Oceana Epilogue
* * *Dawn breaks, pale peach over a burgundy sea. On the opposite horizon, I can see the bright speck of Oceana, outshining the stars behind it. Light hours beyond it, Kepler Station orbits, waiting.
— We will need to leave soon if you wish to greet the first colonists through the station portal, Grace Adeyemi. —
“I’m still debating the wisdom of that, Station. Your sibling can handle them well enough, and arrival will be enough excitement without being greeted with the sight of something like me. I begin to think I may simply lurk in-system for a decade or two, make sure they get established.”
I rise to my feet, shedding puffs of frozen methane.
— You will never meet them? —
“Perhaps not. I feel as though you and I should be here to bookend our story, but these people... it’s best if it’s a story they don’t know.”
— You may be correct, Grace Adeyemi. —
“Station, how many times must I tell you?” I scold, unfurling enormous gossamer wings and hurling myself into the brightening sky.
“You can call me Grace.”