Chapter Twenty Nine

"I worry that many events worth recounting were left unmentioned either due to the dulling of my memory or the constraints of time but I trust that younger members of our community will add their stories to the chronicle and bear testimony to the life we built here under the blessing of Grace."

"I ask for forgiveness for the details my forgetfulness banished to oblivion, testify that the ones described are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and remain your humble sister in faith, Joachima. We don't know how long our lives will be, we were already blessed with longevity beyond human reach, but we know that three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love."

 

Sarah's fingers paused for a second, caressing the old touch table; she rested her gaze on the endless soybean fields whose velvety foliage shifted color like the surface of the sea in the breeze. The suns were setting and a myriad of shiny metal studs showed up in the coffee caramel sky.

"Are you done yet?" Seth asked flatly, as she watched Sarah write the last phrase, as usual managing to get incredibly close without any sound. The waters of time had not habituated Sarah with this behavior and she was still startled by it when it happened because she was usually engaged in an activity that captured all her attention and the leader's proximity always took her by surprise.

"It feels like the events themselves took less time than their description and we've been here for over a hundred years. Good thing our life expectancy is longer than anticipated, I wouldn't have lived for the completion of this project otherwise."

Sarah knew better than to take the leader's theatrical effects to heart. She turned, poised.

"It's almost done", she said.

"I'd say it is completely done, it is supposed to be a account of the most important events, not the roman fleuve of our generation. There are cob webs on your lab equipment. The children aren't educated. You haven't filed any research papers during the last two months. I have to study in a Roc bird's nest because nobody reminds the youngsters to put away their toys. The planet surface gathered an additional inch of galactic dust since you started."

Sarah got the gist of the repartee.

"I'll finish today", she said. Seth turned on her heels and vanished, quiet as a ghost.

Sarah with the angel hair picked up Solomon, who protested as always, and got closer to the glass to watch the sunset. She could hear giggles and running from the adjacent hallway where the kids were moving from bubble to bubble, and the irate mumble of sister Joseph admonishing them and complaining about cats jumping at her feet unexpectedly. Some of the sisters were still in the fields, she could see them among the plantings programming farm equipment for the following month.

They were expecting a ship full of visitors tomorrow and everybody was busy with last minute preparations, sister Roberta had a presentation for the guest science team that of course put everyone on edge, they weren't sure if this was despite of or because they didn't know what it was about.

Far into the distance the city was bustling with activity and shuttles shuffled back and forth over the land and the water.

Sarah put Solomon down, turned off the touch table and walked towards the door. Her old companion followed her like a shadow, weaving around her ankles with a litheness that defied his age. They walked together through the glass doors out into the fields with their footsteps muffled by the soft texture of Terra Two's dirt.

They stopped at the bean tree and sat under its canopy with Solomon curled up in Sarah's lap as he sat every evening. Light diminished gradually and her gaze gleamed, focused inside rather than out. She turned on her bracelet and joined the old chant as the sisters started evening prayer. 

 

"As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be a world without end."