugged Leticia and Mira.

"It's so good to see you again, Mira. You know, you two don't visit enough! I haven't even had a chance to cook you dinner."

"Mom, you know we're busy..."

"Yes, I know, starting a new medical school, organizing conferences - you seem to be as busy as your aunt here. Anyway, tonight, we're feasting. Celebrating the return of my daughters! And, I heard from your grandmother, now that communications to Earth are flowing again."

"How is she?"

"She's fine, still healthy, thank God. She'll be on the first wave, she says. She’s looking forward to seeing us all."

Leticia heard a bedroom door open, and saw Beatrice appear in the doorway to the living room. She was taller, which didn't surprise Leticia. Her face seemed aged beyond her years, and her expression seemed both very happy, and extremely sad. Leticia jumped up, and enveloped her sister in a hug.

"Beatrice, I missed you so much!"

They hugged for a while, both crying. Finally Beatrice broke the hug, and said quietly, "mom really likes Mira. She told me more about Mira than she told me about you!"

Leticia smiled. "I guess it took her a while to come around, but when she did - she was a champ."

They returned together to the living room.

Hilcyon Mining Asteroid, Wtler 40 1158

Jasmine heard the bell that meant the end of the shift, but she knew it was far too soon for that. She hadn't even experienced the standard mid-day hunger pangs that in a normal world would mean it was time for lunch. She hadn't heard an alarm klaxon, which meant there was no emergency. It was puzzling to her. She wondered if it were some other test the Kinder had decided to try on them, to keep them on their toes. But what would the right reaction be? Stop working to show her obedience, or keep working ... to show her obedience?

She was far away from everyone else. As usual, she was taking measurements in a new area just opened up by the digging machines, still dangerous before being shored up. She decided at least to go see what everyone else had decided. As she got closer to the entrance to this new section, she heard shouting. She ran toward them.

She saw Jamel who she knew and trusted. He was out of breath, as if he'd run from somewhere. He was surrounded by others.

"I'll say it again: they are here! We are rescued!"

Jasmine pushed inward to hear more.

Someone in the crowd said, "who is here?"

"The Casitians! There is a ship waiting for us."

"Why do we want to go with them?" Jasmine looked around, to see the speaker, who was Gary. Somehow, that didn't surprise her.

She spoke up. "Gary, you want to stay on this rock mining for the rest of your life? Be my guest. I'm happy to leave!"

"We've been promised that if we do well, we can move to Kinder Home."

"I'd rather got to Home Home, thank you very much." She heard laughter all around.

Jamel said, "c'mon, let's go."

They followed Jamel, who guided them back through the mine entrance, through their quarters, and back to a space that they remembered all too well – when they had disembarked from the ship that brought them there. It was surprising for Jasmine to realize that for all of the time she'd been here, she'd never returned to this space. As they entered they saw a group of people she thought must be Casitians, given their dress and demeanor, standing across the space from the group of Kinder chiefs that ran the mine. No one said anything. She couldn't figure out why the Kinder weren't putting up a fight.

One of the Casitians addressed the gathering group. "I need a head count. How many of you are here?"

Jasmine had kept track. She knew how many had died. "There are 986 of us here. We started with 1726. Most of the missing have died. Two left to go to Hilcyon."

He nodded. "There are nine other asteroids with New Earth humans. This is the second we've come to. I need some volunteers to go throughout the mines and quarters, and get everyone."

Several people, including Jasmine, raised their hands. The Casitian man gave each of them a communicator. "As you find people, direct them to this space, and I will let you know how many are still missing. OK, everyone else please follow Jt'elor to the ship. We will count how many as you leave."

One by one, the rest of them went through the corridor. Jasmine realized that Gary was not here. The group of volunteers left the loading area, and went through the quarters and mines. Jasmine sent about 50 people who were still working in the mines back to the loading area.

She was going through one last tunnel, when she heard from her communicator, "All are now accounted for. 983 will be leaving 3 wish to stay behind. Come on back to the loading area."

She turned, and ran back. She'd be going home!

New Earth, Month 4, Year 25

Ngellin looked around the room. In it were ten of the leaders of the New Earth Kinder, and one woman. He was sometimes brought up short in his meetings with Marianne. She was the first woman he'd ever known that had leadership skills. Knowing her had made him realize that the Kinder made grave mistakes when it came to how they dealt with women. Had Marianne been a man on Kinder, she would have been Supreme Chief – Ngellin thought she was that good. But then, in a sense, she was certainly Supreme Chief here, on the planet of her making.

It had been a tense meeting. Marianne had sent word that the new Supreme Chief, Ylen, wanted change, and wanted the deserters to come home, and help. Marianne said that he gave assurances that they would be treated well, but Ngellin doubted that he could fulfill that, even if he wanted to.

"Marianne, I will agree that whoever wants to go home, can go home. I can’t and won’t stop them. I, however, have no intention of returning to Kinder Home."

He saw Marianne nod in that measuring kind of way.

"Certainly, Ngellin - it makes sense that some of you would want to return, and others... not. I have no interest in forcing anyone to do anything they don't want to do. But I would say one thing - the more of you that return to Hilcyon, the more likely Ylen is to succeed in his wishes to change Kinder society."

Ngellin said, "I concede your point, Marianne, you are correct. But, frankly, there are many who won't care. We've found a comfortable life here, one without the constraints of the Kinder. I for one am loathe to give that up."

"I understand. We're expecting a large transport to arrive at New Earth in the next few days. Ylen would like that transport to return to Hilcyon with as many of you as wish to go."

Lren, who had been silent up until this point, raised his hand and spoke. "I for one, would like to return. If it is at all possible to achieve a new Kinder society while I'm alive, I'd like to help that happen. I'm happy to help organize those who want to go back."

Marianne looked a bit grim. "Thank you, Lren."

Ngellin could see why Lren wanted to go back. He'd been talking about returning ever since it was clear it might be possible. Ngellin was glad that some of them were less selfish than he was.

He added, "By the way, there is a small group of New Earth humans who would love a chance to move to Kinder Home."

Marianne had a look of pure incredulity. "What?"

"Yes, believe it or not. I've been in discussions with this man, Parker Hill, from the Independent Christian State. He's organizing a small group of people, mostly in his area, who want to leave New Earth, and move to Hilcyon."

"What is he, nuts?"

"From what I understand, he feels that Kinder Home has the society he wants to live in. What can I say, Marianne?"

"Well, I should have a talk with him to understand better what he's thinking. Can you give me his widenet address?"

Illsenor Station, 65 Nird 784/Month 4, Year 25

Marianne had made briefings at Illsenor Station a regular event. She sat in the briefing room, along with David, K'flef, K’lellen and W'ren. Also present were Torf'ki and Yulse'lor, who had both just arrived from Casiti with a very large team to help the New Earth effort. Marianne had been very grateful when they showed up. She finally felt like the Casitians were stepping up to the plate. She had heard from several sources that Jal'end'a had been instrumental in this change of approach. And seeing Yulse'lor again was a pleasant surprise.

These briefings were her chance to meet with the Casitians who had come to New Earth to help with the massive immigration from Earth. They would help plan and build infrastructure, monitor the environment to make sure there weren't too many people in some areas or others, and generally support New Earth in its evolution to be the primary home of Humankind.

The main subject of today’s briefings was the impending arrival of the young adults who had been kidnapped by the Kinder to work on asteroid mines 8 years ago.

"Today we need to discuss the return of the kidnapped. What is the status of that ship?"

W'ren spoke first. "We just received word that they have picked up all of the passengers from all ten asteroids. They should arrive here on station in 2 days. We have a couple of large shuttles, but not enough to get them down in one trip – it will take several. Also, we need to prepare people – there were deaths."

"Deaths? How many?"

"17,280 teenagers were originally abducted. Apparently a few died on route to the asteroids. We have picked up 9,710. This means that about seventy-five hundred of them died. Four managed to make it to Hilcyon, and twenty wanted to stay behind in the mines, believe it or not."

"Four on Hilcyon? I know of two. One of them is my niece, who we rescued. The other is a guy named William, who apparently is now a Fourth Chief. I wonder who the other two are. Do we know the names of those who wanted to stay behind?"

"None of them wished to give their names. They wanted their families to think them dead."

Marianne shook her head. "I don't get it - but if that was their wish, so be it. My, this is not going to be a pleasant announcement. We don't have the names of the dead, do we?"

"They are trying to compile them now, but I don't know that it will be a complete list."

Marianne pondered how to deal with this. It was not common knowledge that the kidnapping was done with the full consent of the governments of New America and the ICS, or that had been in exchange for certain kinds of material goods. In fact, it hadn't even been acknowledged by these governments that the kidnapped were off-planet, although the return of Beatrice to the ICS had certainly caused rumors.

"I think my first calls are going to be to Governor Hurler and President Mason so that they know what's coming. I don't expect them to come clean, of course, but someone is going to get to the bottom of this eventually, and they are going to end up paying for it."

David leaned forward over the table. "Marianne, I think we can use this to our advantage."

"How?"

"Both the President and the Governor have been stick-in-the-muds about the immigration issue. Hurler wants only bona fide Christians, of his type, of course, to be able to immigrate to the ICS. Mason only wants immigrants willing to do menial labor. Neither of those conditions can, or should, be met. Both of those territories need to take more immigrants – we gave them a disproportionate share of the planet based on population in comparison to others, for reasons we all know well. We need leverage – either leverage to work to get them to accept immigration, or leverage to get rid of them. Their complicity in the kidnapping of their own population is leverage we can use."

"I hate to think of threatening them..."

Yulse'lor said in a quiet voice, "that would set a bad precedent, in my opinion. I would suggest something a bit different. I would suggest that you just simply let the facts be known. Even if the facts are just indirect evidence."

Marianne smiled. "I have far more than that, Yulse'lor. Supreme Chief Ylen, out of the blue, sent me the written logs of the then First Chief Glendr, who was in charge of the kidnapping operation. We have it all. I certainly could just publish it..."

Yulse'lor grinned. "Yes. That sounds exactly right."

David nodded. "It would definitely put them in an unstable position, and open to challenge from people who disagree with them."

Marianne said, "yes, indeed it would. OK, we've got our work cut out for us, and two days to get it done."

There were a few more agenda items, and then the joining adjourned. One of Marianne's first tasks was to call a few key people she knew who should know what was happening before it happened. She thought of Kurt and Beatrice, who were her moles in New America and the ICS respectively.

She had also struck up an odd friendship with an abbot who had settled in the far western corner of the ICS as a part of a small Benedictine community. He had been one of a very few Catholics who had left Earth. He'd requested a meeting with her soon after the news of the galactic edict went public. He wanted to make sure that the Vatican could move into the ICS. She thought that would be a fairly logical place for it, although she didn't think that the ICS leaders thought so. In the course of talking with him, she'd come to rather like him. He was unassuming, humble and kind to her. She wanted to help him in any way she could. She thought that this news might be of some use.

She walked to her quarters, and sat at her desk. She realized that before anything, she had to contact Mason and Hurler. A joint communiqué seemed appropriate.

"Please record this video to be sent to President Mason, in New Columbia, and Governor Hurler of the ICS. Start now."

She told them the news, explained about the deaths, and also explained that the Casitians would publish on the widenet all of the information they currently had on the kidnappings, which included the full translated logs of the Kinder responsible for them. She was very matter of fact, and she knew they would freak out. She didn't care.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 4, Year 25

It hadn't taken as long as Kurt thought it would to get back to living in New America. During the conference last month, Kurt had cemented his nascent friendship with Valorie Lira, who was the progressive mayor of New Richmond, the city on the New America side of the Mississippi River from Dubuque. When the news regarding the kidnapped teenagers was spreading, Valorie contacted Kurt, and asked whether he'd be willing to staff an office for her in the capital. He was ecstatic at the chance to re-enter New American politics, and do it backing someone like Valorie - a straightforward, down to earth progressive voice for New America, one who Kurt felt would handle the immigrant issues well.

Valorie didn't have much in her campaign budget, so he'd rented an apartment in a more modest section of the capital. But because of the flight of people from New America there was an incredible housing glut, and Kurt got the apartment for a song. It cost far less than his apartment in Dubuque. The apartment was big and Kurt decided he could work out of it for the time being, until they could build their base, and start getting support from folks around the country.

The clamor for a new presidential election was far too loud for President Mason to ignore. If he hadn't agreed to hold new elections, Kurt thought that he eventually would have been forcibly overthrown. The anger in the country about his knowledge of the kidnappings and his apparent complicity made his continued Presidency dangerously unstable.

The elections were set for Day 5, Month 2, Year 26. Kurt felt that gave him enough time to get enough support to get Valorie elected. She was beloved in New Richmond, the largest city in New America.

He had a lot to do: make connections in the ICS, re-establish relationships in New Columbia, and reach out to Jerome and other communities to the south. And, he needed to contact Leticia, so that she could get her aunt Marianne into the fray. Marianne and Valorie would like each other immensely, Kurt realized. It was time for them to meet.

Hilcyon, Sdert 18 1158

Ylen again mourned the loss of Hgliz. His current attaché, although faithful, wasn't very smart.

"Supreme Chief Ylen, there is an official complaint from First Chiefs Lkor and Jrem."

"And why are you telling me?"

"Supreme Chief, they are complaints to you."

"And I should care because?"

His attaché sputtered.

"Look, this is how it goes. You deal with them. I don't really care what you say. The only complaint that matters is one that results in my presence in the ring."

His attaché nodded.

"Besides, I already know the complaints. I removed 9,000 workers from the mines, and now they don't have enough people to mine. If you want, you can tell them that there will be plenty more coming." Ylen had plans to send as many of his opponents as possible to the mines.

"Now, onto other matters. What was the response of the First Chief's to my proposed rule changes?"

"Uniformly negative, Supreme Chief. The responses ranged from 'is he out of his mind?' to 'it's too soon to make such drastic changes.'"

"I figured as much. I need the new figures on water production, now that we have the new technology in place. Have you prepared the region-by-region report?"

"Yes, Supreme Chief. It's right here." His attaché passed him a folder, with a few sheets inside. He would read it later.

"You may go now."

His attaché bowed, and left his office.

Ylen decided to look at the report before he moved on to other things. He opened the folder, and saw the figures he was hoping for. A 150% increase in water delivery to the Central Valley, a 100% increase in the capital region, a 15% rise in the Upper Highlands, a 120% rise in the lower desert, and a 15% rise in the Lower Highlands. The regions with First Chiefs that were loyal to him and had the most active resistance got the largest increases in water availability. He knew he was playing a dangerous game, but water was essential, and once the First Chiefs saw what loyalty to Ylen could buy, they would all come around.

Moon Station, January 30, 2026

Joel and Laura were lying next to each other in bed in the quarters they shared on Moon Station. Usually, after making love, Joel was out like a light, but tonight he was restless.

"Joel, I can tell you aren't asleep."

"It's OK, Laura, don't worry about it, I'll be fine."

"Darling, talk to me."

Joel turned toward Laura, and propped himself up on his elbow.

"I'm losing hope that this will be anything like orderly. The invective spewed at us from the Australian Prime Minister, and the fact that more than 20 leaders refused to even receive a text message from us, let alone a visit..."

"Remember, Diana is going to win."

"Yes, I know, and that will make things better, but, did you read Dwight's report?"

Dwight was Joel's old friend who had been a mole for Gerard, the upstart Presidential candidate that eventually became president of New America. Dwight had gone on the straight and narrow ever since, and was now working to map anti-evacuation movements. He had even recruited friends to infiltrate as many as possible.

"Yes, that was disturbing." Hundreds perhaps even thousands of formally and informally organized groups all over the world were planning on either passive resistance or active resistance to evacuation.

"I know that the Galactics have a lot of tricks up their sleeve, but..."

"Joel, you are doing the best you can. We are all doing the best we can. There isn't much more we can do."

Joel exhaled, and dropped back on his back. "I know. I just worry."

Laura put her head on his chest. She said quietly, "Maybe we need a bit of a vacation."

"A vacation?"

"Yeah, a vacation. Welen'da and her team just got here and are working on the big picture logistics of the colony ship use in evacuations. Gita and her team are here working with the countries that are fully cooperating to figure out how best to evacuate critical manufacturing resources. We'd be sitting here twiddling our thumbs for the month before either of them had any data for us to work with, and before Marianne finishes with her feasibility work on New Earth. Love, we need a break. We've been working non-stop ever since before the trial. Let's go somewhere else. Somewhere we won't be able to visit, after."

"Hmmm, like the planet of the Tvierl? I hear that the 12 moons are stunning, and their resorts are popular across the galaxy."

"Sounds like a plan."

A quiet chime sounded. "Uh oh."

Joel got up, and went to his desk, and asked the AI, "who is the message from?"

"Message from Marianne, on Illsenor Station."

"Play message, please."

"Joel, Laura, I know you've got a bit of a lull in things over there, can you come here for a bit? I need some help figuring out logistics for the immigration waves, and you guys know the data and situation on Earth better than anyone over here."

Joel looked back at Laura. "So much for the vacation idea."

San Diego, California, Earth, January 30, 2026

They met each week, on Sunday evenings GMT, by IRC chat. Ira, a programmer by trade, had set up a secret IRC server. There were more than 100 of them by now, from all over the world. They had most of the expertise they needed: a couple of geologists, a physicist, several people who knew how to grow food, people with repair skills – everything they would need to survive for an extended period underground, then survive on an Earth bereft of everyone except themselves.

Joanne was confident about this group, confident they could pull it off. She didn't think that the Galactics would be able to find them once they ensconced themselves in the deepest caves of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

They estimated that they would have to hide for as long as 5 months. They were gathering instruments to look for radio signals and to detect various kinds of scans. They were preparing for every contingency any of them could think of.

One of them had purchased a large piece of land close to the cavern system. That would be their staging area. They would ferry their supplies at night into the cave system via a hidden entrance that few knew about. Joanne had spent much of the last three months learning spelunking, as had all of those who were involved.

They had also planned for the growth of their movement. 150 was the limit for this group, and once they reached that, they would spawn new groups, using the same knowledge and expertise being gained by this group. Joanne knew this movement would grow, it had to. Humans had to fight to stay on our own planet.

"Log started. Meeting beginning." The text from the current facilitator, whose nick was 'gigio' flashed on her screen. She waited for the agenda to scroll by.

"1. Results of geological scans of cavernous region

2. Seed supplies

3. Spawn criteria

4. Finalized personal skill building list

5. Agenda for next meeting"

The meeting, as usual, was orderly with few problems or sidetracks. She was happy to see that the personal skill building list that she'd drawn up was approved without much comment. They had 12 years to get this right, and everyone needed to be in good shape for what was coming.

Chapter 4: Seven Waves of Knowing

(AP) February 10, 2026

Diana Westinghouse-Lewis ahead by 15 Points in Recent Polling

New York – Recent Gallup, Quinnipiac and Zogby global polls have all placed Diana Westinghouse-Lewis at 50-52%, 15 points ahead of challenger Leigin Shan who has 35-37%, and both are well ahead of trailing challenger George Hermsberger at 6-8%. Westinghouse-Lewis' strongholds are the US and Canada, Europe, Latin America, and parts of Africa. Leigin Shan has a strong showing in China, with 90%+ of the Chinese preferring him. He also has strong showings in the rest of Asia. George Hermsberger, a dark-horse candidate who also, like Shan, suggests fighting the galactic edict, is showing strongly in some sectors of Africa, as well as in his home country of Germany. Hermsberger has consistently polled less than 10% of the vote, eliminating him from participation in the debates.

Independent Christian State, Month 1, Year 26

Beatrice stood in the front of the group who had been chosen to greet the first returnees to the ICS. She was there because she knew some of those returning. She also suspected that it helped that she had become favored of the leader of her settlement, a relatively progressive man who wanted to be more open for immigration.

A hundred feet or so away from where she stood were the parents and relatives of those on this shuttle. She and her mother had talked about what it would have been like for her if Beatrice’s name hadn't been on the list when these names arrived. She felt for all of those who had thought that their children were simply off in some unexplored and unreachable part of New Earth, to find out that they had been much, much farther away, and many were not going to return.

The publicity surrounding the release of the information about the kidnapping was ferocious. She knew already that the career of Governor Hurler was over – he had resigned yesterday, as had his Lieutenant Governor. President Mason, who was not in power at the time, and had been in opposition to Dennis Hickler, was still in office. It was becoming clear that he had known what had happened, and never made it public. New America was in the process of a new election cycle, and Beatrice imagined they would finally vote Mason out of office.

She heard a sound above her, and looked up to see the shuttle dropping down to land. It kicked up some dust on the ground, and landed neatly in the center of the large yellow circle on the ground. The group of them walked toward the door. In about 30 seconds, it opened, and people began to leave the shuttle. Each were wearing sunglasses – she realized the Casitians understood the implications of living inside a rock for 8 years. As they stepped out, the small group greeted them and pointed toward the larger group with their families.

"Beatrice!"

"Jasmine! Oh my gosh, it's so good to see you!" They hugged.

"I missed you so much when you left. I'm glad that you are here - I was afraid you were still on Hilcyon."

"It's a long story. Pkygy is dead. Marianne rescued me when she visited Hilcyon. That's also how you got released I'll definitely tell you more soon."

"I'm so sorry, Beatrice. I know you came to love him."

Beatrice nodded. "Jasmine, go to your parents. Let's get together after you've had a chance to settle in to life back here."

"Settle in here? Not a chance. I'm already plotting my escape to somewhere else."

"Wait a minute - things are changing here. Please, at least talk with me before you decide?"

"OK, my friend, for you, I will talk before I decide. Only for you, though."

Beatrice smiled, and they hugged once again, and Jasmine walked toward her family members. Beatrice saw them embrace, and saw the tears on her mother's face. Her mother looked at Beatrice, and mouthed "thank you." Beatrice guessed that it would be OK to be Marianne's stand-in here.

Casiti, 100 Nird 784

Re'alo felt that he'd been away for a year, but it had actually been less than a month. He was bringing back a lot of information, and news that three fleets of Galactic ships were on their way to Casiti and New Earth, brimming with critical technology for each of their planets. These fleets would arrive within the next two Casitian months.

Re'alo had brought with him W'ren's proposal to alter the climate of Hilcyon, and some of the equipment coming to Casiti was going to be for that purpose. There would be a crew whose role it would be to train Casitians in the use of all of the technology they were transferring, then those crews would leave before the deadline, since they weren’t humans.

Re'alo overall had been appreciative of the approach of the Galactic council – the Krumptia in charge had been given instructions to be as helpful as possible to make sure that the coming isolation would not be a hardship for the human planets. Re’alo knew that they would have all that they needed.

The first colony ships were on their way to Sol station already. Re'alo had gotten the rather astounding message from the Caraj that more than one billion Earth humans were headed for Casiti. He did think that was exactly the right thing to do, but he had been surprised that the Caraj had been able to come to consensus around such a large number. He wasn't privy to the detailed plans, but he imagined that at least some of the first wave of immigrants would be heading to Casiti to prepare the way for others.

His AI spoke quietly, "arriving at Toleno station." It was time to gather up his things and go home. His first duty was to report to his Caraj liaison. After that, he needed to recruit a team to handle the arrival of the fleets at Casiti, and recruit a larger team to be trained. He had some ideas of who might be interested in the team he'd have to send to New Earth. He'd be happy to leave to W'ren recruiting for the Hilcyon-bound fleet.

New Richmond, New Earth, Month 1, Year 26

"Marianne, come in, it is so nice to finally meet you in person."

Marianne entered an office that looked a bit cluttered and certainly well lived-in. Marianne realized that she was perhaps too used to the Casitian minimalist ethic. "Thank you, Mayor Lira."

"Please, call me Valorie. Everyone does."

Marianne nodded and smiled. "OK, Valorie."

Marianne looked at Valorie, who was medium height, with a small frame, and short graying hair. She was wearing the very utilitarian uniform of jeans and an oxford shirt. Marianne thought she was likely of Italian descent, especially given the name.

"I much appreciate your willingness to meet with me."

"It's funny, I was going to say the same thing. I've been hearing about you from more than just my niece's friend Kurt – you are seen around the region as a mover and shaker – and, most importantly for me, someone willing to come to the immigration table with reasonable ideas."

"Thank you. I do hope to bring those ideas to New America as its new President."

"Kurt told me. From what I can tell, it would be the right choice for New Americans to make."

Valorie smiled, and chuckled. "Coming from you, that's saying a lot."

"What can I do to help? I cannot officially or unofficially campaign for you or endorse you, obviously."

"I understand you are in a delicate position, especially regarding New America."

"Yes. But what I can do is publicize your ideas. Some of them are simply brilliant. The infrastructure proposals alone are fabulous. The Casitians have already been using them in part of their simulations of the immigration waves."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. And they seem to work very well in the simulations. Gradual infrastructure build out from the bottom up, rather than whole cloth infrastructure community by community seems to work better – it means that more people can be accommodated at a faster rate, even though the first and second waves will likely live in tents to begin with. But by the time the immigration is complete ... everyone will have what they need. How did you come up with this?"

"It's a funny story, really. I was a nurse before the Casitian Crisis. I worked with Doctors Without Borders, and I was assigned to Haiti after the earthquake. I was sitting at lunch one day, and next to me happened to be this group of architects and builders, and they were having a raucous argument about this very thing. I don't know why it stuck in my mind so, but the one who argued for ground-up gradual infrastructure won the argument. Of course, just because he won the argument doesn't mean that's what they did."

"Well, it's what we'll be doing in many regions of New Earth."

"Many? Not all?"

"First, we only have jurisdiction over the Independent Zones and unsettled regions. We can suggest to the other areas that they follow suit, but we can't make them. And there are some communities, such as those of the native and indigenous peoples, who intend to live much closer to the land, and won't be building much infrastructure on their land at all."

"How can that be? There must be limitations in the capacity of the land they are inhabiting."

"They are getting far more acres per immigrant than other regions, partially so that they can live as they wish to, and partially as reparations for hundreds of years of colonialism. They requested this of me, I conferred with the Casitian teachers, as well as Earth and New Earth leaders, and most agree it is a reasonable request."

"Some people, especially New Americans will be upset by it."

"I don't much care."

Valorie smiled. "I appreciate your willingness to do the right thing, even in the face of opposition."

"I suspect you would do the same."

Valorie nodded.

Marianne rose. "Thank you for this meeting. Feel free to be in contact with me. I very much look forward to meeting with you again, especially in your new office in New Columbia."

Valorie rose as well, and they embraced in a clasp-armed hug.

As Marianne walked from Valorie's office, she pondered this meeting. She knew, somehow, that Valorie would win. It would change everything in New America, and make a New America radically different than it was when it started 26 New Earth years ago.

Illsenor Station, Month 1, Year 26

"Marianne, there will be no shortage of people wanting to be in the first waves. Between people who have relatives on New Earth, like your mom and my family, to people who see the writing on the wall, and want to be first on the ground here, we're going to be totally swamped with requests."

"Your suggestion, Joel?"

"My suggestion is that the first wave is only people with bona fide relatives on New Earth, and people with the kinds of skills we need to build infrastructure. We should space out the first few waves."

"Your calculations show that we need 7 waves per year for 10 Earth years?"

"Approximately, yes, with each wave having 100 million people, give or take. And, of course 10 of those waves are going to Casiti."

"Right. What about country-based waves?"

"That would be way too chaotic. Imagine trying to empty out an entire country over the course of a couple of months? Can't be done. Has to be piecemeal."

Marianne was close to losing it. She couldn't keep all of it in her head, and she was having a hard time balancing the issues of leaving, with the issues of arriving. She finally realized that she was not the person to be dealing with this part of things.

"Torf'ki and Yulse’lor, can you both coordinate with Joel and Laura? I think my brain is shorting out on this one, mostly because I'm spending most of my time coordinating efforts here. Dealing with how people are going to leave Earth to match what's needed here is a bit beyond my ken right now."

Torf'ki nodded vigorously. "It's fine Marianne, it's just the kind of problem I love to bite into."

"This is what we'll do. I will be feeding you data on readiness for immigration of different zones. Readiness in terms of capacity, infrastructure, politics, etc. Coordinate with Joel and Laura and their team on Earth on who will leave when. How does that sound?"

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. Marianne was relieved. It was bad enough to try and manage expectations on the ground. She knew she could depend on these folks to handle other issues.

Independent Christian State, New Earth, Month 1, Year 22

Marianne felt like she was getting pretty tired of the ICS. She never understood why her sister insisted on living here, and every time she traveled here, she was subject to stares or outright hostility. Sometimes she wished the ICS women wore Burquas like some of them did in New Aard so she could travel unmolested.

She was in the ICS to meet with Parker Hill and his group, who, for reasons that were completely beyond her, wanted to move to Hilcyon. She'd communicated with Ylen initially about them, and he'd been clear about what he wanted. She was somewhat staggered by the number who wanted to go: Parker Hill had recruited more than 500 people, both men and women, to live on Hilcyon.

She'd picked up Beatrice on her way to the meeting. She wanted them to hear directly from her what life was like on Hilcyon, so they had no doubts about it. The teenagers, now young adults had returned to the ICS and New America, so knowledge of life on the asteroid mines was common knowledge.

Marianne and Beatrice got out of their car, and walked into the large hall where the meeting was taking place. They entered the doors, and saw a couple of hundred people or more, milling about and talking. When they entered, the room got quiet.

A tall, slim man with a robust, bushy handlebar moustache came up and greeted them, "hello, Marianne, and this must be Beatrice? I'm Parker Hill. Glad to meet you."

Marianne nodded, and Beatrice looked disgusted.

"You know, they are going to make you shave that off."

Marianne looked at Parker, who was taken aback by that statement. "What do you mean?"

"All Kinder men must be clean shaven and bald. Just thought you'd want to know."

Marianne smiled at Beatrice, then turned to Parker. "Shall we begin the meeting, Parker?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Let's go to the front."

They walked up to the front, and Parker directed them where to sit. There was a microphone in front of each of their chairs.

"Hello, hello. We're going to get started. I would like to welcome you to this informational meeting about Hilcyon emigration. I would like to introduce you to Marianne Michaelson, who you all know."

There was silence in the room.

"And Beatrice ..."

"Hostro Gnova."

"Beatrice Hostro Gnova."

Marianne hadn't realized that Beatrice had decided to take Pkygy's name. It didn’t really surprise her.

"Our purpose here is information sharing in both directions. Marianne has been instructed by the Kinder Supreme Chief to make sure that our motives are pure. And many of you here I'm sure are looking for information that will help you make your final decision. Marianne, will you start?"

