Epilogue.
The Secretary General of NATO stepped back after signing the document, making room for his colleague, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to step forward. A moment later he stepped back as well to make room for the last person to sign the document. Terry stepped up to the podium and then, as queen of her people, signed the document as well. Cheers went up when she stepped back. It was official; Earth was now not only part of the Union that Ben's people belonged to, Earth was now also one of the founding members of the Interstellar Trade Initiative; the ITI. The word 'trade' had been chosen very deliberately. First of all because it didn't give the impression of an armed organization, or a pact of planets that would defend each other, even though this was part of the ITI charter. Second, the word 'trade' could be used for so much; ranging from actual trade of goods to the trade of culture and information.
Terry's ships, soon to be joined by the new mother ships which were nearing completion, provided the travel between the planets and on top of that they were used for exploration into unknown areas of space. That had been part of the agreement with the Manraqi. Though the Manraqi already knew what else there was to be found in the universe, and where, they would not share this information. This because it was not the Manraqi's task to get humans into contact with as many other civilizations as possible. Instead they let the ITI explore on its own and the Manraqi simply steered the ships in the directions that were asked of them. The only exception to this was when the Manraqi pointed out uninhabited planets that were very suited for settlement and that lay relatively close to explored space anyway.
The results of this had been seen on Earth as well. Earth's population had already decreased by half a billion people as people from places where it was hard to survive, like Africa and parts of the overpopulated India and China, had taken the chance for a better life. A better life on a new planet, where they could settle in places where they could thrive and concentrate on more than just trying to get the next meal together. It was estimated that in another 10 years the world population would have dropped back down to 3 billion; a number that Earth hadn't seen since 1959.
There were already plans in motion to use this opportunity to turn large parts of the world into nature parks so that finally humans could start to live in coexistence with nature instead of destroying it. The United Nations had agreed that over time even more people would be enticed to leave for a different planet until the world population had decreased to what it had been in 1927; two billion.
There had even been some radical voices that had suggested to bring the number back to what it had been in 1802, one billion, but the United Nations had decided that too much of a decrease in the world population would mean less contact, which would result in slower evolution of human intelligence. Not so much the physical evolution as the intellectual evolution. Besides that, research had also shown that to achieve less than a 2 billion number on Earth, you would actually have to start forcing people to leave. After all, in the beginning people were leaving because they knew for sure that they could get a better life on a new planet. But with the Earth population thinning out, eventually a point would be reached where people would ask why they should leave Earth when Earth has more than enough room for them?
Of course, this service of relocating people that wanted to leave for other planets would also be provided to any and all other ITI members, if they wanted. In two weeks time Terry and her friends would once again be back on Ben's Homeworld, and this time it would be so that their union could join the ITI. The Manraqi had not been exaggerating. For every planet discovered with sentient life on it, they had discovered about 300 planets where life existed, but no sentient life. So people that decided to leave their home planet literally had a list of thousands of planets to choose from. More so because it was made clear from the beginning that those planets could not be claimed for any one species but were open for any species to settle on; even if they weren't part of the ITI or the Union.
Of course, to make sure that all these planets wouldn't become the proverbial islands by themselves, a communications network was being set up using technology created by the technological advanced species on Ben's planet. When this network was finished people would be capable of contacting someone on a different planet just as easily as someone in a different country on Earth. Thanks to this communication technology, people would be able to have a real back and forth conversation with someone on planets light-years away.
Mass communication wouldn't be much further behind that. Where now news for humans came from different countries on Earth, soon it would come from different planets as well. In fact, when Terry was on Ben's homeworld a couple of weeks before to sign her species into the Union, CNN had been there and broadcast the event live to Earth, somehow being able to talk the right people into seeing this broadcast as the perfect thing to send over the new communications network as a test transmission.
Besides the fact that it had been a huge public relations boost for the news network, it had shown a lot of people on Earth that had been a bit scared of all the fast changes, that no matter how far apart, humans would always stay in contact and be one united species; some of them just happened to live on other planets.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"Isn't she beautiful?" Pam asked as she looked at her newly born baby.
"She is," Max agreed as he kissed his wife.
Pam smiled when their daughter opened her eyes... only to have the crap scared out of her.
"It's her," she could only whisper.
