“All journeys eventually end in the same place – home.”

–Chris Geiger

“Okay, I think that’s the last of the big stuff,” Naskia said, looking over the suite that had briefly served as their headquarters at Titan Station. “Just personal effects, some small gear, and so forth. Pryvani, anything that shouldn’t be loaded on the Pygmalion?”

“Hmm? No, dear,” she said, distracted as she’d been by the discussion taking place on the table in front of her.

“So Captain Peten is going to take you in a spaceship to Avalon,” Lessy was explaining to a tall, dark-skinned human, sitting cross-legged on the table. “And when you get there, you’ll see my friends, Nick and Brinn.”

“Are they humans, Lessy? Like you and me?” Moze asked.

“Nick is. Brinn is a Titan, but she’s very nice. They’ll make sure you’re healthy and then they’ll find you a place to stay until you feel like you’re ready to live on your own.”

Moze looked concerned. “I don’t want to live all on my own.”

Lessy smiled. “Well, we’ll find a way to make that work. Sometimes when pet humans are freed, they get together, like a big group of friends, and work together. Sometimes they find just one special friend, and live with them. You won’t have to live alone unless you want to, Moze. I promise.”

“That’s good,” he said, exhaling. “Will you come with me?”

“I won’t be there right away, but I’ll be there soon, and so will Sorcha, and so will Pryvani. And there are a lot of my friends there who will help you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Moze got up, and gave Lessy a big hug. “I’m kinda scared,” he said.

“I know, that’s okay,” Lessy said. “But trust me, Moze, it gets less scary. Now, Pryvani is gonna take you down to the space ship, okay?”

“Okay. Bye Lessy!”

“Bye, Moze! See you soon!”

Pryvani offered her hand to Moze, and gave Alesia a brief nod; both of them were wondering how this was going to work when that conversation had to be repeated a million-fold. It had to happen, yes. But it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Sorcha, Rixie, you’re sure you don’t need help?” Naskia asked, as they picked up a couple crates.

“Nice part of being on Titan,” Sorcha said. “Doesn’t weigh that much. We’ll see you on the Gyfjon.”

“Sounds good, see you there,” Alex said, putting away some cords. “Love you, Rix!”

“Love you, Alex,” Rixie said, leaving the room. Sorcha and Pryvani paused, briefly, and looked at each other, before tagging quickly after; Alex continued packing.

He waited a good thirty seconds before looking over his shoulder at the folks in the room. Lessy was looking at him with an arched eyebrow, Darren and Lysis had stopped halfway through loading their packing, Naskia’s eyes were wide as saucers, and Niall’s jaw had literally dropped.

“What?” Alex said, turning back to his work. “Can’t a guy tell his fiancée that he loves her without everyone freaking out?”

He smiled as he heard Lysis and Darren drop whatever they’d been holding.

“Okay…did…did anyone else wander into a parallel universe this morning?” Niall asked.

“Alex….”

“Rixie asked last night,” he said, turning to the group just briefly. “We’re hoping to work it out so we’re the first couple married after we gain citizenship.”

“But –”

“Sweetie, hush. That’s wonderful, Alex! Congratulations to you both,” Naskia said.

Alex simply kept packing. “Don’t see what the big deal is,” he grumbled, but the smile on his face said otherwise.

* * *

“Commander, all power systems show green.”

“Step Foxtrot-47 complete, Card Foxtrot complete, moving to Card Golf,” Tatenda said, calmly. “Card Golf, step one, impeller restart,” he said, and paused.

“Hold at step Golf-1,” Xú said.

“Aye, ma’am. All hands, hold at Golf-1. We are holding at step Golf-1,” Tatenda acknowledged.

The Lem was fully alive, and impeller restart wasn’t even necessary to guide the ship into dock; they’d resume the restart protocols once they were ready to leave the Gyfjon, and that wouldn’t happen until they reached Earth in three hours. In the meantime, there was a request she’d been given that morning by Centurium Starati, who was commanding the Porfirayon. She had a feeling she knew which officer of the Centurium’s had made suggestion, but that didn’t necessarily matter; there were half a dozen crewmates on the Lem who could do this. But…well, she’d ask him what he wanted.

“Lt. Col. Martínez, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Yes, ma’am. Captain-Lieutenant Bobrova, the helm is yours.” It was purely pro-forma; the ship still sat on the floor of a shuttlebay – but when the ship’s power plant is operational, the helm should be manned at all times practicable.