"Actually, I'd like Beatrice to start. Beatrice lived first on the asteroid mines, then she lived on Hilcyon for a few years. Beatrice will tell you exactly what life is like there. Beatrice?"

Marianne listened to Beatrice's description of her life on Hilcyon. She talked about the Chief system, and the brutal ways men advanced in it. She explained the life of women and the complete subservience to men. She explained that if they emigrated as single women, they would be assigned to a husband, and expected to bear at least two children, preferably more. She explained that sterility was common on Hilcyon, for reasons that were not known. She told the story of her husband, and why he had been originally sentenced to the asteroid mine.

The more she said, the quieter the room got. When she was done, she turned to Marianne, who spoke next.

"I want to make something completely clear – Parker's comment about your motives being pure made it imperative for me to tell you this. Ylen, the current Supreme Chief of the Kinder, does not want you to emigrate if all you want is to be just like the Kinder as they are. And you've just heard the reality of who they are. Ylen is a reformer, and since he is a reformer in a society that has been calcified in its current state for thousands of years, you are entering a very dangerous game. If your plan is to become just like the Kinder, I can tell you Ylen doesn't want you, and I won't let you emigrate."

A man, toward the middle of the room, shot up, and shouted, "who the hell are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?"

Marianne said sternly, "I’m in charge of the relationship with Hilcyon; call me our ambassador to Hilcyon if you wish. I have no say over what you do on New Earth, that's for sure, but when it comes to going to Hilcyon, you've got to go through me, like it or not."

The room erupted. Parker was trying his best to calm everyone down.

"Please, please be seated. We will take questions in an orderly fashion." If you wish to ask a question, please form a line behind the microphone." The room slowly quieted, and people lined up behind the microphone placed in the audience area.

"This question is for Mrs. Hostro Gnova. Is it really true that in order to move up the chief hierarchy, you must kill?"

Beatrice nodded. "There are two ways to move up the hierarchy. One way is to be in the favor of a Chief above you, and when some Chief below them dies, they give you that Chiefdom. But there are two problems. One, in order to become favored by a Chief, you must be willing to be brutal, like being willing to kill someone the Chief thinks deserves it, or spy on people and turn them in, that sort of thing. A Chief is a Chief for life, and so you could wait a very, very long time before a Chiefdom opened up. The only realistic way to move up while you are young, and still able to fight, is to best the Chief above you by killing them in battle. It's not possible to move up the hierarchy without being willing to kill someone."

A woman took his place, and asked, "in the ICS, we have the Mission Society for women who do not wish to marry. Is there a similar society on Hilcyon?"

"No. Remember, infertility is common on Hilcyon, as is infant mortality. This means that in order to simply maintain the population, women must bear an average of about three children. I was married to Pkygy for five years, and the fact that we hadn't had any children was considered scandalous. He was told several times he should get rid of me and get a new wife who would bear him children. I was also approached by men who would help me bear children. I think that is the core reason Hilcyon society doesn't change – it takes so much to simply maintain the population, and if anything decreases the likelihood that women would bear children, that thing must be stamped out."

Marianne listened carefully to what Beatrice said – there was so much she hadn’t heard before, and more about the Kinder made sense to her now.

Many questions followed, and all of them seemed to suggest that these people had no idea what Hilcyon was really like, and had completely idealized the Kinder. Surprisingly, it reminded Marianne a bit of her initial idealizing of the Casitians, and her subsequent experiences that had shattered those illusions. There were no more questions, and Parker adjourned the meeting.

As they were leaving, Parker asked Marianne, "so what do you think?"

"I doubt any one of these folks is truly interested in emigrating. Am I right?"

"After that, I can say I'm not emigrating. I guess the Kinder men I met are different. It hadn't occurred to me that they should be, given that they had decided to desert. I was being naive."

"Ngellin and his people are great. I enjoy spending time with them. And they are happy here, which is telling, I think. These Kinder are different people from those on Kinder Home, although I do know there are many on Kinder Home who want change. Based on what I have heard here, anyone who wishes to emigrate to Hilcyon is doing so for the wrong reasons, certainly for Ylen."

"Agreed. Thank you both for coming."

Marianne nodded and they both shook Parker's hand, and walked to the car. Marianne noticed that Beatrice was very quiet.

"What's up kiddo?"

"This was the first time I introduced myself with Pkygy's name. I had been considering changing my name in the ICS registry."

"If you feel it's right for you..."

"It feels right."

Casiti, 100 Nird 784

"Hetl'zef you are resigning?"

"Yes, Jal'end'a, I am. I have decided I would rather work with the agronomists on Jul’when, so we can feed everyone coming, than lead the Caraj. I think my talents are of better use there."

"What is it that you wish of me, Hetl'zef? I'm happy if you let the new head teacher of the Caraj know that I'm available for consultation."

Hetl’zef smiled. "It would be good for you to be available to yourself."

"What?"

"On behalf of the rest of the Caraj, I am asking you to join us as our head teacher. We have come to consensus on this matter."

Jal'end'a was stunned. This was not at all what she expected of this meeting. "Leader of the Caraj? Hetl'zef, I am a cloistered contemplative!"

"And a gifted spiritual leader. We need a spiritual leader now."

"But Hetl'zef, there are so many practical details..."

"... that don't need the Caraj leader to attend to. The Caraj head teacher has always been a role of guidance, not administration. There are talented administrators on the Caraj, as well as the Governing Council. We need a spiritual leader."

Jal'end'a happened to agree with him, but she didn't really want to be the spiritual leader in question.

"Give me a bit of time to decide, Hetl'zef. You are asking much."

"I know, Jal'end'a, but I think you agree this is right."

After they hugged and wished each other well, Jal'end'a let his last statement sit within herself. He was right, after all. She was the right choice to lead the Caraj at this time. She would, again, sacrifice her contemplative life for the good of Casiti.

Capital, Hilcyon, Brlew 12 1158

Jurrl was bleeding liberally, and out of breath. He ignored both, and stood up tall. Mnib was down, his blood spreading over the ground of the ring. Jurrl was new First Chief of the Capital region. He never liked Mnib, or the way Mnib led. In the end, he hated Mnib's loyalty to Ylen, the traitor. Things would change in the Capital now that Jurrl was First Chief.

"Willm, come here." His protégé ran up to him with a towel and bandage, and helped Jurrl out of his shirt, and began to clean his wound, and bandage it.

"You know you have my Chiefdom now."

William, finished bandaging, and bowed. "Thank you First Chief."

"You deserve it. You have done well, and I have much work for you to do."

"Just say it, First Chief."

Two men came into the ring, followed by a woman. It must have been Mnib's wife. The men picked up the body, and carried it out of the ring, as she wept over it.

"I need you and your men to round up Mnib's allies in the Capital. I'm sure you can use your copious talents to find them."

"Yes, First Chief."

"Go. Now."

William bowed, and left the ring. He realized that as a First Chief, he needed an attaché. Willm would have been his first choice, but he rather would have Willm as one of his loyal Second Chiefs. He walked back to his house to rest, and to consider who to choose.

Capital, Hilcyon, Brlew 30 1158

"What do you mean the plants are dying?"

"First Chief, after the introduction of water tech from the Casitians, our water delivery increased dramatically, so we adjusted, and planted more, and changed the conditions of the greenhouses. We were assured this level would remain."

Jurrl was almost in the mood to grumble about the fact that Hilcyon had accepted the Casitian tech in the first place, but this wasn't the time, and his main green grower would not appreciate his sentiment.

"So what happened?"

"About 15 days ago, the water delivery dropped by 40%."

"40%? Wouldn't that take it back to the previous level?"

"Very close. It's about 5% above the initial levels of delivery we had."

Jurrl knew why this happened. It was no coincidence that this happened two days after he bested Mnib for the First Chief position. Because of this, some people might go hungry in his district.

"Do your best to make do with this new level of water. I don't think it will change anytime soon."

"First..."

"Go."

The green grower bowed, and left his office. He called in his attaché.

"Make an urgent appointment for me with Trill and Gvnor.”

"Trill and Gvnor? Your fighting coaches?"

"Yes, my fighting coaches. Now!"

"Yes, First Chief!" His attaché bowed several times, and scurried from the office.

Illsenor Station, Month 2, Year 26

David and Torf’ki were sitting together in a planning meeting.

Torf’ki asked in response to a comment of David’s, "anger what?"

"Angkor Wat. It's the name of an amazing temple complex in Cambodia, in South East Asia. It's about 200 acres with many buildings."

"They want it moved to New Earth? How do they expect that to happen?"

"Torf'ki, I have no idea. That's why I'm asking you."

Torf'ki sighed. "Of course this is only the sixth such thing I've been asked about so far."

"Sixth?"

"Yes, this after the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, Mount Rushmore, the Eiffel Tower... and the whole city of Mecca!"

Pool Joel and Laura. Every country wanted their particular monuments moved.

"Well Torf'ki, can you give me some parameters? Weight, size, etc.?"

"David, remember your physics. Galactic technology may be thousands of years ahead of human technology, but besides the makers of the wormholes, who are long gone and their knowledge lost, the Galactics haven't learned how to change the laws of physics – like defying gravity. The heavier something is, the more energy it will take to get to orbit. There is nothing we can do about that. Some things that can be taken apart can be moved, but that will sacrifice the space needed for other things. Yes, they are good at harnessing the energy of suns, but it will never be enough for things like this."

"Of course, I understand."

"Let me communicate with Re'alo. He's in contact with the Krumptia, who have access to all galactic technology. My understanding is that they have been given instructions to be as helpful as possible. I'm not sure any of these things can be moved, frankly. But if they can, I'll figure out how, and what the parameters are, and I'll let you worry about where they go." Torf'ki grinned.

That, David would leave to Marianne.

David was about to leave, when Torf'ki shouted, "wait! I have an idea!"

"Yes?"

"It's a bit, oh, what is that weird English word ... 'hairbrained'."

David chuckled. "So far, I've liked all of your 'hairbrained' ideas."

"We have the ability to capture all of the physical details of something into digital memory. This can be done in enough detail to replicate that thing close enough to fool even the experts. The only differences are in the chemical makeup of the thing that is recreated. But to the eye and touch, they are exactly the same. Defects, wear and tear, erosion, etc., are all captured."

"So you are suggesting..."

"One of the things on the long list I've been meaning to mention to you and the others was that I wanted to start the process of recording as many structures on Earth as possible. We could record these, and then recreate them on New Earth."

"I imagine that the idea will be hard for some to accept."

"It doesn't really matter whether they will accept it, does it? If we can't move it, there is no other choice."

"OK, let's meet with Joel and Laura, and they can coordinate with Casitians back on the Moon to get that party started."

"Party?"

"It's a colloquialism, Torf'ki."

Torf'ki smiled. "Ah, got it. All right, let's get this party started!"

Capital, Hilcyon, Brlew 15 1158

He looked with dismay at the report from Ceckzl that his attaché had brought to him. He had arranged to have Ceckzl released from jail moons ago after the debacle with Rplo and his son. Ylen had given Ceckzl a Second Chief spot in the Central Valley, underneath his most trusted First Chief, Wglurn. Wglurn had gone silent all moon, and Ylen had been unable to find out what was happening.

He got in contact with Ceckzl, who still owed him, to find out what had happened. Ylen feared the worst: that a rival chief had bested his trusted chief. What was true was worse. The entire Central Valley had decided to break away from his control, and create a separate, independent state. Ceckzl said in the report that Wglurn was impatient and didn't think that Ylen could create change.

Ylen knew that the Central Valley had been further along in the process of reform than any. All of the chiefs in the Central Valley had instituted changes on their own years before Ylen became Supreme Chief. He could understand their impatience, but this threatened him. If he let them be, he risked being challenged. If he tried to intervene, he risked the change he wanted.

He decided then to visit Wglurn, in person, and see what he could do.

Central Valley, Hilcyon, Brlew 20 1158

"You were silly to come here, Ylen." Wglurn sat in the chair opposite the Supreme Chief, in defiance of the usual protocol where all Chiefs below must stand. Ylen didn't care.

"You have put me in an extremely difficult position, Wglurn. If I let you do what you will, which, of course, I would like to, I am sure to be challenged by another First Chief. I already have heard that Jurrl is training hard. He's going to be tough to beat. He's younger, in better shape, and frankly, a better fighter than I. If he wins, everything we've worked so hard for is in jeopardy. If I challenge you to show my strength and 'loyalty to the Kinder way', what do I gain? Both of these outcomes are bad. Both of them result in things going backward."

"Ylen, the Central Valley is a different place than the rest of Kinder Home, and I intend to keep it that way. Because of the mountain ranges, once we shut off the train tubes, it is impossible for a force to get in here."

"We could cut your water off."

Wglurn smiled. "And many outside of the Central Valley would starve. Don't forget that 75% of the food eaten in the south comes from the Central Valley."

This was a fact that Ylen well knew. Because of its proximity to the equator and the protection from wind and dust storms that the mountains provided, the Central Valley was by far the most productive regions on all of Hilcyon. Ylen had looked at the numbers before he left. Fully 45% of all of the food of Hilcyon was grown here, and it was essential to the maintenance of the planet's population. And the recent increase in water availability from the technology delivered by the Grier was increasing production capacity. Soon, there would be no need for rationing.

Ylen knew that Wglurn was in a good position – as good as any. The Central Valley could be self-governing, and still provide the food that Hilcyon needed. There was not much the Capital could do.

"OK, Wglurn, you win. I'm letting you do what you will. Even though you will have my covert support, you will only hear my overt opposition."

"Understood, Ylen." Ylen nodded, and stood up to leave.

"And one more thing."

"Yes?"

"If I am bested, please take my wife and children into your community, they'll do better here. Most importantly, my wife knows everything I know. She'll know what Chiefs you can trust, and what Chiefs you cannot. She'll know what kinds of strategies might be used against you. She'll know how you can best cope in my absence."

Wglurn stood up, and bowed. "Thank you, Ylen. I will arrange for it."

Beijing, Earth, June 23, 2026

Chin's hands were shaking. She looked at her inbox, and one email was from the Casitian Emigration Team. This was it. This was her acceptance or rejection for emigration to Casiti. She clicked on the email, and read.

"Dear Chin Lau, It is our great pleasure to offer you a berth on the first colony ship leaving for Casiti. We expect departure to be in early July of 2028. Your shuttle will depart from Beijing International Airport. Final date and time will be sent to this email address at least one week before departure."

The email went on and on, including lists of things that should be brought, and lists of things that should not be brought. Cargo limits, details, etc. She didn't care. She'd emigrate in her skivvies and sit on the cold Casitian ground if she had to.

Two years! She already felt the seconds ticking more slowly.

She looked again at her inbox, and saw another message that looked a bit odd. It was from someone with a Casitian name!

"Dear Chin Lau, Your application was forwarded to me. I'm acting as head agronomy teacher for the Jul'when settlement process, and I need to recruit a team to coordinate food production on Jul'when, using both Casitian and Earth crops. I looked over your work, and you are a great fit for our team. I'd like you to come up to the moon station to start this work in earnest. The team will be going to Casiti early. Please let me know when you can join us. The sooner you can join us, the better."

Chin got up from her chair, and did a happy dance. Not only was she emigrating to Casiti, but she would get to be part of a very important team, right off the bat. She couldn't imagine being happier. She quickly composed her response, sent it, and then started to write her to do list. She had a lot to get accomplished in a few days, her last days on Earth.

Chapter 5: One Hundred in the Highlands

(AP) July 31, 2026

Diana Westinghouse-Lewis Wins Landslide World Presidential Election. Pro-evacuation Candidates Sweep into World Office on her Coattails

Ankara, Turkey – Diana Westinghouse-Lewis wins the World election with a landslide vote of 75%, with all districts and countries reporting. Leigin Shan received only 13% of the vote, and, most surprisingly, only 35% of the vote in his home country of China. Although polling before the election showed him with more than 70% of the Chinese vote, over the short history of the Chinese democracy, polling has proven to be extraordinarily non-predictive of victory or defeat of candidates in elections. Pro-evacuation candidates for World Congress won overwhelmingly in most countries, even though some countries still have anti-evacuation governments in place.

President-elect Westinghouse-Lewis is the first World President, and given the ten year term of that office, she will be the last World President of Earth as well. She is also the first woman to hold any sort of global leadership position. President-elect Westinghouse-Lewis takes her office as of January first, 2027.

Dlejon, New Earth, Month 1, Year 27

Ja’el said, "I like this space, Marianne. I love the trees around the cabin. It feels so different than anywhere else I've been, although it seems more Earth-like than Casiti-like."

They were sitting at Marianne's small kitchen table, drinking cups of tea.

"Yes, I think that's true. This planet seems to agree with me."

"Do you have any plans to visit Earth before the end?"

The end. Marianne thought, yes, I guess it is the end.

"No. I have enough to do here, and from what I can tell, my presence would not be appreciated by many on Earth right now. It's in Diana's capable hands."

"Yes, indeed, her hands are quite capable. I've heard that she's working well with Welen’da and her team."

"The first wave of ships is due to arrive in a little over a year. I'm glad we're ready for them."

Ja'el looked at Marianne in a way that made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Marianne, you look tired."

"I am. I've been working almost nonstop since you communicated with us 2 years ago."

"Maybe you should take a break."

"Actually, I am taking time off before first wave arrives. I’m joining Leticia, Mira and some others in their travels up north, to an area near-ish to the pole. No one has been up there. We're going to camp, and explore. I'm looking forward to the quiet. Would you like to join us? You haven't told me how long you intended to stay on New Earth."

Ja'el looked away, and Marianne wondered what was going on.

"Marianne, I... I want to stay a while, if that's OK. I'd love to come traveling with you."

Marianne put her hand on Ja'el's arm, and sent her love. She didn't quite know what else might be traveling in that sending. Ja'el looked at Marianne, and started to cry.

"Marianne, I wish to ask for your forgiveness. I feel that I have hurt you, and I didn't really understand myself."

"I would forgive you anything Ja'el. But tell me more about what you mean."

"I was so intent on maintaining my ... my Casitian nature, that I ignored my own feelings. I missed you terribly in the time you were behind the locked wormhole. I struggled with the idea that we had done what was right for Casiti, even as I mourned my loss. Eventually I came to understand that I hadn't really wanted to leave you after our time together. I realized I left because I was trying to protect something that didn't need protecting."

"What about what you said the night I left?"

"I was trying to avoid feeling my own pain. It didn't work of course. I felt the pain anyway."

"Ja'el, I never stopped loving you, even when I thought you stopped loving me."

"I never stopped loving you, and I'm sorry that I made you think that I had."

Marianne got up from the table, and took Ja'el's hand. "Well, I think we have a lot of years to make up for."

Ja'el rose from her chair, held Marianne's chin in her hand, and kissed her first on her cheek, where tears were falling, and then her lips. They embraced, and Marianne led Ja'el to her bed.

Independent Christian State, Month 1, Year 27

"Jasmine, you've been home for over a year now. I understand your need to recover, but it's time for you to get married."

Jasmine looked at her mother with confusion. When she first came back from the mines, her mother and father had asked Jasmine to stay because they had missed her and had been afraid she was dead. She hadn't wanted to, but they convinced her to stay a while. Then, about a week ago, the story had completely changed, and she didn't understand it.

"Mom, when I first came home, I explained to you that I was leaving the ICS. You begged and pleaded for me to stay, so I did, even though I didn't want to. Now, all of a sudden you want me to get married?"

"Jasmine, we want and need you to stay, and we could never understand why you would want to leave the ICS. Our pastor explained to us that the returning women didn't have dispensation indefinitely. The rule is that women over 18 must marry, or join the Mission Society. We want you here, with us, so you must marry."

Jasmine shook her head. "Sorry mom. This means I'm leaving."

"But Jasmine..."

"Mom, I have explained this how many zillion times? I will not get married. Not to a man at least." She threw that last bit in just for spite. The truth was, she had no interest of marriage of any sort.

Jasmine got up from the chair in the living room, and went into her bedroom to start to pack her bag. Her mother followed.

"Are you telling me you're... you're..."

"Yes."

Her mother's face was a mask. "It's better that you left then." She walked out of her room. Jasmine had figured that would do it. She couldn't stand dealing with her mother's inane requests anymore. And it wasn't really a lie, just an oversimplification. She happened to like men and women about equally well.

She finished packing, and did a quick check of the bus schedule. She could catch the next bus headed for New Richmond in about half an hour. That gave her more than enough time to walk to the bus depot.

She left her bedroom with her bag on her shoulder.

"Goodbye, Mom. I'll send you..."

Her mother didn't look up from what she was doing. "Don't bother."

Jasmine nodded, and walked out the front door.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 1, Year 27

Kurt walked into the Oval Office in the White House of New America, remembering who designed it. It was much larger than it should be, with ostentatious furniture that would not suit Valorie one bit. As her new chief of staff, he needed to find someone to get rid of what was in here. The White House itself was quite small in comparison to the real thing. Kurt got an idea that maybe the office should be re-purposed to the conference room – the current one was far too small to hold the cabinet that Valorie had in mind to create.

He was happy to be Chief of Staff. Valorie had credited her victory to his work, and although he knew he contributed, she really was the one responsible – people just simply liked her, across the political spectrum. They could tell she cared about them, and she really did – it was not an act. She had traveled all across New America, from settlements scattered across the ICS, down to Jerome and cities close to the border with the IZs. Valorie had tapped into the anxiety felt all across New America about the inevitable immigration of the current residents of the United States. And unlike her opponent, who used fear of change to motivate them to fight the immigration, Valorie used their better natures to suggest how we could show leadership, and create a new United States that we all could be proud of.

In the middle of the campaign when emotions were running hot and all sorts of rumors were flying about where the U.S. population would be settled, many people started saying that they would be settled elsewhere. Marianne had to make an announcement to clarify that there would be no new US settled area save the areas dedicated to the native tribes. All U.S. citizens who wanted to immigrate to the US would be allowed to do so. Many U.S. citizens would choose to live in IZ settlements that matched their interests. She made it clear that no amount of protest or bargain would change her decision.

It had created an uproar, but had also yanked the rug out from under current President Mason. And Valorie reminded everyone that New America and the ICS had more than the land area of all 50 of the current United States. There would be more than enough room for everyone.

President Mason tried to accuse Marianne of rigging the election, but Marianne had been extremely careful in her announcement. No one could suggest that she purposely favored Valorie, although Kurt knew that she did. Kurt smiled inwardly remembering that Valorie confided in him that she had a soft spot in her heart for Marianne. Kurt wasn't surprised.

Kurt heard footsteps behind him. "Good God, Kurt." He turned to see Valorie enter with another aide.

"I know. I'm going to get someone to get rid of all of this. Actually, I wonder whether this might work better as our conference room. There's another office down the hall that is a nice size, and also has a great view – perhaps you can use that as your office."

Valorie looked thoughtful. "Kurt, I know this is going to surprise you."

"But?"

"This is going to be the office of the President of the United States at some point, not just the President of New America. We're going to need an Oval Office, Kurt. Let's get rid of most of this stuff, and find tasteful furnishings that would fit the real Oval Office, OK?"

Kurt nodded. Kurt and Valorie had a long talk about the change from New America to the United States of America on New Earth. He knew that she, unlike her opponent, took that transition utterly seriously, and would do everything in her power to make it as smooth as possible. She'd even talked with him about figuring out how to do trans-planet elections when the population of the US would be split evenly between the two planets.

"I think we'll need to start making expansion plans for the White House. We can get by with what's here for a year or so, but after that ..."

"President Hopkinson started a government that didn't really do much. We'll be doing a lot more..."

Valorie nodded. "Indeed."

Hilcyon, Mrontl 15 1159

"I'm sorry to give you this news. What you do is up to you. Moving to the Central Valley might be the best thing, but if you are willing to try and stick it out here with me, I'd be happy to have you."

Ylen was addressing the group of returnees from New Earth, who had just arrived. Lren considered the options. Ylen had made it clear in his address that he felt his leadership was in grave danger after the breakaway of the Central Valley. Their return from New Earth was considered suspicious. Ylen had said it was a direct prisoner transfer, that in return for the 9,000 or so from the mines, the prisoners that New Earth had supposedly kept were sent back. But many people knew that there had been deserters, and Lren knew he would not survive long under a conservative chief.

Five hundred of his fellow deserters had decided to come back. He imagined most would be doing the same calculus. He was happy that he didn't have a wife or family to worry about - he'd never married, and his parents and siblings were dead. He was free to go where he would.

"Supreme Chief Ylen, one question."

"Certainly, Lren." Lren had noticed that Ylen treated him with respect.

"Are there other regions like the Central Valley that are close to moving over to reform?"

Ylen closed his eyes for a moment. "There are two I can think of. The Desert Quadrant has always been a little wild. Their previous First Chief, Glendr, was a conservative, and uniformly hated by his Second Chiefs. The First Chief there now is a close ally, and trusts most if not all of his Second Chiefs.

The second region is the remote Upper Highlands, near the glaciers. It's cold, and it's hard to grow much. But the Grier suggested that we try to raise buffalo, sheep and goats on the grasses that grow abundantly up there, and they sent us some. That has worked well so far. Since that change, the Chiefs up there have been very interested in reform. The supplies of food coming from that region to the rest of Hilcyon are becoming important. The First Chief is someone I trust, and he has the trust of his Second Chiefs."

"I suggest that some of us go to those regions. It will strengthen your hand should you be able to remain Supreme Chief. If you are not, they are regions not likely to bother the conservatives here in the Capital, but we can still work for reform."

Ylen nodded. "Yes, Lren, that is quite perceptive."

Ylen left them, and they started to discuss among themselves where they would go.

Upper Highlands, Hilcyon, Mrontl 25 1159

Lren left his dwelling to go check on the goats that were now in his care. He had moved up here with about 100 of his people. The rest moved either to the Desert Quadrant, or to the Central Valley. None of them chose another course. It was clear to Lren that the new herding programs could use more hands.

On his arrival, he had immediately been given a Third Chief position. He knew that he had made the right choice. He predicted that Ylen would lose his position, and reform from the top would stop. The only way reform could continue was from the bottom up.

Capital, Hilcyon, Mrontl 25 1159

Jurrl was out of breath, and the sweat was pouring down his face. He had to stop to wipe his brow before he wasn't able to see anymore.

"Ylen won't let you stop to wipe your face, Jurrl. He'll use any pause to try and end it."

"Yes, yes, I know. Let's go."

They had been at it for over two hours. Jurrl was in intensive training, spending several hours per day either in fight training or general athletic training. His trainers thought he'd be ready by mid-Sdert to best Ylen. He didn't want to wait that long, but he didn't want to die, either. They kept going for a while longer, and then Trill, one of his coaches, called a halt.

"Time for rest."

"No, time for work. I still am a First Chief, you know."

He grabbed a towel, and went to see Willm, who had just walked in.

"You have something for me?"

Willm bowed. "Yes, First Chief. I thought you'd want to know where the deserters went."

"Ah. yes, I do."

"As you expected, most went to the Central Valley."

"Not surprising. The rest?"

"This is where it gets interesting. I had expected the rest to scatter all over Hilcyon, to live with their families, or the settlements they came from. But none of them did that."

"None?"

"Not one. About a hundred went to live up in the Upper Highlands. The rest, about 20, went to the Desert Quadrant."

"What? The Upper Highlands and the Desert Quadrant? Why?"

"Well, my information tells me that the current First Chiefs of both are reformers, and that most or all of their Second Chiefs are as well."

"Ah, these are like the Central Valley, then."

"Yes. These are regions to watch out for."

"Nah, nothing is there. They can reform themselves into Breft for all I care."

"First Chief, the Upper Highlands now is producing those animals from Grier, with the meat and products everyone likes."

"Ah. Right. I see. But it is also a virtually impossible area to get troops into, like the Central Valley."

"Indeed. They have the advantage. They have abundant water, new sources of food, and it is remote enough to make taking it over not worth the trouble."

New Calgary, New Earth, Month 1, Year 27

Leticia was excited. She was going to go traveling again, this time in areas she hadn't been. Few had been where they were now planning to go. They would start by traveling east from New Calgary to the river that some had named the Missouri, since it was a tributary to the Mississippi. There were very few settlements east of New Calgary, so they would largely be on their own. They would take the river up to Lake Superior, the large freshwater lake near the pole. It was at least twice as large as all of the great lakes put together. Lake Maracaibo, near the south pole, was even bigger. One of these days, she hoped to get to visit that one, too. There were other lakes scattered around, the large ones all by the poles.

They initially had somewhat of a dilemma. They wanted to camp, and really get to see the land, and take samples, and do accurate mapping of the rivers, and such, but they also had an enormous amount of ground to cover. Because of its size and lack of oceans, New Earth had ten times the land area of Earth. Their present project was to map out an area that was larger than the size of North America. It wasn't going to be possible to do that all on foot in a reasonable period of time. So they compromised.

Marianne told Leticia of these small overland vehicles that were used on Casiti. They were like a car, except that they could travel over rough terrain, as well as water. Marianne had known that they would be of great use here, and she put in a large order for them early on, and the first shipment had arrived a few months ago. They also would be supplied by shuttle, so they wouldn't need to carry a lot with them.

Leticia was happy that Marianne and Ja’el had chosen to come. Also coming were Jeffrey and Thomas, who wanted to do a lot of plant sampling, as well as a few other companions from that first trip Leticia took so long ago. It looked like they would need 3 of the cars. Leticia and Mira were in charge of the tents and equipment for cooking and the like. Jeffrey and Thomas in charge of the scientific equipment, and Marianne in charge of the logistics for use of the cars, and the shuttle supply. They would be gone for about 3 New Earth months. It seemed a long time to Leticia, but she was grateful for the break in her routine.

She knew that many other teams all over New Earth would be doing the same work in other unexplored regions, so that they could gain a complete understanding of the terrain, what places made sense for settlements, and what the weather was like.

She had realized just after he heard about the edict that the work that she'd been doing with the new medical school was moot. There would be thousands and thousands of trained doctors and whole medical schools making their way here. But she was, nonetheless proud of their achievements. She didn't know what her future would hold, given that she didn't have the "real" credentials of a physician trained in the US.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 1, Year 27

"Are you out of your mind?"

Valorie was taken aback by the question that came from Jerome Kramer, the new Governor of the ICS.

"Excuse me?"

"I understand that you want to come across as welcoming and touchy-feely and all, but we must protect our investments."

Valorie laughed. "Which would be?"

"Investments in infrastructure, in governance ..."

