Chapter Seventeen: The Best Is Yet To Come.

Chapter Seventeen: The Best Is Yet To Come.

When the day shift began, Kasumi made her way to the laboratory, where half a dozen dolphins were gathered in the large Moon Pool. At the other end of the room, she could see garbage piling up as the dolphins brought them junk. The experiment was working. They were learning how to train the dolphins as well as dogs or horses, and they were cleaning up the oceans at the same time.

But this time, something was different. Something had everyone buzzing. And everyone was glancing at her with big smiles. Finally, she went to Rachel Bridger and asked. “What’s going on?”

Rachel grinned and tapped at her screen for a moment. “I take it you haven’t checked your mail yet.”

Kasumi was about to ask for details, when she saw the screen. There she saw an image of her husband walking out of the woods, and her daughter following along behind…

...riding a triceratops.

She turned to her screen and checked her mail immediately. Her daughter had sent her the same picture, with a personal message: He followed me home. Can I keep him?

“Did we know dinosaurs were back?”

“I hadn’t heard anything.” Rachel shook her head. “And you can believe it would have made the news. Your daughter and husband just got themselves a footnote in the history books.”

Kasumi let out a breath and checked the window. “Think the seagoing dinosaurs will come back too?”

“Some people think they were never really extinct.” Rachel chuckled. “By the time we make it back to land, we’ll have ourselves a whole new kind of animal husbandry to learn about.”

~~/*\~~

That comment proved prophetic. Not long after the announcement of the return of the prehistoric creatures, many more species came back, melting out of the natural world the way other animals did.

The hotly debated questions about the extinct species were suddenly answered, such as which ones had feathers, or fur, or stripes… as well as when exactly the Dinosaur kingdom had gone extinct.

For all the fame attributed to the huge dinosaur species, they were a very small minority. It took a lot of food and water to keep them healthy. By overwhelming percentage, the majority of dinosaurs were the size of any other pet. Still, it took a few animal generations for the ecosystem to balance out, largely without the help of humans. The Thylacine and the Dodo Bird were found soon after, and then more and more extinct species started to return, all across the world.

In an Age where miracles happened every day, humanity was taking another one in stride. For the most part, they were treated like any other animal. They were vaguely considered community property, completely tame. Some of them were domesticated as working animals, but most of what they could do for humanity was taken care of in other ways. People who were more comfortable with animals had animals, and those more comfortable with machines had machines.

~~/*\~~

Kasumi woke up and slid a hand across the bed. Even after eight months on the Nemo, she sometimes expected him to be there. But she knew why it was on her mind as soon as she woke up.

Karen knew it too, waiting at her workstation. “I can handle it today, if you want the day off. You should take some time for yourself. At least for today.”

“It’s my anniversary, Karen; not a funeral.”

“Yeah, but… First one in three hundred years that you haven’t spent with your husband.” Her friend said sympathetically. “Nobody can fault you for being… melancholy.”

“It’s not like I didn’t know it would happen.” Kasumi yawned. “We have plenty of anniversaries still to come.”

“I guess that’s true.” Karen nodded. “But I was serious about you taking the day. We’ve been eight months on this, and you haven’t taken any of your time off. We only work a five day week.”

“It’s the Nemo. It’s not like I can go ashore. The concerts and the tournaments don’t really appeal that much…” Kasumi shook her head. “Been a while since I’ve had a day off. Back in OS, I never had the chance.”

Karen smirked. “You know what I did? I was a supermodel.”

Kasumi barked out a laugh. “Really?”

“Yup. Dropped out of school at sixteen and hit a catwalk, traded on my looks for fifteen years, bounced from one rich guy to another. Then the world dropped me like a hot rock for someone younger. And suddenly I had nothing.” Karen shook her head. “I woke up in this world... “ She laughed a bit. “And everyone looked far more stunning and confident and sexy than any professional model ever did back in OS. Took me a long while to find my feet. I picked the ocean, because… Well; it was the furthest thing from anything I’d ever tried in my old life; and it was impossible not to fall in love with the Dolphins.”

“Ah, now that I can relate to.” Kasumi agreed. “That alone made me want to come.”

“When was the last time you went for a swim with them?” Karen suggested. “Your favorites keep following us around. You’re pressurized to this depth; and the suit we have can keep you warm and breathing. Why not?”

