“Still normal,” Rima said. “No sign of a recurrence.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” Rev said.
“I never would have thought it was possible, you know.”
“We live in a land of miracles, Iris. Are you coming to the dedication?”
“I hope so. I need to check on Janny Forth, but I’ll be heading over.”
“House calls, Doctor. Did you ever think you’d be doing them?”
“Can’t say I did. But I’ll tell you this, I like them. And with some of the little tools the dragons have given me, it’s been pretty easy.”
“OK, then, I’ll see you there.”
The last year had been rough in many ways. Pika had used the word “uncomfortable” to describe the treatment. Rev didn’t know if his friend didn’t quite understand the word or if that had been the Po equivalent of “this will only hurt a little bit.”
The treatment had taken almost six months, with sessions every five days, and they had pushed his ability to withstand pain to the max. He still didn’t understand why it hurt so much or why it took so long when other treatments administered by the Po were essentially painless. Goat said it had to be this way to minimize the risk of recurrence.
But Rev would have driven hot spikes under his nails every hour to defeat the rot.
It helped that he wasn’t alone. He, Randigold, and two others—Lance Corporal Tank Correl, a Marine, and Sergeant Ewen Taladint, a karnan—had gone through the treatment together.
Thirty-one others had the first signs of the rot, but none of those cases were advanced yet, and given the trauma of the treatment and the fact that Rima wanted to monitor the four of them longer, none of the rest had gone through it yet.
And there was always hope that the Po would refine the treatment somewhat.
Rev entered the waiting room, and Tomiko raised a single eyebrow in a question.
“Zip. No change,” he said.
She smiled, then said, “Since you’re fine, take your son, and we’ve got to get going.”
Rev still had the carrier strapped to his chest, and he took Hiro from her. “Come here, little man. Daddy’s got you.”
It took him a moment to get the infant strapped in, and then taking Tomiko’s hand, they left the clinic and headed home.
They had a few greetings shouted at them, and Rev replied and waved as they walked through Haventown, which had changed a lot over the last year. Instead of a new, sterile village, it now looked lived in. Blooms, both native and Earth-types, filled flower boxes under many of the windows. Murals were appearing on some buildings, while others were painted in a variety of colors.
The Po might have built the village, but the humans were making it home.
Corporal Jant was hooking up Tulip to the cart as they reached their home.
“How’s he feeling?” Rev asked as he checked the harness.
“Calm, Sergeant Major. He’s not going to be giving us any problems.”
“It’s Rev, Sust. I told you that. You’re family, now.”
“Sorry, Ser . . . Rev. It’s taking some getting used to.”
“You and me both. I never thought I’d have a karnan for a brother-in-law.”
Jant looked stricken at his words, and Rev had to slap him across his large shoulders. “I’m joking, Sust. Joking. Lighten up a little.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t tease the boy,” Tomiko whispered as they stepped through the door.
“Daddy!” the girls yelled in unison as they entered. “Can we go now?”
“In a few minutes,” Tomiko said. “Is everything ready?”
“Life jackets, bottles, diapers, snacks, check,” Kelly said with little Frank on her hip. She still hadn’t revealed who the father was, and Rev figured they’d never know.
While Tomiko gave the basket a practiced eye, Randigold asked, “Everything OK?”
“Great numbers. No sign of recurrence.”
Randigold, who’d been much further along the course of the disease than Rev had been, had a longer recuperation. She was still not a hundred percent. Maybe not fifty percent, but she was progressing.
She was over at the house a lot now, and she was a godsend as a babysitter. The girls were generally good, but still, they could be a handful, especially with Hiro in the mix.
“I think we’re ready,” Tomiko announced. “Let’s load up.”
The girls were out of the door in a flash. They’d only had the ox for two weeks now, and he was still something of a novelty. Rev had wanted to name him something strong and masculine, but he’d been overruled by the twins, and “Tulip” it was.
Cattle were the second animal brought to life by the Po after chickens. The first were quickened nine months ago, but with the Po’s advanced growth procedures, a herd of fifty were living in the upper pasture where some were already producing milk.
Kat, who was eight months pregnant, semi-jokingly kept asking if the Po could speed up the baby she was carrying, but curing the rot notwithstanding, that was a bridge too far. Rima wanted all humans to be born after a normal gestation.
The cows in the meadows weren’t the only bovines. At Punch’s suggestion, several bulls were destined to be draft animals. They were not physically castrated as the oxen of old but “adjusted” by the Po to be calm and manageable.
