Liberty's Heirs

Epilogue

The brown skinned man and woman reclined on soft comfortable chairs facing a tropical beach. Each had a glass of ice cold juice made from the fruits of the plant opuntia ficus indica.  "I can't believe I've never tried this before. It's the most delicious thing I've ever drunk in my entire life," said Cindu to his wife.

"I'd have to agree," she responded with a yawn, "but it would be perfect if it had a little vodka in it."

The man nodded as the tropical waves kept lapping gently at the white sand.  The Coconut trees that earlier in the afternoon had provided shade, now swayed gently in the breeze of dusk. The colors, purple, orange, red sprawled out in front of them like an abstract painting.  Their house, full sized, fully stocked with excellent food, and completely equipped with a full robotic staff sat on the mountain-side behind them.

It was Sailce that saw the vacikarce approaching first.  It came in just south of the colorful sunset.  It started out as a little dot, like an early star, and gradually got larger and larger as it approached and the sky darkened.  It took a full quarter hour from the time it became visible to the time that it landed on the quiet beach.  An old man with a long white beard got out.  It was the first human that the could had seen in nearly two years.

"I'm Advocate Sean Mac Spencer," he said.  "Tell me why you're here."

"We've already been tried, Advocate.  What more do you want from us?"

"Do you appreciate the mercy of the Advocates in allowing you to spend your days here instead of on that island?"

"Yes, Advocate."

"Then remind me of why you're here."

"We helped the rebels in their attempt to free humanity from the rulership of the Aye," said Cindu.  "We thought that humans would be better off ruling themselves.  It was a mistake.  The Aye is benevolent.  It provides a life of peace, prosperity, and security.  By working against it, we endangered our children, ourselves, and all of humanity.  These are mistakes that we will never be able to pay for, but we appreciate your clemency, Advocate.  Even if we never get to see our children again, we know that they're safe."

"You're right about living under the Aye instead of under human leaders.  But you're wrong about your children.  They haven't lived lives of safety, Mr. and Mrs. Denzalvi.  They've made the choice to live lives of self-sacrifice on behalf of humanity and on behalf of the Aye.  They've paid your debts to humanity in full and thanks to them, you can now come home.  Get in."