Chapter Twenty Five

"We don't exercise our talents and skills for their own sakes, what would be the point of creating new things, of advancing technologies, of changing the way we see life if there was nobody to pass them on to. We are only a link in an endless chain of existence and our greatest joy, our most cherished goal is to move our kind one step forward, cure one more disease, fulfill one more need, make hope one granted wish stronger."

"When children were born on Terra Two it was as if our race had been reborn, not from the past, but from a future we didn't know we were contemplating. We didn't realize until we saw them roam happy, curious and care free through the lush green fields that they were the first humans born to paradise."

 

Time flowed around them like a lazy river, bringing accomplishments and events, weaving a beautiful tapestry, rich and complex. Its layers interweaved with the development of the planet, the changes of society, the dwellers' own advancement in wisdom.

The most significant change was the gradual transformation of their little colony from a professional group exclusively focused on performing highly specialized terraforming tasks to a diverse and colorful society complete with social activities, artistic endeavors, spiritual pursuit and most of all, the birth of children.

The first baby of Terra Two was born to a physicist and an energy engineer, but really she belonged to all, since her arrival was anticipated, discussed, and cherished by each and every human being on the planet. Lily, named after her grandmother, arrived at the cusp of evening, just as the suns melted suddenly in the coffee sky, a healthy and vivacious bundle of joy. Her chocolate skin had the warm glow of Terra Two's sunsets and her eyes were a liquid shade of blue-green that reflected the surface of its sea.

The sisters showed varied levels of enthusiasm about the event, but Sarah spent so much time around the baby that the parents almost had to expand their home to build sleeping quarters for her.

Many children were born in the next years, and play spaces, schools, exploration trails followed, together with the need for a lot more caring hands and watchful eyes. The little ones managed to find their way everywhere, from the astrophysics lab to sister Roberta's experiments and Sarah's bio-chemistry shed, they ran across the fields picking food right off the vines and were the only ones capable to spot and apprehend a cat in less than fifteen minutes.

Their skins reacted quickly to the light intensity on Terra Two, whose suns, though muted in the hazy skies, put out a lot of ultra violet radiation; they developed a healthy glowing tan. The parents were worried at first but then remembered that the synthesized enzyme they now carried repaired the damage, if there happened to be any.

Visitors doted on these little humans who grew wild and free among giant tropical plants, for whom the two sunned coffee firmament studded with metal dots was the only sky they ever knew, for whom cats were supposed to be fragrant and who couldn't understand the concept of winter. The kids' favorite activity was chasing rain showers, they liked to catch the moment of downpour and show up at home in the evening completely drenched and beaming with satisfaction.

The birth of a new generation set in motion a whole series of changes, from the building of schools to the arrival of teachers, pediatricians and candy shop owners, but the kids really didn't stay within boundaries, intensely curious, and learned by watching the civil engineering team how to build roads and move terrain, or by following the weather teams how to record temperature and humidity readings, or by chasing after sister Joseph while she was checking on the health of the live stock what it took to be a veterinarian. They made the latter mumble constantly under her breath about the parental lack of responsibility and the unfairness of life.

Sarah enjoyed teaching the little ones how to plant seeds and bioengineer the outcomes in ways that were nothing short of miraculous and spent long afternoons under the soybean tree telling stories from her childhood and amazing the children with descriptions of surreal mountains, blue skies with just one bright yellow sun, strong summer storms and the purest white snow. Incredulous eyes grew wider with wonder as the neural interlink bracelets projected the extraordinary Earth images into their minds, and they shared life stories with the children on that remote planet the grown ups called home, children whose delicate skin never ceased to astound them.

A new chapter opened in Sarah's life when she saw her own childhood experiences through the eyes of her parents. She knew not to ruin the wonder, the joy and the explorer pride of the young lives asserting themselves in a large welcoming universe.

Since there was no way to keep curious little noses away from her experiments Sarah set up equipment and tables and started a semi-formal course of instruction in the fundaments of organic chemistry and herbal medicine. Some adjustments had to be made, of course: the felines found permanent accommodation in the rafters, staring down at the noisy group with round attentive eyes and from a safe distance.

Terra Two was swarming with visitors who saved and sacrificed to visit the cradle of everlasting life, although the sisters and an army of scientists were trying very hard to explain that it was not immortality but a generous extension of natural life span that the enzymatic compound provided.

Sarah thought that ever since she met the sisters she couldn't think of many moments when she didn't have ten or more people around her, sometimes the sisters or members of the engineering team, but more often than not complete strangers. What was it about this group that attracted people like a magnet to watch whatever they were doing, even the most mundane activities, with bated breath?