"Governor Kramer, the government that I just took over was a joke. Gerard Hopkinson refused to do anything except protect the privileged class, and Mason followed exactly in his footsteps. I don't even want to mention Hickler. New America has virtually no middle class to speak of, and most of the working class emigrated to the IZs last year. The rich are living off of the sales of titanium, gold, other precious metals, and materials and technology given by the Kinder to Dennis Hickler. New America has a little manufacturing, a little farming, and not much else. The 'riches' of New America came entirely from gifts given in exchange for 17,000 teenagers, many of whom died before being able to return. "

"Well, the ICS has fared better."

"Agreed. Because of your social structure, you have been able to retain a broader base of people, and build some more infrastructure. But it is not a model that can continue, and certainly is not a model that can be used for the rest of the country."

"What do you mean, cannot continue?"

"Governor Kramer, the ICS will be a part of the United States soon. As such, it cannot continue with its current model. It must be integrated..."

"Absolutely not! We left Earth because we didn't want to be tainted by the stink..."

"Please, be reasonable."

"Reasonable? We will not take any immigrants that do not fit our requirements, and we will not allow any governance over us that means we must abandon our Christian principles. Our only true leader is God, and that is the way it will always be."

He got up, and walked out of her office, without even a goodbye. Valorie went to her desk, picked up the communicator, and called Marianne.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 1, Year 27

"Thanks for coming to see me on such short notice, Marianne."

"It's not a problem, and actually, I had a matter to discuss with you anyway. I feel for poor J'lera. He's my shuttle pilot. He hardly has gotten a chance to settle into his new dwelling in Dlejon. It seems every day someone somewhere on New Earth needs to talk with me. You know, I'll be off the radar for a while this year."

"I heard. Good for you. Get some R & R and some work done at the same time?"

"That’s part of the idea."

"So this is the problem. I had a very troubling conversation with Governor Kramer, which had been prompted by a complete failure of my aides to work with any in his administration. First, he blamed me for the problem, saying that my people were making inappropriate demands of his people, asking questions they shouldn't have been, etc.

Then, he launched into this tirade about you and the Casitians, and how he had barely tolerated the presence of the IZs, and how troubling my winning the presidency of New America was, yadda yadda. I mostly ignored it. Finally, though, he made it clear that the ICS was only taking immigrants that 'fit their requirements' and that they don't want to be part of New America."

Marianne sighed. She'd gotten a long-winded and angry missive from Governor Kramer, which, in the end, declared the independence of the ICS. That was the matter she had needed to discuss with Valorie.

"I got a long, angry email from Kramer. Basically, his demand is that the ICS become a truly independent territory, beholden to no one but God. I'm going to give him what he wants so he'll leave us alone."

"But he has so much land!"

"Yes, I know. However, the Western two thirds of his territory are largely unsettled. I'm going to tell him that he can have his completely independent country, but only on a third of the current land of the ICS. The rest will be given to you for the US."

"That seems like a proposal he won't like, but can't possibly turn down."

Moon Station July 24, 2026/ 50 Gont 784

Chin Liau couldn't have thought of a better birthday present. Today was her twenty-seventh birthday, and she was sitting in her new quarters on the moon station, getting ready to work with a team on Casitian agronomy. She'd just arrived from Earth a few hours ago, and had her first meal in space. She had been surprised by the station. She thought the architecture was beautiful, as well as all of the art on the walls. She had been told that most of it was from Earth artists, but some were also Casitian.

It had taken her a bit longer for her to finally get here than she thought. First, she had to take care of all of her belongings. Because of the upcoming massive emigration, it was hard to get rid of her stuff, because people had started dumping things all over the place, and new systems had to be put in place to prevent that.

She'd had to sell what she could, which wasn't much, and then take the rest to a new incineration facility, which would incinerate the stuff cleanly. There were extra clothes, books she had accumulated, all sorts of odds and ends. It took a while for all of that to be disposed of. Her landlord was angry that she was breaking their contract, and he knew he wouldn't find anyone to rent her place. But there was nothing he could do to her: she was an official member of the Casitian Agronomy Service (the Casitian name for it was one she could not yet pronounce) and was bound for Casiti!

Here she was, in her quarters, looking out at the moonscape after having unpacked her few things. Her first meetings were in about 8 hours – the beginning of the day here on the moon. It was morning her time right now, but she figured that getting at least a little sleep might be a good idea. A Casitian she'd met at the meal (third meal, she learned) gave her a few pills – she said that it was hard for Earth humans to adjust to the different length of days, since the moon station actually had always kept the Casitian clock and calendar, and that these helped. She took one with a bit of water from her sink, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

Moon Station July 24, 2026/51 Gont 784

"Hi. I'm Chin Liau, from Beijing. I did my doctoral work on adapting Casitian techniques for legume crops for high-altitude areas. We were able to get decent yields of navy and soy beans using these techniques. I'm excited to use this to help us grow crops on Jul'when."

Everyone in the room was introducing themselves. There were 12 of them on the team, from all over Earth. Collectively, Chin thought that they must be familiar with the widest possible range of cultivation methodologies and food crop varieties all over Earth. It was exciting to meet people from Africa who had worked with Casitian techniques to increase yields of crops in small plots, to people from the US and Europe who were familiar with cultivating warm weather vegetables like tomatoes and peppers. Chin took an immediate liking to Isidora, who had experimented with Casitian crops in Chile, with good results.

Ser'len'a was the Casitian teacher of their team. She was one of the more stocky Casitians Chin had seen so far, and she had long, very black hair.

She said, "welcome, all to this program. You can't begin to know how happy we are to have you all, and to begin the process of working on growing enough crops on Jul'when to feed the immigrants that will be coming in subsequent waves. In the next day or two, please take time to read the rather extensive introductory material we've given you; it's a lot to digest. It includes the expectations for your involvement in this work, decision making by consensus, details about Casitian culture, as well as a large amount of scientific information about Jul'when. Also included are some logistical scenarios we are working on for the immigration process to Jul'when. Any feedback that you have would be appreciated. Please do read the cultural material. I know that most of you know a lot about Casiti - clearly you had wanted to immigrate there. But there are some details you might not know, and will come in handy as you work among the Casitians.

Of course, there is learning our language. You'll find information on the options available to you. Some take longer than others, and people learn languages in different ways and at different paces. It would be good if you can take part in a fairly simple conversation in Casitian by the time we leave for Casiti in a month – a Casitian month, that is." Ser'len'a smiled, and dismissed them.

Chin went back to her quarters, sat down on one of the comfortable chairs, and began to read the material.

Capital, Hilcyon, Pliert 12 1159

Jurrl was angry. He'd spent the last 24 hours recounting, over and over, the sins of Ylen. This was how he always geared up for a challenge fight. He started slowly, digging deeper and deeper into the ways his opponent was betraying the Kinder. He had Willm repeat the sins of Ylen. Ylen's willingness to talk to the Breft. Ylen not executing the deserters on the spot, Ylen's changing the water rations to support rebel regions. Now, a few minutes before he was to enter the ring, he was livid, the anger coursing through his body, streaming out of his hands – the hands that held the Hklef.

Early in his training, he'd considered other weapons. The short sword, the circle blade, the Klee, which was a weapon consisting of two sharp blades on heavy handles connected to a chain that was about an arm's span long. He chose the Hklef. It had many disadvantages. It was big and heavy, and took work to move around. The main handle was thick, and couldn't be held by most men, but Jurrl had large hands. Each end had a heavy, round weight with 12 small but sharp blades sticking out from them.

It was a weapon both difficult and devastating. He'd used it each of the 5 challenge fights he'd fought. He had better upper body strength than most men, so the weight of the weapon was his advantage.

The door to the ring suddenly opened, and he heard the crowd roar. He walked into the ring, and the anger was running in his veins, ringing in his ears, and emanating from his body in waves. He saw Ylen enter from the other door. He saw the short sword in his hand. His face was a mask, but Jurrl thought he could see fear. He certainly felt Ylen's fear.

The judge, standing in the middle, began to speak. "Jurrl, you challenge Ylen's Supreme Chiefdom, is that correct?"

Jurrl had only to nod.

"Ylen, you accept this challenge?"

"Yes. Let's get this over with."

"There are four rounds. Jurrl, you must kill Ylen by the end of the fourth round. If not, your life is forfeit."

Jurrl nodded.

"Start!"

The judge left the center of the ring.

Jurrl started to slowly circle Ylen, sizing him up, looking at how he moved. His strategy was to take the first round to size up Ylen. He was simply looking at Ylen, moving his Hklef back and forth, when Ylen ran right at him with a yell, short sword forward. He was taken completely by surprise, and didn't have time to bring an end of the Hklef to bear. Because of the weight of the Hklef, he couldn't move very fast. The best thing he could do was bring the handle of the Hklef up to guard against the sword piercing his chest.

The blade hit the handle of his weapon, and Jurrl twisted the handle to bring one side of it to hit Ylen's head, but Ylen moved forward and bowled Jurrl over. Jurrl fell to the ground sideways, and he heard some of his blades break when his Hklef hit the floor. He looked up to see Ylen bearing down on him, and he saw the blade move quickly toward his midsection.

With a desperate heave, he pulled one side of the Hklef up toward Ylen, and he saw the blades slice Ylen's face, and all of a sudden blood was everywhere and Ylen was down. Jurrl got up to look down at Ylen. The blades had severed a main artery in Ylen's neck. Ylen was dead, his blood pooling below him.

It was only then that he felt the pain in his stomach, and the wound now bled freely. He looked at the wound in puzzlement, and the world started to spin, then went dark.

New Richmond, New Earth, Month 2, Year 27

Beatrice was in her new room, unpacking her suitcase in her new room. She didn't have much stuff. She'd brought with her one suitcase full of new clothes that she had gotten when she returned to New Earth, and one box of her belongings.

She opened the box, looking at the small, hand-bound books written in the Kinder language. They were the books that Pkygy had published of his grandmother's stories – the writing that got him imprisoned originally on the mines. She'd managed to find a complete set of copies on Hilcyon. Pkygy had been embarrassed by it – but she was glad she had something of his spirit with her. She intended to go to the Kinder settlement and get the book translated, because she didn't know how to read Kinder. She walked back out to the living room.

"Mom, I'm glad we left – things were getting so much worse there. Governor Kramer is getting more autocratic, there hasn't been much improvement in the local economy, and trade with the IZs is almost non-existent. And I've heard rumors that the ICS isn't going to take any immigrants except those that meet certain criteria – you know what that will be!"

"I know Beatrice. Your father is very happy we moved."

"And mom, grand mom wouldn’t have fit the criteria. She's not even Christian. Anyway, thanks for listening to me, mom. I think New Richmond will be a great place, and this house is big enough for all four of us."

"You know, I wouldn't mind if Marianne, or even Leticia and Mira wanted to ..."

"Dream on. They have their lives elsewhere, mom. Besides, they are about to leave on a big expedition, I hear."

"You didn't want to go?"

"No. I want to travel down to the Kinder settlement..."

"Why Beatrice?"

"I want to meet Ngellin. Marianne has told me about him. He seems like an interesting man. I want to find someone to translate the writings of my husband into English."

"So now that we've moved, mom, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, Beatrice. Now that we don't live in the ICS anymore, I can work... although I don't know what I'd want to do."

"There’s a lot to do around helping the new arriving immigrants, when they get here next year"

"That's a great idea, actually. Who do you think I should talk with?"

"I'm sure Aunt Marianne can hook you up."

"Maybe, but she never answers my messages!"

Dlejon, New Earth, Month 2, Year 27

Marianne got up from her desk, and stretched. 600 widenet messages a day was brutal. She realized she needed to finally figure out how to get a Casitian AI to parse them - she would never be able to catch up. She thought that Torf'ki would certainly have someone on staff who could work this out. She made a mental note to ask him next time she was at the station.

As she went to her small kitchen and as she passed the dining room table strewn with maps of New Earth and Earth, she stopped and looked over it all. Her task was to balance a very wide range of demands of Earth countries, New Earth settlements and territories, native and indigenous tribes, and the assorted people, some sane, some nutcakes, who were requesting independent settlements. She thanked the God of Many Names that New Earth had ten times the land area as old Earth. Otherwise, her task would be impossible.

That still didn't make things easy. Earth countries, knowing that New Earth had ten times the land, expected ten times the original land area for their own countries. She had tried over and over to explain to all of them that because of the initial settlements of Earth, as well as the desire for many on Earth to live in Independent Zones, that was just not going to be possible. Incredulous and livid would be understatements of the response of some leaders to the idea that people would want to live outside of any country. She had several leaders who led democracies threaten war on independent zones if their people chose to live there instead of in their country of origin.

It was frustrating to say the least. But she wasn't giving in. The other big issue was borders. Countries would without doubt have borders that didn't have them on Earth. And that was an enormous issue for some countries. Australia didn't want to border any countries in Africa. Canada wanted to border only the United States, but that wasn't going to be possible. Europe wanted to be moved with the same exact borders they have now, except with more space, all Arab countries wanted to be on opposite ends of the planet from Israel, and Ireland wanted to be as far removed from England as possible.

Marianne took a deep breath. She heard some footsteps behind her, and felt Ja'el's soft hands wrapping around her torso, and her chin resting on her right shoulder.

"How's this going?"

Marianne sighed. "I guess as well as could be expected. I have less than a year to finalize this, and sometimes it feels impossible. But then I remember that I get to make the decisions. Then it feels easier, but somehow unfair."

Ja'el chuckled. "You always found leadership troublesome, even though you are so good at it."

Marianne turned around to face Ja'el. "Yes, you hit the nail on the head, as usual. It will all work out, of course, but it's going to be a bit hellish along the way. I think that our traveling will help clear my head so that I can finally finish it when we get back."

Ja'el smiled, and whispered in Marianne's ear, "I can think of something to take your mind off of it for the moment." She gently bit Marianne's ear, and every thought about maps and countries and priorities went out of her head, leaving only Ja'el.

Casiti, 5 Paqn 784

Jal'end'a sat facing Hetl'zef in comfortable chairs in one corner of her too-large office. All of the official details of the transfer of power to her had been completed. This was the farewell meeting of the past head teacher and the new head teacher. Jal'end'a was calm, although she could sense the current of anxiety brewing within her. She would need to spend time in meditation soon.

"Jal'end'a, you know you'll have the help of assistants and the rest of the Caraj. Simply do what you know is best."

"Thank you, Hetl'zef. I very much appreciate your confidence in me. What are your plans?"

"I'll be leading the agronomy team on Jul'when. We're setting up some initial living quarters and structures for the team coming from Earth. I'm excited to get to live on Jul'when for a while. I've looked over the applications of this group of Terrans, and I am impressed by their dedication to creating a livable continent, as well as their interest in living here on Casiti. Most of them were on the Casitian immigration waiting list before the edict."

"I hear you expect to grow both Casitian and Earth crops."

"I know that some of the Earth crops will only grow for a very small part of our high summer, so they will be special treats. But many Earth crops will be able to be grown throughout the growing season, and indoors during winter."

Hetl'zef and Jal'end'a rose. "Blessings be upon you, Hetl'zef for your work with the Terrans. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"And blessings on you, Jal'end'a, as you lead the Caraj."

They shared a clasped-arm hug, and Hetl'zef left, closing the door behind him. A light chime sounded, and Jal'end'a went back to her desk to attend to a new message. The arts council had been in discussion with a small group of Terran museum directors that wanted their collections to end up on Casiti. They had requested that Jal'end'a mediate their discussions, as they had completely broken down. Jal'end'a remembered that on Earth, most art was relegated to indoor spaces that relatively few visited. She wondered whether it would be at all possible to change their ideas about where art should go.

New Aard, New Earth, Month 3, Year 27

Olam read the missive for the umpteenth time from the Arab League on Earth. He was filled with dismay. Unlike the vision that New Aard leadership had of a new, united Muslim state, the Arab League wanted space for each of their countries. They hadn't heard back from any of the Muslim countries in Asia or Africa, but Olam could see their idea crumbling. If the Arab League refused to join in, then the rest would too.

His messages to Marianne had been answered by an AI who said that Marianne was traveling and exploring, and would be unavailable for another two months. This meant that nothing could be done about this. Olam had no idea how this would affect New Aard, as it occupied a very large area – far larger than the area of the Arab League on Earth. Olam knew that Marianne would not give Muslim nations whole additional new space – it would come out of New Aard somehow.

And, that would possibly be a disaster. The leaders of New Aard were not going to take kindly to dividing up their land so that existing Earth countries could fit inside. That would mean people would be forced to move.

Olam's role was to help build infrastructure in New Aard. He'd started that process, but now, with this uncertainty, he'd had to stop. And there had been frequent arguments among New Aard leaders for the last several days about what to do about the situation.

Olam had a plan, and he thought it just might work. He got out a piece of paper, and started drawing possible territories and borders. Yes, yes, this was exactly right. And he could see how he could get both Marianne and his leaders to agree. In the end, though, he knew that Marianne had the final say.

New Orleans, New Earth, Month 3, Year 27

Torf’ki smiled. "Thanks, David for suggesting we come down here for a short break. I haven't been down to New Earth for a month or so, and it’s nice to spend some time on the ground, for once. And I do love Earth beer."

David liked Torf'ki. He liked him a lot. This trip wasn't just to take a break, he had an ulterior motive, and he bet that Torf'ki had figured it out already. He was a smart one. But he figured he'd start on a somewhat innocuous topic.

"This isn't exactly Earth beer. It's not bad, but I'm looking forward to when real breweries make it over here. I like New Orleans. It reminds me a tiny bit of the old one on Earth. By the way, how is the memory capturing thing going?"

"It's going well, I hear. I haven't yet seen any of the results, but they've divided up earth into parts of about 100 square miles, and are doing it piece by piece."

"All of Earth?? I thought it was just going to be ..."

"Welen’da decided that she had the time and the staff to get it done, and she thought that Earth humans would appreciate having the whole thing captured. Obviously, it can't all be recreated in physical form, but it will all be viewable holographically. We'll have to choose carefully what gets recreated, given the energy and materials it will take to for recreation."

"That makes sense. I never thought that I'd be able to, for instance, visit Ayer's rock, or the Grand Canyon after the end, but it looks like I will."

Torf'ki smiled. "It would be fun if you took me to those places sometime. I mean the real places. Since we're going to have to go back to Earth at least once or twice during this time, I'd like to see some of that."

David nodded. "Happily, Torf'ki. I would love to show you some of Earth."

They sat in companionable silence for a while, sipping their beers.

"Torf'ki, Musb is coming soon. Are you sad not to be on Casiti? Time to hunker down for winter, find a companion and all that?"

Torf'ki sat back in his chair. "Frankly, no."

David was a little surprised at the confidence of that answer.

"Really? Why not?"

"A number of reasons. First, I don't really like the cold all that much. I've been enjoying New Earth's climate quite a bit. I want to go back to Casiti to visit sometime, but I'm already sure I want to make my home here. And I'm not alone. I've been hearing this from a number of Casitians working here now."

"Wow, Torf'ki, I had no idea."

"I really like the range of people here – it's much more interesting and engaging than on Casiti. Casiti got ... well, it got pretty homogeneous over the hundreds of years. I love the variety here."

"Anything else?"

"And I do have plans for Musb." Torf'ki grinned. "That is, if he agrees."

David raised an eyebrow. "He? And who would that be?"

Torf'ki leaned forward, and dropped his left hand to sit lightly on David's thigh. David felt his desire. "What do you think?"

Wilderness East of NCIZ, New Earth Month 3, Year 27

They had been traveling for about a week, using some overland cars to get from New Calgary to the Missouri River. Marianne could see the river emerging as they crested this last hill.

Leticia turned backwards to face Marianne and Ja'el. "It's getting late. Should we camp by the riverside?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Leticia. Let's signal to the other cars, and find a good place."

They turned the communicator on, and talked with the three other cars, and they agreed to meet at a small clearing right along the river. It would make a great campsite.

It had been a fairly uneventful week. There were 15 on the trip. Mira, Leticia, Marianne and Ja'el were in one car. Thomas, Jeffrey, Georgia and Chuck were in another. Leticia remembered fondly that couple from her first travels in New Earth. The third car had the three from Torf'ki's Casitian team, and the fourth car had the geographer Jon, also from Leticia's previous travels, and his students from New Calgary University.

They rolled the cars to a stop at the end of the clearing. There was a bit of chaos as the supplies were taken from the cars, the tents were put up, and people went looking for wood for the campfire. They had worked things into a good rhythm over the week, with everyone pitching in to do their part.

After a dinner with discussions of their findings for the day, and talk of tomorrow's plans to start moving upriver on the water, most everyone started to head off to their tents. Marianne and Leticia were left alone in front of the fire, as it died down to coals.

Leticia had wanted to talk with her aunt about something, so she was glad that she had this chance.

"Aunt Marianne, I'm glad Ja'el is here. You seem so happy."

Marianne turned from the fire to look at Leticia. "Yes, I am happy. It was kind of unexpected."

"Didn't you break up?"

"Well, it wasn't a break up in the standard Earth sense. You know about how most Casitians only have lovers for small stretches of time."

"I do. I think I get it, and I can see how it might work out for a lot of people, but then I can't ever imagine being with someone else besides Mira."

Marianne smiled. "You and Mira are quite the pair, yes. I can't quite imagine anything else, either. Anyway, I'm not sure I understand it all completely, but basically at the time Ja'el felt the need to be Casitian – and give up our companionship as was traditional. It turned out in the end it wasn't what she really wanted."

"Do you mind if I ask you a pretty personal question?"

Marianne chuckled. "More personal than the one you just asked?"

"Yeah. I read about something I don't quite understand."

"What's that?"

"It's the Casitian word, lyre'es'gkin."

Marianne opened her mouth, only to close it again.

"Oh, boy. Let's see where to start on this one. Lyre'es'gkin is a word that doesn't translate to English, or any Earth language that I know of. It is a human ability that most Earth humans don't know about, or admit exists, although I think that's changing slowly."

"Yes, the article I read was from Earth. They were talking about new experiments, or something."

"That makes sense, although it seems to me they should ask some Casitians about that."

Leticia agreed with that sentiment.

"Anyway, it is basically a flow of energy, from one person to another. It can be very powerful. It's not hard to learn – it only took me a couple of months of Ja'el's instruction. Some people are more powerful 'senders' and others are more powerful 'receivers.' I'm a much better receiver; Ja'el is a very good sender. Others are pretty balanced. Close your eyes."

Leticia closed her eyes, and felt Marianne's light touch on her arm. After a little bit, she felt this calm, peaceful feeling. It was hard to really grab on to - when she tried to pay attention to it, it wisped away.

"I definitely felt something."

"Remember I'm a better receiver than sender. You might be a better sender, so my sending and your receiving would be weak. Tomorrow I'll have Ja'el test it out on you, see what you can feel. There's one thing you really need to know, though."

"What?"

"Casitians take this very seriously. In general, it is used between loved ones and family members, maybe very close friends. None others."

"The article I read seemed to suggest it would make one's sex life better."

Marianne laughed. "That it will."

Chapter 6: Treaty to Last a Quarter Century

(AP) July 20, 2027

First Wave of Colony Ships Leaves for New Earth

Earth Orbit – Yesterday, an historic moment occurred, when the first thousand colony ships left Earth orbit, bringing one hundred million Terrans to New Earth. This first wave of emigrants consists of only those who have immediate family on New Earth, and experts that will be needed to continue the infrastructure planning and building process already in progress on New Earth. Included in this first wave is a lot of equipment and parts that will assist in building manufacturing capacity on New Earth. Because the Casitian winter is starting soon, the first waves of ships bound for Casiti will not leave for another year.

North Wilderness, New Earth Month 1, Year 28

Leticia looked over the hillsides, and saw the Chalcedon River split from the main part of the Mississippi. She knew the Chalcedon River was the northern border of the ICS. There had been several settlements of Mormons and Seventh-Day Adventists further west of their current position, north of the Chalcedon, but they weren't going any further west this trip.

Their trip was close to its end. They had traveled up the Missouri River, across the wide expanse of Lake Superior. They had discovered a large kind of fish-like thing - more like a shark, that were abundant in the lake, as well as other smaller creatures that were more familiar. The shark was most likely the largest animal on New Earth. They had then traveled across land west and north of the lake, mapping out regions, taking biological samples, sampling the climate.

It was significantly colder where they were, and the food plants were not as abundant in this area. One of Jon's students thought that it was likely that they could grow some hardy crops, like winter wheat, rapeseed, and cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and kale, but not a whole lot else. Some on the Casitian team mentioned some Casitian crops that should be able to be tried up here as well.

Leticia had asked Marianne whether or not any countries were going to be placed up here, and Marianne said that it was likely that it would remain an IZ, like the other polar region. Leticia liked that idea, because she and Mira had found an amazing spot where they both thought they might want to live. It had a view of both Lake Superior and a part of the Mississippi River, as well as a small group of snow-capped mountains north of the river.

Leticia knew that once they returned to civilization, preparations would be in earnest for the arrival of the first immigrants. She knew that the first colony ships would be arriving at Earth in a couple of months, and in about one year, they would be here. She was nervous. She knew that one of the first groups of immigrants would be those who would be responsible for setting up the health care system on New Earth. She was glad she had been given responsibility for being the liaison for her zone, but she didn't have much confidence that it was going to be a smooth transition from the home-grown, cobbled together system they had, to what she expected the immigrants would be building.

She and Mira both were nervously considering what kind of role they might have in a New Earth full of old Earth people. She imagined this was true of many people on New Earth.

Capitol, Hilcyon, Lykl 2 1159

Jurrl looked at his First Chiefs arrayed before him. Most of them looked uneasy, shifting in their chairs. Others looked at him with barely concealed joy. There were a few absent. The First Chiefs of the Desert Quadrant and Upper Highlands had left - they insisted on governing themselves. Jurrl would teach them a lesson. Also two other chiefs were missing, those who were loyal to Ylen were bested by some second chiefs. He was happy to know that most of these men fully supported him. The ones who did not, would pay.

He had already put Willm in place to determine who had been aligned with Ylen, so Jurrl could eliminate them by any means necessary. He would purge the ranks down to Fourth chiefs of those who were reformers. The time of reform was over.

Jurrl had been incapacitated for a couple of weeks while he recovered from his wounds in the ring. He recovered, and was getting stronger and stronger. And he looked forward to putting things back in order after the chaos Ylen started.

"The first order of business is to bring the Central Valley to heel. They cannot go off on their own reform plan. The Kinder must be united. I am assigning First Chief Grly here to lead the charge and become War Chief. Grly will be recruiting from your ranks for the first assault on the Central Valley, to occur in one moon."

Grly moved forward and stood next to Jurrl. Jurrl turned to look at Grly, who had a smile of triumph. Grly was one of his most trusted chiefs, and he knew that if anyone could take back the Central Valley, Grly could.

After more discussion of the war, they all left the conference room, and he went back to his office to deal with an odorous task. He needed to communicate, one last time.

When he taken over Ylen’s office, he found messages that Ylen had written to the three leaders of Breft, Grier Nro and Nytt Grier Nro. All of them were women! Jurrl couldn't imagine how Ylen could stomach that. He would have to, just to send his message to them.

Hilcyon would remain independent of Grier and Breft. Neither Grier nor Breft could visit or live in their system. They would find their own way, without any new technology, without any new people. They had lived without contact or trade with the Breft for more than a thousand years, since the betrayal of Klor. They would continue.

He spent a couple of time periods writing his message. He sent it along the communication channel, and then ordered the destruction of all Breft-connected communication devices. He also sent word to his First Chiefs in space to escort all foreign ships to the wormhole, and create a wormhole watch system to destroy any ship that dared enter.

Ankara, Turkey, January 12, 2027

She was in her new office in the new World Capital, which was Turkey's old capital of Ankara, pacing. Pacing helped her keep calm. She felt like she was looking at an impending train wreck. China had completely withdrawn from the evacuation logistics talks, as had a couple of dozen other countries, including surprises like Brazil and South Africa. Work with the Casitians was going well, but talks with Hilcyon had completely failed. Their new Supreme Chief completely refused to acknowledge that the leader of Earth humans was a woman, and refused to talk to Diana at all.

The Galactic community had given them a lot of resources to quickly build infrastructure on New Earth, and that was occurring at a rapid pace. Also, previously un-assigned areas of New Earth were being bitterly fought over by various countries, all of whom were upset about the relative size of the regions that already existed on New Earth, such as New Aard and New America.

She had tried to explain, over and over, that those boundaries had been drawn before there was any idea that they would have to move most of the entire population of Earth to New Earth. She also kept reminding people that because of New Earth's size, no country would get space any smaller than the size of the country they had now – but somehow that didn't make them feel any better. She knew it really was all in Marianne's hands, and she was happy to leave it there.

The door opened, and one of her aides walked in.

"President Westinghouse-Lewis!"

The aide was Cecilia, who was always filled with enthusiasm, even when the situation didn't quite call for it. She was whip-smart, and that made up for the overabundant supply of jubilation. She'd been tasked with being the liaison to Logistics, so Diana was sure that it had something to do with the colony ships, or with emigration planning.

"Yes Cecilia, what's going on now?"

"I wanted to let you know that the first of the colony ships bound for New Earth are entering orbit!"

"Thanks, Cecilia, that's great news."

It wasn't great news as far as Diana was concerned. She knew it would finally bring home to everyone the stark reality of the task ahead of them. First on the list to leave were architects, builders, engineers and scientists to build the infrastructure of New Earth, and those with relatives on New Earth. Then there would be a gap of about 2 years, and then the second wave of real emigrants would leave. They still hadn't figure out how they were going to order the subsequent waves of emigration. And people were getting restless about it.

New Richmond, New Earth, Month 1, Year 28

"I should have gone with that ship with the deserters, Marianne! Now, I can never get back to help."

Marianne was exasperated. Beatrice’s knowledge of the Kinder had been invaluable during the last two years, but Marianne felt that Beatrice couldn't let go of Hilcyon because of the death of Pkygy, for which she seemed to take personal responsibility.

"Beatrice, this is not your fight. They are not your people. What could you possibly do if you went back? You are a woman, remember? Remember how they treated women?"

"But Marianne, I did so much..."

"And you almost ended up in prison, or executed!"

"The Kinder are going to close Hilcyon off, aren't they?"

"That is the exact message I get from Supreme Chief Jurrl, yes. They have asked all Casitian and New Earth personnel to leave the system immediately, and warned that any ships entering their space will be destroyed. Apparently, he's even destroyed all communications devices in the Hilcyon system capable of contacting Casiti or New Earth. There is a civil war going between one region that has broken away from the rest."

"The Central Valley?"

"Yes, that's what it's called."

"They were far along the path to reform when I was there - I'm not surprised. I hope they can prevail."

"In any event, Jurrl's side owns space and the wormhole, and they want nothing to do with the rest of humanity, from what I can tell. W'ren's plans for modifying Hilcyon's climate are halted. The Kinder lost their chance for a verdant planet, at least for now. And we will have no way of contacting them until they decide they want contact."