The settlement had already made modern hydro-buggies for transportation, but the idea of oxen caught on, both for a romantic view of living and to diversify. Rev had been going through his treatment during the initial phases, and the idea caught his attention. He’d put in a claim, and Tulip was the result.
The bullocks had been trained by Punch, who was rapidly becoming the settlement’s jack-of-all-trades. Rev had taken a full day of lessons from his battle buddy, and now it was just a matter of Tulip understanding what Rev wanted and Rev understanding what Tulip wanted.
The family also had a normal, fuel cell buggie, but he was going to master ox carts. If it was good enough for their long-ago ancestors, it was good enough for him.
With Sust standing by Tulip’s head, Rev climbed into the seat. He didn’t think Tulip would take off, but with folks he loved in the cart, he wasn’t going to take any chances.
Willow and Aspen claimed the seat on either side, leaving him no space. “Can I drive?” Willow asked.
“I want to,” Aspen added.
“Not this time. Maybe tomorrow we’ll try.”
Tomiko handed Hiro up, then climbed aboard before taking him back. Kelly and Frank were next. Then Randigold, moving slowly, was helped aboard. Kat waddled up last. Rev could see that Sust wanted to help her, but he stoically remained at Tulip’s head.
“Go on, help her,” Rev told him.
He hurried to the back, and in a moment, everyone was on board.
“Everyone ready?”
He got a chorus of yeses.
“Get up,” he told Tulip.
He didn’t think the ox really understood the words, but Punch insisted on him using, “get up,” “gee,” “haw,” “whoa,” and “back,” as commands. Whether it was the command or the flick on the reins, Tulip dutifully started walking.
There was a steady stream of people heading to the dedication. Most were walking, and they shouted hellos to those in the ox cart. A few, like Tiwari, Hvarser, and their two kids, were in their hydro-buggie, and they carefully passed Rev, waving as they did.
They could have walked. Except for Kat and Randigold, it might have been quicker. But it wouldn’t have as much style, and, to be honest, Rev wanted to show off his newfound skill.
They reached the edge of Haventown, where Božič-Mizaki was watching. Her team had the duty today.
She gave Rev a half-assed salute and said, “Looking good, Sergeant Major.”
“You, too, Jean. Keep the yetis from crashing the party.”
“They’ll have to go over my dead body.”
They both laughed. The Zfthu hadn’t made a single aggressive move to date. And as Rev drove out of the village, he could see all the way down to the beach, where the Po were expanding the enclave. To Rev’s surprise, that had developed to more than a place to bribe the Zfthu to keep the peace. Real trade between them and both humans and Po had developed, with the Zfthu offering jewelry and art.
Rev hadn’t understood the politics from before, but the two Zfthu villages on the island had wielded an inordinate amount of power, which they used to their advantage. But with the enclave open to all, more of the Zfthu could directly benefit. The original villagers grumbled, but the majority of the Zfthu rather liked the new arrangement.
As always, the sight of the valley moved Rev, and not just because he was still alive to see it. It truly was beautiful, from the turquoise sea to the surrounding mountains.
The Po’s castle was to the left, rising like something out of a fairy tale. Beyond that, the waterfall that fed Memorial Creek plumed down from the heights. At sunset, rainbows appeared.
The octagon was gone, replaced by something far more in line with nature. The area had suffered a lot of death, but now, it was covered with flowers.
And beyond that . . . Rev’s heart began to race.
The Po had taken over the swimming hole, and they’d been working on it for several months. He knew “his” redwoods were part of the project, but he couldn’t see anything. The Po had erected a barrier that stretched up at least fifty meters. The barrier reminded Rev of the Galaxy Explorer’s hangar curtain, except that while it shimmered like that curtain, it was opaque.
Rev guided Tulip down the slope. He’d been worried that the ox might not be able to handle the weight, but Punch assured him that it would be no problem. And, as always, Punch was right. Tulip plodded along without straining.
He didn’t even startle when a veritable tsunami of Kanter kits flowed past and even over him, somersaulting off of his back. Whatever the Po did to create a calm bullock, it worked.
A crowd was already at the barrier when Rev brought Tulip to a stop. His passengers got off while he unhooked the yoke and staked out the ox, who immediately started to graze.
Most of the grass here was still Zfthu native, which wouldn’t hurt Tulip but wouldn’t provide much in the way of nutrition. But he seemed to enjoy it, and that was good enough for Rev.
Tomiko handed him a sleeping Hiro, who he put in the carrier. The little guy never woke up, comfortable with his head against Rev’s chest.
The twins were running around, gathering their herd of friends, as normal. They were the oldest, but still, they always were in charge, little dictators that they could be.