“Colonel, I received a request from Centurium Starati. She would like one of our officers to work with the Gyfjon and the Porfirayon to ensure that they’re observing proper communications protocols, especially during landing.”

“Not a bad idea. Last thing we want is their confusing kilometers for kilounits.”

“Agreed. Colonel, I’d like you to go, but I also can understand if you’d like to be at the helm when we pull into dock at Asimov Station.”

Ted paused. He’d been imagining guiding the Lem in since he’d received the post. Not only that, but he’d miss the chance to land with his crew – the crew of the Lem would go down on the Ganymede and the Titania, while this would guarantee he’d be going down with the crew of the Porfirayon.

That said…he knew the comms officer on the Porfirayon pretty well. And frankly…she was as much a part of his crew as anyone else.

“Shang Xiao, I would be honored to represent our crew to the Empire. What are your orders?”

“The comms officer from the Porfirayon will be down to meet you on the deck here after we depart Titan Station. You’ll go with her, she’ll bring you up to the Gyfjon’s bridge. After that, you’ll follow the orders of Centurium Starati and Captain Gwenn.”

“Yes, ma’am. I believe I’ve met this comms officer.”

“Possibly. Have you ever heard of a Decanus Belfsec?”

“Rings a bell,” he said, smiling. Then, sobering a bit, he added, “Shang Xiao, I do appreciate it – and I’m honored – but ma’am, if you want me in the helm, I would be no less honored to guide us home. My first duty is to this ship.”

“Ted,” Xú said, “Yelena will do fine. And you will be fulfilling your duty to this ship, as you always have. Give my best to Tig.”

“Yes, ma’am. Until then, permission to speak with Captain-Lieutenant Bobrova about guide-in procedures?”

“Of course, colonel. Proceed.”

The comms station on the Lem woke up. “Lem, this is Gyfjon actual,” it said.

“Captain Gwenn, this is Lem actual, go ahead.”

“Shang Xiao, stand by for departure, we have been cleared, and will lift off in five minutes.”

“Roger that,” Xú said. “All right, everyone. Time to strap in,” she said. “We’re going home.”

* * *

About halfway between Titan and Earth, Niall Freeman decided to break the news.

“I’m not going down,” he said, quietly, standing on a table and staring out at space. The stars were not whizzing by – they were just going from Titan to Earth, and the stars were not moving at all.

“What are you talking about?” Sorcha said. “Of course you’re going down. It’s Earth.”

“I know. I’m familiar with it,” Niall said, quietly. “But there’s nothing down there for me, Sorcha. My mother is gone, my home is gone, and certainly, I could go visit Belfast or Paris or Turin, but they’ll all be less familiar to me than Atlantis or Tannhauser. I don’t want to go down and see how the neighborhood has changed in my absence.”

Sorcha looked to Naskia, who shrugged. “I don’t get it either, tupp, but if ever there was a decision that belonged to your father, this is it,” she said.

“Dad – I just don’t get it. If you think I’m not going….”

Niall turned. “What? Of course you’re going. This is my decision, don’t let it change yours.”

“Without you? Come on, Dad.”

“I’ll be right back,” Naskia said, calmly. “I’ve had enough fights with my daughter for one trip.”

“We’ve only had two,” Sorcha said. “That’s below average, I think.”

“Still,” Naskia said with a slight smile. “I think this is something for the humans to discuss. I’m going to go congratulate Rixie.”

As Naskia left, Sorcha sighed, heavily. “Dad, I just don’t….”

“I’m not a citizen, Sorcha.”

Sorcha paused, confused. “Well…of course you are. You were born on Earth….”

“No,” Niall said, studying the able. “I’m a citizen of…well, apparently, the European Union now. No, I’m not a citizen of the Empire. I’m still just a pet.”

Sorcha leaned forward. “Dad…you’ve never been just a pet. No matter what the law says. No matter what my birth certificate says. Everyone on this ship knows you’re nobody’s pet.”

“Yes, but…Sorcha, when I first met your mother, I vowed to convince her that I was an equal, sentient being. I did. I vowed I would find employment and success. I did. And I vowed that this would end with me becoming a full and equal citizen of the Empire.”

He sighed.