Marianne could see the tears forming in Beatrice's eyes. "I never got to tell Pkygy that I loved him. I guess I didn't really know it until I'd lost him. Losing Hilcyon feels like losing Pkygy all over again."

Marianne drew Beatrice into her arms as she cried quietly. After a time, Beatrice wiped her face, and looked at Marianne. "Of course, Aunt Marianne, you are right. The Kinder are not my problem, and there is little I could do even if I went back. And I guess now that Hilcyon is closed, you don't really need my help anymore?"

Marianne nodded. "W'ren and his team have left Hilcyon, and are going home to Casiti. There is no more we can do."

"Mom and dad are settling into life here in New Richmond. I'm thinking about what I want to do with my life."

"I always can use your help, kiddo. You have a gift for looking at how people think."

Beatrice smiled. "Yes, I do. I first want to talk with Ngellin, and give him Pkygy's books to translate. After that, perhaps I'll come work with you."

"I'm sure he'd like to help with that translation. Ngellin is an unusual Kinder man."

"I'm looking forward to meeting him."

Earth Orbit, April 30, 2027

They were glad that they had been able to commandeer the shuttle so that they could watch the colony ships arrive in orbit. Like David, Joel had learned how to pilot a shuttle, and that definitely came in handy at times like this.

It was a spectacular sight. One thousand ships, scattered all over Earth orbit. They were close to a few, and they were simply enormous. Galactic technology sometimes astonished Joel. These ships would take 100,000 people each, plus a lot of cargo. And the sheer logistics of getting the people and their stuff into orbit was almost unimaginable. Alongside the thousand colony ships were more than ten thousand shuttles that would ferry thousands of people and tons of equipment each trip. The amount of energy to pull this off was staggering, but the Galactics had harnessed the energy of suns in a way that Joel still didn't understand.

Joel and Laura had been spending most of their time on the Moon, working to figure out the logistics for the emigration from Earth. The preparations for the first wave were in such good order that he didn't have much to do anymore but observe. Which was, fine with him.

"Joel, have you thought more about where we should go when this is over, New Earth or Casiti?"

"I don't know whether I think my place is on New Earth, or on Casiti. I know you've been thinking a lot about Casiti."

"I have, and I'm torn. The idea of a yearlong winter..."

Joel smiled. "Well, if we got to snuggle up together for the whole time..."

Laura playfully pushed him, then smiled, and kissed him.

"Well, we'll figure it out."

Dlejon, New Earth, Month 3, Year 28

It was finished, finally. It had taken weeks and weeks of work, of discussions with leaders all over Earth and New Earth. She'd even consulted Jal'end'a on Casiti. She knew that no one would be happy. Even though every single country was getting more actual land than they had on Earth, she knew that it was less than they had expected.

The polar regions would be set aside as global parks. The near-polar regions would be independent zones. Although the climates of those zones matched many parts of the US, Canada, China and Russia in the early to late spring, depending on the altitude and latitude, they were colder than any part of the rest of New Earth and had very few of the standard food plants. In order for people to live there at all, they would have to farm or import food.

The United States would take up the land that was now New America. The ICS had been intransigent, so she had taken away two thirds of its land area, in exchange for making it an independent territory.

The situation with New Aard had been a train wreck. Originally, they had the vision of an Islamic territory, with different regions for different groups. The Arab League, as well as several countries outside of the League, had insisted on a nationalistic scenario, with each nation having its own space within New Aard. The New Aard leadership was adamant that there still be some space to allow settlements by Islamic sect. Marianne had compromised by expanding the size of New Aard, and let them hash it out. She didn't want to have anything to do with it. She worried about the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and other religious groups inside of majority Muslim countries. She had set aside sections of the NCIZ that were currently unsettled to give to them, if they wished.

The large group of native and indigenous tribes had been given a very large territory west of the SCIZ and south of Dlejon, and they were going to figure out collectively how to divide up the land. She didn't want to be in any of those meetings, either.

The rest of the territories were given to the rest of the countries of the world in a way that didn't really satisfy Marianne's aesthetic, but which ended up being the fairest. The area was divided into regions with the natural borders like rivers and mountains. Just west of the ICS and New America was "North and Central America" which didn't, of course, have the United States. Below that was South America. West of North and Central America was "Europe and the Middle East" which was a bit strange, because the only Middle Eastern country in that region was Israel. Palestine was going to be part of New Aard. Africa was south of the Indus River, north of Lake Maracaibo, and east of the expanded New Aard. Asia was south of Europe, and Russia straddled both regions.

Countries and borders were very roughly analogous in shape with their Earth counterparts, but that wasn't always possible. Her AI had been invaluable in helping her make the borders, without it, she wouldn't have been able to figure it out without a lot of help. She had been really happy when one of Torf'ki's team had finally gotten an AI into her workflow. It made all of the difference in the world.

She was sitting with Ja'el, looking over the map for the last time, before she sent it to everyone.

"I know you aren't happy with it."

"Love, I wouldn't be happy with any map, I realize. But I'm as happy about it as I can be. I'm just bracing myself for the universal backlash."

"You might be surprised. Yes, there will be a backlash, but I think that more people than you think will be happy that it's done, and happy that they know what things will look like. And my bet is that the native people will be very happy with what you've given them."

"That is true, indeed. I might as well get this over with." She got up and went to her desk, and spoke to her AI. "Send, please the map set to the predetermined list."

Her AI's voice responded. "Map set sent."

Ankara, Turkey, March 20, 2027

Diana pondered the current situation as she rode in the back of her limo on the way to the press conference. The final maps of New Earth had just been made public. Diana had been warned by Marianne via a recorded video message, as well as some assorted addenda to the maps that others didn't get. She knew ahead of time what was coming. She'd heard from the leaders of most countries, and their governments were surprisingly satisfied with the final maps, and were already putting logistics in place for emigration from Earth. The Arab League and other countries that were majority Muslim, like Turkey, were happily splitting up the land given them collectively. Diana thought that Marianne and the Casitians had done a good job of weighing all of the priorities, and, ultimately, making everyone happy because no one was more happy than anyone else.

What took Diana and other world leaders by complete surprise was the uproar created when the maps went public. Diana suspected that the primary issue was not the maps themselves, but that the maps made their predicament real in a way that it somehow hadn't been yet. People saw exactly what their options were for leaving Earth, and they began to understand they needed to make plans, and they didn't much like that.

The people that were the least happy were those in the island nations of the world. Diana could certainly understand that. There were no islands of any substance on New Earth, because there were no oceans. The largest lakes, which were very large by Earth standards - larger than the Great Lakes, had some islands, but they were quite small.

The car slowed, and then stopped. Her security detail opened the door for her, and she walked inside a phalanx of security personnel into the building where the press conference was held. She had a small speech to give, and then she'd take questions. She wasn't much looking forward to this.

As she walked into the large room, she saw more press than she'd seen in a very long time in one place. Many were familiar: they were from her press corps. Many were unfamiliar. It reminded her of that first press conference 15 years ago when the existence of the Casitians and the Galactic Community was announced.

There was a bit of commotion as she walked in, and then a hush began to fall over the room as she walked up to the podium. She waited a moment while people settled in, and the teleprompter started to roll her speech.

"It has been a very momentous time in the history of our planet. We are faced, finally, with the reality of our lives. We must leave. The first wave of colony ships are in orbit, slated to leave in just a few months with the first emigrants, those with families on New Earth, and those who will be serving in a variety of capacities to help build infrastructure, governments, and settlements. There are teams of Terrans and Casitians working together on Casiti to build the structures needed for the emigrants to Casiti.

All global citizens have decisions to make. Join your country in emigrating to New Earth, find or start an independent settlement in the Independent Zones of New Earth, or choose to emigrate to Casiti, to either Loc'deher, or Jul'when. I know that these decisions are hard. They will be made individually, and by family. We will endeavor to provide each global citizen with all of the information they need to make the right decision for them and for their families.

It will be a long, as well as a very short ten years until December of 2037, our deadline to leave Earth. Each of us, not just those in the governments of Earth, have important roles to play to make sure that this evacuation is orderly and without conflict.

I will take your questions, now. Uh, Jim."

"Thank you President Westinghouse-Lewis. One of the things we have heard is that many nations are telling their citizens that they have no choice but to immigrate to the same country on New Earth. What is your response to that?"

"With the new global government, every citizen of the Earth has certain rights. Those rights include the right to emigrate from their country of origin to somewhere else. Although there will not be the same kind of global government on New Earth, those rights are still in place during the evacuation process. This means that any citizen can choose to emigrate anywhere on New Earth or Casiti.

Practically, though, since most countries and territories on New Earth will not be accepting immigrants other than those from their Earth counterparts, it means that people going to New Earth have the choice to immigrate to the independent zones, or evacuate with their country. We are adamant that each global citizen has that right."

"Madame President, if I may, a follow up?"

"Certainly, Jim."

"How can you make sure that global citizens can exercise that right? What if I am a citizen of Turkey, for instance, and I want to go to one of the independent zones?"

"The colony ships are not going to be divided by country. For instance, if a person wanted to emigrate to the North Circum-polar IZ, they would sign up on the global evacuation website, and they would be given their colony ship assignment. Shuttles will be leaving from all over the world, picking people up where necessary. Local governments won't have a say in how this happens. Next question, please. Madelyn."

"Madame President, the maps have a very large area for Native American tribes, and other indigenous tribes in South America and Oceania. Our analysis shows that based on current census figures, those regions will have about 1/5 or less the density of other areas of New Earth. Why is this?"

"These peoples have requested their own space, so that they may live autonomously again after hundreds of years. They wished to live close to the land, in a largely hunter/gatherer mode. In order for that to be possible, we needed to give them more land per person than other regions. Please remember, the population density of New Earth is already going to be very much less than it is here on Earth. Next question... over there in the blue shirt – I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Thank you Madame President. Gerhard Gronewald, Die Burger, Cape Town, South Africa. We have come to understand that there is a request from the African Union to allow the African region to be divided not by country but by tribal allegiance. Is this true?"

"Yes, Mr. Gronewald, this is true. There is an upcoming meeting in Kinshasa, which will try to hammer out agreements between the tribal leaders and the nations. I don't know what will come of this, but I expect there will be room for settlements based on tribal affiliation as well as nationality. Next question... yes, Katherine."

"Madame President, there has been some consternation about the fact that there will be no equivalent map building process for the two continents that we are settling on Casiti. Can you explain, please?"

"Of course. Casiti has its own system of government, and although the two continents that we will settle don't have many Casitian residents, those immigrants will abide by the system of government that the Casitians have."

"A follow up, if you please?"

Diana nodded.

"So how will people be settled on Casiti? Based on what?"

"That's a very good question, and I don't yet have an answer to it. Earth humans can choose which continent they wish to emigrate to, but the Casitians have not yet determined how new emigrants will be settled. That is up to them."

There was a big murmur in the room. Diana could tell that didn't sit well with this group. There were some more questions, mostly, at this point mundane. She wrapped things up, and left the building. As she was riding in the car back to her house, she was thinking that it would be a very long ten years.

Jul'when, Casiti, 85 Paqn 784

Chin had been impressed by how much the Casitians had been able to put together in the first Jul'when settlement. Each of the team members had their own dwelling, there were a few community buildings, and there were about 20 large greenhouses already built. Hetl'zef, who she'd just met a few days ago when they arrived, had mentioned that there were very few large greenhouses on Casiti, because most people grew their own food. Any large greenhouses that existed were used for testing of new techniques and such, not for growing food for anyone.

Chin knew that Hetl’zef had realized that it was unlikely that all of the Earth immigrants would be able to start growing their own food immediately, so they needed to start some food production facilities in order to feed everyone at first. Chin thought that one function of the agronomy team could be to hold classes and teach people how to grow their food both outside during the growing season, as well as indoors year round. She made a mental note to tell him about her idea next time she saw him.

Chin looked around her dwelling. She never expected to live somewhere that felt so luxurious. It wasn't an especially big space, although it was far larger than her small apartment in Beijing. It had a nice circular central room, with other rooms off of the circle. The whole dwelling was a large circle. On one side of the large central room was a beautiful dining table. She couldn't identify what it was made of, but it was clearly made with care. Near the table was the door to the kitchen, which also led to the door of her own small greenhouse, and the door to the back, which would have the garden. There were already structures in place on the ground for raised beds, although it would be more than an Earth year before she could use them.

On the other side of the room was a set of very comfortable chairs and a couch, and beyond that was the door to her bedroom, which had a large panoramic window looking out across the plain. There was also a desk in the large room, with a well hidden computer system with an AI and display screens.

She knew that most of her time in the next few months would be to help create the plans for food production so that when the first wave of Earth humans arrived, there would be something for them to eat, both Earth crops and Casitian crops. One of Chin's interests was how best to grow both Earth and Casitian crops in the same ground. Hetl'zef and others had done some work in this area years ago when the first Earth crops made their way to Casiti, but they had been working with a very limited number. They eventually wanted to know about how a much wider range of crops could grow here. They had traveled with the largest supply of seeds and seedlings to ever leave Earth. Of course, much larger supply would be leaving Earth for New Earth shortly.

San Francisco, Earth, July 19, 2027

Patricia's suitcases were sitting in the hall. She had set up the taxi ride to the airport for 3:00, about 20 minutes from now. She'd be picking up the shuttle to the colony ship carrying her to New Earth. It was with reluctance she was leaving now, and with some reluctance she was going to New Earth. The Presiding Bishop had asked her to emigrate to New Earth as part of the first wave, to begin the process of setting up the Episcopal Church in New America. She would be going with a small group of clergy and diocese staff to set up the office, and start to prepare the way for churches to be moved or started.

She sat on the front pew, looking at the lit candles. Her church would still function. The associate priest would take her place until there were no more parishioners. Then he would himself emigrate. Patricia had been thinking she wanted to move to Casiti, but when her bishop made this request, she felt she could not refuse her. She hoped that someday she could at least visit Casiti, if not retire there. She felt that there was so much she wanted to learn from them.

She entered a time of prayer, asking for wisdom and clarity, patience and peace. She sat in silence until she heard a car horn coming from the front of the building. She got up, picked up her bags, and was soon on her way to the airport.

Colony Ship, Earth Orbit, July 20, 2027

Gita sat in her chair, fidgeting. It was going to be a long trip, if she was this restless the whole time. It would take them about 45 hours to get from Earth to New Earth, then probably another 10 hours to get off of the colony ship, finally. She had been on one of the first shuttle trips up to the ship, so she'd sat in her seat, or paced, for hours already before the ship finally left orbit. She turned on her tablet, and started to read some of the preparatory material she had been given.

She thought that the colony ships were not designed for comfort. They were little more than human cattle cars. After a moment, she reconsidered. Her chair was certainly bigger and more comfortable than any airline seat she'd sat in, except perhaps that First Class trip she got to take once to Singapore.

The colony ship was enormous, full of rows and rows of seats with people. There were 100,000 people on this ship, a number which boggled her mind. She knew that there were few places on Earth where that many people would even fit. It was like she was riding a stadium in space. She couldn't see all of them, because the ship was divided into about 50 compartments. But she certainly could see a lot of people, many of whom seemed as restless as she.

There was a very large viewscreen that everyone could see. It showed the view outside the ship. There were one thousand ships leaving at the same time, and the juxtaposition of the Earth and a number of ships around them was frankly spectacular. It helped her to really feel the enormity of the project they were undertaking.

Gita, along with everyone on this particular ship, was going to New Earth to serve. To help create the structures that will be needed for everyone else immigrating. She had been recruited to serve as an undersecretary in Diana Westinghouse-Lewis' cabinet. She was responsible for setting up the communications system that the New Earth global government would need. It was a daunting task, but she felt up to it, and she had a large team of people at her disposal to help implement. She was glad that she was more of a technical bureaucrat this time around, rather than taking a diplomatic role.

She was looking forward to seeing Marianne again. She hadn't seen her since Marianne left for Casiti, at the very end of the Casitian Crisis. A lot had happened to Gita since then. She'd divorced her husband and her daughters had graduated from college, and started lives of their own. She knew that both of them wanted to emigrate to Casiti. She hadn't had a substantive conversation with her husband in years. He had taken her initial involvement in the Casitian communications team as a betrayal, which she didn't understand. He answered that perceived betrayal with one of his own - he had an affair. That had ended their marriage of 10 years.

Gita was looking forward to settling down to a new life in a new place. The world capital had been identified as New Orleans, which because of its location had already evolved into a cosmopolitan city, with consulates for settlements, large and small. She had been given quarters in a new neighborhood of New Orleans, specially built for the incoming diplomatic and technical corps of the new global government.

She got up and went to an area she knew she could find some refreshments. There was a line ahead of her, and somewhat harried people serving up food from unfamiliar equipment. She saw a basket on the side of the counter that had the label "magic Casitian sleeping pills. Will knock you out for 8 hours straight, no side effects!" She grabbed a couple of packages. This would help a lot.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 1, Year 29

Kurt walked into the office for his morning meeting with Valorie. She was already busy at work – had been probably since very early. She was one of those people who worked during the entire time of New Earth's almost 23 hours of daylight, and then napped, and worked a few number of hours during the night, then slept to start a new day. Having a day that was twice as long as Earth's day was proving difficult for many people to adjust to, and it seemed that people adjusted differently. It appeared that people who were born on New Earth naturally stayed awake for much of the daylight, and slept for a large portion of the night. Kurt had begun to adopt his boss' schedule, which made their work easier.

"Good morning, Kurt, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine, Valorie. How are you today?"

"Nervous. I know that on the docket this morning is my first meeting with the U.S. President's office to start mapping out the transition. I have a feeling, just based on the little bit of correspondence we've already done, is that they are expecting to just waltz in here and take over. We've just gotten our feet under us here, with the government finally, really working. I don't want to throw all of that away."

"Just remember what Marianne said, Valorie. New Earth governmental entities have priority because we've been here on the ground for 18 Earth years. We know the realities of what needs to be done. We know the infrastructure issues. We know the relationships between territories."

Valorie nodded. "I know, but it’s just that I think convincing them is going to be difficult."

"Agreed. But we'll do what we can. Our initial meetings with them are from 3rd to 6th hours, then we are giving them lunch in the gardens, and then they are splitting up, meeting with the infrastructure, communication, agriculture, and business committees. 8th hour you have a meeting with the ambassador from New Aard. 8:30 you have a meeting with your Secretary of Health."

Kurt continued the daily litany of meetings, and preparations for them. Sometimes, the work felt tedious, like now. But then there were always moments of everyday when he realized why he did this work, and why he enjoyed working with Valorie so much. He imagined the meetings with the U.S. President's office to be one of those moments.

They continued to discuss the day, when he heard a knock, and saw his aide poke her head in the door.

"Kurt, Valorie, the U.S. delegation is here."

"Well, let's show them in, shall we?"

Five people entered the room, four men and one woman. They all wore suits. Kurt stifled a laugh. He'd completely forgotten that those were the standard attire in the US government. Between the weight restrictions, the need to dress practically for the relative warmth of New Earth, and the rugged life that the settlers initially lived, Kurt guessed that there were exceedingly few suits on New Earth. Until now.

The man in the front stuck out his hand. "President Lira. I'm Kenneth Tirrel, Transition Director for the Office of the President of the United States."

Valorie shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. Please call me Valorie, everyone does. We don't so much go on formality here, as you can see."

"President Lira, I want to make one thing clear, before we start. This transition is the process of simply moving the U.S. government as it is on Earth, to New Earth. I'm glad you've had your time to be all informal and do whatever it is you wanted, but we've got 200 million people coming here, and this is very serious. We know how to run a real government."

Valorie took a moment. Kurt knew Valorie. Kurt knew that she was going to let them have it. He was looking forward to it.

"Kenneth, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Kenneth looked surprised, and shook his head. "No, I don't mind."

"How is polio transmitted?"

"Excuse me?"

"How is polio transmitted?"

"How the hell would I know that?"

"Polio was our worst epidemic, but it's gone now, so it's not that important. How about this question: how many Tulip trees can one person sustainably use in a lifetime?"

"What is a Tulip tree?"

"OK, never mind. What about this: how many people can an acre of wild land support at 45 degree latitude?"

Kenneth was silent.

"What methodologies exist for growing soybeans on New Earth soil? What do you think?"

He was still silent.

"How many train, truck and bus lines have we been able to build between New American cities? What capacities does our electric grid have, and how can we expand it? Or, let's see... what's the current relationship of New America with New Aard? New America and the Independent Zones? What forms of currency have we been using, and what are the exchange rates with other New Earth currencies? What is our balance of trade with other territories?"

As Valorie peppered Kenneth with the questions, Kurt could see his face get redder and redder. Kurt could tell she was enjoying herself.

"I get your point, President Lira."

"No, actually, Kenneth, I don't think you do. New Earth is not Earth. New America is not the United States, not yet. I am completely committed to a smooth transition from the governmental systems that we currently have in place, to one collaboratively created between our government and yours, and to a full democratic system for all citizens who will eventually live within our borders. You will have to live with the reality that two thirds of what you expect to 'simply move', will just not work here. I know that we have less than a million people here. But these people know what it's like to survive and thrive on a totally different planet, with no Galactic support. That is something you have no idea how to do."

Kenneth was still fuming, but the woman who had been with them stepped forward and put out her hand.

"Valorie, I want to introduce myself. My name is Wanda Holden. I am from the Department of Agriculture, and it is my job to make sure we can feed everyone when they get here. Our prepared agenda for this morning's meeting is clearly inadequate. I suggest that we go to the conference room, where we and our aides can hash out a proper agenda, and get this process started."

Valorie smiled, and Kurt saw in Wanda someone he knew they could work with. He wondered about Kenneth. Kurt even sensed something sensitive in him. He seemed all bluster, but no bite. Well, they'd see, wouldn't they?

Capital, Hilcyon, Cfro 35 1160

After the minister completed his last sentence, Jurrl looked at him with contempt. He was weak. That was the only thing he knew to say. Jurrl never liked ministers. They spent their time in big buildings praying to the Kinder Exalted King with women. They sang stupid songs. They served a necessary function in Kinder society, Jurrl knew, but he didn't have to like it. The chief minister seemed to worst. The most soft.

"I don't care who starves."

"Supreme Chief, you must. The lack of food from the Central Valley has meant that the number of children dying this moon has dramatically increased. If this continues, we will not be able to maintain our population."

"During war there are always casualties. This will end, eventually. Please leave. I have much work to do."

The minister turned and left, his robes swishing after him, Jurrl's contempt for him followed out the door.

A throat cleared, and Jurrl turned. "Yes, Willm?"

"Sir, First Chief Cntol is waiting to see you."

"Show him in, please."

Cntol was the War First Chief that took over when Hjryg, the previous War Chief was killed in battle several days ago. Hjryg took over after Grly, the initial War First Chief was killed a couple of moons ago. Jurrl had been frustrated by the lack of success of these Chiefs. No new territory had been taken. No damage had been inflicted on the enemy. The only result had been the death of more than 400 men on their side, plus the thousands hungry because both the Central Valley and the Upper Highlands had stopped all food shipments of food to everywhere on Hilcyon. Everywhere, except the Desert Quadrant. Jurrl had asked Hjryg and Cntol both for plans to attack the Desert Quadrant and the Upper Highlands, but they both felt that the cost would be far too high. Jurrl felt that the cost was never too high.

Cntol walked in, slowly, limping. He clearly had gotten injured in the last campaign.

"Cntol, what news?"

"Supreme Chief Jurrl..." Jurrl saw him hesitate.

"Go on!"

"Supreme Chief Jurrl, I recommend we stand down, and agree to the truce conditions."

"What?"

"We have lost another ..."

"I don't care how many more men you have lost. We will prevail!"

"We cannot, it just isn't possible. I've run all of the scenarios..."

"Are you challenging my leadership?" He could see Cntol cower.

"No, Supreme Chief, it's just..."

"Then go back out there, and win this war. No excuses."

Cntol looked at Jurrl, seemed to pull himself together, and turned and limped out of the office, saying nothing more. Jurrl started to think who he would put into Cntol's place when the time came.

Capital, Hilcyon, Mrontl 3 1160

Jurrl looked down at the treaty on his desk. 45% of all food production guaranteed from both the Central Valley and the Upper Highlands. In exchange for a guaranteed water supply, and to remain unmolested by the Supreme Chief or Supreme Minister. Treaty was written to last for 200 years. Jurrl wondered why that length of time. It didn't matter. It was his only option.

The war had been costly to his side. He lost six First Chiefs, and more than a thousand good men. Thousands of people starved to death without the food shipments. Thousands more who lived downstream of the Central Valley's water supply died of thirst when they shut the water off.

Perhaps he should have listened to Cntol. He took out his favorite pen, signed his name, and waited for Willm to come to take the treaty to the other side.

New Richmond, New Earth, Month 1, Year 29

The spaceport in New Richmond had a kind of architecture Beatrice was beginning to see more of all over New Earth. It was of Casitian origin. Next to the large structure was a wide tarmac, where shuttles would land.

Beatrice and her mother stood on the second floor of the spaceport terminal and watched the shuttle land and saw a stream of people leaving, and entering the terminal. They walked downstairs to meet her grandmother. She didn't know if she'd even recognize her grandmother. It had been more than 13 Earth years since she'd seen her last. They were among a large crowd of people, and they were lined up along the edge of the area that the passengers were entering from the outside. She looked at her mother, who was fidgeting, and looking at the stream of passengers entering. Finally, Beatrice saw a dark-skinned, short, stout woman with very short gray hair, walking with a cane. At that moment, her mother ran toward her. Ah, that was grandmother. Beatrice followed.

"Yo! And Let... no, Beatrice! Oh my God, you are..."

"I'm an adult, now, grandma."

They all hugged each other. Yolanda took her mother's small bag.

"Where's the rest of your luggage, Mom?"

"Apparently, we'll have to wait for a couple of days for them to offload the cargo. I left your address. They said they would deliver it."

"Well, then, let's go home."

"Where's Marianne? And Leticia?"

"Well, Mom, you know Marianne. She's busy running things. She said she'd be here later today And Leticia and her partner Mira are on their way down right now from New Calgary, where she lives. She'll be here later today. We'll have a big family reunion, and of course, a feast tonight when everyone gets here."

"I'm glad to be here, Yolanda. I missed you all."

They walked out of the terminal, to the tram station, and got on a very crowded tram to their neighborhood.

"Mom, how was the colony ship?"

"It was like a flying stadium, Yo. It was just amazing. I slept for a lot of the trip, except I had the unfortunate luck of being seated among a group of people headed for the ICS. I didn't know that until I let it slip that you'd lived in the ICS, then left."

"Uh oh."

"They were unpleasant. I was sort of surprised that anyone from Earth would still want to go to the ICS, but apparently some of them stayed behind to, in their words, 'convert the heathen left on Earth.'"

"Oh, my. I'm sorry, Mom."

"I won't go into any more of what they said. It was pretty horrible. Not very Christian."

"Well, Mom, they'll probably be happy in the ICS. It's a pretty horrible place."

"I'm glad you left, Yolanda."

They finally arrived at their stop, and walked to their house.

"This is a little small, isn't it?"

"Mom, everything is smaller here. There's plenty of room. You'll have your own room."

"Where are you living these days, Beatrice?"

"I'm about to leave tomorrow to spend some time traveling, grandma. I don't quite know where I'll settle down, yet. Might be here, but it might be somewhere else."

"Tomorrow? I won't have much time to see you, then!"

"Grandma, I'll be visiting all the time, don't worry."

Stanley opened the door to the house as they walked up.

"Stanley! So good to see you!"

"Mrs. Michaelson, it's been too long. Come in, come in."

Lecheguilla Cave, New Mexico, Earth, August 1, 2027

Joanne turned her headlight toward the left. "OK, I think this is the right spot. I see the marker Kevin left us."

Joanne led the small group forward, deeper into the cave. This part was easy, it was relatively smooth walking, and the roof of the cave in this section was fairly high. For four long hours before getting here, they had a very difficult climb down and squeezed through many narrow sections, and even had to crawl on all fours at times. Ahead was the very deep cavern where they would store their stuff and live for a long time until the Galactics left.

This cave was strictly off-limits to the public, but one of their members was a speleologist, and had been given special access to this cave. They had chosen to enter the cave in a very remote area where few visitors or park service rangers ever went.

It was a brutal trip. They met in El Paso Texas, which had the airport they all flew into. They picked up a rental SUV, and drove the 3 hours to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. They then had to drive for another hour to the spot where they parked the SUV. They then hiked for 2 hours to the entrance to the cave. From there, it was grueling 4 hour trip to this large cavern. If she wasn't utterly convinced that this would work, she didn't think it would be worth it.

They would have to slowly bring all of their equipment and food for the estimated 6 month waiting period by hand. It would probably take them the whole 10 years to do it. There was a lot of space in the cavern - enough for 100 people and their equipment and food. They would have to rig latrines of some sort, as well as sleeping quarters and living areas. Their speleologist was helping them to do this in a way that would limit the damage to the cave system, but some amount of damage was inevitable.

This particular cave system was chosen because it was the deepest in the US, and this cavern was the deepest large area of its size that was accessible. The physicists and geologist in their group assured everyone that the cavern was far too deep for the Casitian technology to find them. They would make sure to cover their tracks when they entered the cave for the hiding period. Their current plan was to hire drivers who were bound for New Earth to drop them off, and drive the cars back to the city.

Joanne looked about the cavern. Yes, she thought, this was a good place. This would work.

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 2, Year 25

Beatrice started her story, while Ngellin listened.

"Pkygy had a grandmother, whose name was Dbor. He loved to spend time with her, helping her bake bread, bringing in wood for her hearth when she could not. Her husband had died many years before, and she had only daughters, so all of her children left home to join the households of their husbands, and she was left alone. Pkygy's mother lived the closest – only a few houses away, and his mother was happy to have Pkygy take care of Dbor.

"Pkygy was with her in the last days of her life, and she had told him of her secret writing. He promised to burn all of the writing, and never tell anyone about it. After she died, he was going to fulfill his promise. He found the chest that was shoved into the corner of the closet of her house – there were a few undergarments laid on top, but underneath he could see thousands of sheets of paper.”

Beatrice and Ngellin were sitting comfortably across from one another in Ngellin's living room, mugs of what passed for Kinder tea in their hands. Beatrice was telling him the story of her late husband. Ngellin was listening with rapt attention. He thought it was an amazing story.