"You sure?" Max asked, knowing only too well what his wife meant, since they had long since been told about the 'soul' that was living in Pam.
"Those are her eyes, and... just look."
Max did, and when he looked his daughter in the eyes he saw a focus newly born children never had, couldn't have because of nature. He knew that the soul looking back at him was older than just that day. Max looked back at his nervous wife, knowing only too well what she was worrying about. With a smile he held out his hands and carefully took the baby.
"Now daughter of mine, let me lay out some base rules for you. I love a good night sleep, so no waking your mother or me up by some crying or silly things like that. Also, under no condition, ever, do you take the car without asking. I,"
"Max?"
"Yes?"
"She's a baby, don't you think it's a bit early to talk about her borrowing the car?"
Max grinned. "Hey, I'm just making sure. This way I told her, and later on I can honestly say that I already told her that before."
Looking back at the baby, Max continued. "Also, no bringing boys home before you're 35."
"So it's not alright if she brings them home, but it is alright if she fools around with them outside the home?" Pam asked amused, and very pleased about how easy Max was accepting that one special thing about their daughter.
"Good point," Max agreed before correcting, "No fooling around with boys at all until you're 35, and only then if I approve of him."
"And what if she wants to fool around with girls instead?" Pam asked, knowing that for Earth humans, sexual preferences could be a big issue.
"Then I'll happily let you scare possible suitors half to death. You know the, 'and I hope that you're going to treat my daughter honorably, or else I'll show you what kind of stuff the A1 can get away with' kind of speech."
"You know that she might be my replacement one day, right?" Pam asked. "Just like Terry was influenced so that she could become queen, I was influenced so that I could become her protector. I... Those things will probably have been passed on to her, including the urge to want to protect like I have."
Max handed their daughter back to Pam and shrugged. "If she is, then she is. Maybe it's even a good thing. Honey, it will hopefully still be many a year, but there will come a time where you're too old to be protecting the queen. By that time Terry will probably want to hand the title over to her daughter. So... our daughters grow up together. Terry and Jo's daughter learns how to become a good queen, our daughter learns how to become a good protector. A princess needs protection as well, which our daughter can provide if she's good enough, and even more importantly, if she actually wants to do that. Then when their daughter becomes the queen, our daughter becomes the A1 and you step back; still taking care of protecting the then former queen."
"If that what's she wants," Pam agreed.
"If that's what they both want," Max corrected.
"By the way, how's Terry?" Pam asked, looking at her daughter again.
"Last thing I know she's still in labor."
"And how's the proud 'daddy'?"
Max grinned at that. "I don't think Jo has left cloud nine yet."
"She hasn't in the last nine months," Pam agreed. "Ever since the moment that she found out that we have the medical knowledge for their child to be truly 'theirs' and that she would also biologically be the second parent. So, did they at least pick a name, or are they still quarrelling about that?"
"Nope, they reached a compromise. Since the last name was clearly going to be 'Lee' because of the fact that with female same sex relationships here on the ships the first child carries the name of the birthmother. They're going for Janna for the first name because it sounds, and is written, so much like Joanne."
Pam smiled. "I'm glad that we also only had to decide on a first name, and not also on a last name."
"It is convenient that with an opposite sex relationship the girls carry the last name of the mother, and boys the last name of the father," Max agreed. "But don't start pretending that the name of our child isn't a compromise as well. You agreed way too quickly that Angie was a good first name. You were making up for her not having my last name by letting me pick the first name."
"Guilty as charged," Pam admitted with a smile.
Max returned the smile. "You know, I really can't wait to see our daughters grow up together."
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"Get out!"
"No," the sixteen year old Angie Scott said calmly.
"I told you to get out!" the angry Janna Lee shouted.
"You're not queen yet; it'll be about, oh I don't know, twenty years before your mother steps down and you can actually start ordering people around."
"I'm princess, I can order people around."
"Nope you can't, you can just demand luxury most people will never have. Besides, you might be princes, but you sure are a spoiled brat as well."
Janna sneered at her.
"Come on, Jan, tell me what's going on," Angie persisted as she walked over to the bed and sat down beside her friend. "This isn't you. You may be spoiled, but you've never been a spoiled brat."
"I hate you."
"You love me," Angie corrected confidently. "So, what gives?"