“It hasn’t happened yet. And until it does…I can’t go back to Earth a pet, Sorcha.”

Sorcha simply did not pick her father up without asking – she’d been admonished not to since before she could speak, and it was so deeply ingrained that it was almost unthinkable. But somehow, she found herself scooping him up, gently, and giving him a quick kiss on the top of his head. She returned him to the table, a bit surprised.

“Daddy,” she said, “I understand.”

“Thank you, Sorcha,” he said. “I know it’s probably foolish pride, but….”

“Dad, your foolish pride has helped a lot of people. I shouldn’t go either….”

“Not a chance!” Niall said. “You’re going down with the landing party, if for no other reason than Rixie ordered you to as part of your service. This is my problem, Sorcha. You are a citizen.”

“All right,” she said. “But I’m not going to spend a long time down there.”

“But –”

“Not because I don’t want to,” she said. “But because when you’re a citizen, I want you to take me, and show me your home.”

Niall looked up at his daughter. There were many times when his frustration with her built to the boiling point, when he wondered if she’d ever figure out how to not be a bull in a china shop.

And then, occasionally, she gave him a glimpse of the woman she could become.

“I would like that,” Niall said. “Very much.”

“Good. I’m glad you agreed – otherwise mum would have insisted at some point, and her landing a shuttle on Earth….”

“Good Lord,” Niall said, with a chuckle. “She could destroy half of New York.”

* * *

“Captain Gwenn,” Ted said, as loud as he was capable, “Lt. Col. Teodoro Martínez, reporting.”

“Colonel! Good to see you. Decanus Belfsec, thanks for giving him a lift.”

“Yes, ma’am. Centurium Starati needs me on the Porfirayon; can someone assist Col. Martínez in getting down to us?”

“Of course,” Lauryna said. “Thank you again, Decanus Belfsec. Please take the colonel to his station, and then you are dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tig said. She carefully set him in the shadow of Crewmate Zinter, who was at auxiliary comms, and paused briefly to salute. Ted returned it with a grin.

“See you soon, Decanus.”

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“All right,” Ted said, looking over the controls. He had learned Archavian numbers in the past couple weeks – thankfully, they were on Base 10. He could do the translation from another in his head, but he was glad he didn’t have to. “So ETA is 90 minutes?”

“Yes, colonel,” Zinter said, nervously. “We’re….”

An alarm klaxon sounded.

“Sorry, captain,” Rovlan Tam groaned, as he silenced it. “Just another alert that we are still breaching the restricted area, and that we now need to turn on cloaking systems or face arrest.”

“Silence and ignore. In fact, commander, silence and ignore any alerts related to the restricted area that don’t involve us crashing into something.”

“Aye, ma’am,” he said.

“Anyhow, so we’re 90 minutes out, and should be coming out of warp in…is that 45 minutes?”

“Yes, colonel,” Zinter said.

“Okay,” Ted said. “Captain?”

“Colonel?”

“We’re a bit further out distance-wise than would be standard, but I’d recommend contacting Earth ground control now and getting our orbit set.”

“Of course. Crewmate Riases?”

“Aye, ma’am,” she said. “Mr. Zinter, please assist the colonel.”

“Aye aye,” he said, opening the channel.

The Lem fired off a solid tone, and Ted spoke in the direction Nom indicated he should. “Houston control, this is Lt. Col. Ted Martínez, serving as a liaison for the Imperial Starship Gyfjon.”

“Roger, Gyfjon, this is Houston.”

“Houston, we will be entering the Earth-Luna system in T-minus fifty-five minutes. Request clearance for geocentric orbit.”

“Roger that, Gyfjon. Gyfjon, we want to verify these dimensions. According to our calculations, we show you at just shy of 8.8 kilometers long, is…is that correct?”

“Affirmative, Houston.”

“Roger that. Um…Gyfjon, proceed to hold at Lima-Four-Juliett-Seven. We’ll be sending coordinates through.”

“Houston, this is Captain Lauryna Gwenn of the Gyfjon. Thank you, we’ll see you soon.”

“Roger that, Captain Gwenn. Houston, out.”

“Captain,” Ted said, evenly, “May I speak to my fellow JTSA officers for a moment on behalf of myself, not as a liaison for this crew?”

Lauryna looked slightly confused, but shrugged. “Of course, colonel. Be our guest. Mr. Zinter?”