"He gathered up a few loads of wood, and started a roaring fire, ready to burn the writing, but he sat down at the table next to the fire, and took a few sheaves of paper, and started to read. Many hours later, he told me, the fire was still burning, as he kept feeding it wood, not paper. He cried and cried. He couldn't possibly burn these writings. But he could do nothing with them. His family would be shamed horribly if anyone knew that his grandmother Dbor had written all of this.

"The stories felt to him like the door he had always been looking for, the way to find somehow else to feel, somewhere else to be, something else to do. He felt that these stories had to be heard and read. The only way he knew how to do that, was to tell people that he had written them.

"He decided to start with one of the most innocuous seeming of stories. This was the story of a Second Chief, and his loyalty to his First Chief, and the sacrifices that he makes. It seemed innocuous on the surface, but if you scratched it, it was a deep questioning of the way things are. He published that story first.

"She had other stories. She explored the Breft. The Breft who disliked order. The Breft who scoffed at the Exalted King's wishes for them – who, in fact, did not even believe in the Exalted King.

"Dbor had written stories that explored what life would be like without the strictures of Kinder life. What would it mean if women could operate machines? Or spend their time looking at the stars? Pkygy thought that she poured all of her longing for a different life into the pages, creating new characters.

"One character that she created was named 'Elfer.' Elfer was a woman who chose not to marry or have children. Elfer was a healer and teacher. She imagined Elfer's education, and Elfer's life. She wrote about Elfer taking lovers. She wrote about Elfer traveling from town to town, city to city, healing those who needed her help, and teaching more to heal as she did.

"Elfer was the story that ended it all for Pkygy. It was the story that his Chiefs finally could not tolerate. It's how he was sentenced to the mine."

Ngellin had been watching Beatrice talk, as she told the story in an animated way. There was something in the way she talked that reminded him of the better things of the Kinder, somehow, even though he well knew she was born here, and spent only a few years with the Kinder.

"Beatrice, thank you for the story. I would love to help you translate this writing into English."

"So you can do it?"

"Well, not alone. I never learned to write English. So basically, in order to translate it, we would have to work together. I would read the Kinder writing aloud, and we both would translate, and you would write the English."

"That would work. I would like that, Ngellin. When should we start?"

"Why don't we start first thing tomorrow? It's getting late, and I'm sure after such a long trip on the river, you are pretty tired."

"Tomorrow sounds good. Thank you. I have enjoyed your company. It is nice to meet more Kinder who are like my husband, and those I met and worked with to reform things. I often think of them, and wonder if they are alive, and how they are dealing with the current realities."

They rose from the table.

"I know it is not custom for Kinder to hug, but I thought..."

Ngellin smiled. "I have gotten used to new things, Beatrice. I would love a hug."

They shared a clasp-armed hug, and said their goodbyes for the evening. Beatrice was staying at the small guest house in the center of the Kinder settlement that always housed visitors.

Ngellin was pensive after Beatrice left. He would enjoy working with her. She was the first woman Ngellin had met so far on this planet that he felt understood him, and he could understand.

Mexico City, Mexico, Earth, August 15, 2027

Raul and Laura sat companionably at an outside table of the restaurant that had a nice view of the Zocalo. It was a gorgeous day, high in the 70s and sunny. Laura was happy to have come down to spend time with her old friend. And she was also happy to get to eat some authentic Mexican food.

"So, what plans do you and Joel have for final emigration?"

"We've been debating that, Raul. Some days he wants to move to Casiti, other days, New Earth. I have those, too, but it seems that we're in those moods on opposite days!"

Raul laughed. Laura went on, "but, recently our Casiti days seem to outnumber the New Earth days. And we got a very warm invitation from Jal’end’a to move to Rel'toro and be a part of the inevitable changes in Casitian culture because of this situation. Both of us like that idea a lot, and we think we actually can be a good influence. Joel can't quite believe he's thinking of moving to Casiti after all of his anger at them over the years. But he's coming around, and he respects Jal'end'a and what she is trying to do. What about you, Raul?"

"My daughters and wife want to move to Casiti. They have fallen in love with this peninsula on the very south western end of Loc'deher, which bears a striking resemblance to Baja, both in shape and in climate."

"Climate? How is that possible?"

"It's one of the few pieces of land on the equator. So it doesn't really have seasons, and thus is also relatively warm all year round. It is also very dry, like Baja."

"Wow. That sounds interesting."

"It does. I am truly ambivalent, so given the desires of my family, we're moving to Loc'deher. When I put in my application, I immediately got an invitation for our family to be part of a group going over there before the first wave to help coordinate the set up. I am torn. There is so much for me to still do here in Mexico for the evacuation, but to be of service on the other end is tempting."

Laura smiled. "I can see why. What do you think?"

Raul had a wide grin on his face. "My wife wins again. She wants to get us there as soon as possible. I love blaming things on her."

They laughed together. Laura all of a sudden heard this strange quiet buzzing noise coming toward them. She looked in the direction of the noise, and saw a disk shaped object, around the size of a Frisbee, making an odd path in mid-air across the street. It looked to her to be galactic technology, but she had no idea what it was. She then saw a Casitian she recognized following the disk.

"Heg'ell!" He turned and looked toward her, then ran over. They hugged.

"Laura! How are you? I haven't seen you in weeks."

"Busy, busy my friend. Although I haven't seen you on Moon station in a while."

"Welen’da has got me on imaging duty. This week is the sector with Mexico City in it."

"Heg'ell, I'd like you to meet my friend, Raul."

"Nice to meet you, Raul. I have to go, Laura, and keep track of my little toy there. I'll be back up on the moon in a couple of weeks. See you there!"

Raul had a puzzled look on his face. "Imaging duty?"

"Ah, yes. Believe it or not, the Casitians are taking incredibly detailed images of every square foot of the surface of Earth. Every square foot. It will be so detailed that things like, well, like the Zocalo could theoretically be recreated so faithfully that no one would know the difference."

"Really?"

Laura nodded. "Yes, really. So for the things we can't move, at least we'll have very faithful copies to view holographically, or eventually, to replicate in physical form."

"That seems good to me. I'll have to visit New Earth and see how they do that."

"They can recreate some things just as well on Casiti, you know."

"I love it. Maybe we'll have two Zocalos!"

New Orleans, New Earth, Month 2, Year 29

Marianne sat in the chair across from Cardinal McGinnis. He was a stout man, with quite the pot belly. He was balding, and had a thin beard that was completely white.

"It was embarrassing. There I was, going to meet with the Governor of the Independent Christian State. How fitting the name was, I thought. That I was the official representative of the pope on New Earth was made clear. The Governor refused to even talk with me, but sent an aide to tell me that the Vatican would not be welcome in the ICS."

"I'm sorry Cardinal. The have become extremely insular of late."

"Yes, apparently so. And the original agreement that was made is apparently null and void. Anyway..." he spread his hands.

"You need a place to locate the Vatican."

"Yes, we do."

Marianne had made contingency plans for just this situation. When Governor Hurler had agreed to have the Vatican locate in the ICS, Marianne had been quite unsure that it would stick when Governor Kramer took over.

"I have just the spot." Marianne smiled.

"You knew this would happen?"

"I suspected it would. There is a small area of land across the Chalcedon River from the ICS, west of the settlement of the Mormons. It's not huge, although it's probably about 100 times the area of the current Vatican, so I'm sure you'll make due."

"Have you spoken more with...?"

"Torf'ki. About recreating St. Peter's Basilica, and the Square?"

He nodded.

"I asked him to give me some reasonable estimates of time, effort and resources. He hasn't gotten back to me yet. He's a busy guy, as you might imagine. I would say don't expect to have any of that recreated before you have the entire people of the Vatican moved."

He looked troubled.

"What's wrong?"

"Marianne, I think you don't quite understand what's at stake, here. The Vatican is only the Vatican because it's... well... the Vatican. It's the holy ground, and holy buildings, not just the people. I don't know what we can possibly do without..."

Marianne leaned forward, and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Cardinal McGinnis, the Vatican is not nearly alone in feeling this. Think about what Muslims are feeling about Mecca. What Hindus are feeling about Varanasi and the Ganges? All people of Earth have to mourn the loss of all that we know. It is a completely devastating reality we are facing. And we all are facing it."

"I understand. I'm sorry. I know we don't get any more special consideration than any others."

New Calgary, New Earth, Month 2, Year 29

Leticia was giving Theresa Bold, the representative of the Global Ministry of Health, successor to the World Health Organization, a tour of their medical school. Leticia decided that she would focus on the studies of indigenous plants, as well as the hospital they had built, which used complimentary, as well as Western medical techniques.

They were walking quietly through the acupuncture and Chinese medicine treatment center, the largest and best in all of New Earth. Leticia had been telling him about how they had incorporated many traditions, such as acupuncture and Ayurveda into the medical school curriculum, while giving students standard grounding in medical science, anatomy, public health, infectious disease and the like.

After they exited the acupuncture center, Leticia suggested that they go to lunch at the school cafeteria. Theresa agreed. After they got their food, they sat down to eat at a table near the large set of windows with a view of the mountains.

"So, Theresa, what are your thoughts about what we've done here?"

"Well, Leticia, I had known that very few physicians had chosen to move to New Earth during the first emigration, but when the wormhole opened again, stories of what you'd accomplished here made their way to me. That you have built such an impressive health care system in both Independent Zones is quite remarkable. And, the way you have melded Western medicine with other traditions is admirable. We actually have some things to learn from you."

Leticia smiled. She was happy that they had made a good impression. One of her biggest fears was that the immigrating medical system would simply override everything they'd worked so hard for. Perhaps that wouldn't be the case.

"Do you have a feeling for how you want to put the new global health care system together?"

"Honestly, Leticia, that's not my role. Because we're reverting to largely autonomous governing of states and territories, each is taking their own path in this. We'll be primarily responsible for the Independent Zones, and in that, we're going to take your lead."

"Take our lead?"

"Yes, take your lead. You have built an infrastructure in the Southern and Northern Independent Zones that we should just build upon. I know that there need to be more hospitals and medical schools, particularly in the North and South Circumpolar IZs. I understand that you are in charge of coordinating the health care infrastructure for the Northern Zone."

Leticia nodded. "I am."

"Well, we have our work cut out for us, don't we?"

Leticia smiled. She couldn't have imagined a better outcome.

Dlejon, New Earth, Month 2, Year 29

Jasmine walked into Marianne’s cabin.

"Thanks for agreeing to see me, Marianne." Marianne looked at the tall, well-muscled woman with very short cropped blond hair.

"Beatrice told me that you were friends, and told me a bit of your story on the asteroid. It must have been quite an experience."

She grimaced. "One I'd rather not discuss."

"Understood. Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you."

Ja'el emerged from the bedroom, and Marianne watched her introduce herself to Jasmine. She also watched Jasmine's response, out of curiosity. Jasmine seemed a bit in awe of Ja'el, but that was not an unusual response.

"So how can I help you, Jasmine?"

"I would like to be considered for immigration to Casiti. I've thought a lot about it, and I feel like that's the right place for me."

"Well, there aren't any plans in place at the moment for emigration from New Earth to Casiti."

"I understand it might be an unusual request."

“Not really. Do you feel like you'd rather live among Earth folk on Jul'when or Loc'deher, or on Rel'toro?"

"Rel'toro, absolutely." Marianne nodded. There was something a little troubling in this young person, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"So tell me more about why you think it's the right place?"

"When we were on Earth, and learned of the Casitians, I actually felt like I'd found the people who I belonged to. I'd always felt like I didn't belong where I was. Everything was so inexplicable. But then you came." She was looking directly at Ja'el.

"Then everything made sense. It was like 'yes, these are my people, I was born on Casiti.' My parents were part of the wave of people leaving for the ICS. I tried to run away before we left, but I was caught."

"My niece did that, too."

"I was miserable. My parents love it, though." She shook her head.

"You could find your home here, Jasmine. Dlejon is a lot like Casiti, but it's not really Casiti. The real Casiti might surprise you."

"I'm prepared for that."

"OK. I'll let you know. But remember, Dlejon will always welcome you."

"Thank you Marianne, I'll keep that in mind."

Marianne watched Jasmine walk out the door. She turned to Ja'el. "What do you think?"

"I'm not sure. She strikes me as someone who has not yet come to peace with what happened to her."

Marianne nodded. "Yes, and I think she needs to come to peace with it before she can go to Casiti."

Chapter 7: The Twelvers

(AP) July 5, 2027

Shia Muslims demand their own states, outside of New Earth's New Aard

Tehran, Iran (AP) -- Shia Muslims are unhappy with the nation-based divisions currently proposed for New Aard, and want their own separate, independent territory outside of New Aard. President Westinghouse-Lewis has made it clear that the current maps, which have expanded regions for the Islamic countries, are the final maps, and any Shia state must be placed inside that region. Marianne Michaelson, who is the architect of the New Earth immigration process, has given the leaders of all Islamic states the power to determine the borders inside that territory.

In a related development, Ismaili Muslims, a minority branch of Shia Islam, demand their own state as well. "If the Shia are given their own state, we wish to have a separate state from the Twelvers." Imam Rahim Ali Tajdin, a very prominent Ismali leader said in a statement. "Twelvers" refer to name given to the majority of Shia Muslims, because they believe that there were 12 spiritual and political successors to Muhammad.

Lecheguilla Cave, New Mexico, Earth, September 12, 2027

They had just finished eating, and were preparing to start setting up some of the new collapsible shelving they had carried down with them, when Joanne heard this very low buzzing noise. She couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

"Quiet, everyone!"

Everyone was still. She kept hearing the noise, but couldn't tell what direction it was from.

"Hear that?"

"Yeah, I hear it. It sounds like it's coming from the north entrance to this cavern."

"North entrance?"

"Yeah, on the far end over there is an entrance. I've been told that it probably leads to the other side of the complex."

"You mean the side that has the main entrance?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. The last expedition down south from the main entrance showed pretty clearly that all passages down south were too small for anyone to travel through."

Joanne relaxed. But she still heard the sound.

"Should we investigate?"

"I guess so."

They got up, and brought one of the big lamps with them toward the northern part of the cavern. They could see nothing, although Joanne could tell the sound was getting louder. They kept going, and in the distance, Joanne could see some very small lights.

"What is that?"

"Let's go see."

All of a sudden, a beam of light came out of an object about the size of a Frisbee, shining away from them, illuminating part of the wall of the cavern.

"What the hell!"

The beam shut off, and the device swung around and the beam shone at them. Joanne shaded her eyes from the glare.

"What is that thing?"

"I have no idea. I think we need to destroy it."

As Joanne started to swing her lamp toward the object, the lights abruptly stopped shining, and the thing emitted a louder noise, and flew north quickly and disappeared.

"Shit, shit, shit. What was that thing?"

"I don't know, but I think we'd better get out of here."

They hurried back to the cavern, and told everyone what happened. They decided that they should leave, in case it came back. They left the shelves and other gear behind, and started to make the long climb and crawl back to the surface.

They emerged into the dim light of dawn. It was cold, and Joanne's sweat started to feel clammy under her clothes. They stopped for a brief break, and Joanne dug an energy bar out of her pack, and started munching.

She turned to Kevin, and said, "what do you think that was?"

"I have no idea, Joanne."

"I wonder if they have any idea what we're doing."

"How could they?"

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 4, Year 25

"Jlroteno erlywot ghtnazi nn brizil ..."

"Would that be translated as 'mouth took in her chest'? That can't be right, I've never heard that group of words put together."

Ngellin was embarrassed. He hoped that Beatrice hadn’t noticed. The right translation of this phrase was actually, 'lips brought to her breast.' Ngellin had read the rest of the sentence silently, and it clearly was the beginning of an explicit love scene between two women. No wonder Pkygy got arrested for publishing it.

He wasn't embarrassed because of the content of the story. He was embarrassed because he had known for weeks now that he had deep feelings for Beatrice that he hadn't shared with her. And translating a love scene with her was excruciating.

"Beatrice, can we take a break? We've been working for several hours today, and my stomach is grumbling."

He looked up at Beatrice, and saw her smile. He loved her smile. Every time he saw her smile, his heart did a little dance in his chest.

"Of course, Ngellin."

"Oh, I almost forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

Ngellin got up from the table, and went into the kitchen and put the breadmufs that were rising into the oven.

"It's a surprise," he called from the kitchen. "Let me make dinner."

"Do you want help?"

"No, it's OK, I've got it. It's a pretty simple dinner. I've been really liking the new Earth plants I've been growing in my garden. We'll have a tomato and onion salad, some greens, and I made some beans and rice. And my surprise."

"Beans and rice? Really. Ngellin, you've really been learning to cook Earth food."

"It's hard not to. I love it. It's like the food I've been missing all my life."

"I've heard Casitians say that discovering Earth food was such a huge change in their lives."

"I believe it."

They talked companionably while Ngellin cooked dinner. When it was done, he brought it all into the main room. Beatrice had cleared off the table.

"The silverware, plates and napkins are on the counter, there."

Beatrice went in to get them. They sat down, and started to eat.

"Mmmm, Ngellin, this is wonderful. Such good food. You are a great cook. I'm not much of a cook. I would have been a pretty big disaster on Hilcyon if Pkygy hadn't been such a sweetheart."

"Beatrice, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course not, Ngellin."

"Do you still mourn Pkygy?"

Beatrice looked at him, and his heart threatened to melt.

"No, Ngellin. I don't. It's been a long time, now. I think of him sometimes, but I no longer mourn him. I'm glad he was in my life. I feel some regret that I never got to tell him I loved him. I vowed never to make that mistake again."

Ngellin heard the timer ping.

"Just a second."

He pulled out the breadmufs from the oven, and dropped them in the basket, and covered them with a cloth napkin. He grabbed two wine glasses, and the bottle of Kinder wine his friend had started making.

"Ta da!" He ceremoniously put all of that on the table.

"Ngellin, what's the surprise?"

He uncorked the bottle, and poured the thick, brown liquid. He whisked the napkin from off the breadmufs.

"Some relatively authentic Kinder wine and breadmufs."

"Ngellin, you are so sweet. This is wonderful!"

Ngellin watched her face as she bit into the breadmuf. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"It reminds me of the breadmufs that this woman Krely used to make. Very good Ngellin. I'm impressed. The spices are a little different, but they are wonderful."

"Ngellin, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

Beatrice reached her hand across the table to touch his.

"I think you are an amazing man. You come from Hilcyon, and yet you have shown such tenderness and thoughtfulness and you’ve been willing to show your creative side. It’s all a pretty amazing package, Ngellin. I am falling in love with you."

Ngellin was speechless for a moment. He wasn't quite sure what to say.

"If you don't..."

"Beatrice, I ... I have been hiding from you a secret for the last several weeks. The truth is, I fell in love with you when I first met you."

New Islamabad, New Aard, New Earth, Month 1, Year 29

"I can't do anything." Olam was working hard to get this group of people to understand his predicament. "Until the internal borders of New Aard are finalized, I can't determine the proper placement of settlements and cities, or work with the Casitians on how to build the infrastructure. It's just not possible."

Olam was exhausted. He had been in hours and hours of meetings with his colleagues in the New Aard government, as well as representatives of many countries newly arrived from Earth. He felt that Marianne giving them full power to draw boundaries inside the expanded New Aard territory was both blessing and curse. Today, he thought it was mostly curse. And, cynically, he thought that most of what Marianne had done was dodge a bullet. He thought sardonically, that it might have been the bullet that finally did her in.

Olam was silent, as the others went back and forth and back and forth. The demands of the Shia and Ibadi Muslims were tossed around, as were the varied priorities of each country represented. Olam almost wished they would just divide the thing up by population. All thought in his brain came to a complete, total halt. Of course! Population!

"Excuse me." Olam interrupted the conversation, not really caring who he was stepping on.

"What?"

"Wouldn't it make our lives a lot easier if we simply divided up the available space by the number of people?"

He looked at his tablet. "Look we have about 30 billion acres of land in the expanded New Aard. The latest census of New Aard population plus the populations of all Muslims on Earth comes to approximately 1.7 billion. That's 17.4 acres per person, roughly. We take every entity that wants space. We allocate to that entity, based upon census figures, the number of acres appropriate. For instance, the Shia would get about 2 billion acres, the Ibadi about 100 million. Anyway, does that make sense?"

They all looked at him like he was crazy. This wasn't going to be a good day.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 4, Year 29

"Let's see, the farm belt here..." Valorie pointed to a swath of land in the far west section of New America, near a rich valley full of rivers and streams.

"Yes, we'll need to make place the railroad lines through here..." Wanda pointed to a set of settlements that were fairly far apart from each other, east of the proposed farm belt.

"Sounds like a great plan. I'll let the farm team know where they can go to get started. The Casitians have these great pre-fab dwellings we can place the farmers in to begin with. We'll get the railroad lines extruded as soon as possible. It's amazing what the Casitian technicians can do with asteroids. Basically, they bring an asteroid to the surface, attach this thing to it, and ... out comes whatever you want. It's a bit astonishing."

Wanda chucked. "We need astonishing, Valorie."

"Indeed we do. Look, I think we've done way too much for tonight. I usually have a small snack and tea before 2nd sleep. Interested in joining me?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Just a second."

Her aides were gone for the night. She ducked out of the oval office into a side office that had the refrigerator, and tea kettle and such. She put together the snacks as the water for tea boiled. She brought in a tray with two small tea kettles, cups, and an assortment of snacks for both of them. She placed them on her coffee table.

"Please, help yourself."

Wanda smiled. "You know, I've been here for months, and I still sometimes get caught short remembering you’re the President. It's such a different atmosphere than Washington. I like it a lot."

"Speaking of the Washington atmosphere, how is Kenneth doing?"

"He's pretty unhappy, and is sure Kurt thinks he's a jerk."

"Kurt doesn't think that at all, you know."

"I know. But I don't think Kenneth can see that. And Kenneth has built up a kind of defense system to get where he is, and he doesn't know how to let go of it. I do think he understands that he needs to, in order to get by here. His father's suicide made things even worse."

"Give it some time. And, if I know Kurt, he'll help."

Moon Station, September 14, 2027

Dwight was having more fun than he'd had in a long, long time. Not since the Casitian Crisis had he felt so involved with things. Joel had asked him to head up a small task force whose role was to track and potentially infiltrate as many groups as they could who planned to try and stay behind. He was given the resources of the global police force, INTERPOL, and lots of cool Casitian/Galactic gear. He was using his own knowledge of organizing, and the fringe groups that he used to be a part of.

His special interest was the group headed by the former marine mammologist Joanne Henry. They'd found out where the secret IRC meetings were happening, and had managed to hack into the server, and had full logs of all meetings. The basic strategy with all these groups was to let them go ahead and choose their hiding place, which then would be sealed and monitored.

The sad part was that these people had no idea how impossible it was to hide. Galactic technology was amazing. True, they couldn't scan too deeply into the ground where people were hiding themselves, but the trace of them going to wherever it was they were hiding was like a big neon sign to the galactic technology "they're in here!" The traces lasted for days and days, even in rain or snow. At this point, Dwight figured that they knew about 70% of the places people were planning to hide, and they were learning about more of them every day. And in the extremely unlikely event that someone managed to actually hide, the last bit of insurance was a very large array of listening devices all over the planet, which would pick up any signs of human activity on the surface. If they waited a month, six months, or even a few years to emerge from hiding, they would be found, and dragged to New Earth.

Dwight disagreed with the strategy of not sharing this information widely. Joel and others thought that if people knew this, then instead of hiding, they would choose to fight somehow, and more people would be hurt. Dwight thought that people would be logical. If they knew they could not hide, or fight, they would peacefully leave.

"Incoming message from Welen’da." Dwight loved his new AI. It was what he'd always wanted. He had been so happy when Joel suggested he ask for one from the Casitian team.

"Display message." Dwight couldn't for the life of him figure out why Welen’da would contact him. He'd never met her.

He read the message, and then viewed the attached holographic image. Joanne! With a crew of people. So that was where they were! He’d known the general location from the IRC logs, but they had been careful to conceal their exact location. It was a complete coincidence that the cave mapping process was happening the moment they happened to be in the cavern. How funny.

Dwight had to figure out what to do. Tell them? Have someone pick them up? They already had done significant damage to the cavern system, and Welen’da made it pretty clear she didn't want them to do more. All of a sudden, Dwight knew exactly what to do.

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 1, Year 30

"God, Kenneth, lighten up, will you?" Kurt was sitting with Kenneth at one of Kurt's most favorite restaurants. He had a plate of greens, macaroni and cheese, and fried chicken to die for. It had been a crazy day.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. I just don't know what you want me to do."

Kurt was about at his wits end. He liked Kenneth. He certainly was attracted to Kenneth. But Kenneth could be infuriating. He insisted on continuing to wear a suit, even after a year. He could never call Valorie by her first name. He even sometimes addressed Kurt by his title!

"Kenneth, look. This is not, and never will be Washington, DC. We have made great headway in figuring out what the government of the United States on New Earth is going to look like haven't we?"

He nodded, and took a sip of his beer.

"But you, man, you still act like you are back on Earth. What can I do to convince you that you're never going back there?"

All of a sudden, Kenneth put his head in his hands. To Kurt, it even looked like he was crying.

"Hey, dude, I'm sorry. What did I say?" Kurt reached his hand out to touch Kenneth's arm. He could feel Kenneth sobbing. After a while, it subsided. He wiped his face off with his sleeves.

"I gotta go. Thanks for dinner." Kenneth got up and walked out of the door, leaving a full plate of food behind him.

Kurt was mystified. Out of pure curiosity, Kurt used his widenet phone to do a search on Kenneth's name. Earth's Internet was now mirrored on the widenet. There was about a 3 to 4 day delay, but it was good enough for government work. He went through a few pages of the search, and found the key to the whole thing. He whistled. He wished he'd known this months ago.

He found the page that had the obituary for Kenneth's father, a prominent Senator from California who had committed suicide rather than get prepared to leave. No wonder Kenneth was having so much trouble. Kurt waved at a waiter.

"Please wrap these both up for me?"

"Sure thing."

He left the restaurant, and walked to Kenneth's place. He didn't exactly know what he was going to say, but he hoped that he could be a listening ear for Kenneth. He walked up the stairs to Kenneth's apartment door, and knocked quietly. There was no answer. He knocked again, a bit more loudly, and said, "Kenneth, it's Kurt. I know you're still hungry. I brought dinner."

The door opened, and Kenneth stood there, his jacket off, and shirt unbuttoned.

"Why did you come?"

"Because I want to make sure you have something to eat. I know you don't keep any food in here." Kurt pushed by Kenneth, and walked into his apartment.

"I didn't think you liked me."

Kurt wanted to laugh, but realized it wasn't the time.

"Kenneth, I've always liked you, even that first day. You make it hard, though, I tell you. Will you let me in, just a little?"

Lecheguilla Cave, New Mexico, Earth, November 10, 2027

Dwight looked up at the shuttle leaving them behind. They knew that Joanne and five others were already hiking up to their position.

"Thanks, Jir'ell for accompanying me for this little expedition."

"No problem. I have to admit to some pure curiosity as to how this will turn out."

"What do you mean? It will turn out fine. Joanne will do the right thing. Let's get going."

Dwight and Jir'ell walked down to the small, hidden entrance to the Lecheguilla cave system that Joanne's group had been using. They entered it, and walked a bit further to a small widening in the entrance.

"The entrance has been permanently blocked off about 10 feet from here, although you can't see it. They basically took an image of the tube leading downward to the first ledge, and created a cement-like plug that they tell me can't even be blasted away without completely caving in this whole part of the cavern system."

"I don't think these people aren't going to be very happy."

"I'm sure that we can talk some sense into them."

"I hope so. I'm not sure I share your sentiment."

They spent some time talking about this, and about other groups they had been investigating, when they heard voices.

"Stop complaining, John. I know this is your first trip to the cavern, but if you are tired after two hours of a hike, just wait until..."

Joanne walked into the area that Dwight and Jir'ell were sitting, stopped talking and stared for a moment.

"Dwight?"

"Hi Joanne."

"What the hell... who is he?"

"I'm Jir'ell. I've been helping Dwight, here."

"Helping him do what? What's going on?"

Dwight stood up. "Joanne, your efforts to hide a group of people in Lecheguilla cave has been discovered. All entrances to the cave have been sealed."

"What?"

One of the team walked past Dwight and Jir'ell, and went further down the entrance. He came back.

"Yeah, it's sealed. Completely. There's no way we could get through."

Joanne and the others walked further down as well, and Dwight could hear them shouting. Finally, it was quiet, and they walked back. Everyone except Joanne left the entrance to the cave.

"Joanne, you should know that any attempt to use explosives to get through that seal will result in the collapse of this portion of the cave system. All other entrances to this cave system are either sealed or monitored."

"Why?"

"What kind of question is that, Joanne? I'd like to ask you the same question. You know my answer. The Galactic edict is clear. Not one human being is to be left on Earth. Period. That's all. It's my job to help make that a reality. Why do you think you can avoid this?"

"It's not fair! Not fair at all!" Joanne stamped her feet, and became red in the face. All of a sudden she swung at Dwight, and landed the punch on his nose. He fell back, and could feel his nose throbbing, and blood streaming from his face.

Jir'ell bent down to help him up. "Dwight, are you OK?"

"I think she broke my nose."

Joanne was gone. Dwight was feeling very lightheaded, and was stumbling around. He heard Jir'ell speak.

"Come get us. Dwight is injured." Jir'ell put his arm around Dwight's back, and put Dwight's arm around his shoulders.

"Come on Dwight, let's get out of here."

San Diego, Earth, November 12, 2027

Joanne felt like shit. She groaned as she got up off the couch, to go relieve her full bladder. When she rose, she got dizzy, and felt nauseous. She remembered throwing up several times during the night. She took a few experimental steps, and almost tripped over the bottle of Jack Daniels next to the couch.

After the flight back to San Diego, Joanne had been part of a very vituperous discussion on IRC about what had happened. When things finally calmed down, they went through all of the possible other alternatives, and realized that there were none. If they could find them deep inside the Earth, there was nowhere to hide. They would have to leave, after all.

One of the members of the group shared the link to a list during the meeting. Another group had set up a wiki page of the known caves in the world and their current status. It was devastating. Every single known cave system either had monitoring, or had some or all entrances sealed to prevent humans from entering - even caves in the remotest parts of the world.

During the IRC meeting, she'd been drinking some '10 Pinot Noir. When that bottle was gone, she went to her cabinet to get the '10 Riesling. After that bottle was gone, she got out the Jack Daniels. She'd said some pretty harsh things toward the end of the bottle of Riesling, and didn't remember anything once she'd started with the Jack. She was regretting the whole night. She was regretting her whole life right about now.