Kasumi hesitated, looking to the window. “Why not?”

~~/*\~~

Kasumi suited up and slipped into the moon pool beside her desk. The ocean was suddenly right in front of her. ‘Her’ dolphin sidled up to her instantly, clicking and whistling. He was happy to see her in the water again. Over the months, Kasumi had trained him to use the harness, and now she was tethered to him. “Okay.” She said, giving her Dolphin some hand signals. “Let’s go for a swim.”

The Dolphin took off like a motorboat, and Kasumi was glad she had tethered her hand to the harness as she was pulled along for the ride.

The ocean was dark at their depth, with nothing but light from the sub and from luminous plants and fish, but her visor could compensate for that. The Expo had done their job well. Kasumi could see everything, and with echolocation, so could her partner.

And oh, the things she saw.

There were millions of fish, darting in and out of anemones, which climbed up towers of coral and rock; as wild and full of movement as any metropolis. There were huge vines of seaweed that rose hundreds of feet like rainforest trees that waved gently back and forth, swaying in an invisible breeze. Kasumi couldn’t feel the weight of water, only the buoyancy of it. She felt like she was wrapped in a blanket and flying at the same time.

She could see glowing clouds of fast moving light from the luminous fish, traveling in schools so huge and numerous that it was like an explosion of fireworks that never faded, running endlessly around each other, in and out of everything. She could see shipwrecks of beautiful old ships, and the odd sight of the salvage teams in wetsuits walking along the decks, as though the ghost ships had crews. They waved at her as she was pulled past by the Dolphin.

There were huge fans of ferns and giant underwater shrooms, carpets of algae, glittering volcanic rocks, rainbow swirls of different coral trees and hundreds of jellyfish jetting their way gently above her, like soft pink clouds. Down below, mantas and small sharks glided across the sea floor, smooth and powerful.

Kasumi was afraid to blink, unwilling to let an instant pass. She couldn’t tell whether to turn her head left or right, or up or down. And through it all, her Dolphin guided her, certain and sure, like a hawk through the sky, or a gazelle over land. The Dolphins knew this place. It was their world, their home; and Kasumi looked at her friend. She had absolutely no doubt that The Dolphin was just showing off his home, showing her all the beautiful things, the way any child would do with a friend, showing off all the toys and fun things there were to play with.

Father, I love it. Kasumi prayed to herself. It was not the first time she had said those words. I love it all. Thank you for this moment. I ask you let me remember it always as it is. Let me keep it forever, safe in my memory. Let me hoard these moments as treasure, so that a million years from now, I can take them out and look at them like pictures in my albums… I love it all. Thank you.

~~/*\~~

Kasumi came up for air, back in the Nemo; pulling her mask off. Her dolphin rose up alongside her and chattered happily. Kasumi stared at the creature for a moment and gave him a swift kiss on the beak before climbing out. “Thank you for that.” She whispered to him. “I’m going to get you some treats.”

The Dolphin put his nose under her foot and boosted her up to the edge. Kasumi barely noticed the rest of the room, her mind still dancing around outside.

She didn’t even notice she was dripping wet until Karen stopped her from walking into a wall, holding out a towel. “Quite a ride, huh?”

Kasumi took the towel and headed for the change room. “Then God said: “Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let flying creatures fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” And God created the great sea creatures and all living creatures that move and swarm in the waters according to their kinds and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters of the sea, and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” She quoted the scripture. “Two verses to describe all this.” Kasumi stared out at the water, awed. “And we spent centuries using it as a sewer, a graveyard, a garbage dump, and a food source, all at the same time.”

“I know.” Karen shook her head. “A miracle we ever lasted ten minutes in OS.”

“A miracle. We think of all the days after A-Day as the age of miracles, but… There was no shortage of them back then.” Kasumi said, still staring blankly out the window.

Karen smiled. “Miracles were happening since the moment the universe began…”

“I’ve spent a lot of my adult life on the move.” Kasumi said dreamily. “I’ve traveled across the sky, the oceans and the deserts for centuries and centuries. The ocean made me feel the same way the desert did; like there were miles of nothing, and no deals to be made with it. You respect the… awesomeness of it, or the immensity will bury you. But I never looked any deeper than a scuba dive. I feel like I’ve been going to the circus my whole life, and just realizing I’ve always been staying outside the tent.”