"I love you," Janna agreed. "It was a bet," she then sadly admitted.
"What was a bet?"
"I was," Janna explained, and only managed to confuse the matter even more. But despite the confusion, the light started to dawn for Angie.
"You're talking about your girlfriend, right?"
"I'm talking about the bitch that bet her friends that she could get me into bed, yes."
Angie closed her eyes in pain for a moment. Pain for her friend, and also pain for something she knew she herself could now never have. Suddenly she jumped up.
"Where are you going?" Janna asked surprised.
"I'm going to kick that bitch's ass all over this ship, and back."
Janna finally managed a smile.
"I mean it. I'm going to kill her. I know how to make a body disappear. I'm going to,"
"You are going to sit down," Janna interrupted.
Reluctantly Angie did so. She looked at Janna for a moment before stating, "She really is a stupid bitch. I mean, let's forget for a moment that you're a wonderful person, and absolutely beautiful on top of it. You're a princess for crying out loud. Why would you let a princess go if you managed to get her?"
"She's leaving in one month time to settle on a planet with her family. She knows that I can't, and won't, go with her; pity that I didn't know that she would be leaving."
"You need to find yourself someone that's willing to be at your side your entire life, and who's a good friend as well, and who wants nothing but the best for you," Angie noted. No matter how much it hurt her to make the suggestion that Janna go find someone to share her life with, despite all, Angie wanted to see Janna happy.
"Sounds a lot like you actually," Janna noted with a frustrated sigh. "Are you perhaps applying for the job?"
Angie laughed at that, but Janna could clearly hear just how fake that laugh was.
"Me? Come on, Jan, we both know that I'm not your type. I'm a good friend, but I'm not girlfriend material. I mean, can you honestly compare me with the three girlfriends you've had?"
Janna looked at her friend for a moment. She saw her swallow, and trying to blink away a tear. She could also see how beautiful Angie was. It was interesting, because they spent time together every day, Janna had never noticed the change. But now she did. Now she saw that this beautiful, kind, and wonderful person was not just the friend that she had played tea parties with as a child. She was now a young woman. A young woman who deserved the honor of being thought of as more than just a friend.
Janna closed her eyes for a moment and let all the feelings she had for her friend surface. She wanted to very deliberately feel how her friend made her feel, and within the first second she realized that Angie made her feel more than her three girlfriends ever had; combined. She couldn't help but smile at those wonderful feelings; feelings that simply by being there made the hurt of having been used in a bet totally insignificant.
"You know, you're right; you are nothing like them. You're also wrong though. You're exactly my type; it's just that until now I myself had no clue just what my type was. But I think that's a good thing. Because I now tried, and now know for sure that I've been looking in all the wrong places. So, would you like to have the job? Would you like to be there for me? Would you be someone that can find the fact that I'm spoiled endearing, but would never let me get away with being a spoiled brat? Would you want to be at my side for the rest of our lives? Would you like to be my lover as well as my friend? Would you... want to be my wife?"
"Janna, I,"
"Please, Angie," Jenna interrupted. "I don't think I'll ever have the courage to ask you that again. Please, just an honest yes or no."
Finally Angie looked at her friend and with tears running down her face she admitted, "Yes. Yes, I have always wanted that. Even when we were children and I didn't even know what it meant to have a 'girlfriend' girlfriend, I so desperately wanted to be... part of you I guess."
"So, that's yes to being my wife as well?"
"Absolutely," Angie assured right away. "But, um, I, um, I guess that before we talk more about that, I have to tell you a secret that even my parents don't know. You know that I'm... different... than the normal human? Right?"
"That whole soul thing that 'housed' in your mother for a couple of years until you were born? Of course I know, but somehow I think that your parents know that as well; considering that they're the ones that tried to explain it to me."
"Yes, that thing, but no, that's not the big secret. The secret is, I don't know what I'll be capable of in the long run, but I do know that if I give myself to someone, emotionally that is, that soul will bond with mine. I, I don't know what will happen if I die physically. Will I be able to form a non-physical body like Carter can do, or will my soul continue on as a conscious being without a body at all? I don't know. I do however know that if I bond with you, you too will be changed; we'll be together a lot longer than a normal human life time. Maybe not with a human body, but we will be together for a long, long time."
