“Nin, this is Porliche.”
“So good to hear from you. What’s up?”
“I got a call. REAP 23 made it. The planet is populated with us.”
“Incredible. What is it like?”
“The planet is much like here. However, the human civilization is very primitive. They retained no technology. It is agrarian. They have no electricity, nothing.”
“Did they help them?”
“I’m not sure. They argued about intervention, but there is no policy. They have a lot of pictures.”
“It sounds like another conference.”
“I know. I can’t wait. We’ll have so much fun. How is Parnet?”
“We split. Bosan came back.”
“And?”
“I have never been happier. Neither has he. I think we might be helices.”
“I’m happy for you.”
“How is Bhat?”
“He is struggling.”
“And you?”
“Nin, think of those astronauts who settled on planet Savanna. How they felt when they left and as they traveled. They were stuck with each other, four couples with no escape, no way to change their minds, heading into probable death, and if not death, then a terrifying unknown. What happened to their life waves? What went on with the relationships and all that Bosanian physics? Your relationships and mine seem so trivial in comparison.”
“The four couples,” Nin mused. “Two or three of them were probably unhappy. I hope the happy couples survived and watched their children and grandchildren grow up. God forbid any of them lived and died alone. At this point, it doesn’t matter much to us. The importance of everything is a matter of scale. The little details are diluted by time and distance. A planet growing full of people from a handful of pilgrims is enormous.
“Had it not been for the bookish girl from Yucatan, we never would have known the end of the story.”
“Their story is just beginning, Nin. Or may the whole epic has no real beginning or end.”
END