Karen grinned. “Listen, you should know that some of the Brains Trust are talking about setting up permanent colonies.” She shrugged. “If the world is going to fill up, the having a few cities below the surface wouldn’t be a bad idea…”

For a split second, Kasumi was tempted. “No. No, I belong with my family.”

Karen nodded. “I figured, but maybe one day. If this project works out, it may yet happen, and if it thrives you could even bring your family with you.”

“Maybe one day.” Kasumi agreed, still thinking about the world outside her window.

~~/*\~~

Hugh collected Kasumi himself when she arrived home at the Docks. She nearly tackled him with her hug, and he was more than willing to meet her halfway. “Missed you!” He breathed her in gratefully.

“Missed you too!” She hugged him back. “Megan not here?”

“She said she wanted to let us have our reunion without her in the way.” He told her. “She’s back at home.”

“Home!” Kasumi almost moaned happily. “Yes, let’s go home!”

After being away for a year, she had expected everything to be different, but the changes were subtle.

Hugh drove her home in one of the public transport taxis. She had heard tell that in the last days of OS, self-driving cars were gaining some popularity, but the New World hadn’t even had certain roads for the first century or so. By the time they got highways and proper roads back, most of that technology had faded or rusted away, only recently being made again. Self driving cars meant nobody had to own a horse, or a vehicle… or a dinosaur.

Kasumi was expecting to find the larger farms with dinosaurs pulling plows, one animal doing the work of two or three plowhorses; and winged Dinosaurs filling up the sky, but once she reached the surface, she saw surprisingly few of them.

“By the way.” Hugh warned her as they neared home. “Just to warn you: Megan brought a friend back from our camping trip.”

“Oh no, she kept the Triceratops.” Kasumi almost laughed, somewhere between excited and mortified.

“No, nothing like that. Where would we keep him?” Hugh retorted practically. “But we came across a young man, who was looking to find a home for some cubs his pet Red Panda had.”

“Red Pandas?” Kasumi was delighted. “Ooh, I haven’t seen one of them since I was releasing Zoo animals back into the wild back in Shanghai.”

“Well now we have two living with us.” Hugh commented.

“Megan has pets.” Kasumi was quietly thrilled. “I can’t believe I missed that.”

“Believe it or not, I think she made peace with the idea when she saw the dinosaurs were back. She spent a lot of her childhood life looking at fossilized bones. She was used to the idea of those enormous animals dying on her long before the possibility they were alive even occurred to her. Once she made that breakthrough…”

“Mm.” Kasumi chuckled. Then she chuckled more, like she couldn't stop.

“What’s funny?”

“Kind of everything.” Kasumi sighed cheerfully. “I’ll tell you in a bit. Right now… I think I’ll go see my daughter.”

~~/*\~~

“If I remember right, these little guys eat bamboo. He’s not going to go gnawing on our walls, is he?”

Megan stood up carefully, not dislodging her passenger, and came over quickly to hug her mother tightly. “Welcome home!” She enthused happily. “Mm. I would have come out to the Tower with dad, but I got the feeling that you guys would probably want to see each other… without me along as a third wheel.”

“It was in the middle of the Brooklyn Docking Port, in the middle of the day, with several hundred people all around us. Exactly what did you think we were going to get up to just because you weren’t there?” Kasumi teased.

“I don’t like to pry.” Megan demurred. “Besides, I haven’t had more than half an hour without at least one of these little guys on my shoulder or my lap. I wanted dad to break the news to you gently.”

“As I recall, they’re excellent climbers. How’s your wardrobe holding up?” Kasumi reached out and scratched the Red Panda’s ear. Balanced on Megan’s shoulder, he leaned out to take a sniff of Kasumi’s fingers.

“I’ve had to reweave some of my clothes, harden the lining in the arms and shoulders so that they don’t tear as easily. Would have ripped apart anything I wore back in OS.” Megan smiled, shifting her pet back. “The other is up in the trees somewhere, looking for a snack. You’re right about them eating bamboo, but there’s no shortage of that around with all the things we use it in; and they eat other stuff.”

“You think up names yet?” Kasumi asked softly.