"And what if we start hating each other? There are countless people that first loved each other and then started to hate each other," Janna reminded.
"We won't," Angie assured. "We might have our share of disagreements, or even fights, but we'll never hate each other. If that was possible, then it would be impossible for me to bond with you... if that makes sense."
"And you're sure that you can bond with me?" Janna asked.
"Yes," Angie assured. "In fact, you're the only person ever that I felt that I could bond with. That's why it hurt me so much to see you with someone else. And, yes, I admit it, knowing that someone else has been with you, touched you, makes me sick to my stomach."
Janna hesitantly came closer and placed a short kiss on Angie's lips. Seeing the wonderful smile this created, she came back for a second kiss, and then a third; this time demanding entry to Angie's mouth with her tongue.
Finally they broke apart and Janna assured with a smile, "There's no need to feel sick; nobody ever touched me like that."
"But I thought,"
"No, I never said that. I said that I was a bet; seeing if she could get me into bed. She did get me into bed, and she even got to see me naked, yes, but it's then that she messed up and misspoke. I then used my 'I'm the princess and have all this power' speech to bully the whole story out of her. And that's what hurt me so much, knowing that I had been used. But we never did anything but kiss. Well, okay, she did feel me up when I was still clothed."
"So you never..." Angie let her words trail off, not really sure how to ask what she wanted to know.
"No, I never," Janna assured. "I'm still a virgin all the way." She leaned in to kiss Angie again, and this time let her hand drift up until she was cupping one of her friend's breasts. "But that's going to change. I fully plan on losing my virginity right here, right now. Well, the 'having made love' virginity anyway. I would kinda prefer to lose my 'breaking the hymen' virginity when I'm prepared for it by taking the pain blocker."
"You must be joking!" Angie exclaimed.
"Why? Go on, tell me that you don't want to make love now; that you don't want to do what you've been dreaming about."
"How do you know I've been dreaming about that?" Angie asked evasively.
"I didn't; I guessed," Janna admitted. "But it's not a hard guess when someone just told you they've wanted to be your girlfriend for years."
She took Angie's hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "Come on, tell me honestly, do you want to make love to me, now?"
"You know I do," Angie admitted. "Just thinking of making love to you, is... the idea of my first time being with the person I'm going to share my life with; and longer... it's mind-blowing and I would love to."
"But?"
"But our parents, both our parents, are just a door away."
"So? It's not like they can hear us through these soundproof walls."
"No," Angie admitted. "But they can sure walk right in through that unlocked door. Besides, I don't want to hide the fact that I'm in love with you. I don't want to start saying stuff that isn't true just so that we can be in my or your room for some time without them wondering what we're doing."
Janna nodded her head in understanding, and agreement. "You're right, we don't want to do that, and they deserve better than us lying to them."
"I'm glad you understand my reasoning."
"Oh, I do," Janna assured. "But I'm still going to make love to you today. Come on." She took hold of Angie's hand and pulled her off the bed and to the door.
"Hey," Angie objected. "How about we first discuss this and then we decide."
Jenna shook her head. "Nope. That's what you get for falling in love with a spoiled rotten princess; I do what I want. Don't worry, I'm fully prepared and willing to discuss our choices in life together, but on this... we both know what we want, and it's the same. So now I get to be the spoiled princess, and you're going to be my understanding partner that tolerantly indulges me."
Angie hesitated and felt Jenna pull on her hand again. She looked at her, and could see a look in those eyes that she had seen many a times while growing up together. A look that said that a no would be accepted, but that a yes was expected.
"It's a good thing I love you or else I might have to put you over my knee," Angie said, giving up her halfhearted objection.
Jenna smiled at her. "Hmm, that could be fun. Maybe later. Come on."
Never letting go of her hand, Janna pulled her soon to be lover into the living room of the quarters that their families shared.
"I, um we, we have a little announcement to make," Janna said.
Seeing four sets of parent eyes focusing on them, Janna lost some of her nerve, but nevertheless forged ahead. "I just proposed to Angie, and she accepted. We um, would like to start sharing one bedroom as of today."
Suddenly she looked at Angie and asked, "Right?"
"Right," Angie assured.
Looking back at their parents, Janna sheepishly explained, "I, um, added that part before discussing it with her."