Her phone rang. She considered not answering it, but decided to go ahead anyway.

"Hello?" Joanne could hear her cottony voice.

"Joanne? It's Maria? Are you OK?"

Maria. She hadn't talked with Maria in years. Not since the Casitian contact team was disbanded at the end of the Casitian Crisis, when the last colony ships were leaving for New Earth. She'd often wondered how she was doing. Why would she be calling now?

"Hi Maria. What's going on?"

"Maria, Dwight called me. He saw that you were pretty upset..."

"Look Maria, I appreciate it, but I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I want to help, if I can."

Joanne started to cry uncontrollably. "My life is a mess, Maria. I lost my research and academic position. I lost a teaching job, and the only reason I haven't lost my house is that no one is paying their mortgages anymore. I tried to hatch a plan to hide from the Casitians and failed miserably. I have nothing to live for."

"Joanne, that's not true. Look you got derailed for a while."

"It's the Casitians fault." She cried some more.

"Look Joanne, come visit me for a while. We've got a guest room, and I think you need some change of scenery."

Joanne sniffed, thinking. Yes, perhaps a change of scenery was exactly what she needed.

"OK, I'll come visit."

New Orleans, New America, Month 1, Year 30

Jasmine had contacted Beatrice because she thought Beatrice might be able to help her get to Casiti. She felt out of options. They met in New Orleans, where Jasmine was living.

"I want to go to Casiti, but I don't think your Aunt thinks I should go."

"Why do you say that, Jasmine?"

"I don't know, it's just a feeling I get. I've been very unhappy since I got back. First, my parents demanded I stay in the ICS, then they demanded I get married. So I left. Then, I settled in Jerome, doing construction work, but I hated my boss. He was almost worse than William."

"I find that rather hard to believe."

"Well, it felt that way. Anyway, so now I'm here, looking for more work, not having much luck."

Beatrice and Jasmine were sitting at an outdoor table at a cafe in New Orleans. She leaned forward toward Jasmine.

"Jasmine, you seem really angry and distant. I'm sure that comes across in job interviews."

"Why the hell shouldn't I be angry? The government of the ICS basically sold us in slavery to these people who promised riches. Sold us!"

Beatrice put her hand on Jasmine's arm.

"Jasmine..."

Jasmine pulled her arm out from under Beatrice's hand, and stood up. She was angry at Beatrice. She could tell that Beatrice was just like everyone else.

"Not even you understand!" She turned and walked away. What was she going to do next?

Oakland, CA, Earth, February 3, 2028

Joanne was sitting in a basement room, in a circle with about 15 other women. The leader started off the discussion.

"Today's topic is loss. We all have lost a lot, and, of course, we are all losing Earth. In what ways has loss affected you?"

There was silence in the room for a few moments. A woman across from Joanne started to speak.

"Hi, I'm Alice, and I'm an alcoholic."

"Hi Alice." The rest of the women spoke in response.

"A few years ago, when this whole evacuation thing started, my husband decided to use this opportunity to leave me, and go off on his own. He said he was sure he wanted to be on a different planet than I was. He just left us, left our children, and left me with huge bills to pay. Then, I lost my job last year when the company I worked for decided to close down instead of move. After that, I started drinking again. It's hard to keep going with everything around me feeling like it's coming apart. I finally stopped again, but I know I need help."

Joanne felt a wave of emotion from hearing Alice speak. She felt compelled to speak herself.

"Hello, my name is Joanne, and I'm an alcoholic."

"Hi Joanne."

"I've lost everything. I lost my research after the Casitian Crisis, I lost my job." She laughed, once. "I've lost a few jobs. I lost the chance to stay on Earth. And with every loss, I drank more. Now I've come to realize that I am powerless over my disease, and I have to find a way to turn my life around, to turn those losses into paths to a new life."

"Thank you Joanne."

There were others at the meeting sharing their experiences. She had come to realize, after 65 days of sobriety, that so much of what she was experiencing wasn't unique. She wasn't unique at all. She'd been harboring this idea that she had lost more than anyone. But other people had lost so much, too.

Joanne had moved her life to Oakland, and was still staying with her ex Maria and her new partner. She was going back to San Diego to wrap up her life, and prepare to be a part of the next wave of emigration. There was nothing she could do about the losses in her life, but she knew she could find some sort of redemption on New Earth.

Dubuque, New Earth, Month 4, Year 30

Marianne looked up. She was astonished at how tall the building was. She was standing next to the Dubuque area building inspector.

"Looks amazing, doesn't it Marianne?"

"Why so tall?"

"Dubuque wanted to distinguish itself architecturally. This is a design taken straight from the Tvierl, I hear. I recently saw some holo films of their cities. Astonishing."

"Straight from the Tvierl, eh? How do you do inspections if the architecture is so ... so unorthodox?"

"It's not hard. We've got all of the specs on file. The stress each strut is supposed to be able to handle, the angle of overhang allowable, etc. It's not hard. The Tvierl, while managing extraordinarily interesting architecture, are also sticklers for safety. What they design, they design to be extremely safe. Apparently, no Tvierl building has ever had damage from quakes, or burned from a fire."

Marianne was impressed. They kept walking to another area, with a different set of residential buildings. Dubuque was the only IZ settlement so far to be on target to be ready for the second and third waves of immigrants. All of the other settlements were woefully behind.

Back on Earth, a surprising 95% of the global population had already applied for emigration to New Earth or Casiti, and been assigned to a wave. The first wave arrived early this year. The second wave was due to arrive in 3 years’ time. The good thing was that this gap provided enough time to build the infrastructure needed to house and feed all of those coming. The bad thing was that once the second wave started, there would be no break. Three or four waves a year for 18 years, until Year 50. It was mind boggling.

Casiti had it easier. There would be far fewer people arriving, and because of Casitian winter, the first wave hadn't even arrived yet. But even Casiti was getting wave upon wave of immigrants.

She completed her tour and caught her shuttle back home. She was happy she got to have use of a shuttle, so she could be home every evening after a long day's touring of the varied IZs. During the first wave, most countries now had representatives and workers getting the building going, and didn't want her influence or, as they might put it, her interference. The rest hadn’t sent any representatives, and there wasn’t much she could do about that. Her primary jurisdiction was now the Independent Zones. That was enough on her plate; she was happy that was all there was right now.

Tomorrow she would be visiting some of the settlements along the Mississippi south of Dubuque, who she knew were not nearly far enough along. She'd bring some of the Casitian team members with her, so they could strategize on how to speed up the pace. In the meantime, she was going home to be with Ja'el, who had been spending most of her time writing. She had been surprised at Ja'el's insistence that she not get involved. She was just happy that Ja'el had chosen to stay on New Earth for a while.

Chapter 8: A Warm Eighteen Degrees

(AP) August 15, 2028

"The Hiders" Give Up

San Diego, CA – Thousands of people had planned to hide from the Casitian and Galactic authorities during the last wave of emigration from Earth in the hopes of staying on Earth after the end of the evacuation, and restarting human habitation. It has become clear to all of these groups that these plans were folly.

"We had no idea they had the technology to find our hiding places in the ways they did. We've also learned that they were going to plant listening devices all over Earth, so that when we emerged again, we would be picked up, whenever that was. There's no hope of staying. I'm emigrating on the second wave." Joanne Henry, leader of a failed "Hider"group was interviewed on Saturday. Other "Hider" groups have posted similar statements on their websites.

Paris, Europe, New Earth, Month 1, Year 31

The asteroid was in place, finally. Getting it down here had been more of a chore than he expected. The size he needed to do this particular re-creation was a bit bigger than any asteroid they'd needed to do buildings so far. But there it was, sitting in the middle of what would become the city of Paris.

Which large monument would be recreated first had been an epic argument between Marianne and every single world leader who had a monument to be recreated. In the end, Marianne decided to take a poll of current residents of New Earth via the widenet, and they would recreate the one that was on the top of the list. The Eiffel tower won, so that was what he was recreating today. Where to put it in Paris they had left up to the French authorities currently on the ground.

The asteroid was placed adjacent to where the Eiffel tower would stand once completed. The extruder, which was currently sitting on the ground, between two very tall legs, would extrude materials drawn from the asteroid into the structures re-creating the tower, and would rise up into the air on the legs as the structure was created. This same extruder, which was the largest they had, had been carried all over New Earth to extrude quite a number of large buildings.

A crowd had gathered to watch the show. A perimeter of about 500 meters around this structure and the asteroid was put up so that the chance of anyone getting injured by the process was limited.

Torf'ki's associate let him know that everything was ready and in place. Torf'ki looked down at his tablet, and gave the commands to his AI to start the extrusion process.

For Torf'ki, the process was relatively simple, but he realized that for Terrans, it was pure science fiction. He looked at the figures floating across his tablet. Everything was going exactly as planned. He heard an "oohing" sound from the crowd, and looked up.

The extruder was about 100 feet off the ground now, and the very beginnings of the Eiffel tower were becoming visible below the extruder. It was fairly remarkable, he had to admit, and he knew that when the extruder was done, the result would be pretty much indistinguishable from the original. That is, the original as recorded just a while ago. It would not age in the same way, or at the same rate as the original, but then, that didn't much matter, since he doubted the original would still be standing by the time any humans got back to see it.

Illsenor Station, Month 1, Year 31

"I've done a detailed inventory, Marianne. It doesn't look pretty for a lot of the world."

"Tell me."

David, Marianne, Torf'ki and some others were sitting in a joining room discussing the current infrastructure efforts, and what would be ready for the next waves of immigrants. David had been collecting data, sometimes having to cajole and pry information out of people, over the past year, to determine what would happen when millions of people per day started descending on New Earth.

Marianne had been worried for a long time about how this was going to come together. She knew that once the next wave started, there was precious little time to do much infrastructure building. She had hoped that most regions would have tried to fill in as much as they could in the 4 year gap between the first wave and the rest. That wasn't universally the case.

"The North Central IZ is in great shape. The cities of Dubuque, New Calgary, Memphis, Baton Rouge, Vicksburg, St. Louis and Moline, as well as others along the Mississippi, in the plains and in the mountains, will be ready for all of the immigrants slated to arrive. In fact, I would say that there are only a few small settlements in the NCIZ that will be in trouble, and by just sending them either an extra extruder, or even dropping a few dozen pre-fabs, they will be fine. The North Circumpolar IZ is also in great shape. We've got a great team there, including your niece, who are doing yeoman's work helping the new settlements up there get ready.

South Central IZ is a bit further behind, but not really enough to worry much about. Again, for them, a few communities needing some extra pre-fabs etc. will do the trick. There are exceedingly few new settlements going into the South Circumpolar IZ. I think probably less than 100,000 people want to settle there, based on the data we have from Joel and Laura. We've been producing pre-fabs, and there are already enough down there for those folks.

The problems, of course, are coming from the countries. Olam, from New Aard and I have had several conversations, and they are still trying to figure out how to divide the land there. I'm thinking train wreck, truly. They haven't even begun to start building. New America is doing fine; Valorie and the team from the U.S. Government are apparently working well together, and facilitating a lot of building of housing and commercial and government buildings. The ICS isn't talking with me, so I have no idea what they are doing. Our resources are at their disposal when they need it, but I doubt they will want it. I'm worried big time about India, China and Indonesia. They have some of the largest populations immigrating, and they haven't built much to speak of at all. In fact, China didn't even bring anyone on the first wave. Actually, Marianne, there are about 40 countries that didn't send teams for the first wave."

Marianne didn't want to think about what would happen when China's more than a billion people, plus the people from the other countries started to descend on those countries with no infrastructure.

"What can we do, even without teams?"

David looked down at his tablet. "Well, we've got a standard settlement that we are extruding a lot of places. It consists of basic buildings, stuff like libraries and a main street, plus residences for about 50,000. We can do this fairly easily, although we have to do it after the work to put the underlying structure in place - water, electricity, etc."

"Can we set enough of those up?"

"Not without help from the country representatives, we can't. We can set up some, but I can almost guarantee you it isn't going to be enough for the coming people."

"This doesn't sound good, David."

"It's not good, Marianne, but it's the best we can do."

"OK, that's housing, what about food?"

"Well, the good thing is that we've got those big swaths of land in New America and the IZ's, and the Casitian and Terran agronomy teams have been cranking for years now. We've already got a couple of years’ worth of stores of rice, corn, wheat, and other grains, as well as soybeans and other legumes. Some challenge might come from distribution, but there are some great ideas from the Casitian teams on that. That food plus the indigenous food available means that no one will starve."

"OK, I can live with that. They might have to pitch a tent for a while, but they won't starve."

"The health care infrastructure is going well in places we're involved. We've been extruding and equipping hospitals by the hundreds. And we're also putting in water and sanitation infrastructure in as many places as possible so that even when people pitch tents, they will have clean water and proper sanitation."

"OK, last but not least... transportation."

Kil'ander, who was the Casitian in charge of the transportation infrastructure process took over.

"Not so good. We've been trying to focus on rail lines and light rail, but some countries are pretty committed to roads and cars, trucks and busses. We've tried to explain that New Earth doesn’t have any fossil fuels. New Earth had a good biofuel industry, but most of the agriculture effort is now going toward food – we have very little in the way of biofuel reserves. I'm worried that some countries will be stuck without reliable transport for a while. They don't seem to get that long term, really all we have is renewable energy."

Marianne was tempted to say "let them learn the hard way" but she restrained herself. "What can we do?"

"Honestly, not much. If they insist on prioritizing roads over rail and light rail, they are just going to have to learn the hard way."

Marianne couldn't help breaking out in laughter.

Kil'ander looked at her oddly, while David had a smirk on his face. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, ignore me."

"Alright. The IZs are in great shape, since they had prioritized rail and light rail to begin with. We're just expanding lines and building trains, which takes time."

"Let’s do what we can to focus where we need to. Torf'ki, do you think we'll need more folks and equipment from Casiti?"

"No, Marianne, we're pretty saturated up here and on the ground. There isn't much more we can bring to bear."

Marianne nodded. "We've got one short year before another 100 million people knock on our door. And then, only a few months before the next 100 million."

New Orleans, New Earth, Month 2, Year 31

"They finally agreed to my plan, because there was no other possible way. It was a nightmare few months, but finally, we've got the map of New Aard finalized. It's sort of a mess, but it basically means that the east and south of New Aard is dedicated to the countries, and we've given over the north and west to the NCIZ, to be dedicated to varied Islamic communities. It seemed the wisest course."

David and Olam were sitting in David's favorite cafe in New Orleans. Because it had become the de facto world capital, he was spending a lot of time here meeting with people from all over New Earth, explaining their infrastructure and settlement issues. It had become a huge job, one that David hadn't quite expected to take on. But he seemed good at it, and it needed doing. And the one perk was that since most people wanted to see David, he got to make them come to his favorite cafe, where he spent a lot of the day holding court. The proprietors loved him, and gave him all of his drinks and snacks for free.

"Thanks for that update, Olam. So you're now ready to start building. We've got the 'dozer bots ready for the piping, and the extruders ready to build what you need. In addition, I'll get the agronomy teams ready for you, once you all determine the farming belts. I'll get you in touch with the Casitian who has been in charge of New Aard's infrastructure, he's the one who will requisition everything you need."

Olam nodded. "He won't need to meet with any New Aard leadership, will he?"

David shook his head. "No, you can be the intermediary there, if anything needs to be ironed out. Are you worried about how your leaders are reacting to Casitians?"

"Quite honestly, David, although they know that they depend on the Casitians for much right now, it's rubbing them the wrong way. I don't want things to get too messy."

"It's been that way in a number of places. No worries, Olam. You should see what I have to deal with in the ICS."

Olam raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

David chuckled. "I managed to get a meeting with them later this month, but they made me promise that I would not arrive in a Casitian shuttle, and that I would bring no Casitians with me. Apparently, they are forbidding the presence of Casitians in their territory."

"Wow, that's going to make building difficult."

"I'm going to explain that it will make it impossible. We'll see what they say in response."

Capital, Hilcyon, Mrontl 1 1162

"That's all you have for me?" William was irritated at this particular Second Chief. "I know there were more reformers in that part of town. You should find at least three cells."

"First Chief, these were all the names we got."

"I don't think you questioned your captives hard enough."

"First Chief, if we hurt them too much, they will be of no use in the mines."

William thought for a moment, realizing he had a point. And sending as many people as they had to the mines was definitely a strong signal he was sending to any reformers still around.

"Alright. Thank you, Jzrel. You are dismissed."

Jzrel bowed, and left his office.

His attaché walked in. "First Chief, the green grower is here to meet with you."

"Show him in."

A slight man, with surprisingly muscled arms walked into his office and bowed.

"You have news for me?"

"Yes, First Chief. Our yields are down, I suggest that we return to rations."

"Rations? Even with the produce from the Central Valley?"

"For some reason, we have not been getting as much water as we had, and we can't keep growing the same amount of food."

William knew why this was true. He'd heard the report from Jurrl. The water technology that they had gotten from the Casitians needed maintenance, but they didn't have the expertise to maintain it, and it was failing. It was likely that over the years, they would have less water than they had before. It was infuriating. Another betrayal by Ylen.

"I'm sorry we can't do anything about that right now. Please send me the detailed numbers you have on production, and we'll figure out the rationing. You are dismissed."

He bowed, and left.

William pondered the last few years of his life. Jurrl had become Supreme Chief almost three years ago. Somewhat unexpectedly, Jurrl had not given William a First Chief position off the bat. He wanted to know whether or not William was able to fight for one. He was, and did.

He had married, and had a son, with another child on the way. He had become Jurrl's main ally and as such, was a very powerful man. He was certainly next in line for Supreme Chief when Jurrl died, which would not be any time soon. But William could bide his time. He wasn't in a hurry, and he kept up his fighting skills so that in case Jurrl did die suddenly, or was killed somehow, he would be ready.

His origin was still a secret. For reasons he didn't understand, Jurrl wanted it to remain so, which didn't bother William especially. William was unusually light-skinned for a Kinder, but there were some Kinder of his coloring.

Jurrl, William and some other allies had systematically purged all Chiefs of reformers, killing some, sending most to the mines. They sent more than 30,000 people who were suspected of being part of the reform movement to the mines, more than making up for those who had been returned to Nytt Grier Nro. This list he had been given was the last, and it didn't contain any new names. He crumpled it up and threw it in the trash.

He looked down at the new edicts. No gatherings or assemblies of more than ten without official permission from at least a Second Chief. Random searches of houses for forbidden writing. That one was important. The writings of that traitor Pkygy, Beatrice's husband, had somehow re-emerged, and were being copied around. They needed to stamp that out, and arrest and sentence to the mines anyone found with a copy. He knew that the random searches couldn't happen often, but the edict would be enough to frighten people into submission.

Jul'when, Casiti, 50 Wend 784

Hetl’zef walked out of the greenhouse, feeling satisfied that they were equipped to handle this first wave of immigrants. The greenhouses had been growing Casitian and Earth crops all winter, many were ready for harvest. The gardens in individual dwellings were ready for planting, and there was sufficient storage of grains and legumes.

He had worked harder this winter than he can remember working. Winters were usually easy. Times to write, make love, make art, and relax in the warmth inside. This winter he didn't have a companion, and he'd worked day and night with his team of Terrans and Casitians to get the settlements ready for the immigrants coming in spring.

He was lost in thought, and ran headlong into someone.

"Forgive me."

"Ah, no problem, Hetl'zef. Did you hear that the colony ship is now in orbit?"

"No, I didn't. Thanks for letting me know!"

Hetl'zef walked back to one of the common buildings, which was serving as somewhat of a headquarters for the Jul'when immigration effort, and it was buzzing with activity. He heard someone say, "first shuttle due here in 10."

He realized that he was of no real use here right now. Until the immigrants settled down a bit, he wouldn't have anything to do. Silandra had been pestering him to come visit her new home on Loc'deher. She had decided she wanted to be among Terrans, and she moved her life over to the peninsula, which would have a large Terran community. Hetl'zef had wanted to visit for a while, and this seemed the perfect chance. Casitians had initiated regular shuttle service between continents, and high-speed rail networks on the continents, so getting there would be relatively painless. He started to walk home, to get prepared for a short trip away.

North Circumpolar Independent Zone, Month 2, Year 31

Leticia and Mira were touring one of the latest settlements built. Leticia had gotten used to it, but sometimes it seemed rather magical. The underlying infrastructure had been put in a long time ago - that had been a real focus early on, was to get the road, rail, electricity, and water/sewer systems in place all over the NCPIZ before any settlements were built. Because of that, building the actual settlement didn't take much time. One day, 'dozer bots were around to build the foundations, and the next few days, seemingly magically, there was a full settlement, extruded from materials gleaned from asteroids brought down to the surface.

This would be the large settlement they would be living closest to. They had scoped out the hillside they were going to build on, claimed it as a new small community, and recruited some friends from New Calgary and Dlejon to live there with them. They didn't want to use up resources to get their place built yet - they figured they could wait a while. But they were looking forward to being able to settle down sometime soon.

They liked what the NCPIZ was shaping up to be. The NCIZ was going to get pretty crowded, and some pretty interesting new communities were going to be placed in the NCPIZ, based on the data they'd seen from Joel and Laura back on Earth. Its climate was on the cold side, ranging from around freezing at night, and getting to around 18 degrees C during the day. Not many people wanted to settle in either Circumpolar IZ, when they could live places that were so much warmer. Somewhat surprisingly, a lot of people from Dlejon were going to head up to the NCPIZ. Both CPIZs were likely to have substantial numbers of Casitian settlers too.

They walked to the hospital, which was currently empty. As they walked through it, they both marveled at how many important components of the hospital were in place – operating rooms, beds, nurse’s stations, exam rooms, etc. All of the plumbing, lighting, and fixtures got extruded with the building materials.

After they left the hospital Mira turned to Leticia. "Well, sweetheart, I guess it's time to go to the next one. Touring these is getting a bit boring. Do we really need to keep doing this?"

Leticia nodded. "I feel like I need to keep doing the due diligence on the communities under my jurisdiction, love. You know, you don't need to keep coming everywhere with me, you have enough on your plate back in New Calgary."

Mira smiled, and took Leticia's arm in hers. "I know, but I love spending the time with you, and if you were off doing this, and I was at home, we'd never see each other."

Leticia laughed. "Well, OK, then." She looked down at her tablet as they walked to the shuttle, figuring out which settlement was next on their list.

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 2, Year 31

Beatrice opened the door to see Jasmine standing in it, looking a bit disheveled, with a large bag. She'd sent Beatrice a pleading message, asking to visit her. Beatrice didn't know what was going on, but she was always willing to help her friend.

"Jasmine! It's good to see you."

They hugged, and Beatrice showed Jasmine in, and told her where to put her stuff. "Would you like some tea?"

Jasmine nodded. "Anything but Kinder tea."

Beatrice wanted to put her fried at ease. "No problem. How's peppermint?"

"Thanks, that's good."

She brewed their tea, and sat with Jasmine on the couch.

"Where's your husband?"

Beatrice smiled. "We're not married, Jasmine. We don't intend to get married, even though we live together now. Marriage seemed so ... Kinder to us somehow, and we decided we didn't want to go down that path. Ngellin is in New Orleans for some meetings. He'll be back tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having you meet him. How long were you planning to stay?"

"I don't know, Beatrice. I'm sort of at my wits end right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I feel stuck. I seem to fail at everything I do since I got back from the asteroid. And it's been years now."

"Jasmine, what you had to go through on that asteroid was truly traumatic - it was traumatic for all of us."

"I know. I've been seeing this therapist in New Orleans for the past year or so. I had PTSD. Apparently, a lot of the kids who were kidnapped with us have it."

"So what do you want to do?"

"Honestly, I just want to be helpful, but the last three jobs with various immigration agencies went south, fast."

"What happened?"

She smirked. "Apparently, I am now allergic to taking orders."

Although Beatrice had been mostly involved in translating Pkygy's grandmothers stories for the last two years, she had also spent a lot of time working with Marianne on immigration scenarios, helping Marianne plan for the varied possible outcomes of the waves of immigration coming soon. Beatrice knew what kind of work was being done, and what kind of work was needed. And one big need she knew of was monitoring.

"Jasmine, what about this: what if you were given a large zone, like several thousand square miles or so. And your only job was to see what was happening. You'd get one of the solar-powered overland cars; you'd visit settlements and outposts, and just do daily report backs of where you were, and what you found."

"That sounds like a job I'd really like. I could totally do that."

"That's a job I can get you!"

"Really?"

"Yes. My Aunt Marianne is looking for people to do just that. Most people don’t want to do it because you'd probably not get to go home for years."

"I don't have a home right now, Beatrice. These days if you don't have a job to do, they kick you out of housing, since it is so precious."

"Well, it's settled, then. Let me send a message to Marianne."

They spent the rest of the evening talking about the ICS, about the asteroid, and Beatrice telling Jasmine about Hilcyon, and what it had been like there. It felt wonderful to share with Jasmine all that had happened. Beatrice hadn't keep in contact with any of the other kidnapped kids – Jasmine had been one of her only friends, and the others had died on the asteroid.

The next morning, as Beatrice was preparing breakfast, Jasmine came out of the guest room, holding in her hand a copy of one of Dbor's stories.

"Beatrice, a Kinder wrote these?" She seemed incredulous.

"Yes, a Kinder wrote those. You see why Pkygy was who he was."

Jasmine nodded. "Yes, I see. I can't wait to read them all. Are they all translated?"

Beatrice smiled. "Not quite yet. Ngellin and I are about 2/3 done with them. There were more than one hundred stories, in rather well-written Kinder language. The translation takes a lot of time, and we're not even sure that it reflects as it should. But we're trying."

"I think you should get them translated to Casitian."

"That is an interesting idea. I'll ask Aunt Marianne about that."

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 3, Year 31

"... hlzrefzo ghler gg sarfy golm. Maybe 'he left the room, slamming the door?'"

Beatrice was sitting the long way on their couch, and Ngellin was sitting on one side, with Beatrice's feet in his lap, and the open book of Dbor's in his hand. She said, 'well, it could be translated that way, but the better way to say it, I think, would be 'he slammed the door on his way out.'"

"Ah, of course, that makes sense. I like that." Beatrice typed in the words.

Ngellin closed the book. "We're done."

"Done?"

"Done. That was the last line of the last of Dbor's stories."

Beatrice smiled at Ngellin. "It only took us two years. I guess it might have taken us less if we hadn't fallen in love."

Ngellin laughed. "True. But I think the extra time was worth it."

"Marianne says that she is interested in translating at least one story into Casitian, and perhaps more. I decided to send her 'Elfer.'"

"That's a good one to start with. I do hope we get them all translated to Casitian at some point. I'd like the Casitians to see what some Kinder could do."

"Yes, Ngellin, I agree."

"So, now that that is done, what are you going to do, Beatrice?"

"I want to figure out the best way to get these widely read. A friend of mine who knows these sorts of things to put together a widenet site for it. Another friend of mine who read a couple of the stories actually would like to make a movie!"

"A movie?"

"Don't you know what a movie is? I guess we haven't seen one together yet, we've been so busy. There haven't been many made here so far, but there are still movies being made on Earth. Tell you what, instead of explaining, let's just go to one next time we're in New Orleans."

Ngellin said, "that sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to it."

“But honestly..."

"Yes?"

"Honestly, I’m ready to have children."

Ngellin smiled. "You already know I would love raising children with you, Beatrice."

"Well, Ngellin, that's a good thing, because I have some news for you."

"Are you ... ?"

"Yes. It's a girl. Leticia did the honors of the first ultrasound."

"So that's where you went in the shuttle a few days ago! You were being so secretive about that trip."

"Yes. Being a Michaelson has its perks."

Ngellin smiled again, then stretched out on the couch next to Beatrice, and nuzzled his face into her chest.

"We're having a baby!"

Independent Christian State, New Earth, Month 3, Year 31

David was cooling his heels in the outside office of Bishop Kramer of the ICS. That's what he called himself now, Bishop. Democracy was gone from the ICS. They now had a council of Elders, chosen by the Bishop from settlement leaders. The Bishop, apparently, was leader for life, and his successor would be chosen from the Elders in case of his death. Funny that they didn't want the Vatican in the ICS, it was so similar.

David had whined and cajoled his way to this meeting. Kramer had refused to talk with him, until a few weeks ago, when the final tally of people entering the ICS was received by him. David guessed that he realized he couldn't possibly deal with that number without some help.

David, Marianne and some of the Casitian team had discussed the approach he should have with the ICS, and agreed that basically, they could get whatever they wanted. They all knew that they might not be able to give it to them. Marianne already felt a little guilty at taking 2/3 of their land area, and knew that they would end up being a little squeezed for space.

"Mr. Hastings, Bishop Kramer will see you now."

"Thank you."

He walked into the now open door, to see Bishop Kramer behind a very large, ornate desk. David wondered where he got that thing. As David walked in, he noticed Kramer make no move to stand up.

"Bishop Kramer."

"Yes, please, sit down."

David sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"I'm not especially happy we are having this meeting, but we clearly need your help. According to the final tally, more than 40 million people have been approved for immigration to the ICS. That is an enormous number, and it would double our population. We don't have the buildings we need, we don't have the food production we need, and we don't have the medical facilities we need."

"I am well aware of the situation, Bishop Kramer. We can build enough infrastructure, buildings and settlements, including hospitals and medical clinics to handle the load within a year. In addition, we can get the agronomy teams going as soon as possible on growing food for you. It's a little late, so some of the first immigrants might have to make due with tents and pre-fabs, but not for long."

Kramer looked at David with his eyes narrowed. "I assume that can be done without any Casitian presence within the ICS."

David was expecting this, and assumed that he could sway Kramer. "Frankly, no. If you are not willing to have Casitian staff inside of the ICS, we actually can't do anything. Can't expand rail lines or roads, can't expand electricity or widenet, can't expand water and sewer, and can't build."

"Nothing, nothing at all? Somehow I don't believe that."

David shrugged his shoulders. "You can choose to believe it or not, I don't care. It's true. Even delivering pre-fabs requires Casitian-piloted ships to land. Look, what's the big deal? There will be some Casitians here for a few months, then gone. If you feel like you want to exclude any Casitians living here, that's up to you."

"You don't understand." There was a finality to that tone that David did not like.

"Obviously."

"We cannot abide by the presence of any Casitians within our country for any length of time, no matter how short. They are incarnations of evil."

David sat back. He wondered what Kramer would say if he knew that David spent a lot of his free time with Casitians. Male Casitians at that.

David said, finally, "I see."

"Good. So, now that that's settled, when can you start building for us?"

David rarely lost his temper. He didn't even really see it coming, but was surprised by the vehemence with which he answered Bishop Kramer.