Megan shook her head and the two them went to sit on the front lawn Tree-Seat. “I’m sorry.” Megan said quietly.

“For what, sweetheart?”

“Every time I talked about how stupid it was to love something you couldn’t keep forever…” Megan squeezed her eyes shut. “I hate myself for even thinking it now, since…”

Kasumi smiled softly. “Since I was terminally ill when I was a little kid; and my mother still loved me; even when she surely knew I couldn’t be saved.”

Megan shook her head sadly. “What a horrible thing for me to say to you.”

Kasumi chuckled. “I think I can tell the difference between a parent and a pet, baby girl. I wasn’t offended. To say nothing of the fact that your grandmothers have both been back for a while now, and we can all keep each other forever at last.”

Megan shook her head. “It’s been almost a century since Erica. Why do I still feel this way sometimes?”

“Hugh says that some of the brothers in the congregation used to be soldiers in OS. Still get up with the dawn for training. There will never be another war, but… Sometimes the things you do just become so much a part of you. Things that keep you alive, especially. Alec was a witness in OS. Prayer and study saved his life, and he still does that first thing every morning. You survived by keeping your distance.” Kasumi petted one of the small creatures. “They’re adorable.”

“They are.” Megan admitted, smiling a bit.

“When I was a kid, back in the hospital, a lot of people in my state were just… waiting.” Kasumi shivered. “They all had visitors. Parents would come in and have to spoon-feed their kids little pieces of chocolate. Grown people would come in to see their elderly parents and tell them about their day… They’d play music, sing them songs, talk about holidays they’d take… Anything to fill the room with happy thoughts. It wasn’t just denial, it was love. Love is life, sweetheart. The whole world is proof of that, that people with love can live forever. That someone loves us so much that it can refute even death. Take it from someone who had a long time to think about it: Love is life, especially if it’s only for a little while.”

One of the animals sat up and started stretching. Megan petted his head, and the creature nuzzled happily into her hand. The firefox then climbed up Kasumi’s arm, right past her shoulder and into the tree, following the horizontal branches along to find a perch where it could lay flat and enjoy a nap.

“I was asked to pass along congratulations from the Nemo’s Science Teams.” Kasumi told her daughter with a smile. “You’re a bit of a celebrity in certain academic circles now. The first one to find a live Dinosaur.”

“That we know of.” Megan reminded her. “Me and dad had originally planned to not tell anyone, but apparently the picture of me riding one was too good to pass up.”

Kasumi chuckled. “I was practically the last one on the sub to see that picture. It’s priceless.”

Megan was quiet a moment. “I remember thinking that the dinosaurs got their second chance too, but for them, it’s not about getting their life back on track, it’s about being part of the world again.”

Kasumi nodded to show she was listening.

“I remember thinking… If God cared about animals, why would he give them an expiration date? And of course the answer is; if animals had it in them to be more than that, then He wouldn’t have. Animals were created to be below us on the totem pole, if I may use that expression… but not a one of them has ever felt ashamed of that fact. I know that animals have emotion. Kent certainly did, and I’ve seen stories about the way pets come running to their masters… I remember a story about a K-9 dog back during OS, who lost his master after their war, and then stayed day and night by the man’s headstone, just to stay with him. Animals feel. But none of them feel sorry for themselves.” She shook her head. “Something below us in the grand hierarchy of life, but they still have so much love in them.”

“That's why we love them back, Megan. In fact, we're commanded to care for them.”

“I know. But not forever.”

“Humans are unique in that regard. Something Hugh told me about his first day here, about how death seemed so alien to us, so unfair; and of course the reason is because we were never meant to die. Humans have unlimited potential, and the ability to make use of it.” Kasumi pointed out. “God has ‘Put Eternity in our hearts’.”

“And animals don’t have that.” Megan nodded. “It just… It seemed unfair.”

“Unfair to whom?” Kasumi pressed gently.

Megan nodded. “That’s the point I only just got. Animals don’t feel hard done by.”

“‘Not one sparrow will fall to the ground without your Father’s Knowledge’.” Kasumi quoted. “‘So have no fear. You are worth many sparrows’.”