Then she took a deep breath and braved, "And we will make love; we won't be waiting years until we're old enough to marry before we start making love."
"Hon, we kinda gathered that part from the one bedroom comment," Joanne said amused.
"I'm not sure," Pam started, only to be interrupted by her daughter.
"Mom, she's the one. She's the one I'll spend the rest of my life with; all of my life."
Hearing that last part, Pam's jaw fell a little. Her daughter and she never had talked about certain things; Angie had simply always been Pam's daughter. But maybe it was time they did. "Alright, if she's the one, then she is the one... whatever exactly that means. But you and I will have a little talk one of these days, got me?"
"Got you, mom," Angie assured with a smile. "I think I'm ready for that now. Dad, you'll be there too?"
"You bet your ass I'll be there," Max assured with a grin.
"No betting parts of my lover's body away; those parts all belong to me," Janna objected.
"And you, young lady, will watch how you talk in front of your parents, or else," Terry said, shaking her finger in warning.
"Okay, mom," Janna assured, both of them smiling because both knew that 'or else' would, and had, never happened. "Now, with that being covered, if you excuse us, both Angie and I are dying to lose our virginity."
She laughed when she saw four parents cringe at once. With a smile she added, "We're gonna make love. Wonderful, beautiful, tender, love. Thank you all for being such wonderful parents. I love you; all of you."
Janna slowly pulled Angie back to the door of her bedroom and as they stepped inside, Pam spoke up one last time. "Be happy, kids."
"We are, mom," Angie assured before the door closed.
"Well, that was interesting," Joanne said before all four of them burst out into laughter.
"Oh, we're laughing now, but can you imagine how we would have been sitting here after they told us that if we hadn't seen this one coming for some time already?" Terry asked them amused. "If Carter hadn't told us those two would end up together?"
"I rather not try imagining that," Pam admitted.
"Well, I for one am glad that they realized it in time and didn't do anything stupid," Max commented. "I've got to tell you, I feared for my little girl's heart every time when Janna had a new girlfriend and Angie had to pretend that she was happy for her. At least Janna didn't have sex with any of them; at least if the 'losing our virginity' comment is anything to go on."
Pam sighed. "I don't know. I think I would have liked it if they had waited a little longer; they're only sixteen."
"Legal age on our ships," Terry reminded. "Always has been, according to Carter. I know that those two girls will always be our little girls, but we also have to remember that they're two young women who are in love, and whose bodies are raging with hormones. Why would we ask them to hold off on the physical pleasure of their love only because they're younger than us? How fair would that be of us to ask them to not make love for who knows how long, while they know only too well that you and Max, and I and Joanne, sure make love often enough."
Pam sighed. "I know. It's just... that's my little girl."
"Well, I'm with Terry," Joanne said. "Besides, I'd much rather have them be honest with us and sleeping at night holding the person they love, in their bedroom where sometimes they do other things as well. Think of the alternative. If they love each other how long would they listen to 'don't have sex'? All that would happen is that they would go and find other places."
"Yeah," Terry agreed before she winked at Joanne. "Like going to a movie together."
"What's that wink for?" Max asked, only to get another wink, this time from Joanne. The second wink finally made Max understand. "Oh, no you didn't."
"We did," Joanne assured. "But in our defense, we really did go to see a movie. Just that it was boring as hell and we were trying very hard to ignore the fact that we really wanted to jump each other. Which brings me to what I said about agreeing with Terry. Yes, Janna is my little girl and exactly because she is, I'd much rather have them make love in their room and have the time to enjoy it, instead of quickly having to fool around hoping that they won't get caught."
When the door had closed, Angie turned to her soon to be lover and repeated, "We are happy. And we will be for centuries."
"That long?" Janna asked amazed.
Angie shrugged before nodding. "Yeah, at least. That's how far I can feel ahead at the moment. But my powers are only starting to evolve. In a couple of years I can probably give you a better timeframe."
Janna shook her head. "Neh. A couple of centuries is a good start. After that we'll see what's next for us. But if you can now feel that we'll be together that long, does that mean that we've already bonded? Isn't there some kind of ritual or something?"
"Janna, I'm the first like me; I'm kinda experiencing this all first hand and have no guidebook to go by. I can't tell you how or what exactly; I can only guess. And my guess is that all that was needed for me to bond with you... was for you to open yourself up to me."