“Houston control, this is Lt. Col. Ted Martínez, Chief Pilot, TSS Lem. Come in.”

“Col. Martínez, didn’t we just talk to you?”

“You talked to the Gyfjon,” Ted said, steaming. “Now you’re talking to me. Houston, with all due respect, what the hell are you trying to pull?”

“Colonel?”

“Is actual there?”

“Uh…negative. He’s in Nevada.”

“Who’s in charge there right now?”

“Um…that’s Col. LeSauvage, but….”

“Put Geneviève on the line, Houston. Now.”

There was a pause. The crew of the Gyfjon shifted a bit uncomfortably. “Colonel, it’s really all right. We don’t want to be a bother.”

“You aren’t, Captain. And that’s what I’m going to get Houston to understand.”

“Col. Martínez, this is Col. LeSauvage. Ted, I understand you’re giving orbital command a rough time.”

“Ginette, I’m giving them a rough time because they’re trying to park our guests at L-freaking-Four. Was Mars unavailable?”

“It’s a very big ship, Ted.”

“I’m on it right now, I’m well aware of how big it is. I’m also aware that its mass is still not anything to panic about. We’re not looking to park Jupiter in orbit. Hell, they’ve got something like four thousand gravitic impellers; pretty sure if we absolutely need them to they can pull off a mass-displacement. Which we won’t have to if you park them in HEO-143, which should be wide open unless for some reason you guys have launched the Le Guin and Alcubierre out of dry dock. Plus it has a lovely view of the Pacific.”

“That’s quite close to geostationary, Ted.”

“Yes! It is! Which is where we should park our friends, out of courtesy to them! Honestly, if we have to move something around – let’s move something around! I’m embarrassed as hell I have to have this conversation in front of them, but honest to god, I’m going to demand a hardline to actual if you don’t make this change, and quick.”

“Ted?”

“Yes, Ginette?”

He heard a chuckle. “My apologies. Let me drop off for a moment, and contact the Gyfjon. Gyfjon, this is Col. LeSauvage at Houston control, come in.”

“Col. LeSauvage! This is the Gyfjon,” Ted said, politely, causing Captain Gwenn to burst into laughter.

“Gyfjon, we have a correction on your orbital position. Please proceed to our orbit Hotel-Echo-Oscar-One-Four-Three. We’re sending coordinates through; you can confirm them with our Lt. Col. Martínez. He has an encyclopedic awareness of all open Earth orbits at all times, apparently.”

“Houston, that is very neighborly of you. We will divert to Hotel-Echo-Oscar-One-Four-Three. And Ginette, love to Jean-Pierre and the kids.”

“You’re nothing but trouble, Martínez, and it’ll be good to have you back home. Houston out.”

Ted clapped his hands together. “Well! That will save time.”

“Good to see ground control is the same everywhere,” Crewmate Houros said with a laugh. Then, realizing that might not be the most politic thing to say, she added, “I mean….”

“Crewmate, I don’t know the Empire that well yet, but I can tell you that pilots on Earth have been complaining about ground control since we first launched hot air balloons. They’re our natural enemies.”

“So they are the same everywhere,” Laurnya said, with a twinkle in her eye. “Thanks, colonel.”

“My pleasure, captain.”

The door to the lift opened, and Dr. Geen stepped forward. “Permission to enter the bridge, captain?”

“Granted, Doctor. How can we….” Laurnya said, then smiled. “Ah, Izzy, checkup went well?”

“Very,” Izzy said. “Doc says I have the body of a 93-year old,” she said with a grin.

“That’s not actually true. I said you are in fine…oh, you are joking. Isabel, I will miss you when I leave for the Great Ocean.”

“We’ll miss you too, Geoff,” she said, then paused. “Captain, I need to see my superior officer for a moment.”

“Huh?” Lauryna said.

“Doctor, bring me over to Col. Martínez,” she said. As Geen approached, Ted noticed Izzy was wearing an Army Service Uniform of a very old design – probably not exactly conforming to regs, but close enough to accurate that nobody would question it. He noted with a smile that she’d managed to fit well over a hundred years’ worth of service bars onto her sleeve.

Geen set her on the comms station; she turned, and facing Ted, gave him a salute. “Colonel! Corporal Isabel Ibanez, 4^th Military Information Support Group, 8^th Battalion, Black-2 Company, 1^st Squad, reporting.”