Megan smiled. “There it is. I always thought it wasn’t worth putting your heart on the line over something you couldn’t keep… But if God notices every fallen sparrow, and doesn’t decide to make them immortal, then… Maybe it’s not so terrible, that we can’t keep them forever, because the animals don’t think it is, and their Designer doesn’t think it is, and… And yet God cares about them all, because if He didn’t, then He wouldn’t have bothered with so many reminders to treat them humanely. And if they weren’t worth caring about, then maybe He wouldn’t take the time to bring back so many extinct animals.”

“Our pets aren't just part of our home, Megan. They're part of our Creator. Everything in creation is. The closer you get to his creations, the closer you are to Him.” Kasumi nodded. “Those Red Panda’s? You could study them for their entire lives, and then study their progeny, and do that for a dozen generations, and you’d still find something that would surprise you… And each and every one of those generations would adore you for it. I’ve spent the last year listening to Dolphins talk to each other, and I still haven’t scratched the surface of what they might have in them. And some of them tried to follow me home.”

“There are worse ways to spend a year.” Megan admitted quietly. “Uncle Nick was my teacher for a lot of time, and I asked him what classes he was planning to take for himself? He said he was going back for refresher courses, since some of the information has been updated. And probably has been again since. I asked him if he ever felt depressed about that; like he was trying to catch smoke. He said that we could study a single thing for a million lifetimes. But we had a million things and one lifetime… until A-Day.”

Kasumi beamed. “Yes.”

~~/*\~~

Kasumi came back into the house, where her husband was unpacking her bags. “Do you think Angels ever feel sorry for us?”

“What?” Hugh almost laughed.

“I was just talking with Megan, about how animals never feel hard done by about how we live longer than they do. I’ve just spent a year with Dolphins and they are just so… happy. They’re so incredibly happy all the time; like little kids who never stop playing. Humans are happiest when they do what they were made to do. The last five hundred years has proven that. But for all the horizons we can see past, we’re still flesh and blood. We’re above the animals, and the Angels are above us; so I wonder if…”

“You think the angels think of us like their pets?” Hugh laughed.

“Well why not? Don’t we love our animals? Don’t they love us back?” Kasumi smiled.

“You’re really missing your dolphins, aren’t you?”

“I really am.” Kasumi admitted. “I was putting together a whole dictionary of the way they spoke. I was ready to try talking to them, Hugh.” She sighed. “It’s not that I wanted the credit or anything; I just… I spent a year with those adorable guys who tried so hard to find a game that I could play with them; and just when I was starting to get good, the sub turns around.”

“Well, since you bring it up…” Hugh said silkily. “I’ve been having conversations with Nick and Rachel. They tell me that a number of people from the Expedition are thinking about setting up a permanent underwater colony. Some of the Oceanographers are moving to the Mediterranean area, to keep up with their work. In fact, there’s been something of a Swap-Meet going on.”

“What kind of Swap-Meet?”

“Well, you remember when we got married and we decided to move into a Double land allotment? Two areas side-by-side were suddenly free as their owners moved on to new things? Well, I guess that people living on waterfronts have decided that five hundred years is long enough. A lot of them are realizing that now is an especially profitable time to make a deal on their land, and moving internationally. There’s one piece of land that includes a slice of that cove where you first met your favorite dolphin buddy.”

“And it just happened to become available now?” Kasumi wasn’t buying it.

“Well, it did once me and Nick and Rachel all got done asking the owner about it.” Hugh admitted. “Look, you said yourself you were just starting to get where you wanted to be. If you’re right, then this could be the biggest thing you do professionally, and if it goes bust then you still get to spend a few decades in some absolutely beautiful country with all your new friends. To say nothing of the dolphins.”

Long silence. Hugh could tell that his wife wanted to be convinced.

“I would love to move there.” Kasumi confirmed. “But I just asked you to go a year without your wife, I can’t ask you to pull up stakes and move internationally for me straight after that.”

“I know you can’t ask.” Hugh agreed. “Which is why I did the swap a week ago.”

Kasumi rolled her eyes to heaven. “Of course you did.”

“It was a late anniversary present.” Hugh told her. “Megan wants to move there too. She told you about her job offer, I’m sure. She’s already said yes and found herself a place. It’s about twelve miles from the Bungalow.” He gave her an earnest look. “I figured that after a year away, you’d want to live somewhere you can see your daughter again.”