"Look, Bishop Kramer, that is the way it is. If you are unwilling to allow any Casitians inside the ICS, your people are going to go without shelter, food, sanitation, and medical facilities and staff. Many of them will starve, and die of infectious disease when cholera makes its inevitable visit without sanitation facilities. I'm assuming you don't give a flying fuck about them, otherwise you would not be acting so stupidly. Call me when you change your mind."

David got up and started to walk out of the office. He was surprised when he got to the door, and hadn't heard a word from Kramer. He looked back, and saw Kramer with a set angry look on his face. 'OK' David thought. He left the office, and left the building.

As he was walking to the train station, he was a little sorry he'd blown up like that, but not too sorry. Kramer wouldn't have budged, no matter how sweet David had been. And the ICS was going to become a backwater pit, with starvation, disease and homelessness. Probably the only one on this planet.

New Orleans, New Earth, Month 4, Year 27

David was happy to be back at his cafe. And happier still to be chatting with Leticia about the situation with the ICS.

"Any suggestions?"

Leticia sighed. "What an idiot!"

"Tell me about it."

"Well, this is the problem. In order to get them clean water and good sanitation, we need 'dozer bots. The only people that know how to run 'dozer bots well are Casitians. Luckily, though, Cholera and other diseases spread by inadequate sanitation are pretty easy to treat. My suggestion is we can recruit a corps of Terran doctors to go into the ICS with medical supplies. We can also drop lots of water filters. I think if we do those things along with the food drops you're planning, people won't starve, they can get clean water, and they won't die of nasty things. But that doesn't mean they will be happy."

"I can't do anything for their mood, anyway." David smiled. "Can you coordinate with your compatriots around New Earth and gather up some folks to be ready to go into the ICS?"

"Absolutely, David. I got it. I can't believe he is now a Bishop. Man, I can't believe that place. I'm so glad my mom left."

Chapter 9: Two Hundred Thousand Square Kilometers

(AP) December 25, 2029

Tales of Chaos on New Earth, Christmas on Earth a Muted Celebration

Ankara, Turkey – President Westinghouse-Lewis assured the global public yesterday that although there were some problematic reports, officials on New Earth, as well as the Casitians there to assist the immigration have everything well in hand. She blamed much of the chaos on countries that chose not to send official representatives to New Earth two years ago during the first wave.

Around the world, Christmas was a muted celebration for the first year, as people are preparing to leave and looking at their future with uncertainty. Retailers in most countries say that Christmas sales were down 50-60% from last year, as consumers are more careful about what they acquire, given weight restrictions for cargo when emigrating.

Colony Ship, July 24, 2029

"Wow, what an amazing view. I didn't think I'd ever get to see Earth from orbit, but here it is. And it's the last time I'll ever see it. That feels strange, to know we'll never be back on Earth again."

Joanne nodded. Therese, Maria's wife, hadn't been at all part of the team during the Casitian Crisis. Joanne and Maria had been in orbit many times, but this is the first time for both of them in a long while. Joanne was sitting next to Maria and Therese on the colony ship headed for New Earth. She was feeling a mix of feelings. She had finally, through more than a year of recovery, come to terms with her losses, and was ready to find a new role and a new life on New Earth. She was happy to be able to be immigrating with her friends. They planned to settle in an area now called "New California" even though it wasn't in New America. It had started during the first settling of New Earth as a group of communities in the South Central Independent Zone.

Several new large communities had been built in New California after the first wave, including New Oakland, where they would live. Maria and Theresa had several friends who were already living in New California, and just about all of their friends were going to move there at one point or another.

She didn't quite know what she was going to do with her life, once she got to New Earth. She wanted to do science again, and she'd heard about the large fish they had found in the big lakes of New Earth. They weren't mammals, but they might be interesting. There were any number of scientific topics she could start investigating. She was thinking that might be her first choice.

She also thought about writing. The story of the "Hiders" was an interesting one, and as a participant, she had become a minor celebrity when the whole thing came to a head. It might be a story people would want to read in the future. She knew that several of her Hider companions had chosen to wait it out until the end. One of them had even moved to a very remote part of Alaska, hoping to avoid detection. She expected she'd see him on New Earth in ten years.

Lakota Territory, New Earth, Month 2, Year 33

Wachiwi had been pleased with how Marianne had fulfilled her promise to his sisters and brothers of indigenous people all over the world. He was about to leave for the all-nations summit that was to occur near a new settlement of Washoe people, by the big lake in the south they named Lake Tahoe. Representatives of peoples from all over the world would be there to discuss mutual interest, discuss preparations for the waves of immigrants, hash over a few border disputes that still were simmering, and celebrate their freedom.

He remembered his last conversation with Marianne that was mostly an argument. She had wanted to build several hospitals in their region, which required infrastructure like rail lines. None of them wanted this. The purpose of asking for more land, and autonomy, was that they would live exactly as they had lived in the past, before the Wasi'chu ever came to their regions. No rail lines, no roads, and as little electricity and widenet as they could get away with. As it stood now, there were about five small settlements scattered about their territory which had buildings and electricity, which served as the administrative centers of the indigenous territories. Otherwise, everyone lived in small villages, with dwellings characteristic of their people, such as tipis and long houses. It did mean that news took a lot longer to reach everyone. They had recruited hundreds of runners to spread news when needed.

In the end, Marianne had relented, but not before she had explained to Wachiwi that she felt some level of responsibility for them, and would find it hard to forgive herself if there were an epidemic, or some other sort of health care crisis. Wachiwi explained that he understood, but he also reminded her gently that it felt somewhat insulting that she felt responsible for them. She had taken that comment quite well.

The first ripple, as they were now being called, of the second wave had brought about 50,000 people, from all over the world to their territory. Some of them were still in the process of traveling to where they would eventually live. It was, from what Wachiwi had heard, a much quieter and calm landing than most on New Earth.

Eastern Europe, New Earth, Month 3, Year 33

Jasmine was on her way to a new settlement in the far southeastern part of the European region. She had been given a region of about 200,000 square kilometers to monitor. The southeastern part of the European region included such countries as Croatia, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and others. Her region primarily consisted of parts of Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. Kosovo, which was a part of this region on Earth, had opted to be located in the far eastern part of New Aard. It bordered on parts of Europe and Asia, but wasn't in her region, and didn't share borders with its usual neighbors.

This region was a mess. The first ships that were part of the second wave deposited about a half million people here, with more on the way in a matter of months. None of the countries in her region had sent representatives in the first wave, so no buildings or settlements were built. The basic infrastructure of roads, rail lines, electricity, water, sewer and widenet were all built. In her region, there were a smattering of pre-fab buildings here and there. Otherwise, everyone was in tents, and extraordinarily unhappy.

This had been the perfect job for her. She was on her own most of the time, and she had no orders, save to do her best in covering the ground under her care as much and as often as possible. She was not the only means of monitoring this region, but she was the best - her on-the-ground reports were an important part of the process, and couldn't really be replaced by AI monitors. She expected that she might manage to cover it all in about 2 years, and then she'd have to start all over again.

She was on her way to one of the most populated settlements. It was to eventually become Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. She hadn't had a chance to get here yet, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Marianne said that she'd gotten a very angry message from the representatives who had finally come with the second wave, and Jasmine knew that she'd be facing some angry government officials when she arrived.

But Jasmine had gotten to be very good at deflecting their anger. Pretty much the first thing out of her mouth was "what do you need right now?" If they were reasonable, which they weren't always, she could promise them that they'd get things in a few days or so.

She slowed down her vehicle as she approached the settlement's edge. There were tents along the road, several deep, and she could see a line forming where the food was being distributed. As she came closer to the center, she saw that about 20 pre-fab buildings had been set up, probably before this group arrived. She parked her car in front of the one likeliest to hold an official person.

As she got out, a group of men descended on her, and started speaking rapidly in a language she didn't understand. She put up her hands. "Anyone here speak English?"

One of the men stepped out. "Yes, I do."

"OK, so who are the official representatives here?"

The man who spoke English pointed to another man, who came forward. Ah, Jasmine thought. What fun. Translation was always inexact, and had led to some unfortunate misunderstandings in the past. Jasmine started.

"We need to get some settlements built as soon as possible. I can send for one of the planners to come and work with you to figure out where things should be built."

The man who spoke English translated what Jasmine had said, and then translated the response. "Why wasn't there anything already built?" Ah, that particular anger. Some of them seemed to expect them to have telepathy, or something.

"Your country didn't send anyone in the first wave to help us plan. We did our best to create this infrastructure," she pointed to the road, "but the buildings needed your help and planning. Now that you are here, we can start building in earnest. Building a settlement that can house 50,000 or so takes about a week. Building a city, like Zagreb, should only take a month."

They went back and forth for a while, and it seemed that they finally got the picture. Jasmine promised a planner visit, as well as some more pre-fabs for temporary housing. They also needed some rudimentary medical equipment and supplies to start with, and she got that order in as well.

As she drove off, heading out to find a quiet spot without people to camp for the night, she felt some satisfaction in what she was doing. She still wanted to eventually move to Casiti, but it would be OK to be doing this for a while, first.

Casiti, 140 Nird, 786

Jal'end'a put down the tablet that had the Casitian translation of the Kinder story "Elfer." She knew the background. Marianne's niece had been married to a Kinder man, who had published a large number of his grandmother Dbor's stories – and got arrested and sent to the mines for it. The stories made their way back to New Earth when Marianne's niece was rescued, and she and Ngellin, a Kinder deserter had translated the whole set of stories into English. They had sent this story to Marianne, who had, with Ja'el's help, translated it to Casitian, then sent it along to Jal'end'a. Beatrice and Ngellin had wanted Casitians to read the story that a Kinder woman had written.

Tears were streaming down Jal'end'a's face. Even that one single Kinder woman could write work of this quality – and of this content, was somehow astonishing to Jal'end'a. And that astonishment brought to Jal'end'a's attention her assumptions about the Kinder. Even though she had been the one to chastise the Caraj for the sins of calling the Kinder accursed, she realized that somehow, deep inside herself, she still thought that.

A few things crossed her mind. First, she would publish the set of these stories when translated with an introduction from Beatrice, that would tell the story of Dbor, Pkygy's grandmother, as well as a preface from Jal'end'a. Somehow, that didn't seem enough. What if some Kinder were to come and live here? It seemed, well, preposterous on its face. But what Jal'end'a realized was that if all three branches of humanity lived on both open planets, perhaps there would be a chance, someday, of reconciliation with the Kinder on Kinder Home.

She began to compose a message to Ngellin.

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 2, Year 34

"Love, you've been chewing on this for months, now."

"I know, Beatrice. But I'm not so happy with the fact that you are willing to go along with me no matter what I choose. It's too much like ..."

Beatrice was playing with their daughter, who was almost 3 years old. She was a quiet child, named after Tivyl. Everyone called her 'Tiv.' She stood up, picked Tiv up, and walked over to where Ngellin was sitting. She sat next to him, and placed Tiv between them.

"Ngellin, we are not on Hilcyon. I know that you respect me. I know that you listen to what I want. I know that you love me in ways that few Kinder men love their wives. You cook most of the time for heaven's sake! The reason I am willing to go with you is because I want you to be able to make a decision that you feel is right for the Kinder in the long haul. If my moving with you to Casiti means that there is one tiny bit better of a chance of true human unity, then it is worth it for me. Besides, either New Earth or Casiti are both great places to raise our children."

Ngellin nodded. "I want to go, Beatrice."

Beatrice shook her head, and then looked up at Ngellin with a smile. "I've known that since the instant you read the message from Jal'end'a. You can be one infuriating man sometimes."

"There are about 450 others that wish to go, also. Many have families. I'll let Jal'end'a know. I think it's the right decision."

"I agree, Ngellin. The better that the Casitians understand the Kinder, and vice versa, the better the chance that when they come calling, which they will, we can work together."

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 2, Year 36

Kurt walked into the apartment not sure how exactly he was feeling. Kenneth looked like he was making dinner.

"Hey."

"Hi." Kenneth came out from the kitchen and kissed Kurt.

"Oh, my, Kurt. What happened?"

"Valorie is not running."

"What? Why?"

"She feels like she's done her job. She wants to retire and move to Casiti."

"That's becoming a trend."

"I know."

"You're going to run?"

"Are you kidding me? I like being Chief of Staff."

"Valorie wants you to run, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she does."

"Well, you certainly are known to a lot of people on both planets, now. I'd say most people would already put you as the front runner."

Kurt went to the couch, and sat down heavily. Kenneth sat beside him.

"Babe, you would make a great President."

"Ah, don't say that!"

"I mean it. And, you fucking know it, too."

Kurt, sadly, did. If there was one big change he noticed in the pre- to post-Casitian landscape, it was that the leaders chosen were not the ones that really especially wanted to lead. He thought that was a great change. He didn't want to personify it, however.

He heard his phone beep. Marianne. He wondered what she wanted.

"Hi Marianne."

"Hey Kurt." Marianne's voice was a bit tinny. The widenet, which was now carrying more voice and data traffic than it was ever designed for, was getting a bit stressed.

"What's up, Marianne?"

"Valorie called me."

"She didn't."

"Yeah, she did."

"Fuck that."

"Language! So you know what I'm going to say."

"You want me to run."

"Yes, I do. All of the other likely candidates are Terran, Kurt. And although I've corresponded with some of them, I trust none of them to have the best interest of New Earth, or humanity in mind."

"And you trust me."

"As do many people, Kurt. Your work over the past 12 years has been nothing short of remarkable."

Kurt sighed. How could he say no to that?

"OK. I'll run."

"If I were there, I'd give you a big kiss! Thanks!"

"And if I win, one of these days, I'm going to call this debt due, my friend."

Kurt could almost hear Marianne's smile. "And I'll be happy to pay up."

Ankara, Turkey, August 10, 2031

Diana looked over the latest emigration report. Two years had gone by since the start of the main emigration effort. In total 18 waves of emigrants had left Earth, to go to both New Earth and Casiti. That meant that the planet had about 1.4 billion less people on it.

It was being felt. There already had been massive economic changes, mostly negative, all over the world. Once it was clear that everyone was leaving, the market for many items, including all luxury items and cars and such had evaporated overnight. The good thing was that in their place, whole industries arose dedicated to things like light and sturdy furnishings that would fold and be easily packable, transportable items of all sorts, survival gear meant to work on New Earth, as well as things that would be useful once people moved.

This made the economic disruption more bearable. The other big problem had been agriculture. Farmers, agricultural companies and food distributors were hot to get off of Earth early, to get a head start on New Earth. But the government couldn't allow that - because then people on Earth would starve. So the government had to step in, and force many of these people to stay on Earth, and work to make sure the food production and distribution systems still provided for the people left.

"Madame President?" Her aide, Cecilia popped her head in.

"Come in, Cecilia. How goes it?"

"I have a bit of a sticky wicket for you."

"OK, let's hear this sticky wicket."

"I need to give you a bit of background. As you might or might not recall, we put out a call for rapeseed growers and rapeseed oil manufacturers, because we got the information that there were large swaths of area on New Earth that would be perfect for its cultivation. And we need it, primarily for biodiesel, but for other uses on New Earth."

"It's one of those little facts I filed away somewhere, but forgot. OK, go ahead."

"Of course, all of those companies and growers jumped at the chance to get to New Earth early..."

Diana interrupted, "I think I know where this is heading."

"Yes. They are all gone. We don't have any growers or manufacturers left, but we have 6 years left on Earth. Our Agriculture Ministry has gotten screaming complaints from all over the world because of the lack of rapeseed and rapeseed oil."

"What is it used for here besides biodiesel?"

"Canola oil and animal feed, mostly."

"Substitutes?"

"Olive oil, corn oil, etc. I don't know what can replace it in animal feed, but we haven't gotten too many complaints about that. Most of the complaints have been from processed food manufacturers who are already stressed. The substitutes are more expensive."

"So what can we do? Is there anything we can do?"

"My suggestion is to give the processed food companies subsidies to be able to use the substitutes more cheaply. It won't make them happy, but it will be something."

"OK, work with Angus in Ag to figure that out. This printing money for subsidies seems dangerous, but we keep doing it, and it seems to ease things, so I'm trying not to worry about it too much. Actually, while you are at it, can you also check with Deirdre about economic impacts? Thanks for bringing this to my attention. We're going to face this over and over again, aren't we?"

Cecilia nodded her head. "Six more years, Madame President, only 6 more years."

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 4, Year 36

She sat in the front pew of her church in San Francisco, looking at the sun come through the stained glass depiction of Julian of Norwich, the 14th century mystic. She loved that stained glass image. She sat in silence for a while, watching the candle flames dance on the altar.

She heard a soft chime, and looked down at her widenet phone. She had a message from one of the diocesan staff here on New Earth, asking to see her. She sighed. She picked up the tiny remote control that was lying in her lap, and pushed the 'end' button. The small drab room that she was really in and the single chair that she sat on returned.

She hadn't put in a requisition yet to have her church reconstructed, because she felt conflicted about where it should go. It was, for sure, one of the most beautiful modern church buildings in the world. She was sure she wouldn't be staying on New Earth for a lot longer. She felt that her time as a priest was coming close to an end, and she wanted to move to Casiti, to write, to do other things. She would be here another few years, getting the Episcopal Church settled in New America, and then she would be gone.

It sometimes surprised her that her church in New Columbia had more parishioners than her church in San Francisco. Having the first official Episcopal Church in New America was what made the difference. She knew that many of her parishioners hadn't been church goers when they were on Earth, but the wrenching nature of the change to New Earth was enough to get them in the door.

She walked back toward the diocese offices, and observed the busy streets. New Columbia had become a very busy place. Tall buildings had been built for government and commercial uses. Every significant company from Earth now had a presence in New Columbia, in hopes of influencing the government.

She laughed internally at that one. The government of President Lira was impeccable, from everything Patricia had heard. In some ways, it was because she got a chance to start almost from scratch. The governments of the previous Presidents had been almost non-existent, and then the scandal of the kidnapped teenagers had scoured the government of everyone who had any connection to that scandal. President Lira got to bring in a totally new group, and they were honest, straightforward, and about as apolitical as it was possible for government people to be.

And now, she had heard that Kurt Wilson was running for President of the United States on New Earth. She was happy that things had turned around so much from what things had been, and could turn out so differently than things at home.

Jul'when, Casiti, 130 Paqn 785

Chin had originally planned on moving to Rel'toro after the initial effort to prepare for the Jul'when immigrants, but she had gotten so absorbed in teaching people how to farm in the Casitian way that she lost track of her desire to go to Rel'toro. And she started to feel like Jul'when was her home. Now, winter was on its way, and she had spent the last month preparing for it. Including something which surprised her. She'd met a Casitian man, Rt'len in the course of her work, and they decided to spend the winter as companions. His home was back on Rel'toro, but they decided to spend the winter here, on Jul'when, in her dwelling, which suited them both. She wondered whether she would ever choose to move to Rel'toro.

One of the things she wanted to learn this winter was how to write Casitian language. Rt'len had promised to help. She was one of a relatively few Chinese who had chosen to immigrate here, and she wanted to start translating some Chinese literature into Casitian. She had learned that the Casitians were avid readers in general, and had become avid readers of Earth literature. Translators could hardly keep up with the demand.

In her spare time, she'd been reading the books of the series of "Stories of Dbor" which had become famous on both worlds. The Casitian translations were not complete yet, so she had been reading many of the stories to her Casitian friends who knew some English.

She had kept contact with her family back in Beijing, all of whom immigrated to China on New Earth. She promised she'd visit sometime. She was happy here on Casiti, and even enjoyed the cold months. And she was looking forward to Rt'len's company.

Dlejon, New Earth, Month 3 Year 40

Ja'el said, "too bad you can't vote."

"Love, it's fine. I'm helping Kurt in as many ways as I can without breaking any rules."

"I know. I'm glad you think he'll win. He's quite a stunning young man."

"He is, isn't he? I talked with Leticia about him a while ago. She's known him for more than 30 years, and has remarked on how much he's changed."

Ja'el and Marianne were sitting on their couch, looking at their respective tablets, working companionably. "Love, on another subject, I have a colloquialism that I need to work out."

"OK, shoot."

"Beatrice and Ngellin have this phrase in one of the stories 'watch your tongue.' I know it is an English colloquialism, and I pretty much have come to understand what it means. As you might imagine, there is not anything remotely like it in Casitian."

Marianne smiled. Of course not. She thought of a number of ways to say it in Casitian, but ... there just wasn't anything that quite fit. Then she wondered...

"Ja'el what do Casitian parents say to children when they begin to say inappropriate things?"

"Inappropriate things? What could children say that would be inappropriate?"

Marianne rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Casitians were a bit much.

"OK, so how about this. A kid, say a 1 year old, is running around the house and a stranger they have never seen comes by. Let's say the stranger is weird looking in some way, and the kid says something rude."

"Ah, I see what you are getting at. Well..."

"It needs to be short, not a long loving speech."

Ja'el laughed. "The closest thing I can come up with would be 'joe'lista foera kl'eroter, zas karen'a wilena. It's a bit specific to children, though."

"Not so bad. What about modifying zas to zasa and karen'a to karen'o?"

Ja'el nodded. "Yes! That will work. Thank you."

"It's a lot longer than 'watch your tongue, but ..."

Ja'el smiled. "I have learned so much about how we are different in this translation process. I look forward to spending time with Beatrice and Ngellin to talk about this."

"Oh, right, I was supposed to book that shuttle, wasn't I?"

"Thanks, yes, you were."

"I'm on it."

New Columbia, New Earth, Month 3 Year 40

"85% of the precincts on Earth are now reporting, 100% of precincts on New Earth are reporting. MSNBC, ABC, Fox, Disney, and NETV have all now called the race for Kurt Wilson." A huge cheer went up from the room. Kurt was in a relatively small room, with close allies and friends, including Kenneth, Valorie, Mira, Leticia, Terrance, Suzanna and Geoffrey, even David and Marianne were here. It was looking a lot like he would be the new President, the first of the new United States on New Earth.

Marianne sat down next to him. "So, how does it feel?"

"Horrible."

Marianne put her arm around Kurt's shoulders. "I have to say, I'm sort of glad you said that."

Kurt laughed. "But I know it's good for the US, and good for New Earth. That part makes me happy. I have to admit to being a little surprised by the whole thing. I'm not so surprised that most US citizens living here voted for me. The shocker is that most US citizens living there voted for me too. I'm the youngest US President in history." He grinned.

"They saw in you someone who knew what life was like on New Earth, and was prepared to make a new way. All the other candidates hadn't even moved here yet."

Kurt nodded. "I guess so. Anyway, my inauguration is in two months. Coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, dear. I hear the Supreme Court is moving on the next wave so that the Chief Justice can be in town to swear you in!"

Terrance, who would become Kurt's chief of staff, walked over. "Hey there. Time to address your public, my friend. The other candidates have conceded the race."

Kurt smiled. He found it so hard to believe that 32 short years ago, Kurt was the sullen teenager who bullied the boy who became the amazing man standing in front of him.

"Alright, let's get going."

He followed Terrance through the halls to the large ballroom where his victory celebration was being held. As he walked in, the cheers became deafening. He couldn't hear himself think. Luckily, he didn't have to think. The victory speech was already written. He walked up to the podium, and looked out at the crowd. It was quite a mix. A lot of young people like him who had grown up on New Earth, as well as many older folks who had recently arrived. He had been gratified by how many people worked on his campaign who were new arrivals.

He smiled and waved for a while, as did Kenneth, who stood beside him. He finally raised his hands, asking for quiet. The room quieted down. There was a large group of press in the back, with cameras and taking photographs. He wished that this could be live on Earth, but communications through the wormhole had about a 2 hour delay.

"My fellow Americans, both here, in New America, and at home on Earth, I thank you for giving me the chance to serve you at this momentous time...

Chapter 10: Ten Percent

(AP) December 25, 2035

Two More Years to Go as Earth Empties Out. People Who Remain Celebrate in Small Ways.

Annapolis, MD (AP) -- There are fewer people on Earth than there are on New Earth this Christmas. Churches here are mostly empty, families split up, and few stores remain open. Jake Green, from Annapolis Maryland, explained that he had drawn the short straw, somehow, and didn't get a berth on a colony ship until toward the end.

"It's OK," he says. "it's giving me a chance to do some things I had wanted to do. And it also means that by the time I get to New America, I won't have to worry."

People who would not normally gather together are having parties and festivals, to conquer boredom, and have fun. One community spent three weeks gathering all of the Christmas lights they could find, and stringing them up all over town, creating a collaborative light display that was hard to match.

Kinder Settlement, New Earth, Month 1 Year 41

Beatrice handled the hardbound book with a wonderful cloth cover, and embossed title "Stories of Dbor: The Kinder Writings." It had finally been printed in an actual book, and somehow, seeing it like this made it feel more real.

It had been published in electronic form, and spread all over New Earth years ago, but for some reason, just over the past 5 years, it had become more and more popular. The Casitian translation was about to be published on Casiti – Ja'el had dedicated most of the last few years of her life to it. She had been giving readings all over New Earth over the past two years, and had already been asked by a dozen people to give readings on Casiti to people who knew English.

She felt that Pkygy would have been happy for this day, and happy that his grandmother's writings were so loved by so many. Beatrice wished she could go back in time, and bring his grandmother to this point. She imagined that her only regret would be that her home planet was still closed off.

Beatrice remembered that she had left copies of the stories behind with Krely, and hoped that Krely had been able to pass them on. Perhaps they might eventually become as famous there as they were here.

She opened the book, and started to read, again, the story of Elfer.

Moon Station, May 27, 2038

David and Joel were sitting in a joining room on the Moon station, looking over the latest emigration and immigration reports from Earth and New Earth. David had come to Earth for a last visit. He'd spent time with Diana and Janie, visited with Joel and Laura, had spent time with Torf'ki doing sightseeing, as he'd promised years ago. They had visited a number of monuments and the like. It had been odd to go to some places that were near deserted. Yosemite didn't even have any park staff anymore – people were free to range about and go wherever they wanted. Few people were traveling anymore, even those who had a couple of years left on Earth.

David and Torf'ki were good friends now, but no longer companions. Torf'ki had taken another companion, a Terran man he'd met while doing construction work on New Earth. David was in between companions, although he and Heg'ellin were spending a lot of their free time together lately.

David looked back down at the emigration reports. It had mostly been smooth sailing. A few hiccups now and then, and that stubborn approximately 150 million people who refused to apply for emigration berths. They had begun to do what they were calling "extraction planning." He hated the phrase, and hated what it would mean. But there really was no choice in the matter.

"David, these immigration reports are staggeringly bad."

"Staggeringly? C'mon man, give us a break."

"The reports of Cholera in the ICS are troubling. Millions of people either in tents or actually camping outside. I mean, I know it rains on New Earth, David."

"Joel, most of New Earth is doing fine. No one in any of the independent zones are even in pre-fabs, unless they chose very small, remote settlements. That's true of New America, and at least a hundred other country territories. The native and indigenous people’s immigration has gone swimmingly. Of the 3 or so billion people now on New Earth, only about 400 million are in bad shape."

"That's more than 10%!"

"That's ONLY a bit over 10% Joel! Do you have ANY idea what it's been like on New Earth for the last few years? I'm amazed that 1/2 the people aren't in tents and that no one is starving!"

"OK, you're right. I apologize. We expected nightmares here on Earth, and things to go smoothly on New Earth. It seems the opposite has happened."

"Until extraction."

Joel sighed. "Yes, until extraction. But I'll be gone by then."

"What?"

"Laura and I have decided to move to Casiti, and we're leaving in about a year. Neither of us can stand the idea of watching the extraction process, so we're leaving before it begins. There are enough folks here to deal with it, anyway. We're not really needed."

"Casiti, eh? It's becoming a popular destination. Diana and Janie are planning to retire there."

"Yeah, we're actually going to be living in the same community on Rel'toro."

"I liked Casiti a lot, but I like how New Earth is shaping up. I think I’ll stay. I've been invited by Marianne's niece Leticia to live in a small community up in the NCPIZ, and that seems like fun. There will be a lot of younger folks, but there are also a good group of people about our age settling there. It has an amazing view."

"Sounds nice. Is it too out of the way for your work?"

"What work? Dude, the minute this shit is done, I'm retiring."

Joel laughed.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Mark my words, David. No one is going to let you retire."

New Earth Casiti Transport, 60 Hevl 786

Beatrice looked out of the window to see the bulk of New Earth recede. Ngellin, Tivyl and she were on their way to Rel'toro, to a community that would include about 50 Kinder/New Earth families, as well as Casitians. She was looking forward to seeing Casiti, and getting to know it better.

They would be arriving in late summer. Not the optimal time to immigrate to Casiti. She and Ngellin had a small garden on New Earth, which she tended with care. She was looking forward to doing that on Casiti. The idea of growing food in a greenhouse, which was also standard Casitian practice, was exciting to her too.

She turned to Ngellin and put her hand on his. He looked up at her, and smiled.

"Well, we are certainly on our way, aren't we?"

"We are."

"Beatrice, I have been asked by Jal'end'a to collaborate with the Kinder to create a written history and, in a sense, encyclopedia of the Kinder. It feels like such a daunting task."

"Ngellin, collectively, I bet you all know so much. It will just take time to figure out how to put it together. Kler is a walking encyclopedia of Kinder Supreme Chiefs!"

Ngellin smiled. "Yes, that was a hobby of his, the history of Supreme Chiefs."

"I want to hear about Klor."

"Ah, Beatrice, that is going to be a tricky one."

"Why?"

"It's a very sensitive story. I get the impression that it's sensitive for the Casitians as well."

"Somehow, I get the feeling that the crux of the issues between Casitians and the Kinder are buried in that story. And from what I hear, you both feel betrayed by the other in that story."

Ngellin nodded.

"It has to be told, Ngellin."

"I agree, dear, I agree."

They chatted for a while about what their life might look like on Casiti. After a while, Ngellin drifted off into a nap, like Tivyl, and Beatrice was left with her own thoughts.

Illsenor Station, Month 1 Year 44

Marianne looked at the tablet with data. "So, you are saying that stubbornness is the only problem?"

David said, "yeah, honestly. The ICS who refuses to allow any Casitians on the ground. Countries that are constantly in our way when we are trying to give them what they asked for. About 25 countries who focused on roads and don't have enough fuel to get everyone around. Actually that last group isn't such a big deal. They are all quite happy when the light rail systems get installed, so we're focusing a lot of resources on that."

"So what can we do?"

David shook his head. "Not much, Marianne. I've been spending a lot of time going from place to place trying to work things out as much as possible. Well, of course, except for the ICS. The ICS..."