“Are you excited?” Tomiko asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know what to expect, though, but at least I’ll be around for a while to see what develops.”
She intertwined her arm in his.
“I thought I’d be alone by now, Rev. But this, this is more than I could’ve hoped for.”
“I’m happy about that, too,” he said with a chuckle. “This is like all those holovids, the good ones, where everyone lives happily ever after.”
“Well, not quite. Those always have all the loose ends tied up in a bow. We don’t have that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know I overthink it. But we don’t know what’s going to happen. Have the yetis really given up fighting?”
“Looks like it. But if they try anything, we’re still Marines.”
“OK, that’s true. But what about the Sia? What’s their deal with the dragons, and are we going to get dragged into the middle of that? And the BGs. Who are they? We’ve run into them twice now. I don’t think we can survive a third time.”
She paused for a breath and then said, “That’s just the aliens. Who’s winning the war back home, and are they going to come after us when all this is done?”
“We tried to hide our tracks, Miko.”
“Do you think that’s really going to work if they want to find us?”
“You’re right, Miko. You’re overthinking it. We can’t control what others do. So, right now, I’m happy to accept the situation we have.”
“I know, Rev. I guess with the girls and Hiro, I just worry about their future.”
“At least they have a future. How many times during the expedition could that have changed? When you consider everything, I think their chances of a long and healthy, happy life are better here than out there chasing the stars.”
“I know. But let a mother worry. That’s what we do.”
He kissed the top of her head when Hyung started calling everyone together to where he was perched on a rock.
“That man sure likes being in charge,” Tomiko said.
“If he wants to take care of all the headaches, then I’m all for letting him,” Rev said as they broke their embrace and started walking toward where he, Pika, Goat, and half a dozen other Po were standing by the barrier.
Rev nabbed the girls as they ran by, then joined Kat, Kelly, and the rest. All of the IBHUs, except for Božič-Mizaki, converged around him. Punch, too.
“What’s this? Am I getting arrested?” he asked with a laugh.
“Sibs in Steel,” Tsao said, which of course resulted in them all crowding together and clinking their arms.
And then Hyung was talking.
“Thank you for coming today for the big reveal. More importantly, I know some of you have been itching to go for a swim.”
The crowd broke into laughter. But it was true. The Po had closed off the swimming hole for almost eight weeks. Some people had hiked downstream to another hole that was inaccessible by cart, but that was a little far for the children, not to mention a still-recovering Rev.
After they saw what the Po had created, Rev was one of those who were planning to dive in.
“So, we’re going to make this quick. Pika, do you have anything to say?”
The Po liaison stepped closer to Hyung and said, “We appreciate everything you’ve done for us. If you hadn’t chosen to defend us, it is very likely that none of us would still be alive.
“We can’t ever pay you back for what you’ve done.”
“I don’t know. Eth and I think you might have,” Rev whispered to Tomiko.
“But we wanted to do something, so we’ve created what we hope you’ll enjoy for years to come. Please, accept this as a gift given from the heart.”
“Love you, Pika,” someone shouted from behind Rev.
“How can I top that?” Hyung said. “But there’s one more thing. I’ve had a peek behind the curtain, so to speak, and I think what the Po have created is special.”
“How did he get a look?” Kelly asked.
“Rank hath its privileges,” Tsao said.
“But it was up to us to name it. I went back and forth about it. I asked others.”
“He never asked me,” Rev grumbled.
“Ssshhh,” Tomiko said. “Listen up.”
“One name kept coming up, and in the end, I thought it was the only logical choice. And then there was the question of who will do the dedication. And for that, there was one choice, too.”
He paused, then looked directly at Rev. “One person among us symbolizes the never-say-die attitude that has driven us forward. One person was instrumental in keeping us alive. Many of you here owe your lives to him. You know who you are.”
“Sergeant Major!” burst from several hundred voices.
Rev felt his face redden.
He looked around. All of the IBHUs were smiling at him.
“Did you know about this, Miko? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“A wife doesn’t tell her husband everything.”
“Aside from his devotion to all of us, which is undeniable, he was also, in a way, the inspiration for today. It was after creating his redwoods that our friends here had their idea. And with Punch’s help, they made it a reality.”
“Punch!” a dozen sailors shouted to the laughs of the others.
“So, Rev. Sergeant Major. If you would do us the honor?”
Tomiko gave him a shove, a much stronger one than was needed. But that was Tomiko, just as she’d always been.
He handed Hiro to Sust, and then the people in front of him parted as he walked forward. He reached the smiling Hyung, who jumped off the rock and shook his hand.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” Rev said.