Kasumi gave him a tight hug, kissing his face all over. “I missed you so much.”

“Missed you too.” Hugh agreed. “What were you chuckling about before?”

Kasumi waved. “I just spent a year on the worlds most advanced submarine, trying to talk to other species, while you and our daughter were hanging out with dinosaurs… It’s a good thing I had five centuries to get used to this world, or I wouldn’t believe it was really happening.”

“Futurist Dreams and Ancient Lost Worlds all fit together now, Kas.” Hugh smiled. “We’ve got a world where Noah and Neil Armstrong can sit at the same dinner table. When I came back, I thought this world was some insane science fiction just from Alec’s phone. Rachel Bridger was there, and I later found out she was trying to redefine electricity most of her life. My brother helped develop technology to clone meat without harming animals and a month later I was talking to Leahe about how her whole nation lived on Manna. The whole spectrum of life and culture... All together.”

“It’s insane.” Kasumi almost laughed. “It’s impossible, it’s ridiculous to think that Nick’s designing spaceships while prehistoric ecosystems are getting a second chance. Even after five hundred years of miracles, it’s just impossible to put underwater cities and the architects of pyramids together in my mind… DaVinci is using VR Technology, Shakespeare is writing his new play and getting Errol Flynn to star in it, Solomon is organizing and selecting new Congregation Elders and Julius Caesar is publishing his memoirs in digital book format. It’s insane!” She shook her head, beaming. “And it’s wonderful. It’s just so incredibly, impossibly, completely… wonderful to think that I can be here and be part of all this!”

“It’s impressive.” Hugh agreed. “But the truly wonderful part? The best is yet to come. ”

“And it always will be.”

~~/*\~~

They packed the house up carefully over a few months. For people who had lived for centuries, they had accumulated surprisingly little. A lot of it they were willing to leave behind, or give to others. The world was a place where you could find things when you needed them.

The things that accumulated were items like photos, journals, books in the library… They spent a whole week sharing the memories of their lives, remembering how they were before becoming such close friends, before falling in love, before being married.

But there were some things they just couldn’t take with them.

“Oh, Hugh.” Kasumi said sadly. “Your trees. The living lounge-chair out front…”

“I know.” Hugh nodded. “It’s alright. I’ve learned the technique now. Nick’s people have bred a few new species of trees since I planted these ones. I’d have to start the orchard over again anyway.”

“We’re heading to the Mediterranean. We’ll have no shortage of Olives, or Oranges...”

“True enough.” Hugh sighed. “I’ll take cuttings from each of my trees here. I know I can probably get saplings, but I like the idea of these same trees starting over with us.”

“Mm. Me too.”

“The one that I wish I could take with me is the Oak Tree.” Hugh commented. “Your initials wrapped around mine.”

Kasumi led him by the arm out to the front yard, and they sat in their woven tree-chair, right where she had carved their initials the day they married. “I really missed you.” She said again. “I’m glad I went, and you are a wonderful man for supporting me. But as busy as I was, every day that went by, I looked up to tell you something and you weren’t there.”

“I know what you mean. I forgot what life was like when I didn’t talk to you every day.” He murmured back. “Another hundred years, we’ll do this again. One of us will have some project that we can't take the other one to. We’ll be apart for a while, and we’ll reunite, happier to have each other than ever.”

“You think so?”

“I do.” He nodded quietly. “If you add up all the days we’ll have together, then the days we’ll be apart won’t amount to anything. We’ll both want to find new horizons, push a few boundaries… But I know we’ll always come home to each other. Wherever that home happens to be.”

“Hmm.” She snuggled into him. “Missed this too.” She hummed. “You want to recreate the whole house when we get there?”

“Actually, Nick told me a bit about your dolphin partner, so I had a few ideas about what we could do with a waterfront property.” He said in her ear. “But we’ll handle that tomorrow.”

~~/*\~~

Chogan was finishing up for the night, when he heard music playing outside his house. He went outside to check, and found Kent curled with his legs under him for sleep, but his head was resting over Megan’s shoulder as she curled back against him with her guitar. The horse was blinking slowly as he nuzzled into his favorite rider, and Megan leaned back against him, playing softly.

