Deep Black Road: The Head of the Snake

Epilogue

Philip and Leila stood huddled with Rantan and the babies after Philip had returned from what remained of Alexandria.

"He's gone," said Leila sadly. "And Suzanne."

"I miss them too," said Rantan; "but Ricky's great and terrible destiny's been fulfilled. What's our destiny, Dad?"

"I don't know," said Philip. "Maybe to head out into space once we've got a few more people to go with us?"

"Why can't we stay here?"

"Because I gave Earth to the carnate people," said Jesus, suddenly standing in the space between Leila and Rantan. "The destiny I grant to you and your offspring is to fill the galaxy with people who love me; and to that end, I grant to all robotic humans a lifespan of fifty thousand years so that you'll have the time to enjoy it before your spark returns to me."

"Thank you," they said in unison; and he vanished.

#

A few minutes later, when Philip had built up the courage to break the silence, he said softly, "When there's nineteen of us, we'll head to the moon."

"Why nineteen?" asked Leila.

"That's what we end up with after the fourth generation has kids."

"And one more generation and we'll have twenty-eight," said Leila, "You think we'll have a problem filling the galaxy at that rate?"

"Remember," Philip said, "we can't beget when we're going between the stars, since there's no baby food out there; and travel from star to star will take fifteen to twenty years at our normal acceleration."

"I see," Rantan said. "So we reproduce like crazy, then head down the deep black road."

"Yup. But maybe we should split into two groups when we've hit twenty-eight."

"Fourteen each," said Leila. "But with the next generation we'll end up with thirty-nine. That's an odd number."

"God'll work it out," said Philip.

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