“That’s how surprises work.”
“So, what am I supposed to do?” Rev asked as he looked up at the shimmering barrier.
“Get on that rock so everyone can see you. That’s the first thing.”
His balance was still a little wonky, but he jumped up without falling flat on his face.
“What now?” he asked before being drowned out by calls of, “Speech! Speech!”
He looked down at Hyung, who smiled and said, “You’d better give it to them.”
Rev faced the crowd. They represented most of humanity. Union, MDS, Frisian Mantle, Hégémonie. They were from Rigel, Osnovnoy, FIS, Paxus, and Confederation. But at the moment, despite what was happening during the war, they were no longer any of those things. They were Havenites. His new family.
And he choked up, which embarrassed him. All he was there to do was the reveal. Nothing much. But the gratitude he felt to all those faces looking at him was overwhelming.
“This really wasn’t my idea. I just wanted to see a redwood again, to remind me of what I left behind. But standing here, I just realized that what we all left back there, none of that matters. What matters is what’s in our future, and I can’t think of a better group of people to experience whatever’s coming with. “
There was a solitary clap, and then an avalanche as applause thundered.
Tiktik jumped on the rock and stood, his paws on Rev’s thigh.
“You are a valued human, Strong Bough,” he said before bounding away.
Rev waited, totally embarrassed, until the applause died away.
“What now?” he asked Hyung.
“Just look at the barrier and say, ‘Reveal,’” Pika told him.
OK, that’s easy enough.
Rev turned to face the barrier. He considered lifting his arms to make it dramatic, rejected it as silly, but then decided, what the heck?
He raised them, one organic, one prosthetic, and in a loud voice, shouted, “Reveal!”
Starting from the top, the barrier started to turn into shooting, multicolored sparks. People shouted in awe, and Rev heard Willow—or Aspen—scream in delight.
And it was impressive. It took a moment for the sparks to clear, revealing the . . .
“Oh, by the Mother,” Rev whispered.
The swimming hole had transformed into the most beautiful grove Rev had ever seen. It was surrounded by what had to be thirty-five-meter-tall redwoods—not the giants that were back on Safe Harbor, but impossibly tall for what were seedlings a short year ago.
There were flashes in the water. Trout or salmon, Rev was sure.
And in the front, right next to a manicured path crossed where the barrier had been, was a sign that said:
Sergeant Major Reverent Pelletier Grove
Created in Appreciation of Service
Rev spun around toward Tomiko. He could barely see her head in the crowd, but he saw her mouth, “I love you.”
He felt light-headed, so he jumped off the rock before he fell.
“Are you going to keep us waiting?” Hyung asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s your grove. Don’t you think you should be the first one to step inside?”
“Tomiko!” he shouted instead of answering, and everyone repeated the call.
In a moment, she started to make her way forward. Pika took the opportunity to come up and say, “We’re sorry about the size. But we believe that in a year or slightly longer, they’ll be at their mature height.”
Rev just stared at him. “You’re sorry that year-old redwoods are only thirty-five meters tall? You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
“We thought we could have had them taller, but—”
“I’m kidding, Pika. This is amazing. Impossible, but amazing.”
He didn’t have time to reassure Pika any more because Tomiko, with his children and the entire IBHU contingent, reached him. More people were crowding forward.
Rev took Hiro back, then said, “Let’s go see what our hosts have made for us.”
He started walking forward when the smell hit him, evoking deep memories inside his lizard brain. This wasn’t Haven. It was Tall Trees Provincial Park.
He’d come a long, convoluted way from his childhood. He’d survived battles that should have killed him. He’d lost family. Yet here he was, at a redwood grove. With his family. He was back at the beginning, starting out one more time. What was old was now new.
He stopped and turned around. Everyone was giving him room, letting him be the first to enter his grove. Only, it wasn’t his grove. It belonged to the people—human, Po, and Kanter.
He motioned for Tomiko and the girls to join him. Then Kat and Sust. The IBHUs. Pika, Tiktik, and Hyung. There was one more person hanging back. Rev vigorously motioned for him to join them.
With a spring in his step, Punch rushed forward. Rev took a moment to give his closest friend a hug, slapping him on the back.
He broke the hug and looked around at others.
“This is better,” he said. “We’re in this together.”
Rev was holding Hiro in his prosthetic arm, and Tomiko linked her prosthetic arm with it.
“Sibs in steel,” she whispered.
“Sibs in steel, Miko.”
Willow took her father’s right hand, and Aspen took her mother’s left hand. Then, surrounded by his extended family, he walked into the grove and their future.
* * *
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