The existential crisis of discovering that there existed an abundance of advanced, sentient alien life was overwhelming. I sat on my bunk in total silence. In desperation, I clung to my old novel of the unknown teacher. It was painful to hear what Pei had learned from Andrea and the other survivors and confirmed with their translations of the ancient Alpha Centauri texts, but it was even more difficult to process when she confessed she was pregnant with Kallos' child. She didn't want to have any secrets between us.
Kallos father comforted me and he had known of his son's affair with Pei. He was disappointed and scolded him, telling him to tell me. But he is only a boy and he felt personal guilt as he had known both me since I was very little and both our families were close.
I avoided Kallos for most of the time we were stationed back on Mars. The Grand Traveler was being prepared for another trip back to Alpha Centauri with a larger crew and a team of scientists and explorers. I spent my spare time in the gardens.
Everyone gave me privacy and after several weeks, I did feel better and resumed my training with Pei. She accepted me again as her student. I told her I didn't hate her or felt wronged by what had happened and would support her relationship with Kallos.
Sophia suggested I take a holiday and visit Earth. My sister Enya was also finishing up her training and taking a short break as well. It would be good for me to go somewhere different and clear my thoughts. Enya and I could visit the ancestral home of the first sisters in the Earth Capital. Sophia would accompany me as she had official business to attend to as well.
We took another ship, a regular cargo hauler and arrived in the Earth Capital within hours. A private car arrived and a pair of sisters greeted us and took us to the sisters estate outside the Capital. It was on a peaceful vineyard and near the training academies where Enya was staying.
It was morning tea and Enya was waiting for us in an open gazebo behind the estate building. I was surprised as most of the servants and workers were humanoid robots and they served our tea and food with quick precision, no movement wasted. Enya got me up to speed on everything about her training and she was excelling beyond any of her instructors expectations, she would soon graduate and allowed to go on her first mission to the outer rim.
I was happy for her and she asked me about Kallos. I told her everything and she was disappointed, but happy for me as she felt he would always be a liability considering his heritage and madam Naoka. She was surprised to learn of Felicia and even more so my pardoning her.
Enya laughed as she had no plans or intentions of ever getting married or falling for a man. She would remain happily single and hopefully soon a full fledged sister marine. Sophia congratulated her on her progress and enthusiasm. She wished I had at least some of Enya's ambitions.
After tea, Sophia excused herself as she went to meet with the other senior sisters. Enya called for a car and took me to the city and we toured several museums and art galleries. When I told her about Alpha Centauri and what we discovered there, she was intrigued, but not surprised. The only big news that would come out of the Grand Traveler's successful voyage was the resumption of the Pacific Ocean foundries and soon thousands of new star ships.
Sophia is likely here to discuss that and prepare the sisters as both the Neo-Artesians and Proto-Artesians will begin vying for access to those new starships and a path to the stars. Some may also be shocked and dismayed that mankind are the rejects of our ancient alien ancestors, but most will not care and only focus on a bright future.
There is enough material on Proxima Centauri B to yield billions of starships. And preparations to begin mining of the rare mineral in abundance on that dead planet were being discussed. The sisters would soon convene a peace summit between the two Artesian factions to divide the galaxy between them. The northern hemisphere would go to the Neo-Artesians while the south would belong to the Proto-Artesians. Our current solar system would become neutral ground where both would agree to live peacefully side-by-side, any who disagree can soon take one of the countless starships to any new world to mold in their own ideology.
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