Chogan watched them together from his porch for a while, before he went into the stable and got a blanket. He brought it out to them. Megan gestured, and Chogan put the blanket around the horse warmly. Kent waited until Chogan stepped back, and reached, gripping the corner of the blanket with his teeth, and pulling it over to Megan. The woman smiled and took the gift, hugging the horses’ large head to her shoulder.

Her eyes were misting as she spoke. “It’s been almost a year, I was afraid he wouldn’t remember me.” She whispered. “He used to like this song, but… I was worried he wouldn’t remember that either.”

“Ohh, he remembered. I played the song for him every night. Helped him calm down.” Chogan promised. “And since you’ve been out of touch, I should tell you, Kent here is going to be a father.”

Megan was stunned. “Really?”

“Well, you told me to put him out to stud. Another few weeks until the blessed event. The Vet says it’s female.” Chogan looked at her sideways. “Kent is still yours, officially. You have a pretty good claim to the filly. Any special requests? Because she’s going to need someone to look after her once…”

“Once Kent is gone.” Megan finished quietly, looking back at her friend. “My folks are moving soon. Mom got a job in Europe... But I’m told the place has plenty of room for animals, given what her new job entails… Kent isn’t quite... maybe when his filly grows up a bit? Enough to make the journey, I could take her along?”

“Yeah?”

“She’ll need lots of love, and it should be me.” Megan said, not looking at him.

Chogan smiled. “I agree.”

Megan finished the tune and set her guitar down, before she spun around and hugged Kent's huge head lovingly. “I'm sorry I was away so long.”

The aging horse nuzzled her back.

Chogan suddenly noticed a Red Panda perched beside them, one paw on Megan's foot. “Oh. Hello.”

Megan noticed his gaze and turned to hug him tightly too. “You forgive me?”

Chogan hugged her back, but didn't say it. Some wild things are skittish. Lots of patience, lots of love.

~~/*\~~

The waterfront property took months to build. Kasumi had her own workspace, including a canal that extended from inside the house out to the water.

The house was on a stone ledge that had the waterline just a few feet below the high tide mark. The stone was the foundation for their house, and Kasumi had drilled a tunnel that led from the water, into the house, like a very deep swimming pool in the middle of her office.

“That just looks wrong.” Hugh admitted ruefully.

“I know it does, but it’s hardly the strangest thing I’ve seen in a house.” Kasumi chuckled. “I’ve spent the last year with a pool in my office that lead out to the ocean, and aquatic species were encouraged to come and go as they pleased. It’ll be fine.”

Hugh looked out the window, where the cove was visible. On the other side of the cove was beach, though not much of it, with a path winding from the sand to their front door. “Back in OS, waterfront property was wildly expensive, but Alec tells me that at the end, nobody dared anymore. Rising oceans, hurricanes…”

“Heh.” Kasumi grinned. “These days, location is everything. You can build and rebuild each and every home. And people do, because their interests change and we live in these places for centuries, but the ocean will be where it is for a million years. So will the mountains, so will the forests. It’s all about where people want to be.”

“Twenty billion people by the end of the Millennium. Everyone will want to be somewhere.” Hugh commented. “Nick doesn’t even want to be on earth in the long term.”

Kasumi laughed. “When we met, long term was one century, not ten. Centuries from now, long term will be five thousand years later.”

~~/*\~~

Once they had moved in, Kasumi unpacked some equipment of her own. “So, if this works like I hope it will…” Kasumi explained brightly. “...then what I’ve created here is basically an underwater loudspeaker that works at a pitch only dolphins can hear. Most of their clicks and whistles are beyond the range of human hearing. While I was on the Nemo, I recorded hundreds of hours of wild dolphin pods talking to each other, including their ‘signature sounds’ that we assume are what they use for names. If this works, I may just be able to replay some of those sounds, and get them to answer me. If it works, I’ve officially learned to speak a few words of Dolphin-ese.”

Her family gave her a round of applause. She waved them down, embarrassed at how enthusiastic she had been getting. She worked the equipment, and hit the button with a flourish. Then she immediately turned away from the pool and went back to the rest of the house. “The ocean’s a big place. It could take hours for a response, and that’s assuming I did everything right.”

~~/*\~~

Hours passed, and the pool in the house remained undisturbed. Kasumi had a house to set up, but she was clearly disappointed.