"That I did," Janna agreed. "Now, we're here, our parents aren't going to interrupt us, and there's this nice bed right here waiting for us. So,"
Janna's words were cut off by soft lips.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"So that's the place?" Janna asked. As she looked out of the window and onto the green/red planet far below.
"That is the planet where we handed these ships to your ancestors," Carter agreed.
Janna looked over her shoulder at her wife as Angie closed her arms around her from behind. "It's weird," Angie said slowly. "Though it was millions of years before I was even born, I still feel like this is an end of an era."
"It is," Terry agreed as she joined her daughters at the window. "Here is where the journey of our ancestors started. Then 30 years ago I became queen and we slowly started to track back along the route the queens had taken. We were glad to see that the planets had evolved over time. The class systems, the enslaving, the brutal reigns, over time it had ended on all the planets and a harmonic coexistence had formed on most. Almost all of those planets are now members of the ITI. The ITI has flourished, we have become one strong unity that lives in interstellar coexistence. That has been my task. That, the last 35 years has been my era. But now it's time for a change. Now we have to start exploring. There's still so much to see, to do. We've only been in one galaxy, and have only seen things along a linear course at that. Now it's time to explore to the sides of that course, or to visit other galaxies, or to explore the space between the galaxies. Which one of those choices to take exactly... now that's a choice the next queen has to make."
"Mom, what are you saying?" Janna asked confused.
Terry smiled as she brushed some hairs out of her daughter's face. A face that despite being thirty years old, still looked like it belonged to the sixteen year old girl that her daughter had been when she bonded with Angie. She didn't worry about that though. As Angie had explained; she could stop the aging of their bodies, but she couldn't turn it back. So she and Janna had decided that they would let their bodies age one week every year until they had the bodies of 30 year olds. After that they would see what they would do.
"What I'm saying is that we talked yesterday and the others agree with me. This meeting will be my last one as queen. When we leave this planet I'll step down as queen and you can take my place."
"B... but, I'm... I'm not ready," Janna sputtered as she first looked at her mother and then the others in the room, Angie, Joanne, Pam, Max, Ben and Carter.
"You are," Terry disagreed. "Don't worry, we won't just give you a push in the back, saying, 'here, be queen'. I'll still be around. Before I hand the title of queen over to you I'll make some changes though. Because of your bond with Angie, and the fact that you'll be around much longer than a normal human because of it, I'll set a limit on how long a queen can reign. Just like with the Council members, a queen can be in that position for 100 years at most. One difference is that where a Council member can be reelected after that time, a queen cannot be reelected since a queen is not elected to begin with. Because of that, a queen will then go on to be an advisor for the next queen for the rest of the then former queen's life, no matter how long that life is. And when there happens to be more than one former queen alive, that simply means that the present queen will have more advisors."
"So you'll be pretty much standing right beside me the first couple of years?" Janna asked.
"If that's what you want, then that's what I'll do," Terry assured.
"It is what I want," Janna said quickly. "I still don't think I'm ready, but if there's one thing that I've learned in my life, it's that I can trust the judgment of my parents; all four of them. If you think I'm ready then I trust your judgment. But that doesn't mean that right away I'm going to give up the chance to simply look at you and shout, 'um, help'!"
Terry laughed. "And I'll be there for you; we'll all be."
Janna looked back out of the window at the planet and said thoughtfully, "So, you could say that on that planet the journey of these ships began, and here their journey is going to stop as well. Now there's no more clear goal of going to a specific place. From now on we'll be moving into unknown areas of space that truly no human or someone descended from our ancestors has ever been."
"I think your mother is right," Angie said. "It's good that she steps down now and you become the new queen. Because right here, this planet, here is where her story ends and where your story begins."
Janna took her wife into an embrace before treating her to a passionate kiss, not at all caring about the rolling eyes of the parents they loved so much. As they finally broke apart, Janna corrected softly, "You're wrong, this is not where my story begins; this is where 'our' story begins."
The end...
And the beginning.
(For those that are wondering, no, I'm not planning a sequel. I nevertheless have the 'and the beginning' because this way, 'this' story is over, but the life of the characters I like so much sure isn't over in a long shot. I like to have the impression that they, all of them, will live and be happy for a long time to come.)
H.W.