The Outer Moon (A Sapphic Sci Fi Adventure)

Chapter 32

Five years later

"Checkpoint secure," Emma told Lena over comms. "Nothing in sight." She was out at the edge of the solar system, on a direct line back to the Earth system, using her scanners to make sure nobody from Earth arrived unexpectedly. It was a disheartening thought, but they expected it to happen soon.

A lot had changed over the last five years, which wasn't a shock considering that this was a new settlement on a new home world. Yasmin and the rest had brought back both ice and new settlers to New Atlantis, and they had been just as excited as the original settlers had been. It had been a near thing, with actual nuclear missiles fired at them while they were trying to load the new crew. Only their air cover had saved everyone, though they took out several more military satellites on the way out just to remind them that they shouldn't be messed with. With the added people came the ability to more rapidly assess the items that were found, in addition to exploring new avenues of research and exploration.

Yes, Emma's discovery of the repair facility had been huge, but Macey had been the one to figure out that instead of keeping everything there, they should move the entire facility back to the moon. At first, people were just confused as to why that would be better than cleaning it up and using the facility as it was, but when you added in that the planet was outside the habitable zone, and with the elevator door open it was no longer sealed from the elements, it made more sense. They ended up building a huge ramp out of the facility, and taking everything out that they could, even the broken items, because Viv was pretty sure she could repair them with the knowledge that she'd gained.

It took a while, almost six months in fact, to get it all done, but they did finally move the entire inventory to a new facility across the lake from New Atlantis, near the river coming down from the mountains. That was good, as there was already a small town cropping up on the river there, with twenty people working on spices that had been found to be delicious when used in their food. That allowed them to combine their resources, even if small in number.

There were over 1000 people on the planet now, with many families having multiple kids. Emma was a lucky one, having given birth to a little boy two years ago, while Viv had done the same with two girls, and Lexi had one of each. Bree had wanted to be a big sister, and she was a great one. There was still a shortage of houses, but that was slowly becoming less of an issue. Emma and her family of nine now lived in a little group of four cargo containers arranged in a square that contained a central courtyard where Lexi and Bree were gardening and raising a flock of brulons, which were the ugly chicken creatures that the Antuhsas had shared with them. The garden was growing screwbeans, a plant that the Antuhsas didn't like, but the humans thought were like a corkscrew shaped pea pod, and then some cruczuts, which were a root vegetable that was similar to a parsnip.

Their life was good, with their kids always having at least one of the adults around and being well loved. As were the adults too, with their nighttime activities just as wonderful as ever, even with the kids having made subtle changes to their bodies. They didn't mind though, as it just showed each other how much they loved their family and all they had gone through to get it.

The Antuhsas were thriving as well, with their added knowledge spreading quickly among their younger members. Many of the older Antuhsas were content with their life, and stayed in the village, but the majority of the young and adolescents spent days in space, or exploring their planet, and over fifty were living among the various human villages in perfect harmony. Their language had become the standard that they all spoke, to the point that the babies never even learned any languages from Earth until they were a little older, they just weren't needed.

Pepper and Vanessa had stepped back a little, staying mostly in the New Atlantis settlement with their three kids, Pepper having carried the twins Jason and Scarlett, and Vanessa having their younger son Cash, and being much more willing to delegate responsibilities to others and then make decisions based on their input. That had become a necessity when they were pregnant and recovering, and it let them realize that they didn't have to be as hands on with every aspect of the settlement. They were much happier because of that and were much more content to play with their kids on many days between meetings.