“Be honest, you just want to show off the new house to your work friends.” Megan teased. “Look, I’ll hang out in here for a while; why don't you call it a night?”

Kasumi yawned. “Yeah, why not?”

Megan settled into Kasumi’s office chair, looking at the canal. “I could swim into the house clear from the ocean, couldn’t I?”

“Yup.” Kasumi looked to her daughter. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

“Mom, in the last hundred years I’ve seen constructed islands, I’ve seen four story tree-houses, I’ve seen people with redwoods growing right through the middle of their homes with shelf space carved into them, I’ve seen people living on airships without ever touching ground, I’ve seen underground townships with hundreds of people and I’ve seen some places the size of small mansions that were carved directly out of a mountainside, with the front door hidden behind a waterfall. People are letting their imaginations go nuts. Inviting your work in from the ocean doesn’t even make the top ten list.”

Kasumi went to bed, and Megan settled into her chair. The Red Panda on her shoulder curled his tail around her arm and went to sleep.

It was over an hour before Megan woke from a light doze to a splashing sound. There was a dolphin leaning over the edge of the pool. It’s beak was always smiling, but it was clear he was curious. The dolphin clicked and whistled.

Megan knew she should call for her mother, but she just stared, with a silly grin on her face as she came over. The Red Panda climbed down her arm to settle on the edge of the pool and lean out for a sniff.

~~/*\~~

Hugh woke up to the sound of giggling, and got out of bed to look. The water was visible from the second floor and he could see the moonlight reflect off the ocean. Down below, his daughter was swimming around playfully with a tame dolphin.

Kasumi came over to join him at the window. One of Megan’s Red Panda’s was asleep on their windowsill. “A dolphin, two cuddly Firefoxes and a horse on the way. This from the girl who didn’t want to pet the pups that came running up to her when she walked around the market.”

“I’m glad she got over it.” Hugh admitted. “As friendly as people are these days, we’re still virtual strangers in this part of the world. Megan doesn’t do well with new people at first, so I’m glad she’s adopted some friends she can keep close.”

Kasumi smiled. “Funny. I always thought the animals in my life all adopted me.”

Hugh smiled back. “We should sleep. Obviously, your equipment worked. Megan doesn’t have anything pressing to do tomorrow, she can sleep when she’s done introducing herself.”

Kasumi agreed and the two climbed back into bed. “Have I said thank you for coming here?”

“Not in the last five minutes.” Hugh chuckled. “Nick’s left for the Expo, Alec has a family to reconnect with, Isobel spends as much time on this side of the world as the other… Feels like the right time for a fresh start. We'll make more of them.”

Kasumi nodded. “I guess we will. I remember Nick, before he made his decision, worrying that the world would stagnate, live too much in the past, not have any incentive to reach for anything new. And to be honest, I’ve met a few people who are like that.”

“It takes all kinds, love. Some people will view paradise as spending all day with their closest friends and talking about the glory days. Some will view paradise as a chance to learn more about everything. A thousand years from now, ten thousand, we’ll have a whole different view, and a whole different horizon. Nick will look to the universe, you may look to the ocean floor, and who knows what the horizon will be after that?”

Kasumi gestured outside and pulled the blankets up. “Megan won’t stay with us forever. Her view of paradise was a loving family and not much more. I think she’s coming out of that phase and seeing more of the world around her. I have no idea what I’ll want my life to be like off in eternity, but I know I want you there. That’s what Paradise means to me.”

Hugh kissed her sweetly. “To me too.”

She settled under his arm then, and closed her eyes for sleep. But Hugh kept his eyes open, looking to the large windows. To the night, the stars and moon above, shining brighter than they ever could before.

Dear God… Hugh prayed silently. Thank you for my life. Thank you for bringing me to Kas, and for bringing her safely home. Thank you for the warmth of her skin and the smell of orange blossoms and a daughter who has come to love us, and love You, every bit as much as we love her. Thank you for starlight in the sky, and the bright moon on a warm night. Thank you for the taste of olives and the sound of a light breeze through the trees. Thank you for an eternity to enjoy, and the people to share paradise with.

Thank you for teaching a soldier to find peace, and teaching a victim to trust, and the lonely to love. Thank you for making us all a family.

Amen.