Ted smiled and returned the salute; the 4^th MISG had been out of commission for forty years, but they had a long and…well, extremely questionable history. It would make sense that Eyrn’s minders were under that umbrella.

“Corporal,” he said. “Good to see you.”

“Thank you, colonel,” she said with a grin. “I wanted to report in to you, as you’re the first officer I’ve seen since being abducted.”

“Hey!” Laurnya objected.

“I’m not complaining!” Izzy shouted. “Anyhow, figured if we’re going home, probably best if I make it clear I haven’t been AWOL for 140 years.”

Ted laughed. “Cpl. Ibanez, as the senior US Army officer on this post, I hereby recognize your check-in, recognize you have not been AWOL, and thank you for your continued service to our country,” he said, shaking her hand. “And if anyone tries to tell you different, you send them to me, Izzy. Looking forward to seeing home?”

“Yeah,” Izzy said, looking to the captain, who was smiling. “But just to visit. Got other things to do out here.”

“I know the feeling,” Ted said. Then thinking, briefly, he said, “Mr. Zinter? I have just one more call I need to make.”

* * *

On the observation deck, as the Gyfjon turned, there was a gasp. “There it is!”

Earth was still small in the sky; they had just gotten inside Luna’s orbit, and were moving slowly and deliberately toward their position. Still, it was large enough to stand out brilliantly, a blue crescent, shimmering brightly against the velvet black of space.

“It’s…Lysis, did you….”

Lysis looked over at Zhan, and nodded, dumbly. They had known Earth existed, of course, for many, many years. But still…this was Earth. The land their ancestors had been cast out of. Some said they were punished, some said they were blessed, but the stories of Earth had been myth, legend, and part of their religion for years.

And there it was, as blue as the legends claimed, a dazzling azure shard. It was like stumbling across Eden, or finding oneself on Olympus; as much as they knew they were looking at a pleasant, largish Super-Mu-class planet, they still questioned whether they were dreaming.

Sorcha, for her part, was looking with her head against the glass. “So that’s…that’s the Atlantic, right?”

“Yes,” Niall said, from his perch on her shoulder. “If you look right at the edge, by the top, just crossing the terminator – see that little bit of land?”

“The islands?”

“Yes. The one on the left is Ireland.”

Sorcha gasped. She didn’t even know what to say; she just beamed.

“You know,” Rixie said to Alex, as she stared out at his birth world, “I’m already regretting telling Pryvani about us getting engaged. Would you like a formal escort of six hundred cavalry officers? Or just a flyover by the Avalonian Army?”

“Gah. You told her we’d like a small ceremony, calm, just some friends, right? What am I saying, of course you did.”

“She’s asked if we’d like Tolna for our post-wedding trip.”

“Tolna is supposed to be nice. Has some warm beaches. Nice hotels, nice beds….”

“No, she wasn’t asking if we should take a trip there – she was asking if we would like to have Tolna. She said she owns most of it, and would be happy to give it to us.”

Alex sighed. “God, I hope I become a citizen soon. You know, if you want to just forget about being first, we could stop in Vegas and get hitched.”

“Vegas?” Rixie said.

“Oh, man,” he said. “You would look amazing wandering around the strip.”

Lessy simply sat back, drinking it in, trying to remember every detail. The brilliant blue of the planet they closed on was startling, like no world she’d seen. Not even the brilliant teal of the Great Ocean could match it. Down there, she knew, were 10 billion humans – far more humans than existed in all the Empire. Ten times as many people as lived on Archavia.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Lessy looked over her shoulder. “It is, Ambassador.”

“Haven’t seen it in 142 years,” Eyrn said. “’Cept as a pale blue dot. Forgot how pretty it is.”

“It really is,” Aerti said, thinking back to the level of advancement they’d had back then. He could see city lights on Earth’s night side, of course, but they also lit up several spots on its moon.

“You know, I know it isn’t really, at least for me…but…it’s kinda nice to have a chance to come home for a bit.”

“Amen to that,” Darren said from a table near them, putting his arm around his wife. “And ‘course it’s your home, Eyrn, be it ever so humble. Always will be.”

“Not ‘twat?’” Eyrn said.

“Special moment,” Darren said with a grin. “Don’t get used to it.”