"We keep dropping supplies. Leticia has been doing amazing work with the medical teams. The infectious outbreaks seem to be in control. It seems like some of it is naturally easing as people leave."

"Since people can't vote with a ballot to throw the bums out, they are voting with their feet in droves. Joel said, by the way, that the number of people changing their immigration applications from the ICS to New America is growing."

"Is this creating a problem for New America?"

"No, Marianne, the government there is handling the overflow quite well. And some of the overflow is going to other places."

"Well, we've got less than 5 years left. I'll be glad when this is over."

"You and me both."

"David, I got an interesting missive from Jal'end'a. She wants me and a few other leaders, to come to Casiti to discuss the future."

"The future? Is there a future?" He smirked.

"Seriously, David. We do need to begin to figure out what the heck we're going to do once this is all said and done. Problem is, I can't see when any of us can possibly get away for a few weeks to spend on Casiti."

"I think we can do it. I'd say in about two years, we'll be pretty much smoothed out here."

"You think so?"

"I do."

Zagreb, New Earth, Month 1 Year 45

Jasmine was glad to be here. She drove her car into the small parking lot next to the New Earth Immigration Service building, pulled out her bags, and walked into the small, squat building. She walked up to the desk.

"Jasmine! How are you?"

Jasmine liked Marija, and liked getting to see her. She would be sad not to see her again, at least not for a long while. "Doing fine Marija. Ready to throw in the towel. This region doesn't need me anymore."

"Going somewhere else to monitor? I hear there are some real nightmares further south."

"Nope. I'm leaving. I got the final approval to emigrate to Casiti. I'm going to be living in Rel'toro."

"Casiti? Wow, that sounds neat. I'm looking forward to visiting someday."

"You'll always be welcome to visit me. I'll send along my Casitian network ID once I get one. Anyway, the car is here, the last reports are filed, and I have a train to catch."

They hugged, and Jasmine picked up her bags and walked out of the building. As she walked down the sidewalk toward the train station, she remembered what Zagreb had looked like eleven years ago. Now, it looked like a real city. Some of the most prominent buildings, like the Cathedral and the Theatre, had been reconstructed. There were some very tall buildings, and lots of neat apartment complexes. One of the other buildings they had reconstructed was the Zagreb train station. As she walked across the street, before entering into the building, she looked up at the four columns in the central tall portion of the station, and the arched windows, and the statues on the top. It was spectacular, and she imagined it helped people to see a tangible piece of their history, even though it wasn't the real thing.

As the train pulled out of the station, and speeded its way west and north to Paris, where she'd grab her shuttle to the one of the regular New Earth/Casiti transports, she thought about what her life might be like on Casiti. She remembered, years ago, when Marianne had said that it wasn't all that she might be expecting. She wasn't sure that she cared. She just knew that she needed something different than anything on New Earth could provide.

Mecca, New Aard, New Earth, Month 4 Year 45

Olam was walking around the Kabaa. The Kabaa! He couldn't quite get his mind around the fact that the city of Mecca was here, on New Earth. It had taken a long time, and a lot of effort by many people to figure out what to do with Mecca. Islamic scholars here and back on Earth had argued back and forth for years about whether or not Mecca should stay on Earth, or be rebuilt on New Earth. It fractured the Islamic community into two factions that Olam guessed would never be one again. Those that felt that Mecca should stay on Earth forever, and one of the central pillars be postponed for 1000 years, and those who felt that Allah willed that Mecca move with humans.

Once it was clear that the majority wanted Mecca moved, where it would go wasn't anywhere as difficult. It was placed pretty much in the center of New Aard. Olam didn't know what the faction who insisted that this was not the real Mecca would do when it was time for the Hajj.

This was, he knew, far from isolated. Christians were dealing with the issue of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Vatican City. Buddhists were dealing with Sarnath, Bodhgaya and Dharamsala, Hindus with the holy Ganges, which could not be replicated. And on and on. But it seemed that in places where the replicas were built, people were by and large taking them as if they were the real thing. Olam thought that perhaps most Muslims would be able to do the same with Mecca, eventually.

New Oakland, New California, New Earth, Month 4 Year 45

Joanne bent down to weed her garden, which was overgrown. The tomatoes were doing well. Her pepper plants were not doing so well. Apparently there was a little native pest that just loved pepper plants. She hadn't had a chance yet to go get the compound that would kill the pest, so her plants were droopy, and there weren't any peppers yet.

The climate here was similar to the climate in Northern California, except wetter, so she was able to grow a lot of food she was familiar with. She was also trying out some Casitian crops, too.

"Hi there!"

She looked up to see Maria standing on the sidewalk next to her garden. She stood up, and walked over. They hugged.

"It's good to see you, Maria. I feel like I don't see you very often."

"I've been busy, so busy. The PR business is booming."

Joanne smiled. "I can imagine."

"How are you these days?"

"I've been pretty busy myself. This is actually the first time I've been home in a month. I just got back from a field study of the Gurlops oceanus. It's an amazing creature. I also happily report that it has a brain the size of a pea. No chance of provisional status."

Maria laughed.

"I'm finishing a final draft of the paper for publication this week. It's good to be a scientist again."

"Have you been going to meetings these days?"

"When I'm here, yes. There's one downtown on thirdday that I'm especially fond of, and I try to get to the sixthday women's meeting uptown." Joanne felt good about where she was in life, and didn't want to jeopardize it.

"Well, I came here to invite you to Thanksgiving dinner at our house."

"Wow, it's almost Thanksgiving, isn't it? I rarely look at my Earth calendar anymore - it's hard to keep the two in my mind."

"Yeah, me too, although I hear there is a movement to have New Earth adopt Earth's calendar."

"How could that be, with the longer days and shorter years?"

"Someone figured out how to do it, and adjust for the differences, etc."

"Well, that would be fine with me. Anyway, sure, I'm happy to come. We can finally get sweet potatoes and squash, and I've managed to scrounge some spices. I'll make my infamous dish."

"I love it. See you then. In the meantime, be well, my friend."

They hugged again, and Joanne went back to weeding her garden.

Chapter 11: Twenty Years’ Time

(AP) December 12, 2037

Last Colony Ships to Leave Earth in 10 days

Ankara, Turkey (AP) -- The last of the colony ships will leave Earth in 10 days. The ships will be filled with workers who have stayed behind to wrap things up, as well as the more than 80 million people who had to be extracted from their homes and hiding places all over Earth.

"It's a tragedy," said President Diane Westinghouse-Lewis. "I'm sorry that more people didn't take advantage of all of the resources available to them earlier. But we don't have a choice in the matter."

In the United States, National Guard troops have been scouring the cities and countrysides for people still remaining. All over the world, military troops have been put to the task of finding people. The President and her team are confident that all humans will be removed from Earth with the final Colony ships.

Moon Station, September 26, 2036

"You know, I never cleaned out that storage locker I had in Palo Alto."

"Storage locker?"

Joel laughed. "Yeah, when I lost my apartment in the middle of the Casitian Crisis, I took all of my stuff, and put it in a storage locker. When we left to go travel, I gave the proprietors a big chunk of money which would pay for 20 years’ time, just in case, even though I expected to come back and live on Earth again. And, well, you know what has happened. So I still have that storage locker full of stuff I haven't seen in 24 years."

"And I have a basement full of stuff at my sister's house. She left for New Earth last year, so who knows what state that stuff is in. I'm not sure I care."

"I gotta go down and open mine up. Somehow I can't bear to leave not having looked through it, at least."

"OK, well, let's take a little trip, shall we?"

Palo Alto, Earth, September 28, 2036

The storage place in Palo Alto looked like it had been deserted for years. Most of the storage units looked like they had been forced open. Joel guessed that people had been looking for some sorts of valuables they could take with them when it was time to go. He distinctly remembered the locker number, because it happened to be the same number as his birth year, 1975. They walked down the row of the 1900s, and locker after locker had been forced open. Finally, they reached 1975. It was a mess. It clearly had been open for a long time. The furniture was moldy, everything was strewn about. Yellowed papers were everywhere. Joel opened some boxes, and everything had been destroyed by water.

"So much for that idea." Something caught his eye. In a deep recess was a trophy. He'd forgotten all about it. He'd been on the swim team in High School, and had kept his trophies. The gold plastic was flaking off, and the plaque on the bottom had rusted so you could no longer see what it said. He threw it back.

"Somehow, it feels bad knowing this shit will rot here for 1000 years before anyone sees it again. Oh well. Nothing here to take. Are you still sure you want to see what's in your sister's basement?"

Laura nodded. "Even if it's in this shape, I want to know."

There were now five small-sized plastic shipping crates on the sidewalk next to the shuttle. Laura had been luckier. No one had bothered to break into Laura's sister's house, since it appeared to be completely empty. Most of her stuff in the basement was still in good shape, although there wasn't a lot she wanted to take with her. Joel was walking up the stairs with the sixth, and Laura was following.

"I guess this means we're ready to go, doesn't it?"

"Yup. We've got a berth on the last Casitian Colony ship to leave Earth. We're getting out right before extraction starts. Our work is done, Laura. And I'm ready for some relaxation."

New York, Earth, December 1, 2037

"Hello, this is Joh Appel, and I'm here with President Westinghouse-Lewis, who is on a tour of the world before we all have to leave. Madame President, why the tour?"

"Well, Joh, I know it seems strange, but it's almost like a captain going down with his ship. I want to make sure that this final month of arrangements for people leaving goes smoothly."

"Madame President, the vast majority of the people leaving on this last wave are leaving quite reluctantly."

"That could even be an understatement. I know. We've been extracting people all over the world, unfortunately. It's been an unpleasant task for the folks whose jobs it is to do it. We'd hoped that there wouldn't be as many as there have been. Part of the reason for this tour is to see how the extraction process has been for people, and see if there are things we can do to help."

"On another subject, I hear you are moving to Casiti?"

Diana nodded. "Yes, Joh, my partner and I decided that it would be best for us to retire there, instead of New Earth. I'm sure we'll be visiting, though. Where are you headed?"

"New Earth. Our whole network is moving, and I'll be doing pretty much the same work there."

"Joh, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Not at all Madame President."

"Call me Diana, Joh. I'm only President for the next month, and, honestly, most people left on Earth don't care."

Joh smiled, inclined his head. "Diana."

"Why did you decide to stay so long?"

"I wanted to see what Earth looks like mostly empty of people. It's a curiosity thing, one the network was happy to indulge me in. We are filming a documentary starting next week, filming many abandoned areas of Earth and such."

"I'm looking forward to watching that on Casiti, Joh."

"Thank you."

Rel'toro, Casiti, 100 Gont 787

Beatrice was soaking in a large, deep tub. The lights were low, and there was very soothing music playing. If she weren't having labor pains, she might even be enjoying this.

"Mami, how are you?" Tivyl, her oldest, who was sixteen, eight, or two depending on which calendar one was paying attention to, was hovering.

"I'm OK, Tiv. I hurt sometimes."

Ngellin came into the room. "Tiv, it's time for bed."

"But Mami might have Pkygy when I'm asleep Da!"

"If she does, you can meet him in the morning sweet. Off you go."

Beatrice groaned. Her midwife, Lo'et, asked her how frequent the contractions were.

"About every two minutes."

"OK, we're getting there, very close now."

She was sitting on the couch, with Pkygy nursing at her breast. It was the easiest childbirth she'd had so far, after her two daughters, Tivyl and Marianne. It was late at night, and Ngellin was busy helping her doula clean up. She was glad she had named her son Pkygy. Ngellin had made the suggestion. When she found out it was a boy, she asked Ngellin for a good Kinder male name, maybe one of his relatives. He'd said, simply, 'Pkygy is a great Kinder name.' Beatrice agreed.

She was happy on Casiti, as was Ngellin. He, and many of his Kinder fellows, were busy working on the history and encyclopedia that Jal'end'a had requested. It was work he really liked. On the side, he was also learning Casitian. He hoped to translate into Kinder language some of the epic givs of the Casitians, like the one of Ul'tretor, one of the early Casitian leaders. From what she had heard, there was a lot of discussions of the Kinder in that giv. She didn't especially look forward to the moment when Ngellin read, uncensored, the Casitian opinions of the Kinder.

Rel'toro, Casiti, 102 Gont 787

"Oh my God, he is so cute!" Laura was holding Pkygy and rocking him in her arms. Ngellin had thrown her a bit of a surprise party, with Joel and Laura, Jal'end'a, and Kinder and Casitian friends. There was Casitian, Kinder and Earth food and drink, and everyone was having a great time.

Joel walked up to her, giving her a hug, and congratulating her. "Beatrice, I just finished reading the stories of Dbor. They are amazing. I know the writing was great, but you and Ngellin must have done an amazing translation job."

"Thanks, Joel. It was a lot of work, but worth it."

"So what's next?"

"What's next? Raising three children. It's a lot of work, you know." Beatrice smiled.

"Are you going to follow the Casitian standards? Will Tivyl go to a youth community?"

"Yes, she will. But Pkygy will be my last. And I guess in about 3 years or so, I'll have to figure out what to do with my life. But I'm in no hurry."

Disney World, Orlando, Florida, Earth, December 15, 2037

The park had been closed for 5 years, enough time that its decomposition was evident. Joh walked through the gates to the castle in the Magic Kingdom, there were costumes scattered about and litter.

He was mapping out the places he wanted the crew to film. They were currently busy down on Main Street, USA. He didn't think this part of the park was going to be especially interesting. He walked back toward the crew when his walkie-talkie squawked.

"We found some people. We called the National Guard. They'll be here in a few minutes to extract."

"Can we film it?"

"Already ahead of you. Subjects have already signed waivers. They are kids. They are kind of happy they will be moderately infamous."

"Be there in five." He picked up his pace, and started running.

Madrid, Spain, Earth, December 15, 2037

Roberto Martinez, a Sargento, and two of his Soldados were patrolling the outside perimeter of Valdemingómez, one of the worst slums in Madrid. They were searching for signals indicating people, or traces where people had recently been.

Things here were a mess. There was garbage in the streets, the buildings, poorly built to begin with, were crumbling. This area had gotten cleaned up a lot after the Casitian Crisis, but then when the evacuation became clear, it went downhill again.

"Over here." Roberto looked toward one of his Soldados.

"What do you have?"
"One individual. From the scanner signals, this person looks pretty sick."

"Call the medical corps."

New York, Earth, December 15, 2037

Greg hated this duty. As a soldier in the National Guard, he had been assisting people during the whole emigration process. Now, it was at its end, and his duty was to find all the stragglers. This was the last few days, and there were only a few people left.

He had a series of Casitian scanners and monitors that would find people within buildings and in basements and the like. Today, he was working in the South Bronx. He would find people, figure out how to get them out of wherever they were, and get them to a shuttle. It was nasty work, usually. The people left were belligerent, drunk or stoned, or sometimes mentally ill.

He heard a beep. Ah, three people in that brownstone there. He walked up the stairs, and knocked on the door. "National Guard. Please open up." He waited. He heard shuffling, and then the door opened, and a small woman who he could swear was 100 years old answered.

"I'm not leaving."

"I'm sorry ma'am, but you have to."

"I'm not leaving, and neither is my husband or son."

Greg sighed. "Ma'am, don't make this harder on me than it already is. Please pack up some things. I'll help you, if you want. We need to leave."

"I told you already. I am not leaving." Greg, of course heard this all the time, especially from older people. He hated to do this, but it was his job, and they all had to leave. Reason never worked on these folks who were adamant.

He turned away, and turned on his communicator. "Three people, at least two elderly, possibly all three, refusing to leave. I need extraction."

The scenario for people like this was simple. A group of National Guard, generally with medical staff, would move into the house, and physically remove them, and put them in a truck to go to the holding areas waiting for shuttles to the colony ships. A team of AI powered bots would go inside the house and with some educated guesses, pick out stuff from their dwelling and dump it into cargo containers to be shipped with them to New Earth.

He turned back. "Ma'am, some folks are coming to remove you and your stuff. Please make it as pleasant for them as possible."

She looked at him and said, "did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, ma'am, I did. Have a nice trip."

He walked down the steps, shaking his head. Extractions had been on whatever was left for television here for months, and people still somehow didn't believe it would be done to them.

Birmingham, Alabama, Earth, December 15, 2037

Diana's shuttle landed on the tarmac across from the large hanger that was currently serving as a holding area for people who would be leaving on the last 1000 ships to New Earth. She and her phalanx of security guards entered the hangar, and saw the chaos.

There was a sea of cots, with people sitting on them, or roaming around. When some people saw her, they ran toward her. In a matter of half a minute, a sizable crowd had formed around her.

"Why can't we go home? When are we leaving?" People were tossing questions out at her. Why hadn't they been given any information?

"I'm sorry that you all are experiencing this. It is because you refused to apply for emigration. You cannot go home. The last colony ships are leaving within 15 days, and you will be on one of them. In the meantime, you'll have to stay here."

There were angry murmurs, but nothing else. She had some conversations with a few people, and then went in search for whoever was in charge. At the far end of the hangar, behind a large glass window was a man with his feet up on his desk, smoking a cigar, and watching what looked to be a game of some sort on the television. She knocked on the door.

He looked up, annoyed, and then recognized her and the cigar dropped out of his mouth. He got up quickly, and opened the door.

"Madame President ... no one told me you were..."

"That was on purpose. Why haven't these people been given complete information?"

"Well, the Major said..."

"The Major?"

"Major Johnson, of the Alabama National Guard is in charge of this holding area. I'm just here making sure they all get fed and taken care of. He comes around every other day or so.

"And what did he say?"

"He said we didn't need to tell them nothing."

Diana sighed, and several curse words came to mind, but she did not vocalize them.

"Tell Major Johnson when you see him to call me, please? If he doesn't, I'll call on him, and he will be sorry."

"Yes, yes, I will, Madame President."

She turned and walked through the hangar, and out into the sun. Six down...

Casiti, 50 Paqn 787

Marianne and Jal'end'a were sitting in Jal'end'a's office, with cups of fuge.

Marianne said, "I have to say, I haven't had a cup of fuge this good since I left."

"Thanks for coming to visit Marianne. And I'm glad Ja'el came, it's always good to see her. We had a nice visit."

Marianne nodded. "I heard. Jal'end'a, I have to admit that it's hard to wrench ourselves from the present to look at the future, but I know it's necessary."

"How are things going right now?"

"Most of New Earth is fine, except for a few pockets of disaster. Most of those are being dealt with, thankfully. Earth, well, that's another story. We're in the last phase of the evacuation, what has been dubbed 'Extraction.'"

"Extraction?"

"Forcibly taking people from their homes and hiding places. We estimated that there were about 80 million people that would need extraction. We're about 15 days from the deadline, and we're still finding people. The good news is they won't close the wormhole before we finish, but we've been getting extreme pressure from the Krumptia. They are angry that we weren't done a year ago. They can't understand why some people won't leave."

"Well, they are all bureaucrats! What would they know?"

"Anyway, I think we'll be done, but it's going to be under the wire."

“The purpose of this trip is for us to start to think about how our two planets should work together, and cooperate."

Marianne nodded. "Yes, I think that will be important going forward. I hate to focus on just our two planets."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I know we cannot communicate with the Kinder, but we do have Kinder with us, on both planets, and we hope that someday, all three planets can be united."

"We don't only hope, Marianne, we expect. That's the only way we'll be allowed back into the Galactic Community."

"True. I just want to make sure that we leave space for the Kinder voice."

"Hmm. You know, I learned a lot from being on Earth, those years ago. We Casitians, work by consensus, and choose our Caraj members not to represent some faction or constituency, but by the nature of what we think they will contribute. But your global governmental bodies are not set up that way. They are set up to represent constituencies."

"Yes. You are thinking...?"

"I wonder if we should have a human council. One with representatives from Casitians, Terrans and Kinder - the three branches of humanity. The hope would be that eventually, Kinder from Kinder Home would sit to represent themselves. But now, it is the Kinder among us."

"Jal'end'a, that is brilliant. Thank you so much for that idea."

"And, of course, you would be the first head teacher."

"Whoa there. Slow down. Jal'end'a, I have been in public leadership one way or the other pretty much non-stop since Ja'el let drop that we weren't alone in the galaxy. That is a very long time now, getting on to 27 Earth years. I'm done. I'm retiring from all public work. There are lots of people who can take my place."

Jal'end'a nodded. "Yes, I can understand your desire to retire. I'm looking forward to that sometime soon myself, returning to my cloistered life."

"Now that we have this idea, how can we make it a reality?"

Independent Christian State, Month 3 Year 49

David sat looking at a tall, young, but balding man who was the new Bishop of the ICS. Bishop Kramer had died in his sleep a few weeks ago. David was here for a couple of reasons, neither of them pleasant. He had no idea what Bishop Trout was going to be like. He looked young enough to have grown up in the ICS.

"Mr. Lopez, what has prompted your visit here today?"

"Well, first, I thought it would be good to introduce myself to you, given your new role."

"That was unnecessary. I don't expect us to have much contact with the world leadership."

"I understand. The other reason is more critical."

"Go ahead."

"I received word that someone in the ICS tried to place an order for 2.5 million cubic feet of Tulip tree lumber."

"Yes, our construction efforts have used up the current supply. So?"

"Bishop Trout, each territory is required to use Tulip Trees sustainably. You cannot order that much lumber."

"What are you saying? You are going to deprive our people of housing?"

"Bishop Trout, the only thing depriving your people of housing is your stubborn insistence that no Casitians touch ICS ground."

"That is your perspective. Our perspective is that you are not willing to do anything without the devil's influence."

David realized that this was like the old Who song. "Meet the New Boss/Same as the Old Boss."

"In any event, you are not getting any more Tulip tree lumber. I know several vendors of Bamboo, who will be happy to fill orders for bamboo lumber, or better yet, help you start bamboo plantations."

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"I guess not." David rose, and put out his hand. Bishop Trout did not move.

"Good bye, Bishop." David walked out, vowing never to return again.

Chapter 12: Fifteen Around the Table

(AP) February 16, 2038

New Earth to Adopt Earth Calendar

New Orleans – The new all-World council, modeled after the United Nations, the global intergovernmental body in place before the global democracy existed, has passed a resolution that New Earth adopt the Earth calendar. Because New Earth days are 46 hours long, some modifications to the calendar system on New Earth were put in place, including adding an extra day or two per month, depending on the month. This would mean a synchronization of New Earth's calendar and Earth's calendar. It would also mean that January 1, 3038 would be the date that humans could hope to return to Earth.

Earth Orbit, December 27, 2037

Diana gazed at the Earth as the small Casiti-bound transport moved slowly among the large colony ships on their way to the wormhole. She remembered what Marianne had said about her last trip away from Earth, to Casiti – and wondered how different or similar the feeling was. She found it hard to believe that finally, all humans were gone from Earth. The years of chaos and strife were over, on Earth, at least. The Dolphins and other creatures of Earth finally had a place to call home without human interference.

She was on her way to Casiti. She didn't quite know what she thought of that. The five million or so people who had been allowed to emigrate to Casiti's main continent, Rel'toro, had been a very well screened bunch. She had requested to emigrate, with the idea that when things calmed down on New Earth, she might spend some time there as well. Marianne was, unsurprisingly, staying on New Earth, settling down finally and retiring from leadership. Ja'el was staying with her.

The mix on New Earth was staggering: Terrans from the first migration, Kinder army deserters who became citizens, Terrans from the second migration, and finally, a substantial contingent of Casitians who felt that a Casitian presence on New Earth would be helpful. Diana knew that the leaders of New Earth had their hands full.

"Penny for your thoughts." Janie put her hand on Diana's arm, gently.

"I don't know, you might have to give me several dollars, sweetheart."

Janie smiled knowingly. "Worried a bit about going to Casiti?"

"Yes, I am, that and just worried about humanity. But anyway, I don't quite know what to expect on Casiti. I remember Marianne didn't really like it that much."

"I'm looking forward to it. Not that I'm sure we should stay forever, but I think it's worth checking out, especially given the warm invitation we got from Jal'end'a.

"This is a new chapter in Human history, isn't it? One we could have never predicted."

"I do hope human beings get to go back to Earth someday."

Illsenor Station, December 31, 2037

"There's the signal coming back." Everyone was looking at the large viewscreen in the joining room. This scene was being played all over the two systems. Marianne imagined that the Kinder on Hilcyon didn't care, but they were going to send a small communications beacon through to Hilcyon with a repeated message and video from this moment. She wondered if they would destroy it before they bothered to find out what it was.

A ship was in front of the Casitian wormhole, and the New Earth wormhole. Each wormhole had the capacity to go in a multitude of directions - basically, to any other wormhole present in the galaxy. Today, they saw two Keeelo ships exit the wormholes, and then enter them, and they knew that once those ships entered, they would be locked out from the rest of the galaxy.

For some reason, the Krumptians wanted them to test the wormholes, to make sure that they were unable to go anywhere except between their three worlds. They sent ships between Casiti and New Earth wormholes, and they were just getting back signals confirming that it was impossible to pass through to any other systems.

"Signal confirmed. We're locked out." There was dead silence in the room. Marianne bet there was dead silence everywhere on Casiti and New Earth.

"Send the Hilcyon beacon."

"Sent."

Marianne said, "we're done here."

It was done. Marianne knew that in the unlikely case that some humans had managed to stay on Earth, there might be a ship or two sent into the New Earth system in a few weeks, or months, but otherwise, there would be no traffic, no technology, no news, and no travel anywhere in the galaxy for any human being for 1000 years.

The room was still silent. Marianne spoke. "Everyone, we have gone through what I imagine is one of the hardest transitions any species in the galaxy has been asked to go through. And, it was done with little violence on our part. I think we managed admirably, and in a way that, perhaps, presages a new era for humans. One that is harmonious and peaceful.

We still have a ton of work to do both on New Earth, and Casiti. But let's celebrate, today. Let's remember this day, every year, for 1000 years."

They filtered out of the joining room, and Marianne and a few others caught a shuttle to the surface. She was going to spend the rest of the day and evening with Ja'el.

New Orleans, New Earth, March 30, 2038

Marianne was happy to be sitting in the audience, rather than at the table. It was an historic moment. All three branches of humankind were now sitting around one council table. She was gratified of her role in creating the council, but glad she didn't need to sit on it.

There were five representatives from each of the three branches. Of course, the Kinder deserters were acting as a proxy for the Kinder of Hilcyon. That couldn't be helped. She knew that they, and every other Kinder representative that followed, would have as a goal to finally bring the Kinder from Hilcyon into the council. It was the council that would form the basis for whatever peace and cooperation that would be necessary in order to re-join the galactic community in 1000 years.

The five Casitians sitting at the table were mostly new to her. Casiti insisted on having their representatives chosen from those that lived on Casiti's main continent, Rel'toro. Marianne could understand the rationale for that. Terran representatives could be elected from Terrans living either on New Earth or Casiti. She was happy to see Leticia sitting at the table as one of the five. She was growing into a good leader.

She heard a little gurgle next to her, and looked down to see little Pkygy in Beatrice's arms. Marianne’s mother complained bitterly about Beatrice naming her first son Pkygy. "No one can pronounce it!" She smiled. She was happy for Beatrice's new life on Casiti with Ngellin and the small group of Kinder who moved with them to Rel'toro. And Beatrice was getting used to her new found fame, both on Casiti and New Earth, as the publisher of the enormously popular series of Kinder stories. Beatrice was on New Earth to visit because Ngellin was one of the five Kinder representatives.

David had been chosen as the head teacher of the new council, which came as no surprise to anyone except him. He had been stalwart, dependable, and sane, especially during the chaos of the final waves, and given that he had experienced so much on all four planets, it made a lot of sense to Marianne that he be the first leader of this new council.

The Caraj was still in place for Casitians, and there was a global body in place for Terrans on New Earth – more like the old UN than the truly global government that was in place on Earth before the evacuation. Marianne knew that Diana felt that loss keenly – it had been such a momentous change on Earth for there to have been one global government, but losing it had been inevitable, for now. Marianne hoped that eventually, all humans on New Earth could re-form into a government that would work.

After mostly formalities, the first council meeting was over. David, Heg'ellin, Marianne and Ja'el had dinner at one of the new Cajun restaurants in New Orleans.

"I'm still kind of stunned that this council exists, Marianne. And I'm equally stunned that I'm supposed to run the thing."

"David, you'll do fine. You know that." Ja'el put a reassuring hand on David's shoulder

Marianne added, "besides, my friend, better you than me." They all laughed.

"I wish Joel, Laura, Diana and Janie were here."

Marianne said, "we'll have to plan a reunion, although I heard tell that Diana and Janie are thinking about coming to New Earth for Casitian winter."

"I don't blame them one bit."

Heg'ellin playfully responded, "oh, c'mon David, tell me you wouldn't want to spend a season in bed with me."

Marianne laughed. It was hard to imagine this day, after so much. After meeting Ja'el that fateful day 27 years ago, to being banished to New Earth, to the galactic edict, to this moment. This moment, both bitter, having all of the wormholes to the rest of the galaxy finally closed, but also sweet. She could see the beginnings of what might finally become a united, peaceful human race.

Capital, Hilcyon, Sdert 50 1170

Krely saw the last of them out, and closed the door behind them. She realized that she had only a couple of hours to prepare dinner for Sadre. Sadre was a bit more demanding these days, now that he was a Second Chief.

As she set the breadmufs to rise, soaked the trell leaves, and took out the beef ribs to marinate, she pondered the meeting that had just ended. There were only eight of them, and they must tread so carefully. Eight women who were dedicating themselves and their lives to changing Kinder culture.

After the complete disaster of Ylen's Supreme Chiefdom, and the horrible repression that Supreme Chief Jurrl had imposed, there was no room for reform among chiefs. She understood that. Reform from above was never going to work again. But reform from below, that was possible.

Krely had no illusions. She would not live to see a new Kinder society. Krely and her group of women would keep meeting. They would keep teaching their children, and grandchildren that there were different options, different ways to be. And their children and grandchildren would teach their own children, and one day, the Kinder could rejoin the rest of humanity.

Sometimes Krely missed Btric. She was glad that it seemed that Btric had gotten to leave to go to her people after her husband had been killed. Btric had given Krely a set of books, with stories from her husband's gamma. Krely had been painstakingly copying the books in secret, and all the other seven of her group members had copies, hidden very carefully, and they were copying them too. Soon, many people would have these stories, stories that questioned old Kinder ways, and gave ideas of new ways.

###

About the Author

Michelle has been a science fiction fan since she could read. She has written and published poetry and technical writing. This is the first novel of a trilogy. Michelle lives and works in Oakland, CA.

Connect with me online:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/pearlbear

Blog: http://murrain.net